Screening of Mushrooms collected from Azad Jammu and Kashmir to highlight their immense therapeutic potential.

Abstract

The alarming rise in antimicrobial resistance has raised serious health concerns across the world. Exploration of novel drug candidates has become the need of the day. Macrofungi are renowned for therapeutic potential which makes them an attractive candidate for drug discovery. This study was a deep dive into the screening of mushrooms collected from the AJK for their therapeutic potential. Bioactivity assays that have demonstrated concrete evidence of the desirable effects of mushrooms on human health were the most critical contribution of this study. Trametes versicolor has proven to be the most potent mushroom as a very substantial amount of activity has been reported by all its extracts against all tested MDR strains with a zone of inhibition in the range of 11mm to 22mm. The antifungal activity of macrofungal crude extracts was very negligible with the highest zone of inhibition of 12 ± 1.00mm recorded. The antioxidant potential suggests how consuming mushrooms as a whole or supplements can help prevent oxidative stress-related diseases. The best antioxidant activity of 78 ± 1.00%, 72 ± 1.00%, 75 ± 2.08%, and 75 ± 1.00% was recorded by ethyl acetate, acetonitrile, ethanol, and methanol extracts of Phellinus glivus. Cytotoxic activity analysis paves the way for further investigation of mushrooms for the exploration of novel chemotherapeutic agents. The strongest cytotoxic activity was reported by the Amanita phalloides with maximum activity demonstrated by the ethyl acetate, acetone, acetonitrile, and ethanol extracts with 80% mortality at the concentration of 1mg/ml. The total flavonoid content in all mushroom species was fairly high with Phellinus gilvus showing the highest concentration in the range of 110 to 174mg QE/g of all seven fractions. The highest total phenolic content was reported in Amanita phalloides with values of 107, 94, and 85 mg GAE/g, recorded in methanol, hexane, and acetone extracts. Active fractions were subjected to elution column chromatography and further analyzed for antibacterial activity. Active fractions of purified compounds were further purified via thin-layer chromatography and subjected to antibacterial analysis. The findings of this research have laid the groundwork for further studies like characterization and artificial synthesis of these compounds.