ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF LICHEN PARMOTREMA SPP.

Abstract

An attempt has been made to study the antibacterial activity of different lichen Parmotrema spp. and subjected for solvent extraction against seven clinically potential antibiotic resistant bacteria. Different types of Parmotrema spp. such as P. austrosinense, P. hababianum, P. nilgherrense. P. reticulatam and P. tinctorum were collected from various living and non-living substrates Kodaikanal hills of Tamil Nadu, India for the present study. Antibiotic like compounds were successfully extracted from the thallus of Parmotrema spp. using petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and chloroform subsequently tested for their antibacterial activity by well diffusion method. The results showed that a remarkable antibacterial activity of all Parmotrema spp. against the tested organisms was recorded.  But antibacterial activity of Parmotrema spp.  was found to be inferior to the standard antibiotics such as streptomycin and ciprofloxacin. The results further revealed that there was no significant difference among Parmotrema spp. tested in terms of antibacterial activity. It was due to several biotic and abiotic factors including origin of plant materials, growth habitats, vegetation habits, age of the plant materials and extract preparation. Ethyl acetate extract of tea leaves was found to be the most effective against human pathogenic organisms in terms of growth inhibition.
Keywords: Lichen, Parmotrema spp., Antibacterial activity, Antibiotics, Pathogenic bacteria, Clinical pathogenic organisms.