Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn. and its bioactive metabolite oleic acid impedes methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus biofilm formation by down regulating adhesion genes expression.

Plants are boon to the mankind due to plenty of metabolites with medicinal values. Though plants have traditionally been used to treat various diseases, their biological values are not completely explored yet. Sapindus mukorossi is one such ethnobotanical plant identified for various biological activities. As biofilm formation and biofilm mediated drug resistance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have raised as serious global issue, search for antibiofilm agents has gained greater importance. Notably, antibiofilm potential of S. mukorossi is still unexplored. The aim of the study is to explore the effect of S. mukorossi methanolic extract (SMME) on MRSA biofilm formation and adhesive molecules production. Significantly, SMME exhibited 82 % of biofilm inhibition at 250 μg/mL without affecting the growth and microscopic analyses evidenced the concentration dependent antibiofilm activity of SMME. In vitro assays exhibited the reduction in slime, cell surface hydrophobicity, autoaggregation, extracellular polysaccharides substance and extracellular DNA synthesis upon SMME treatment. Further, qPCR analysis confirmed the ability of SMME to interfere with the expression of adhesion genes associated with biofilm formation such as icaA, icaD, fnbA, fnbB, clfA, cna, and altA. GC-MS analysis and molecular docking study revealed that oleic acid is responsible for the antibiofilm activity. FT-IR analysis validated the presence of oleic acid in SMME. These results suggest that SMME can be used as a promising therapeutic agent against MRSA biofilm-associated infections.