Red ginger (Zingiber officinale var. rubrum): Its essential oil content and potential as an anti-propionibacterium acnes by molecular docking

Red ginger (Zingiber officinale var. rubrum) is one of the popular ginger varieties in Indonesia. Compounds contained in the essential oil of the red ginger rhizomes were thought to have antibacterial activity against Propionibacterium acnes. These bacteria will cause acne if their growth is not controlled. This study aimed to identify compounds and obtain potential compounds in red ginger rhizomes as an antibacterial against P. acnes using molecular docking in silico. Red ginger rhizomes were distilled using steam distillation and yielded 0,03% essential oils. The essential oils obtained were analyzed using GC-MS and yielded 13 compounds (91,9%) with camphene (27.3%) and zingiberene (15.4%) as the major components. Molecular docking was assisted by Autodock Tools and LigPlus software. The target proteins used were lipase, exo-β-1,4-mannosidase, and KAS III from P. acnes. The control ligand used was benzoyl peroxide. Compounds with lower affinity energy than control, %BSS >50%, and passing the admetSAR test are compounds with the potential as anti-P.acnes. The β-bisabolene is a compound that may act as an anti-P. acnes with the mechanism of inhibiting the action ol all target protein enzymes.