About the Authors

Claudia Di Giacomo

Affiliation Dept. of Drug Science—Biochemistry Section, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Luca Vanella

Affiliation Dept. of Drug Science—Biochemistry Section, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Valeria Sorrenti

Affiliation Dept. of Drug Science—Biochemistry Section, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Rosa Santangelo

Affiliation Dept. of Drug Science—Biochemistry Section, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Ignazio Barbagallo

Affiliation Dept. of Drug Science—Biochemistry Section, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Giovanna Calabrese

Affiliation IOM Ricerca SRL, Via Penninazzo, 11, Viagrande, Catania, Italy

Carlo Genovese

Affiliation Dept. of Bio-Medical Sciences, Section of Microbiology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Silvana Mastrojeni

Affiliation Dept. of Bio-Medical Sciences, Section of Microbiology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Salvatore Ragusa

Affiliation Dept. of Health Sciences, University “Magna Graecia” of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy

Rosaria Acquaviva

racquavi@unict.it

Affiliation Dept. of Drug Science—Biochemistry Section, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

Competing Interests

Author GC is employed by IOM Ricerca SRL. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CDG RA. Performed the experiments: CDG RA LV VS IB. Analyzed the data: RS CG. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SM SR GC. Wrote the paper: CDG RA.