Essential oils of indigenous citrus varieties of Northeast India as potential antibiofilm agents against foodborne pathogens: An in vitro and in silico study

Abstract

The unique structural and biological diversity found in plants renders them a distinctive and sustainable source for discovering new antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic compounds. In the present study, antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties of essential oils of citrus varieties of Northeast India were studied against selected foodborne pathogens using both in vitro and in silico approaches. These essential oils showed significant antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities against foodborne pathogens. i.e. Bacillus cereus MTCC430 and Yersinia enterocolitica MTCC859. It was observed that the treatment with essential oil disturbed the membrane integrity of the pathogens, thereby causing the release of nucleic acids. This study also postulated that active compounds of the essential oils interact with different target proteins of the pathogens and provide an explanation for the mechanisms of antimicrobial and antibiofilm action of the essential oils of citrus varieties against foodborne pathogens.

Keywords

• antimicrobial activity
• hydro-distillation
• membrane integrity
• minimum inhibitory concentration
• molecular docking