Screening of Petroleum Ether and Methanol Extracts of Jatrophapodagrica Leaves for Antibacterial Activity with Supporting in Silico Studies

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to screen the antibacterial activities of methanol and petroleum ether extracts of Jatrophapodagrica leaves. METHODS The leaves were collected, dried, ground and extracted using Soxhlet apparatus with methanol and petroleum ether as solvents. The plant extracts were tested for antibacterial activity against bacterial pathogens using the well diffusion method viz. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp., Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., Proteus sp. Further, Thin layer chromatography (TLC) analysis was done for the methanol and petroleum ether extracts. GC-MS analysis was also conducted to gain the knowledge of the compounds that present in the extracts which can be responsible for the antimicrobial potential of the extracts. Furthermore to validate the antibacterial results molecular docking studies were performed using Auto Dock 4.0 followed by interpretation of the results with PyMol and Ligplot plus softwares. RESULTS The results obtained suggested that these extracts have significant antibacterial properties and can be used to make herbal applications.