Thymus musilii Velen. as a promising source of potent bioactive compounds with its pharmacological properties: In vitro and in silico analysis

For the first time, we reported the phytochemical composition of the volatile oil from Thymus musilii Velen (T. musilii). The antioxidant and antimicrobial activities against various food-borne and clinical pathogenic microorganisms were also tested. The thyme oil was particularly rich in thymol (67.697 ± 0.938%), and thymyl acetate (12.993 ± 0.221%). The strongest antioxidant activity of the essential oil was registered with the tests: ABTS (IC50 = 5.6 × 10−4 mg/mL) and β-carotene/linoleic acid (IC50 = 3.2 × 10−3 mg/mL). This thymol-chemotype oil was active against all microorganisms tested with an inhibition growth zone ranging from 21.33 ± 1.52 mm for Proteus mirabilis (P. mirabilis) to 37.33 ± 1.15 mm for Candida vaginalis (C. vaginalis) strain. Overall, the tested oil exhibited bactericidal and fungicidal activities and only a small quantity of the tested essential oil was found to be sufficient for inhibiting the growth of the tested microorganisms. Furthermore, molecular docking results implies that, among the bioactive compounds, β-caryophyllene interacted strongly with the active site residues of TyrRS, GLMS and Gyrase enzymes and consequently support our in vitro results with the highest inhibition potential of this essential oil against tested pathogens, especially Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). Our results suggested that essential oil of T. musiliii exhibited strong biological activities with a promising source of various natural compounds.