In Vitro and In Silico Analysis of the Antifungal Activity of Beta-cyclodextrin and Cinnamon Oil Inclusion Complexes against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense-TR4

Abstract

The Panama Disease-TR4 is a fatal disease of banana plants caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense-TR4 (Foc-TR4). Cinnamon oil has known antifungal properties, while beta-cyclodextrin has been proven to protect essential oils from degradation through encapsulation. The study aims to determine the effectiveness of cinnamon oil, and its beta-cyclodextrin complex against Foc-TR4, through their characterization, in vitro antifungal screening, and in silico docking analysis. The characterization of the complex yielded an encapsulation efficiency of 61.18%, an average particle size of 98.27 μm, while its calorimetry confirmed complex formation. Cinnamon oil, beta-cyclodextrin, and the complex were tested against Foc-TR4 through spread plate method against Ivagard (dialkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride) in triplicate. Among the treatments, the complex exhibited significantly weaker antifungal activity, with only cinnamon oil comparable with Ivagard at α = 0.05. Cinnamaldehyde displayed favorable binding energies of -6.1 and -4.9 kcal/mol against the Foc-TR4 proteins, and -3.7 kcal/mol against beta-cyclodextrin. This implies that cinnamaldehyde can spontaneously form stable complexes with the Foc-TR4 proteins or beta-cyclodextrin. These findings suggest the potential of cinnamaldehyde, in cinnamon oil and even in the inclusion complexes, as a viable antifungal treatment against Foc-TR4.