Author(s)

Reuven Rasooly^1*, Miriam Rothschild², Yael Gov³, Paul Wolferstan⁴, Robert Nash⁴, Paula Do¹, Naomi Balaban¹

¹Foodborne Toxin Detection & Prevention Research Unit, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Western Regional Research Center, Albany, CA, USA.
²Ashton Wold, Peterborough, UK.
³Department of Human Microbiology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
⁴Aberystwyth University-IBERS, Aberystwyth, UK.

Extracts of several British butterfly species were tested and shown to possess powerful bactericidal activity against gram-positive bacteria (tested on Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus anthracis). The active compounds in the grass-feeding species were identified as hydroxylated pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) related to loline with nitrogen at C-1. Lolines are known insecticidal and insect-deterrent compounds that are produced in grasses infected by endophytic fungal symbionts. Lolines also increase resistance of endophyte-infected grasses to insect herbivores. The butterfly-isolated pyrrolizidine alkaloids appear to be novel and non-toxic to human cells such as HaCat human skin keratinocytes and Hep-2 human epithelial cells. The discovery of novel agents from butterflies could lead to the development of new antimicrobials.

Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids, British Butterflies, Staphylococcus aureus, Antimicrobial

Rasooly, R. , Rothschild, M. , Gov, Y. , Wolferstan, P. , Nash, R. , Do, P. and Balaban, N. (2017) Butterflies Extracts Show Antibacterial Activity. Advances in Microbiology, 7, 467-479. doi: 10.4236/aim.2017.76036.