Combinatorial antibacterial activity of outer membrane permeabilizers with (A and B) or without (C) HEWL/Lys68 on Gram-negative bacterial pathogens.

Exponential growing cells (108 CFU/ml) were incubated with 2 µM HEWL/Lys68 in combination with one of the OMPs (0.5 mM EDTA, 2 mM citric acid or 5 mM malic acid). Protein incubation with water or OMPs with PBS served as negative controls. After incubation, the effect of HEWL/Lys68 and OMP mixtures was assessed by quantification of the number of CFUs. Antibacterial activity was quantified as the relative inactivation in logarithmic units ( = log10(N0/Ni) with N0 = number of untreated cells and Ni = number of cells after treatment). Averages ± standard deviations are given for n = 4 repeats. Indicated in bold are significant log reduction units observed (≥1 log).Combinatorial antibacterial activity of outer membrane permeabilizers with (A and B) or without (C) HEWL/Lys68 on Gram-negative bacterial pathogens.