Biological activity, chemical profiling and molecular docking of tissue extracts of the sea snail Trochus erithreus

The biodiversity of marine mollusks, along with their worldwide availability and ease of harvesting, makes them an enticing subject for scientific research. Mollusks are frequently the target of pharmaceutical scientists who are searching for novel compounds to benefit the population. This study targets the investigation of the antioxidant, antibiofilm, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic activities of different solvent extracts of marine mollusk Trochus erithreus . The chemical constituents of the most promising extract and molecular docking analyses are also investigated. Results showed that ethyl alcohol extract had the highest phenolic content (213.90 ± 4.88 mg GAE/ g extract), total antioxidant activity (545.33 ± 4.02 mg AAE/ g extract), and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (31.32 ± 1.49), while the acetone extract had the highest scavenging effect against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl radical (IC 50 : 53.59 ± 1.71 μg/ml). The acetone extract also displayed pronounced antibacterial activity against Proteus vulgaris with an inhibition ratio of up to 67.93% and it had potent cytotoxic effects against both prostate (IC 50 : 1.666 ± 0.07 μg/ml) and human lung carcinoma cell lines (IC 50 : 12.04 ± 0.55 μg/ml). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry investigation of the acetone extract resulted in the recognition of 45 compounds. Bisabolol oxide A (24.63%), (E)-α-farnesene (7.89%), and tricyclo[8.2.0.0(2,5)] dodeca-3,6,8,11-tetraene (5.41%) were detected as major components. The molecular docking study demonstrated strong binding scores and modes of interactions of several major compounds, inside the active binding sites of bacterial enzymes, thymidylate kinase, DNA gyrase B, and DNA topoisomerase IV/subunit Bs.


INTRODUCTION
Research involving the study of marine mollusks has exponentially increased over the last several decades as more is discovered about the vast array of health-promoting compounds found in marine mollusks. These compounds are a rich source for the growing market of nutraceuticals and novel pharmaceutical compounds as evidenced by the explosive growth of new marine organism-based products in the current market (Gad El-Karim et al., 2022;Kuppusamy and Ulagesan, 2016). The aquatic environment is the largest storage of natural molecules to be examined for beneficial drug activities (Gerwick, 1987;Hamed et al., 2020). Marine organisms have proven useful in the development of anticancer compounds and secondary metabolite bioactive compounds, used to counter infectious diseases and inflammation (Agour et al., 2022;. These developments strengthen the public perception of and subsequent demand for valuable products from the sea (Bhatnagar and Kim, 2010). Marine spineless creatures offer a prospective exporter of novel anti-infective medications (Bazes et al., 2009). The phylum mollusca, which consists of softbodied spineless creatures, is the second-biggest phylum in the animal realm and comprises a major part of the world's marine invertebrate animal life. The bulk of the research related to the natural products from the phylum mollusca has been primarily focused on the fluffy body mollusk (Faulkner, 2019). Valuable information is provided through the investigations of antimicrobial ingredients of oceanic invertebrates which can contain additional antimicrobial compounds leading to the development of novel antibiotics; antimicrobial peptides are preferentially studied due to their wide application in both human and other animal systems (Boman, 1995). The increasing need for effective antimicrobials provides the opportunity for extensive investigation into bioactive compounds found in over 150,000 species of marine mollusks. Delving into a better understanding of the structural composition and bioactivity of the bioactive peptides discovered in marine mollusks gives the potential to enhance the health benefits of both nutraceutical and pharmaceutical agents through the development of novel supplements and medications useful in the treatment of a variety of illnesses. Trochus erithreus (Brocchi, 1821) are invertebrate marine mollusks belonging to the family Trochidae (Top Snails) characterized by their cone-shaped and pointed shape that resembles a spinning top. These mollusks help in growing algae and peak snail shells, just as turbans, characterized by a pale grayish-white color, tinted with blue, which fit in with motherof-pearl. Also, this product has been used in an abundance of commercial products such as jewelry and buttons (Williams, 2010).
Increasing antibiotic resistance against existing antibiotics has created a crucial demand for the detection and acquiring novel antibiotics. The development of resistance to a broad spectrum of antimicrobial drugs is considered one of the most important challenges in healthcare today. The suboptimal treatment of microbial infections frequently leads to the recurrence of the infection (Kaczor et al., 2017;Simões et al., 2017) making the selection of specific targets critical for minimizing resistance (Silver, 2007). One of the pathways to overcoming resistance is the interaction of the antimicrobial agent with different enzymes using a variety of mechanisms that can improve efficacy (Tari et al., 2013). Based on this premise, the mechanisms of the newly isolated compounds were explored via the Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) program by using three bacterial enzymes: thymidylate kinase (TMK) which plays an important role in bacterial DNA synthesis; DNA gyrase B, which exists in most bacteria and is fundamental for bacterial DNA repetition and repair; and a subunit B of topoisomerase IV which decatenates bacterial DNA and helps in relaxing positive supercoils (Kawatkar et al., 2014). The three bacterial enzymes were used for investigation for their importance in regulating the topological status of bacterial DNA during replication utilizing their native ligands for comparison. A molecular docking study was conducted by the MOE program so as to explore the possible antimicrobial mechanism of the marine mollusk ingredients (1-7) and to foretell and record poses of protein-ligand binding via using the structure of the three bacterial objective enzymes.
This research work aimed to focus on the effect of extraction solvent on the chemical composition and beneficial peptides of marine molluscan. We also harvested T. erithreusderived extracts in a bioprospecting manner in order to investigate the chemical composition as well as molecular docking and antioxidant, antibiofilm, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic activities in the various harvested extracts.

