On the potential activity of hyaluronic acid as an antimicrobial agent: experimental and computational validations

This century has seen the rise of antibiotic resistance as a significant public health problem. In addition, oxidative stress may also be a factor in selecting resistant strains of bacteria. The current study analyzed microbially produced hyaluronic acid's antibacterial activity and antioxidant activity. It had significant antibacterial action against strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, with the IC₅₀ value obtained being 487.65 µg mL^-1 for antioxidant assay. Our molecular docking investigations of hyaluronic acid on tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase (Staphylococcus aureus: -6.13 kcal/mol, Escherichia coli: -5.79 kcal/mol) and topoisomerase II DNA gyrase (Staphylococcus aureus: -5.02 kcal/mol, Escherichia coli: -4.90 kcal/mol) confirmed the ligands' possible binding mode to the appropriate targets' sites. We also employed molecular dynamics simulation and showed that HA binds more strongly with 1JIL (-85.455 ± 12.623 kJ/mol) compared to 2YXN (-49.907 ± 64.191 kJ/mol), 5CDP (-47.285 ± 13.925 kJ/mol), and 6RKS (-45.306 ± 21.338 kJ/mol). We also report that the ligand forms several hydrogen bonds in molecular simulation, implying regular interaction with key residues of the enzymes. The results in this study indicate the potential use of HA in the vast field of applications having both asthetic and medicinal values.