Abstract
Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are a rich source of bioactive compounds that are immensely important due to their potential use in pharmacological and agricultural applications. Here, we have evaluated the antimicrobial activity of essential oils (EOs) from three different species of Ocimum: O. gratissimum (EO1), O. tenuiflorum (EO2), and O. sanctum (EO3). The EOs were screened for antibacterial activity against pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The essential oils EO1 and EO3 showed significant growth inhibition of the tested bacteria. Likewise, all EOs exhibited antifungal potential against the broad-spectrum plant fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum that causes white-mould disease in plants. Moreover, the antimicrobial potential of the EOs correlates well with their antioxidant activity determined by DPPH free radical scavenging activity. The biochemical analysis of the EOs employing high-performance thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, revealed the presence of distinct phytoconstituents that might be responsible for their differential bioactivity. Furthermore, an in-silico evaluation of the candidate phytoconstituents using molecular docking analysis suggests their potential for antimicrobial applications. Altogether, our results clearly show that EO1 and EO3 possess promising antimicrobial properties, and therefore could be utilized as a potential antimicrobial agent.
Highlights
Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) contain a plethora of bioactive pharmacological compounds that endow enormous beneficial effects and support ecological as well as economical benefits [1,2]
The peaks number and their area revealed the high heterogeneity of EO1 in terms of its constituent biochemicals, and this heterogeneity was further followed by EO3 and EO2 (Figure 1)
The volatile nature of essential oils (EOs) is attributed to diverse secondary metabolites produced by aromatic plants
Summary
Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) contain a plethora of bioactive pharmacological compounds that endow enormous beneficial effects and support ecological as well as economical benefits [1,2]. As their name implies, aromatic plants possess aromatic compounds, more precisely, these comprise essential oils (EO). The growing corpus of evidence have shown that the constituents of EOs enhance the diversity of the plant’s secondary metabolites to endure the pathogenesis [8–10]. These constituents are known to have a beneficial impact on growth, and are referred as bio-stimulants. The medicinal use of Ocimum sp. has been known since the Vedic period (3500–1600 B.C.), the beneficial role of its phytoconstituents in crop protection remains poorly understood [15,16]
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