Mashamba, Tebatso GratitudeAdeosun, Idowu JesulayomiBaloyi, Itumeleng TsebangTshikalange, Thilivhali EmmanuelCosa, Sekelwa2022-11-102022-11-102022-04-27Mashamba, T.G., Adeosun, I.J., Baloyi, I.T., Tshikalange, E.T. & Cosa S. Quorum sensing modulation and inhibition in biofilm forming foot ulcer pathogens by selected medicinal plants. Heliyon. 2022 Apr 27;8(4):e09303. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09303.2405-8440 (online)10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09303https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/88235The crisis of antibiotic resistance necessitates the search of phytochemicals as potential antibacterial, anti-quorum sensing and antibiofilm forming agents. For the present study, fifteen (15) selected medicinal plants were evaluated to inhibit the biological activities of multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Proteus mirabilis) associated with diabetic foot ulcer. Antibacterial activities revealed noteworthy minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ≤1 mg/mL for thirteen (13) out of the sixty (60) plant extracts screened. The potent extracts included Euclea natalensis ethyl acetate (0.25 mg/mL), Aloe ferox methanol (0.5 mg/ml) and Warburgia salutaris aqueous (0.5 mg/mL) extracts. Chemical profiling of the active extracts using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) identified neophytadiene, guanosine, squalene, cis megastigma-5,8-diene-4-one and sorbitol as prevalent compounds among the active extracts. Anti-quorum sensing activities of E. natalensis (ethyl acetate), A. ferox (methanol) and W. salutaris (aqueous) extracts ranged from 4.81 - 58.34% with E. natalensis (ethyl-acetate) showing the highest activity. Molecular docking against CviR protein showed selected compounds having high docking scores with sorbitol showing the highest score of -7.04 kcal/mol. Warburgia salutaris aqueous extract exhibited the highest biofilm inhibition (73%) against E. coli. Euclea natalensis, Aloe ferox and Warburgia salutaris compounds act as antagonist of N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) signaling, thus may serve as candidates in antipathogenic and antibiofilm phytomedicine development for MDR foot ulcer bacterial pathogens.en© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Aloe feroxAntiquorum sensingBiofilm inhibitionEuclea natalensisMolecular modellingMulti-drug resistant pathogensMultidrug-resistant (MDR)Article