Exploring the Medicinal Potential of the Fruit Bodies of Oyster Mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus (Agaricomycetes), against Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Isolates

Bacterial resistance to present-generation antibiotics is increasing drastically, which has become a major public health concern. The present study focuses on demonstrating the antimicrobial potential of fruit bodies of the culinary/medicinal oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus against clinical pathogens. Five bacterial isolates were collected from Sagar Hospital in Bangalore, India. The collected strains were grown on selective and differential media and antibiotic susceptibility testing was applied using 48 antibiotics by disc diffusion assay. The antibacterial efficiency of the mushroom extract against clinical pathogens, which were found to be multidrug resistant (MDR) to most of the tested antibiotics, was studied. The yield of cultivated mushrooms was evident at moist, cooler, and humid conditions. The clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Acinetobacter sp., Proteus mirabilis, and Proteus spp. were found to be MDR to beta-lactam, fluoroquinolones, sulfonamides, third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, macrolides, tetracyclines, and carbapenems. The methanolic extracts of mushroom fruit bodies were found to be more effective than present-generation antibiotics against methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus, S. typhi, Acinetobacter sp., and P. mirabilis at a concentration ranging from 50 to 100 mu g/disc or 50 to 100 mu L/well. The current study suggests that the methanolic extract of P. ostreatus can be used as a promising antibacterial agent against MDR bacterial pathogens.