Quorum Sensing Inhibition in Chromobacterium violaceum, Antibacterial Activity and GC-MS Analysis of Centaurea praecox (Oliv. & Hiern) Extracts

Abstract

The quorum sensing (QS) mechanism has become a viable research strategy for the discovery of plant-derived anti-virulent agents to control drug-resistant bacteria. The increasing incidences of drug-resistant bacteria and the effort to curb it necessitate this study. We investigated the QS inhibitory potential of Centaurea praecox extracts on Chromobacterium violaceum (CV), antibacterial activity, and determination of chemical composition using GC-MS. C. praecox was subjected to sequential extraction using hexane (HEX), dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EA), ethanol (ET), and aqueous (AQ) solvents. The extracts were subsequently evaluated for antibacterial activity using disc diffusion and QS violacein inhibition using spectrophotometry. The antibacterial effects of the extracts were moderate on gram-positive bacteria at 4 mg/mL in the order: HEX >EA >DCM >ET =AQ. However, the DCM extract demonstrated the most effective violacein inhibition of ≥80% at 0.3 mg/mL. QS violacein inhibitions were generally found to be concentration-dependent in the order: DCM >EA >HEX >ET =AQ with efficacies of ≥ 90% inhibition at ≥ 0.6 mg/mL. GC-MS analysis on the most potent DCM extract revealed N-vinylmethanimine, N-ethyl formamide, and propanamide among components identified. We concluded that C. praecox DCM extract contains bioactive chemicals as QS inhibitors and potential anti-virulent agents capable of combating the pathogenicity of drug-resistant bacteria in vivo.