The phytobiotic potential of hydro-alcoholic extract of Allium porrum against Bacillus cereus : A computational sight into PlcR protein as a putative target

Allium porrum L. (leek; AP) is an edible plant that contains a variety of phytocompounds which their pharmaceutical properties are yet to be investigated. In this study, the computational analyses focused on PlcR protein as a putative target along with in vitro experiments were performed to elucidate the phytobiotic potential of the hydro-alcoholic extract of A. porrum against Bacillus cereus. The extract of the AP bulbs was prepared by using 70% (v/v) hydro-alcoholic solution. The antibacterial activity of this extract was then tested against B. cereus. Furthermore, a complete set of phytochemical compounds reported for AP were docked against the PlcR protein of B. cereus to evaluate their binding affinities. According to the results, this extract showed a remarked activity against B. cereus with the minimal inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations (MIC and MBC, respectively) of 4 μg/ml and 213 μg/ml, while the bacterial strain was resistant to chloramphenicol (30 μg/ml). It was revealed that all phytocompounds of AP showed significant binding affinities against PlcR protein. Among them, five compounds, including neoporrigenin B, porrigenin C, porrigenin B, Kaempferol 3- O -gentiobioside, Seco-porrigenin and Neoagigenin, demonstrated the highest affinity with -9.17, -8.88, -8.77, -8.1, -9.69, and -8.73 kcal/mol, respectively. These features were considerably higher than that of chloramphenicol (-6 kcal/mol), suggesting them as potential binders against PlcR protein. Eventually, neoporrigenin B and porrigenin C are proposed as phytobiotic components against B. cereus PlcR protein.