Samples collection and extraction
The marine mollusks were assembled from Ain AlSokhna, Egypt, and identified (Abu-ElEinin et al., 2021). Soft parts were extracted separately with several organic solvents: ethanol, acetone, and ethyl acetate. Once extracted, the samples were tested for their total antioxidant competence and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity. Additional tests were performed to evaluate their antibacterial and antibiofilm activity (at a concentration of 500 µg/ml). Based on the antimicrobial testing, the most promising samples were further processed for cytotoxicity testing, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and for molecular docking evaluation.

DPPH free radical scavenging efficacy
The free radical scavenging antioxidant activity was estimated according to the reported procedures (Shirwaikar et al., 2006).

Estimation of total antioxidant capacity (TAC)
The TAC was evaluated according to the reported procedures (Ghareeb et al., 2016;Prieto et al., 1999).

Determination of total phenolic content (TPC)
The TPC was determined using Folin-Ciocalteu's reagent according to the reported procedures (Kumar et al., 2008).

Antimicrobial activity
The antimicrobial activity of the crude tested extracts was evaluated against six pathogenic microbial strains according to the reported procedures (Elkhouly et al., 2021a;Mayers et al., 2017).

Cytotoxicity [microculture tetrazolium (MTT) assay]
The cytotoxic activity was evaluated by using an MTT assay according to the reported procedures (Madkour et al., 2017).

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis
GC-MS investigation was performed according to the previous procedures (Madkour et al., 2017).

Molecular docking
The docking profile of all compounds was obtained using the MOE-Dock/2014.09. Chemical skeletons of compounds (1-7) were drawn by using the builder button. Then, energyminimization of the drawn compounds was done by the program. Docking of all compounds inside the active binding site of Thymidylate kinase, DNA gyrase B, and DNA topoisomerase IV/subunit B enzymes was then performed. During the docking process, water molecules were removed, and also missing H-atoms were reserved. The "Docking" tool was used to attain molecular docking. The operation was run with presumptive regulations. The top 30 poses, were recorded, and then, Generalized-Born Volume Integral/Weighted Surface Area (GBVI/WSA double integral) scoring task was utilized for scoring. The "Ligand Interactions" tool was utilized for the analysis of the obtained results by visualizing the ligand-protein interactions.

Statistical analysis
All data were submitted after completing triple measurements using mean ± SD that uses the Statistical Package for the Social Science software (version 20.1, Chicago, IL). Data are presented as mean ± SD or standard error of the mean. The limit for statistical significance was set at p > 0.05.

