In vitro and in silico protocols for the assessment of microbicidal compounds from Plumbago zeylanica L

Abstract

An important challenge in medical research currently is to mitigate multidrug resistant ESKAPE species of bacteria. Alternative plant metabolites can positively present rapid solutions to it. Plumbago zeylanica L. (Plumbaginaceae), a well-known folk medicinal herb, is widely utilized in the Ayurvedic medical system. This plant is utilized all around the world for a variety of diseases. In Indian and Ethiopian traditional medicine, leaf powder has been used to treat gonorrhea, syphilis, tuberculosis, edema, and wounds. The goal of this work is to look into the antibacterial activity of P. zeylanica leaf extracts against pathogenic microbes, using a computational methodology to predict the interactions of possible chemicals. Using agar well diffusion method, the antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate leaf extracts of P. zeylanica were studied against Bacillus cereus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Salmonella enteritidis, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Aspergillus fumigatus. For the GC–MS study, ethyl acetate leaf extracts of P. zeylanica were utilized. Schrodinger software was used to undertake computational research on the novel molecule. Pathogenic organisms were tested against different concentrations of ethyl acetate leaf extract of P. zeylanica. Among them, M. tuberculosis and A. fumigatus exhibited the superior inhibition activity. Heneicosane had the best fitness score and better selectivity towards the microbial receptors, according to molecular docking investigations. This study hence confirms the metabolites produced by P. zeylanica can be an alternate to antibiotics in inhibiting microbial growth, especially, the multidrug resistant bacteria.