SANTANA, G. S.; SANTANA, Graciele Silva
Abstract:
The world is currently facing a serious crisis of antibiotic resistance, with many of the drugs used to treat infections, developed decades ago, proving ineffective against superbugs. Faced with this problem, research into new antimicrobial agents is becoming essential. Endophytic fungi associated with the Jatropha curcas plant have proved to be a promising source of bioactive substances, representing potential candidates for the development of new drugs that are effective in combating resistant bacterial strains. The aim of this study was to produce and evaluate the antibacterial activity of the secondary metabolites of the endophytes isolated from Jatropha curcas on the bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis. The evaluation of antibacterial activity was carried out using the broth dilution method in 96-well microplates. The data was read after the addition of 0.01% resazurin and analyzed using ImageJ software with the support of the ReadPlate 3.0 plugin. The sample data was subjected to statistical analysis using ANOVA, followed by Tukey's test to check the significance of the differences. The results indicated that the extracts Jc017, Jc27, Jc041, Jc047, Jc048 and Jc061 showed antibacterial activity against E. coli, with Jc017, Jc041, Jc047, Jc048 and Jc061 showing greater efficacy compared to the positive control with 100 mg/mL amoxicillin. For S. epidermidis, the extracts Jc041, Jc047 and Jc061 also showed superior activity compared to the positive control at the same concentration. Fungi Jc041, Jc047 and Jc061 stood out as having the greatest potential for antibacterial activity among those tested for the two strains of bacteria used. Therefore, the extracts of endophytic fungi isolated from Jatropha curcas show potential as promising biomolecules for the production of new broad-spectrum antibiotics.
