Documentation, antimycobacterial activity, and phytochemical profiling of selected medicinal plants used by the jakun community in Johor

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major threat to human health due to its increasing global epidemiology and emerging drug-resistant strains. While traditional knowledge (TK) could be a tool for development of novel TB treatment, TK itself is at verge of loss due to modernization and deforestration. The objectives of the study were to document the TK of medicinal plants used for the treatment of TB and its related symptoms as practiced by the Jakun community ofKampung Peta, situated in Taman Negara Johor Endau Rompin; to investigate the antimycobacterial activity and mechanism of action of the selected medicinal plants extracts; and to profile their major phytochemical constituents. Documentation of TK were analyzed qualitatively from semi-structured interviews. Among 23 species documented, water and organic crude extracts of selected plants were evaluated for their antimycobacterial activity using agar disk diffusion, resazurin microplate assay, and agar plate assay against Mycobacterium smegmatis. Upon treatment with the active crude extracts, mechanism of action was investigated via time-kill analysis, leakage of compounds absorbing at 280 nm, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, and 2D proteomic analysis. Findings showed that ethyl acetate extract of Thottea grandifl.ora displayed the largest inhibition zone (DIZ= 14.92 ± 0.86 mm). Hexane extracts of Dipteroca,pus sublamellatus and Tetracera macrophylla showed the lowest minimum inhibition concentration (MIC= 0.78 mg/mL). Ethyl acetate extract of T macrophylla, and both hexane extracts of D. sublamellatus and T macrophylla showed the lowest minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC= 3.13 mg/mL). At 4-fold of MIC, ethyi acetate extract of T macrophylla killed the bacterial cell within 8 hours of treatment by multitarget mechanisms such as inhibition of protein and cell wall synthesi, and distruption of metabolic processes. Using gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, pyrazole and phenanthroline derivatives were detectes moss among the majorconstituents that potentially contribute to the antimeoheaded activity. The result scientifically validated the plants used in Jakun traditionaI medicine,displayed promising therapeutic properties and further studies in this direction world head to the get antimycobacterial agent