EVALUATION OF BACTERICIDAL ACTIVITY OF SELECTED WILD MACROFUNGI EXTRACTS AGAINST Escherichia coli

Abstract

The increasing failure of chemotherapeutics and antibiotic resistance exhibited by pathogenic microorganisms has led to the evaluating of novel sources for their antimicrobial potential. Nature is a generous source of compounds with antimicrobial activity. However, a large number of natural products with the potential to act as antimicrobials still await further investigation. In this study, antimicrobial activities of the extracts from four wild mushrooms: Amanita echinocephala, Russula medulata, Ishnoderma benzoinum and Laetiporus sulphureus were evaluated against Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli. The antimicrobial potential of the methanolic mushroom extracts was investigated by the microdilution method. Mild inhibitory activity was observed in 3 out of 4 mushroom species included in the study. The extracts were further tested for bactericidal activity and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were determined. The tested microorganism was most sensitive to the examined extracts of Laetiporus sulphureus (MBC=62.5 mg/mL).

Even though the results revealed in this study may suggest that tested wild macrofungi extracts possess mild antimicrobial activity, their antimicrobial potential against other microorganisms need to be further elucidated.