Mushtaq A. Mir *, Nasreena Bashir , Abdulkhaleg Alfaify , and Mohammed D. Y. Oteef
Myrtus communis is a typical plant of Mediterranean area. The different parts of this plant such as berries, branches, and leaves have been used worldwide as a traditional/folk medicine for the treatment of various ailments and diseases. Ethanolic leaf extract of the plant was prepared and its effect on bacterial growth was investigated. The ethanolic extract showed strong inhibitory effect against Gram-positive and acid-fast bacteria with significant inhibition-zone size (9–25mm), MIC (4.87–78 μg/ml), as well as MBC (0.3–20 mg/ml). However, no effect was observed on the growth of Gram-negative bacteria. The growth inhibition was found to be associated with the damage of cell wall as the extract-treated cells were sensitive to cell wall-targeting antibiotics and displayed the cell wall damage-depicting morphological defects. GC-MS analysis confirmed the presence of novel compounds in addition to the most representative compounds of the essential oils/extracts of M. communis of other country origins. These results demonstrate that M. communis leaf extract could be the source of compounds to be used for the treatment of Gram-positive bacterial infections. This is the first report, which provides insights into the mechanism of action of the extract in inhibiting the growth of Gram-positive bacteria.
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