Plant-derived secondary metabolites as the main source of efflux pump inhibitors and methods for identification

The upsurge of multiple drug resistance(MDR)bacteria substantially diminishes the effectiveness of antibiotic arsenal and therefore intensifies the rate of therapeutic failure.The major factor in MDR is efflux pump-mediated resistance.A unique pump can make bacteria withstand a wide range of structurally diverse compounds.Therefore,their inhibition is a promising route to eliminate resistance phenomenon in bacteria.Phytochemicals are excellent alternatives as resistance-modifying agents.They can directly kill bacteria or interact with the crucial events of pathogenicity,thereby decreasing the ability of bacteria to develop resistance.Numerous botanicals display noteworthy efflux pumps inhibitory activities.Edible plants are of growing interest.Likewise,some plant families would be excellent sources of efflux pump inhibitors(EPIs)including Apocynaceae,Berberidaceae,Convolvulaceae,Cucurbitaceae,Fabaceae,Lamiaceae,and Zingiberaceae.Easily applicable methods for screening plant-derived EPIs include checkerboard synergy test,berberine uptake assay and ethidium bromide test.In silico highthroughput virtual detection can be evaluated as a criterion of excluding compounds with efflux substrate-like characteristics,thereby improving the selection process and extending the identification of EPIs.To ascertain the efflux activity inhibition,real-time PCR and quantitative mass spectrometry can be applied.This review emphasizes on efflux pumps and their roles in transmitting bacterial resistance and an update plant-derived EPIs and strategies for identification.

Antimicrobial activity of kojic acid from endophytic fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides isolated from Sonneratia apetala,a mangrove plant of the Sundarbans

Objective: To isolate and evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the active principle(s) from the ethyl acetate(EtOAc) extract of endophytic fungus Colietotrichum gloeosporioides(C.gloeosporioides) isolated from Sonneratia apetala. Methods: Water agar technique was used to isolate the fungus, and both microscopic and molecular techniques were used for identification of the strain. Potato dextrose broth was used to grow the fungus in large-scale. Reversed-phase preparative HPLC analysis was performed to isolate the major active compound, kojic acid. The EtOAc extract and kojic acid were screened for their antimicrobial activity against two Grampositive and two Gram-negative bacteria as well as a fungal strain using the resazurin 96-well microtitre plate antimicrobial assay. Results: The fungus C. gloeosporioides was isolated from the leaves of Sonneratia apetala. Initial identification of the fugal isolate was carried out using spore characteristics observed under the microscope. Subsequently, the ITS1-5.8 S-ITS2 sequencing was employed for species-level identification of the fungus C. gloeosporioides. Five litres of liquid culture of the fungus produced approximately 610 mg of a mixture of secondary metabolites.Kojic acid(1) was isolated as the main secondary metabolite present in the fungal extract, and the structure was confirmed by 1 D, 2 D NMR and mass spectrometry. The EtOAc extract and compound 1 exhibited considerable antimicrobial activity against all tested microorganisms.Whilst the minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) values from the EtOAc extract ranged between 2.4×10^(-4)mg/mL and 2.5 mg/mL, those of kojic acid(1) were between 0.125 mg/mL and1 mg/mL. The EtOAc extract and kojic acid(1) were most active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa(MIC = 2.4×10^(-4). mg/mL) and Micrococcus luteus(MIC = 0.125 mg/mL), respectively. Conclusions:The results revealed that the endophytic fungus C. gloeosporioides could be a good source of commercially important kojic acid, which exhibited antimicrobial properties.