Phomopsis tersa as Inhibitor of Quorum Sensing System and Biofilm Forming Ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Endophytic fungi provide rich reservoir for novel antimicrobial compounds. An endophytic fungus, from Carica papaya plant identified as Phomopsis tersa, was investigated for attenuating the quorum sensing mediated pathogenicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Crude extract of P. tersa was found to reduce the production of redox-active pigments—pyocyanin and pyoverdine in P. aeruginosa PAO1 by 92.46% and 71.55%, respectively at sub-MIC concentration of 900 μg/mL. In addition, the crude extract was also able to inhibit the expression of virulence factors involved in biofilm formation: exopolysaccharide (72.21%) and alginate (72.50%). Secretion of cell-lytic enzymes was also found to be reduced: chitinase by 79.73% and elastase by 74.30%. 3-Isobutylhexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione identified from GC-MS analysis, displayed favorable molecular interactions with P. aeruginosa transcriptional regulators, LasR and RhlR with good docking scores of − 6.873 kJ/mol and − 6.257 kJ/mol, respectively. The study thus reveals the potential use of P. tersa for discovering drugs against infectious pathogens.