Antioxidant activity and TPC
DPPH and phosphomolybdenum tests were utilized to assess the antioxidant effect of different solvent extracts of T. erithreus. In the DPPH test, the IC 50 values for the investigated extracts varied from 28.41 to 53.59 µg/ ml in comparison to ascorbic acid with IC 50 = 7.50 µg/ml. The antiradical activities are in the arrangement: Te-EtOH ˃ Te-EtOAc ˃ Te-acetone. In the phosphomolybdenum test, the Te-EtOH extract exhibited high TAC with 213.90 mg AAE/g dry extract, followed by Te-EtOAc and Te-acetone with TAC values of 211.37 and 154.46 mg AAE/g dry extract, respectively. TPC values were coherent with TAC findings where Te-EtOH extract had the highest phenolic content being 213.90 ± 4.88 mg GAE/g extract while the Te-acetone fraction showed the lowest content (154.46 ± 4.13 mg GAE/g dry extract) (Table 1).

Antimicrobial activity
The antimicrobial potential of the T. erithreus extracts was measured using the MTP test. Findings disclosed that the Teacetone extract exhibited noticeable antibacterial activity against Proteus vulgaris with a suppression proportion up to 67.93%, and mild antibacterial activity versus Escherichia coli and Klebsiella sp. while it demonstrated low antibacterial efficiency against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Additionally, the Te-EtOAc extract showed a moderate antibacterial effect on Klebsiella sp. and P. vulgaris and low antibacterial activity toward E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus. The Te-EtOH showed very low antibacterial activity toward S. aureus and Klebsiella sp. The antifungal effect was observed toward Candida albicans and results indicated that both Te-EtOAc and Te-acetone demonstrated anticandidal efficacy (Table 2).

Antibiofilm
Using microtiter plates biofilm assays, the biofilm inhibition activity of the T. erithreus extract and pure compounds were measured using four microbial species (S. aureus,  1).

Cytotoxicity of Te-acetone extract
The antineoplastic effect of T. erithreus acetone extract on pc3, Hela, and National Cancer Institute (NCI)-H1299 cell lines was assessed through MTT. The IC 50 value of acetone extract from T. erithreus was employed and effective doses were considered from the dose-response chart. Results of the cytotoxicity estimation against pc3, Hela, and NCI-H1299 cell line of the T. erithreus acetone extract are demonstrated in Table 3. The extract exhibited very strong efficacy versus the pc3 cell line achieving an IC 50 value of 1.666 ± 0.07 µg/ml. On the contrary, the extract exhibited significantly less efficacy versus the NCI-H1299 cell line with an IC 50 value of 12.04 ± 0.55 µg/ml. The criteria of cytotoxicity for the crude extract, as determined by the U.S. NCI, are an IC 50 < 20 µg/ml in the initial test (Ghareeb et al., 2014;Shoeb et al., 2014). On the treatment with T. erithreus extract,  Hela cells showed moderate cell death at a lower concentration of the extract when compared to staurosporine, the control drug (Fig. 2).

Molecular docking study
The molecular docking study started by downloading the three target enzymes: TMK (PDB: 4QGG), DNA gyrase B (PDB: 6F86), and DNA topoisomerase IV/subunit B (PDB: 4HZ5) from the protein data bank. The obtained results are displayed in Tables 4-6, Figures 5-7, and supplementary Figures 1S-15S. Interestingly, compounds 1, 3, 5, and 6 displayed the best binding modes in the active sites of the three examined enzymes whereas (E)-α-farnesene showed the least binding affinity forming arene-H interaction with Tyr100 amino acid while showing only hydrophobic interaction in both active sites of DNA gyrase B and DNA topoisomerase IV/subunit B.

Docking into TMK active site (PDB: 4QGG)
Docking simulation of detected components (1-7) within the energetic location of TMK was performed on (PDB: 4QGG). Redocking of the cocrystallized ligand was first performed for validation, revealing a docking score value = −6.741 kcal/mol with a root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of 1.69 Å. Two hydrogen bonds with the main residue Gln101, in addition to another two hydrogen bonds with Arg36 and Arg70, were observed (Fig. 5). Studied compounds showed binding energies with a range of values from −5.357 to −10.780 kcal/mol comparable to that of the ligand which was −10.741 kcal/mol. Compounds 1, 3, 5, and 6 were able to interact with the most important amino acids in the dynamic site, revealed by the docking results and their compulsory poses ( Fig. 5 and Table 4). Compound 5 (α-bisabololoxide-B) revealed the best binding energy score = −10.780kcal/ mol and also showed good binding interaction with the essential amino acids in the dynamic location via the development of two H-bounds with Arg36 and Arg48 residues.

