Phytochemical analysis and anti-UTI activity of essential oil from meta-topolin-induced micropropagated Artemisia vulgaris L.

Artemisia vulgaris is a medicinally important essential oil–yielding plant belonging to Asteraceae, used as a traditional remedy against chronic diseases. The essential oil of this plant has been used as an insect repellent and antimicrobial agent. The growing concern of antibiotic resistance has forced to find an alternative way to control multi-drug-resistant urinary tract–infecting bacterial pathogens by using the essential oil and leaf extract of A. vulgaris for the first time. The antibacterial activity showed that the essential oil (in situ, ex vitro) and leaf crude extract (ex vitro) are highly effective on all human urinary tract–infecting pathogens. In contrast, ex vitro plant-mediated essential oil is most significant with an 18.07 ± 0.17-mm inhibition zone against Klebsiella pneumoniae. The ex vitro plants are also superior to the in situ plants for obtaining greater extract and essential oil content (950 µl), over a time period of 12 wk. To obtain the ex vitro plants, meta-topolin is used for in vitro regeneration of A. vulgaris for the first time, showing the highest mean shoot number (98.11 ± 0.31) regeneration after 42 d, which is more significant in comparison with other studies conducted till date. The cytogenetic stability of the regenerated plantlets has been checked using start codon targeted polymorphism and cytological studies, conferring the homogeneity among regenerants along with in situ plant. Furthermore, the essential oil of the ex vitro plants was analysed through gas-chromatography mass spectroscopy, which detected a few compounds with bio-significance from A. vulgaris, including 2-carene, 2-(4-nitrophenyl) acetamide, β-guaiene, α-acorenol, and 10,12-Tricosadiyonic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]