Tagetes lucida Cav. essential oil and the mixture of its main compounds are antibacterial and modulate antibiotic resistance in multi-resistant pathogenic bacteria

Lett Appl Microbiol. 2022 Aug;75(2):210-223. doi: 10.1111/lam.13721. Epub 2022 Apr 20.

Abstract

We evaluated an essential oil (EO) of Tagetes lucida Cav. and the mixture of its main compounds against multi-drug resistant bacteria. We found that EO and the partially reconstituted blend of its main components have antibacterial activity and inhibit antibiotic resistance (ampicillin, chloramphenicol, nalidixic acid, vancomycin and imipenem) in strains of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa HIM-MR01. The T. lucida EO alone or added to the antibiotics showed antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. The EO main bioactive compounds were methyl eugenol (relative abundance in EO: 46·15%), estragole (32·93%), linalool (2·48%) and geraniol (0·33%). The mixture (PREO) of those compounds at those proportions inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa in 45% at 683·62 µg ml-1 and that of S. aureus in 51·7% at 39·04 µg ml-1 . The PREO had higher antibacterial and modulatory activities than the original EO. In conclusion, we overcame the unpredictability of EO activity (due to their natural variability) by determining which EO components inhibited bacteria and then producing a PREO to generate a reproducible mixture with predictable antibacterial and modulation of resistance activities. Thus, the PREO, and its components, show potential as alternatives to manage multidrug-resistant pathogens.

Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa HIM-MR01; Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213; Tagetes lucida; antimicrobial activity; multidrug-resistant bacteria; partially reconstituted essential oil; synergistic interaction.

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
  • Bacteria
  • Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Oils, Volatile* / pharmacology
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa
  • Staphylococcus aureus
  • Tagetes*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Oils, Volatile