Thymus musilii Velen. Methanolic Extract: In Vitro and In Silico Screening of Its Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, Anti-Quorum Sensing, Antibiofilm, and Anticancer Activities

Emira Noumi; Iqrar Ahmad; Nouha Bouali; Harun Patel; Siwar Ghannay; Ayshah Aysh ALrashidi; Mohammad A Abdulhakeem; Mitesh Patel; Ozgur Ceylan; Riadh Badraoui; Afnan Elayyan Mousa Elayyan; Mohd Adnan; Adel Kadri; Mejdi Snoussi

doi:10.3390/life13010062

Thymus musilii Velen. Methanolic Extract: In Vitro and In Silico Screening of Its Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, Anti-Quorum Sensing, Antibiofilm, and Anticancer Activities

Life (Basel). 2022 Dec 25;13(1):62. doi: 10.3390/life13010062.

Authors

Emira Noumi^{1

2}, Iqrar Ahmad³, Nouha Bouali¹, Harun Patel⁴, Siwar Ghannay⁵, Ayshah Aysh ALrashidi¹, Mohammad A Abdulhakeem¹, Mitesh Patel⁶, Ozgur Ceylan⁷, Riadh Badraoui^{1

8}, Afnan Elayyan Mousa Elayyan⁹, Mohd Adnan¹, Adel Kadri^{10

11}, Mejdi Snoussi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Ha'il, P.O. Box 2440, Hail 81451, Saudi Arabia.
² Laboratory of Genetics, Biodiversity and Valorization of Bio-Resources (LR11ES41), Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Monastir, University of Monastir, Avenue Tahar Haddad, BP74, Monastir 5000, Tunisia.
³ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Prof. Ravindra Nikam College of Pharmacy, Gondur, Dhule 424002, India.
⁴ Division of Computer Aided Drug Design, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, R. C. Patel Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Shirpur 425405, India.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Qassim University, P.O. Box 6688, Buraidah 51452, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Centre of Research for Development, Department of Biotechnology, Parul Institute of Applied Sciences, Parul University, Vadodara 391760, India.
⁷ Ula Ali Kocman Vocational School, Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Mugla 48147, Turkey.
⁸ Department of Histo Embryology and Cytogenetics, Medicine Faculty of Sfax, University of Sfax, Road of Majida Boulia, Sfax 3029, Tunisia.
⁹ Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, College of Applied Sciences-Qurayyat, Jouf University, P.O. Box 2014, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Faculty of Science and Arts in Baljurashi, Albaha University, P.O. Box 1988, Albaha 65527, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science of Sfax, University of Sfax, B.P. 1171, Sfax 3000, Tunisia.

Abstract

Thymus musilii Velen. is a rare plant species cultivated in the Ha'il region (Saudi Arabia) under greenhouse conditions. In this work, we described, for the first time, the phytochemical composition, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-quorum sensing, and anticancer activities of T. musilii methanolic extract using both experimental and computational approaches. The obtained results showed the identification of eight small-like peptides and eighteen phyto-compounds by using high-resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HR-LCMS) dominated mainly by compounds belonging to isoprenoid, fatty acyl, flavonoid, and alkaloid classes. The tested extracts exhibited high antifungal and antibacterial activity with the mean diameter of growth inhibition zones ranging from 12.33 ± 0.57 mm (Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853) to 29.33 ± 1.15 mm (Candida albicans ATCC 10231). Low minimal inhibitory concentrations were recorded for the tested micro-organisms ranging from 0.781 mg/mL to 12.5 mg/mL. While higher doses were necessary to completely kill all tested bacterial and fungal strains. Thyme extract was able to scavenge DPPH^•, ABTS^•+, β-carotene, and FRAP free radicals, and the IC₅₀ values were 0.077 ± 0.0015 mg/mL, 0.040 ± 0.011 mg/mL, 0.287 ± 0.012 mg/mL, and 0.106 ± 0.007 mg/mL, respectively. The highest percentage of swarming and swimming inhibition was recorded at 100 µg/mL with 39.73 ± 1.5% and 25.18 ± 1%, respectively. The highest percentage of biofilm inhibition was recorded at 10 mg/mL for S. typhimurium ATCC 14028 (53.96 ± 4.21%) and L. monocytogenes ATCC 7644 (49.54 ± 4.5 mg/mL). The in silico docking study revealed that the observed antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer activities of the constituent compounds of T. musilii are thermodynamically feasible, notably, such as those of the tripeptides (Asn-Met-His, His-Cys-Asn, and Phe-His-Gln), isoprenoids (10-Hydroxyloganin), and diterpene glycosides (4-Ketoretinoic acid glucuronide).

Keywords: ADME; Thymus musilii Velen.; anti-quorum sensing; antimicrobial; antioxidant; methanolic extract; molecular docking.

Grants and funding

RD21 054./Scientific Research Deanship at University of Ha'il-Saudi Arabia