Characterization and antibacterial activity study of α-Lactalbumin-carvacrol complex

Food contamination and poisoning caused by bacteria will endanger human health, and the development of natural antibacterial agents is a pressing issue. We prepared ALA-Car complex and demonstrated its formation by multi-spectroscopy techniques and localized surface plasmon resonance experiments. Computer simulations have shown that van der Waals forces dominate the interaction between ALA and Car. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Car toward Gram-negative Escherichia coli was decreased from 336 μg/mL to 224 μg/mL after binding to ALA. It had little effect on the MIC of Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (224 μg/mL), but further proved Car had a weaker antibacterial activity than the ALA-Car complex by the spread plate method. Overall, this work demonstrated that the ALA-Car complex had significantly higher antibacterial activities than Car, further advancing the development of natural antibacterial agents.