Phytochemical Profiling and Antimicrobial Potential of Fagonia Indica Solvent Extracts, Highlighting Biofilm Suppression

Muhammad Zubair; Saman Bibi; Kainat Qureshi; Hamid Ali; Sana Riaz; Faiza Qadeer; Ayesha Saeed; Rida Nisar; Kashif Zaman

Phytochemical Profiling and Antimicrobial Potential of Fagonia Indica Solvent Extracts, Highlighting Biofilm Suppression

Authors

Muhammad Zubair Department of Botany, University of Science and Technology Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Saman Bibi Department of Botany, University of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Kainat Qureshi Department of Food Quality & Safety Research Institute, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Pakistan
Hamid Ali Department of Plant Pathology, Agriculture University Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Sana Riaz Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan
Faiza Qadeer Department of Microbiology, Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy
Ayesha Saeed Department of Botany, University of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Rida Nisar Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Kashif Zaman Department of Botany, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Keywords:

Fagonia indica; , Antimicrobial; , Biofilm; , Phytochemicals; , Solvent-extraction

Abstract

This study investigates the phytochemical composition and antimicrobial properties of aerial part extracts of Fagonia indica, a medicinal plant widely used in traditional medicine. Sequential extraction was performed using solvents of increasing polarity (n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, acetone, methanol, and water). Qualitative phytochemical screening was coupled with quantitative analyses of total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC). Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as a fungal strain were tested for antimicrobial activity utilizing disk diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) assays. Additionally, anti-biofilm potential was studied. Methanol and ethyl acetate extracts yielded the highest TPC (125.7 ± 5.2 mg GAE/g) and TFC (68.4 ± 3.8 mg QE/g), correlating with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, particularly among polar extracts, which produced larger inhibition zones and lower MIC values. Importantly, despite lower overall phytochemical yield, the chloroform extract exhibited superior anti-biofilm activity, inhibiting Staphylococcus aureus (71.8%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (70.8%). These findings confirm that solvent polarity differentially influences both antimicrobial potency and anti-biofilm efficacy. Overall, this study underscores the chloroform extract of F. indica as a novel and promising source of targeted anti-biofilm agents, offering valuable insights for developing innovative, plant-based therapeutics against resistant and biofilm-associated infections.

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Phytochemical Profiling and Antimicrobial Potential of Fagonia Indica Solvent Extracts, Highlighting Biofilm Suppression