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Updated: May 5, 2026

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Published on: March 2, 2020
Curcumin inhibits the SOS response induced by levofloxacin in Escherichia coli
Pierangelo Bellio1, Fabrizia Brisdelli1, Mariagrazia Perilli1
1Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of l'Aquila, Italy.
Abstract:
The role of RecA protein in bacterial resistance to antibiotics makes this protein attractive from a pharmacological point of view. In this study we demonstrate that curcumin is able to inhibit the SOS response in Escherichia coli induced by levofloxacin. The blaTEM-1 gene has been placed under the control of the LexA-binding box and used as reporter gene. The expression of TEM-1 β-lactamase enzyme was increased in the presence of ssDNA induced by levofloxacin, while, the presence of curcumin at 8μg/ml, reduced dramatically the expression of the reporter gene. Moreover a simple microplate assay suitable for high-throughput screening has been developed.
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