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Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus, a Gram-positive organism, is responsible for numerous infections ranging in severity from skin and soft tissue infections to endocarditis and septic arthritis. Further, Staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) caused by enterotoxigenic staphylococci is one of the main food-borne diseases. In this study, several single-seed origin clonal lines of herbs from Lamiaceae family were screened for antimicrobial applications against S. aureus. These clonal lines have consistent total phenolic content, phenolic profile and antioxidant activity as opposed to heterogenous phenolic profiles of typical herbal extracts. The clonal extracts of specific herb species were evaluated for anti- S. aureus activity. Water extracts of clonal lemon balm had the highest anti- S. aureus activity followed by clonal extracts of rosemary RoLA, sage, oregano, rosemary Ro-6, rosemary RoK-2 and chocolate mint. The anti- S. aureus activity of the water extracts correlated with gallic acid and caffeic acid content, which in pure form showed high anti- S. aureus activity. Based on the rationale that gallic acid and caffeic acid were likely proline analogs affecting proline oxidation, the countering effect of proline to overcome their anti- S. aureus activity was evaluated. Results indicated proline can overcome the inhibitory effects of gallic acid and caffeic acid. These results point to the likely role of phenolic oxidation via proline dehydrogenase, which could be an important target for inhibition by phenolic phytochemicals behaving as proline analog mimics. This mode of regulation by phenolics at the bacterial proline dehydrogenase in the plasma membrane may be an important antimicrobial defense in plants and has consequences for disruption of critical energy metabolism of invading bacterial pathogen. This rationale could be used to design new antimicrobial strategies against S. aureus and other relevant bacterial pathogens.