Docking into DNA gyrase B active site (PDB: 6F86)
Docking results revealed that all compounds showed good binding scores ranging from −8.341 to −12.021 kcal/mol relative to the ligand (Table 5). For justification, redocking of the cocrystallized ligand was performed showing a docking score value = −12.897 kcal/mol with an RMSD = 1.79Å. It formed H bonds with Asn46 and Gln77 amino acids. Additionally, bisabolone oxide was able to form two hydrogen bonds with Asn46 and Asp73 having a high energy score nearly equal to that of the ligand (Fig. 6).

Docking into DNA topoisomerase IV/subunit B active site (PDB: 4HZ5)
The studied compounds were able to fit properly inside the active site of the enzyme forming hydrogen bonds with the key amino acids in the connecting location revealing binding energies ranging from −7.421 to −11.795 kcal/mol compared to the ligand = −10.068 kcal/mol (Table 6). Additionally, the RMSD value of the redocked cocrystallized ligand was 1.42Å. From the docking results, bisabolone oxide was theoretically the best DNA topoisomerase IV/subunit B inhibitor showing a binding score = −11.795 kcal/mol exceeding that of the ligand. The binding mode of bisabolone oxide revealed two hydrogen links with the amino acid residues His118 and Gly119 (Fig. 7).

DISCUSSION
Mollusca organisms in world research foundations are commonly used for diverse investigations, but lately, they have been renowned as possible sources of novel antibacterial and anticancer agents. This work aimed to identify and quantitate the capacity of antioxidant, antibacterial, and antineoplastic activity of the marine molluscan T. erithreus (Family: Trochidae) tissue extract. Solvent extraction is known as a widely used procedure to isolate bioactive compounds in research relevant to antioxidant screening. Solvent extraction uses nonpolar solvents primarily for extracting antioxidants (Moure et al., 2001). This study explicitly demonstrates significantly higher antioxidant activity compared to ascorbic acid TAC and TPC, which are two of the most important antioxidant parameters, showing a high potentiality of the extracts resignifying their ability as radical scavengers. The DPPH assay is superior regarding the cytotoxic activity shown by the other extracts, demonstrated by the high IC 50 (53.59 ± 1.71 μg/ml) value noticed for the Te-acetone extract while the IC 50 value of Te-EtOAc and Te-EtOH tissue extract were 31.56 ± 2.45 and 28.41 ± 1.75 μg/ml, respectively. This is in line with Nazeer and Naqash (2013) who reported that extracts taken after EtOAc and Et 2 O displayed greatly maximum DPPH radical scavenging efficacy than methanol extracts (controls) for both molluscan Loligo duvauceli and Donax cuneatus. Bae et al. (2012) indicated that     when ascorbic acid was utilized as a positive control, it masked the DPPH radical by 93.02 % at 100 μg/ml, while their related IC 50 values were 3.45 μg/ml. According to the WHO, antimicrobial resistance endangers the efficient obstruction and handling of a set of infections that is rapidly increasing, commonly produced by bacteria, parasites, viruses, and fungi. Antibiotic resistance emerges when pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites have a weak response to antibiotics making infections more difficult to treat and increasing the risk of transmission, escalating the severity of diseases and risk of death. Antibiotic resistance also leads to persistent infections, which further increases the risk of spreading to others (Gueguen et al., 2006;Mitta et al., 1999). Antibacterial and antifungal effects have been formerly explained in the hemolymph of numerous molluscan species involving sea hares, sea slung, oysters, and mussels (Olicard et al., 2005;Roch et al., 2008;Zasloff, 2002).
In this study, the maximum zone of Te-EtOH extract was noted against S. aureus 31.32 ± 1.49 mm. Similar findings were obtained by Kuppusamy and Ulagesan (2016), while the maximum zone of Te-EtOAc extracts observed in P. aeruginosa,C. albicans,and Klebsiella sp. was 26.56 ± 5.88,59.44 ± 0.22,and 51.16 ± 2.51 respectively. A similar finding was demonstrated by Anitha and Rose (2018) who reported that the EtOAc extract of the whole body showed a strong antimicrobial effect versus both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria; antifungal activity was also detected from the extracts of various mollusks. Furthermore, there was a strong maximum zone of Te-acetone extract observed in P. vulgaris and E. coli which were 67.93 ± 4.86 and 49.87 ± 1.29, respectively. Similar findings were reported in Thais savignyi gastropod extracts from Egypt and the Persian Gulf (Ameri et al., 2017;Habib et al., 2022).
