The bacterial endophytes isolated from the halophyte Salicornia brachiata were explored for the antimicrobial potential to discover novel microbial inhibitors that combat multidrug resistance. Upon investigation, ethyl acetate extract of the endophyte Bacillus subtilis NPROOT3 displayed significant potency against Mycobacterium smegmatis MTCC6 as well as Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain. Further investigation of ethyl acetate crude extract by repeated chromatographic separations followed by characterization using UV, HR-ESI-MS, MALDI-MS, MALDI-MS/MS, CD, and NMR spectroscopy yielded a series of five known siderophores, namely, SVK21 (1), bacillibactin C (2), bacillibactin B (3), tribenglthin A (4), and bacillibactin (5). A total of two out of five compounds, 4 (MIC 38.66 μM) and 5 (MIC 22.15 μM) exhibited significant inhibition against the strain M. smegmatis MTCC6 comparable with positive control rifampicin (MIC 12.15 μM). None of these five bacillibactin molecules are previously reported to exhibit bioactivity against Mycobacterium sp. Herein for the first time, all the compounds were screened for their antibacterial activities against a panel of bacterial pathogens of humans. Furthermore, the probable mechanism of action of bacillibactin compounds for their antimycobacterial activity is also discussed. The findings of this study open up a new chemotype for inhibition of the Mycobacterium sp. and other multidrug-resistant pathogens.
Keywords: antimycobacterial agents; Bacillus subtilis; bacillibactin; endophyte; siderophores.
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Applied Microbiology International.