Scopus Research — Baraa Hamid Hadi

Growing bacterial pathogens with antibiotic resistance necessitates novel therapeutic strategies, raising the exploration and exploitation of the potential of plant natural products as alternative drugs. This study investigated the antibacterial potential of flavonoids from Origanum majorana L. through a combined in vitro and in silico approach, focusing on their inhibitory effects against β-lactamase and penicillin-binding protein. The in vitro antibacterial activities of O. majorana extracts, Apigenin (a flavonoid), and imipenem were evaluated against bacterial isolates through inhibition zone assays, and the analyses of minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal concentration. In silico molecular docking was performed to elucidate the inhibition mechanism and assess binding affinities and interactions between flavonoids and target proteins. The docking results revealed that flavonoids exhibited stronger binding affinities with both target proteins (-9.5 kcal/mol and-5.8 kcal/mol) compared to imipenem, particularly against β-lactamases. The flavonoids enhanced the binding and stability of protein-ligand complexes through key molecular interactions, increasing the inhibitory effects on proteins. Our findings highlighted the potential of O. majorana flavonoids as promising resistance-modifying agents against β-lactam-resistant bacterial infections. Notably, a genomic analysis-based conserved region prediction approach was employed to construct a high-quality, structurally optimized model of the target proteins, enabling superior binding interactions with flavonoids. This structural refinement strategy enhances the predictive accuracy of computational drug design and may facilitate the development of novel antibacterial agents with improved specificity. Continued exploration of conserved region-based protein modeling can significantly enhance the rational design of next-generation inhibitors with improved binding affinity and therapeutic efficacy. © 2025 Al-Oudah et al.

Cydonia oblonga is effective against many infections and has medicinal properties that are useful in the treatment of many other diseases. The aim of this study was to elucidate the antimicrobial activity (in the form of anti-adherence and anti-biofilm formation) of the aqueous Cydonia oblonga extract. The biological activity of the extract was compared to that of imipenem. All bacterial isolates of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria assessed were found to be susceptible to the Cydonia oblonga extract and the zone of inhibition ranged from 24 to 34 mm. Most bacterial isolates were resistant to the antibiotic, and some bacterial isolates were sensitive to imipenem. The adherence and biofilm formation inhibitory activities in the presence of the aqueous extract of Cydonia oblonga were found to be moderate or elevated in most of the Gram-negative bacteria assessed. According to our findings, the aqueous Cydonia oblonga extract displays great effectiveness (and promise) against many pathogenic bacterial isolates. © 2024 by the authors.

Theobroma Cacao has a wide range against a range of diseases and an antimicrobial activity toward various pathogenic microorganisms which estimated of medicinal properties for the treatment of many infectious diseases. The aim of the research is to clarify the inhibitory action of Theobroma Cacao extract against human pathogenic bacteria also show the mechanism action of extract against biofilm formation and adherence of bacteria. The antimicrobial activity of the aqueous extract was tested based on agar-well diffusion assay and agar-disc diffusion, and this activity was compared with the antibiotic and measured which is more efficient. Furthermore, biofilm formation and adherence tests were done. Theobroma cacao (30%) was appeared in this research as high efficient against the wide spectrum of clinic isolates gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria (K.pneumonia, P.merabilis, P.vulgaris, S.typhimurum, S.typhi,, Staph. aureus, Staph.epidermidis, Staph.saprophytics and Strep.Pyogenes) which indicates that it is more effective than commercially available antibiotic in addition to a high inhibition against adherents and biofilm formation. © 2023 by SPC (Sami Publishing Company)