Bacterial biofilm is the total of microorganisms living inside extracellular polymeric materials taking place in the attachment stage of a biofilm to the surface (Jamal et al., 2018). This natural incident is believed as being an important supplier of nosocomial infections (Ziebuhr et al., 2006). The results indicated the defending capability effect of T. erithreus extract (Te-acetone, Te-EtOAc, and Te-EtOH) against the biofilm formation by many types of microbial species (P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, E. coli, and B. subtilis) with the variability from strong 60% (Te-acetone against S. aureus) to moderate 40% (Te-acetone against B. subtilis) to low (Te-acetone against P. aeruginosa and E. coli). The fact that the suppression of biofilm production by these extract constituents was seen in miscellaneous molluscan types and against microbial species that are generally not found in their living water (like S. aureus) is indicative of innate nonspecific immunity components found inside of it (Hinzmann et al., 2018). Moreover, identical research reports on mussels were stated by Estari et al. (2011) using Lamellidens marginalis and by Santhiya and Sanjeevi (2014) regarding Parreysia corrugata. Estari et al. (2011) examined tissue extracts from L. marginalis, which were diluted in numerous solvents.
GC-MS is used to identify the contents of volatile matter, long and branched-chain hydrocarbons, acids, alcohols, and esters. GC-MS study of acetone extract of T. erithreus confirms the occurrence of the above-mentioned bioactive constituents which could be accountable for the antioxidant, cytotoxic, and antimicrobial effects.
Many of these compounds have been structurally elucidated. Te-acetone extract comprises 45 compounds with total peak areas constituting 96.53%. According to the result, the main detected compounds are sesquiterpenoid bisabolol oxide A which has very strong anticancer activities against the human prostate cancer cell line (pc3), strong anticancer effect versus human big cell lung carcinoma cell line taken from the lymph node (NCI-H1299), and moderate anticancer against cervical cancer (Hela). Similar findings to these results (Cavalieri et al., 2009;Seki et al., 2011;Uno et al., 2016) indicated that bisabolol derivatives have been shown to exert antitumor, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities. Murata et al. (2017) stated that the in vivo experiments revealed that bisabolol derivatives were found to successfully inhibit peritoneal dissemination and xenograft tumor growth of pancreatic cancer.
In the presented results, α-bisabolol-oxide-B revealed the best binding energy score (−10.780 kcal/mol) for TMK where the bisabolone oxide represented the best binding energy score for the other two enzymes DNA gyrase B and subunit B of topoisomerase IV (−12.897 and −11.795 kcal/mol, respectively) indicating that both compounds might have a good antibacterial activity compared to the other separated compounds from T. erithreus acetone extract in this investigation.
In light of the obtained results, we can conclude that T. erithreus have many types of chemically promising compounds that can be used in curative characteristics as a novel very strong antineoplastic drug for human prostate cancer and strong antineoplastic activity against human big cell lung carcinoma cell line taken from the lymph node, rather than the antioxidant, antibacterial, and antibiofilm activities. In addition, the molecular docking analysis disclosed that the studied compounds have a great attraction to the active sites of bacterial TMK, bacterial DNA gyrase B, and bacterial DNA topoisomerase IV/subunit B enzymes. Based on the above-mentioned findings, both α-bisabolol-oxide-B and bisabolone oxide could be considered promising inhibitors of the target bacterial enzymes used in this study and hopeful hits for the development of novel antimicrobial agents. Studies to investigate whether dietary intake of these marine mollusks can enhance health by acting on cellular pharmacological objectives are recommended.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
All authors made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; agreed to submit to the current journal; gave final approval of the version to be published; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. All the authors are eligible to be an author as per the international committee of medical journal editors (ICMJE) requirements/guidelines.

FUNDING
There is no funding to report.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

ETHICAL APPROVAL
This study does not involve experiments on animals or human subjects.

DATA AVAILABILITY
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

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