Anti- <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> activity of diverse bioactive compounds from <i>Sarcophyton glaucum</i> -derived fungi: biological activity and molecular docking studies

In our attempt to explore bioactive metabolites from marine fungi having the potential to overcome <i>Helicobacter pylori</i>, five compounds of sesquiterpenoid and alkaloid nature, have been evaluated. They were structurally assigned as aspterric acid (<b>1</b>), aurantiomide C (<b>2</b>), 4-(2-hydroxyt-3-butynoxy) benzoic acid (<b>3</b>), aspermytin A (<b>4</b>) and cyclopenol (<b>5</b>). The compounds were isolated from the <i>Sarcophyton-</i>derived <i>Penicillium</i> sp. and structurally identified recently by us. Biologically, all compounds showed activity against <i>H. pylori</i>; their effectiveness ranged from moderate to high in comparison with clarithromycin. Cyclopenol (<b>5</b>) appeared the highest activity against the examined strain displaying 100% (1.95 µg/mL) inhibition of the growth of <i>H. pylori</i>. The mimetic anti-<i>H. pylori</i> activity mode of action was studied by computational molecular modelling, suggesting the possible activity of compounds <b>2</b> & <b>5</b> against DNA gyrase during the replication of DNA. Compound <b>2</b> may minimise the efficacity of metronidazole against this bacterium by a competitive inhibition against RdxA.