In Silico and In Vitro Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Potential of <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Isolated from <i>Apis dorsata</i> Gut against <i>Neisseria gonorrhoeae</i>
Nurdjannah Jane Niode,
Aryani Adji,
Jimmy Rimbing,
Max Tulung,
Mohammed Alorabi,
Ahmed M. El-Shehawi,
Rinaldi Idroes,
Ismail Celik,
Fatimawali,
Ahmad Akroman Adam,
Kuldeep Dhama,
Gomaa Mostafa-Hedeab,
Amany Abdel-Rahman Mohamed,
Trina Ekawati Tallei,
Talha Bin Emran
Affiliations
Nurdjannah Jane Niode
Entomology Study Program, Graduate School, University of Sam Ratulangi. Jl. Kampus Unsrat, Manado 95115, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Aryani Adji
Entomology Study Program, Graduate School, University of Sam Ratulangi. Jl. Kampus Unsrat, Manado 95115, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Jimmy Rimbing
Entomology Study Program, Graduate School, University of Sam Ratulangi. Jl. Kampus Unsrat, Manado 95115, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Max Tulung
Entomology Study Program, Graduate School, University of Sam Ratulangi. Jl. Kampus Unsrat, Manado 95115, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Mohammed Alorabi
Department of Biotechnology, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed M. El-Shehawi
Department of Biotechnology, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Rinaldi Idroes
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Syiah Kuala, Kopelma Darussalam, Banda Aceh 23111, Aceh, Indonesia
Ismail Celik
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Erciyes University, Kayseri 38039, Turkey
Fatimawali
Pharmacy Study Program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Sam Ratulangi, Manado 95115, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Ahmad Akroman Adam
Dentistry Study Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sam Ratulangi, Manado 95115, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Kuldeep Dhama
Division of Pathology, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly 243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India
Gomaa Mostafa-Hedeab
Pharmacology Department, Health Sciences Research Unit, Medical College, Jouf University, Skaka 11564, Saudi Arabia
Amany Abdel-Rahman Mohamed
Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Zagazig University, Zagazig 4511, Egypt
Trina Ekawati Tallei
Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Sam Ratulangi, Manado 95115, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Talha Bin Emran
Department of Pharmacy, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, Chittagong 4381, Bangladesh
Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health and development concern on a global scale. The increasing resistance of the pathogenic bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae to antibiotics necessitates efforts to identify potential alternative antibiotics from nature, including insects, which are already recognized as a source of natural antibiotics by the scientific community. This study aimed to determine the potential of components of gut-associated bacteria isolated from Apis dorsata, an Asian giant honeybee, as an antibacterial against N. gonorrhoeae by in vitro and in silico methods as an initial process in the stage of new drug discovery. The identified gut-associated bacteria of A. dorsata included Acinetobacter indicus and Bacillus cereus with 100% identity to referenced bacteria from GenBank. Cell-free culture supernatants (CFCS) of B. cereus had a very strong antibacterial activity against N. gonorrhoeae in an in vitro antibacterial testing. Meanwhile, molecular docking revealed that antimicrobial lipopeptides from B. cereus (surfactin, fengycin, and iturin A) had a comparable value of binding-free energy (BFE) with the target protein receptor for N. gonorrhoeae, namely penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 1 and PBP2 when compared with the ceftriaxone, cefixime, and doxycycline. The molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) study revealed that the surfactin remains stable at the active site of PBP2 despite the alteration of the H-bond and hydrophobic interactions. According to this finding, surfactin has the greatest antibacterial potential against PBP2 of N. gonorrhoeae.
