In vitro and in silico validation of antibacterial potential of Pinus roxburghii and Cedrus deodara leaves’ extract against human pathogenic bacteria

Abstract

The emergence of resistant pathogenic bacterial strains has threatened the human beings and already developed remedial measures. Based on the traditional herbal therapeutic history, present study is aimed to assess in vitro and in silico inhibition potential of leaves extracts of Pinus roxburghii and Cedrus deodara against human pathogenic bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Hexane, methanol and acetone extracts of both plants were evaluated against above mentioned bacterial strains employing agar well diffusion technique. While docking analyses were performed to analyze the interaction of vital bioactive compounds and bacterial virulence proteins to get an idea about potential candidates for drug discovery. Both plant extracts exhibited greater antibacterial activities against S. aureus as compared to S. typhi and P. aeruginosa. The activity of different extracts also portrayed the role of polarity of solvent and compound to be extracted in each solvent i.e., activity of hexane extract > methanol > acetone with some variations. MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) values of P. roxburghii extracts were less than that of C. deodara against tested strains, while variation was observed in MBCs (minimum bactericidal concentrations). Furthermore, molecular docking of studied plants bioactive compounds and bacterial proteins showed strong interactions (binding affinity) i.e., taxifolin > nortrachelogenin > bisabolene > valencene > caryophyllene. Antibacterial efficiencies of P. roxburghii and C. deodara suggested their application as effective therapeutic agents against diseases caused by mentioned bacterial strains. In silico analysis suggests the isolation and usage of bioactive components as potential antibacterial agents/drugs after further experimentations on animals.