This study was aimed to determine the antibacterial properties of extracts isolated from lichen Parmelia vagans.Many pharmaceutical products today have derivatives from living organisms. Recently, Lichens have been found to have secondary metabolites which have been found to have various physiological effects including antimicrobial activity. A lichen is a composite organism composed of a photobiont such as an alga or cyanobacterium and a mycobiont, a fungus. In this study, the antimicrobial activity of extracts from a lichen identified as Parmelia vagans was evaluated.Extracts of Parmelia vagans were initially obtained by using various solvents to find the most efficient extraction of antimicrobial compound(s). We found that extracts obtained using ethyl acetate have the highest antimicrobial activity and were further used to study the properties of the extracted compounds. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts was evaluated using the Resazurin cell viability assay; the microbes investigated were Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli. It was observed that extracts had no inhibitory effect on the growth of Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumonia at the tested concentrations, but inhibition of growth was observed in Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Streptococcus pneumoniae.The constituents of the crude extracts were separated using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). After separation, each fraction was tested to identify which contained the antimicrobial activity. From the several fractions, one was found to contain nearly all of the antimicrobial activity and was further evaluated against different strains of bacteria.Our data indicate that purified TLC fractions containing antibacterial activities that inhibit a growth of both gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains.Support or Funding InformationTouro University Nevada Intramural Research Grant
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