Combating Pathogenic Microorganisms Using Plant-Derived Antimicrobials: A Minireview of the Mechanistic Basis

Table 1

Chemical structure, examples, and antimicrobial spectrum of major groups of plant-derived antimicrobials.

Plant-derived antimicrobials	Chemical structure	Examples*	Selected antimicrobial spectrum	References
Phenolics and polyphenols
Flavonoids	(Beecher, 2003) [263]	Flavones(apigenin, chrysin, rutin); Flavanones(naringenin, fisetin); Catechins(catechin, epicatechin); Anthocyanins(cyanidin, petunidin)	Listeria monocytogenes Staphylococcus aureus Escherichia coli O157:H7; Salmonella enterica; Vibrio cholera; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Acinetobacter baumannii; Klebsiella pneumonia; Aspergillus flavus; Penicillium sp.; Cladosporium sp.	Beecher, 2003 [263]; Chye and Hoh, 2007 [264]; Orhan et al., 2010 [265]; Rattanachaikunsopon and Phumkhachorn, 2010 [266]; Ozçelik et al., 2008 [267]; Cushnie and Lamb, 2005 [268]
Quinones	(Cowan, 1999) [34]	Anthraquinone; Benzoquinone; Naphthoquinone; Plastoquinone; Pyrroloquinoline quinone	Staphylococcus aureus Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Bacillus subtilis; Cryptococcus neoformans	Ignacimuthu et al., 2009 [269]; Singh et al., 2006 [270]; Cowan, 1999 [34]
Tannins	(Scalbert, 1991) [46]	Tannic acid; Gallic acid; Proanthocyanidins	Staphylococcus aureus Bacillus cereus; Listeria monocytogenes; Salmonella enterica; Campylobacter jejuni	Engels et al., 2009 [271]; Scalbert, 1991 [46]
Coumarins	(Cowan, 1999) [34]	Ammoresinol; Ostruthin; Anthogenol; Agasyllin	Staphylococcus aureus Listeria monocytogenes; Escherichia coli O157:H7 Salmonella Typhimurium Salmonella Enteritidis; Vibrio parahaemolyticus	Basile et al., 2009 [272]; Ulate-Rodríguez et al., 1997 [273]; Venugopala et al., 2013 [274]; Saleem et al., 2010 [275]; Cowan, 1999 [34]
Alkaloids
Terpenoids	(Ulubelen, 2003) [276]	Carotenoids; Terpinene; Isopentenyl pyrophosphate	Staphylococcus aureus Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Vibrio cholera; Salmonella typhi	Ulubelen, 2003 [276]; Bach et al., 2011 [277]; Batista et al., 1994 [278]; Mathabe et al., 2008 [279]
Lectins and polypeptides	Concanavalin A; (Hardman and Ainsworth, 1972) [280]	Concanavalin A; Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA); Aleuria aurantia lectin (AAL)	Staphylococcus aureus Bacillus subtilis; Escherichia coli; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Candida albicans	Hardman and Ainsworth, 1972 [280]; Petnual et al., 2010 [281]; Kheeree et al., 2010 [282]; Peumans and Van Damme, 1995 [283]

The examples discussed in the table are only representative for the group. For an extended list of examples of each group, the readers are requested to peruse review articles in the References section and other sources.