Pharmacognostic Study and Antimicrobial Screening of Justicia adhatoda L. Using in Silico and in Vitro Strategies

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the antibacterial, antifungal activity, physicochemical (extractive values, total ash, fluorescence) and organoleptic characteristics of Justicia adhatoda L. Highest extractive value for leaves was found in methanol (7.96%) followed by chloroform (0.21%) and n-hexane (0.13%) respectively. Total ash content value for powdered leaves was recorded as 7.82%. The plant shows different colors under visible light as pale green, under short wavelength UV (254) nm(brownish) and under long wavelength (366) nm (dark brown) were observed during powder study. Based on the results obtained the extracts showed significant to low activities against Citrobacter koseri, Proteus vulgaris and Providencia stuartii while show no activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella aerogenes, Acinetobacter baumannii and Staphylococcus aureus. The antifungal activity of methanolic extracts was assessed against six pathogenic strains i.e. Alternaria solani, Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Rhizopus arrhizus, Fusarium oxysporum and Colletotrichum trifolii. Extracts show no activity against any of the tested fungal strain. Additionally, 1EA1 protein was docked with Betaine, Anisotine, Vasicinone and Vasicine. With a docked score of -12.89 kcal/mol, Anisotine demonstrated the highest binding affinity against the target protein, followed by Vasicine (-9.68 kcal/mol), Vasicinone (9.00 kcal/mol) and Betaine (-8.54 kcal/mol). The results will be useful to establish the identification, authentication of plant drug. And the results of in silico studies can be used as base for developing novel bioactive substances with therapeutic potentials.