Studies on chemical composition and antimicrobial activities of bioactive molecules from date palm (<i>Phoenix dactylifera</i> L.) pollens and seeds

Abstract

Background: Natural resources have been the crucial origin of chemical elements. They have been used in many traditions as alternative medicines. The chemical profiling of some plant extracts and essential oils related to different plants were followed to unveil their most active components. In this paper, Phoenix dactilyfera L was selected as a host plant to investigate the composition of different organs with different cultivars.

Materials and method: The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the extracts have been tested using different techniques, including optical density and GC/MS analyses of the natural extracts.

Results: GC/MS analysis revealed the presence of abundant oleic (36.69%) and lauric (20.49%) acids in date seeds. However,the pollen contains a high amount of palmitic (22.27 %), linoleic (33.4%) and linolenic (17.055%) acids. Moreover, the largest inhibition zone is obtained with the organic extract of Deglet Nour which showed a strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and pollen extract showed also a strong inhibition against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, S. aureus MRSA and Enterococcus faecalis. Aqueous extracts of date palm seeds of and pollen seem to have a fongitoxique activity from a concentration of 6 mg.mL^-1 and 12mg.mL^-1 of cyanidine; as well as the organic extracts of pollen with a concentration of 90 μg.mL^-1 induce an inhibition to the growth of five special forms of Fusarium oxysporum.

Conclusion: The bioactive compounds of date palm can be used for drug development and in the food industry.

Keywords: Pollen, dates seeds, fatty acids, flavonoids, pathogenic bacteria, fungitoxicity