Exploring the potential of benzoic acid derived from the endophytic fungus strain Neurospora crassa SSN01 as a promising antimicrobial agent in wound healing.

Endophytic fungi are known to produce bioactive compounds with the potential to be used as promising drugs to treat a wide range of diseases. To the best of our knowledge, the use of bioactive metabolites derived from endophytic fungi, particularly against multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens inhabiting burn wounds, has been emphasized for the first time. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of purified benzoic acid (BA) derived from Neurospora crassa, an endophytic fungus isolated from Lycium shawii, as a promising and alternative safe antimicrobial candidate in wound healing. As a result, benzoic acid, a safe and nontoxic compound, may be a promising candidate for combating clinical MDR pathogens of burn wound infections. In this study, Neurospora crassa strain SSN01 (MW856826) was successfully identified for the first time as a new BA-producing endophytic fungus isolated from Lycium shawii. The concentration of BA in the ethyl acetate extract reached 244 mg/mL. Purified BA had a detrimental effect on the MDR strains tested, and the MDR Staphylococcus aureus strain SA-17 was clearly more susceptible to BA as compared to the other tested MDR bacterial and fungal strains. Toxicological studies on experimental animals were conducted to evaluate the toxicity of BA and a suitable dose regimen for future human use. Oral administration of BA at the highest concentration of 300 µg/kg body weight resulted in nontoxic signs and no mortality. In vivo histopathological examination revealed that BA, as a nontoxic and safe compound, could be a promising candidate for wound healing, combating MDR pathogens of burn wound infections.