Antibacterial mechanism of oregano essential oil

• Published in: Industrial crops and products 2019-11, Vol.139, p.111498, Article 111498
• Main Authors: Cui, Haiying, Zhang, Chenghui, Li, Changzhu, Lin, Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibacterial mechanism; MRSA; Oregano essential oil; Oxidative respiratory metabolism; Pvl gene
• ISSN: 0926-6690; 1872-633X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.111498

•Oregano essential oil can inhibit respiratory metabolism and energy metabolism of MRSA.•The main component of oregano essential oil can change the DNA structure of MRSA.•Oregano essential oil has a significant effect on the expression level of the PVL gene. Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is highly pathogenic and multi-drug resistant, so MRSA infection has become one of the important pathogens of nosocomial infections. Oregano essential oil is an effective natural antibacterial agent and has been found to be effective in inhibiting MRSA. In this experiment, the effects of oregano essential oil on respiratory metabolism, energy metabolism and genetic material of MRSA were studied with the metabolism as the starting point. At the same time, the effects of oregano essential oil on the relative expression of pvl in MRSA were further studied from the genetic level. The results indicate that oregano essential oil can cause irreversible damage to the MRSA cell membrane and cause leakage of biological macromolecules in the cell. Oregano essential oil inhibits the tricarboxylic acid cycle pathway and its key enzymes and affects the metabolites. In addition, the main component of oregano essential oil, carvacrol, can be chimeric with DNA, and oregano essential oil inhibits the relative expression of the pvl gene.