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Effect of salt stress on the antimicrobial activity of Ruta chalepensis essential oils

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Abstract

In the current investigation, the biological activities of essential oils obtained from organs of Ruta chalepensis plants grown under salt stress (0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl) were analyzed. Their chemical composition was often investigated by GC/FID and GC–MS and the antimicrobial activities towards eight bacteria (Salmonella All, Salmonella K, Escherichia coli 45AG, Escherichia coli 45AI, Staphylococcus aureus 9402, Staphylococcus aureus 02B145, Listeria 477 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 10145) and five fungi strains (Aspergillus, Saccharomycee crvisiale, Streptomyces griseus, Fusarium solani and Penicillium thomii) were studied. Results revealed that salt increased essential oil production in leaves at 50 and 100 mM NaCl. A total of 20 compounds were identified in leaves, undecan-2-one, nonan-2-one and geijerene being the dominant ones. In stems, 21 compounds were found; they were dominated by decan-2-one, geijerene, nonan-2-one and undecan-2-one. In contrast, roots exhibited a large variation with 25 volatile compounds and octyl acetate, methyl decanoate, phytyl acetate were the major ones. Salt stress induced significant antibacterial activity changes, mainly in leaves and stems. In leaves, the minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration decreased at 100 mM NaCl against Listeria 477, the two strains of E. coli (45AG and 45AI) and P. aeruginosa but it increased versus other bacteria. In stems, salt increased oil antibacterial activity against all strains except P. aeruginosa ATCC 10145. Root oil showed the least antibacterial activity under saline conditions versus Listeria 477 and P. aeruginosa ATCC 10145. As regards antifungal activity, NaCl reduced the antifungal activity of essential oils against the majority of fungi strains.

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Abbreviations

MAP:

Medicinal and aromatic plant

SMs:

Secondary metabolites

EOs:

Essential oils

GC/FID:

Gas chromatography-flame ionization detector

GC–MS:

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

MIC:

Minimum inhibitory concentration

MBC:

Minimal bactericidal concentration

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Acknowledgments

This study was conducted as part of a Tunisian French collaboration, supported by Ministry of Higher Education and Nice Institute of Chemistry, University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis.

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  1. Unite de Physiologie et Biochimie de la réponse des plantes aux contraintes abiotiques, Departement de Biologie, FST, Campus universitaire Farhat Hached d’El-Manar, 1068, Tunis, Tunisia

    Thouraya Amdouni, Saoussen Ben Abdallah, Najoua Msilini, Mohamed Chebbi, Mokhtar Lachâal, Najoua Karray-Bouraoui & Zeineb Ouerghi

  2. Institut de Chimie de Nice, UMR CNRS 7272, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Parc Valrose, 06108, Nice Cedex 2, France

    Thouraya Amdouni, Florence Merck & Xavier Fernandez

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  1. Thouraya Amdouni
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  2. Saoussen Ben Abdallah
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Correspondence to Thouraya Amdouni.

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Communicated by M. J. Reigosa.

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Amdouni, T., Ben Abdallah, S., Msilini, N. et al. Effect of salt stress on the antimicrobial activity of Ruta chalepensis essential oils. Acta Physiol Plant 38, 147 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-016-2167-x

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