Abstract
Terpenoids are natural compounds originating from five-carbon isoprene units. Over 60,000 terpenoid structures have been identified, and they contribute to the flavor, color, growth, and development of plants. There are several reports on various physiological activities of terpenoids, such as antioxidative and anticancer activities. This study revealed that combinations of terpenoids have activities against a spectrum of bacteria. The combination of carvacrol and thymol has bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities. Four terpenoids (carvacrol, thymol, eugenol, and nootkatone) exhibited bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities when used at low concentrations for 5‒10 min. The most effective bactericidal activity was observed for gram-negative bacteria. A very weak bactericidal activity was observed against Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. This study revealed the antibacterial potential of different combinations of terpenoids against several bacteria that were tested. Thus, new candidates for the development of antibacterial medicines are reported here for the effective treatment of infectious bacterial diseases.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank the University of Ryukyus for providing the bacterial strains. This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI, grant number JP21K14811.
Funding
This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI, Grant Number JP21K14811.
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The author (TY) contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection and analysis were performed by the author. The first draft of the manuscript was written by the author, and the author commented on previous versions of the manuscript. The author read and approved the final manuscript.
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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.
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Yamaguchi, T. Antibacterial effect of the combination of terpenoids. Arch Microbiol 204, 520 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-022-03142-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-022-03142-y