Brazilian flora includes numerous species of medicinal importance that can be used to
develop new drugs. Plant tissue culture offers strategies for conservation and use of
these species allowing continuous production of plants and bioactive substances.
Annona mucosa has produced substances such as acetogenins and
alkaloids that exhibit antimicrobial activities. The widespread use of antibiotics
has led to an increase in multidrug-resistant bacteria, which represents a serious
risk of infection. In view of this problem, the aim of this work was to evaluate the
antibacterial potential of extracts of A. mucosa obtained by
in vitro techniques and also cultured under in
vivo conditions. Segments from seedlings were inoculated onto different
culture media containing the auxin picloram and the cytokinin kinetin at different
concentrations. The calluses obtained were used to produce cell suspension cultures.
The materials were subjected to methanol extraction and subsequent fractionation in
hexane and dichloromethane. The antimicrobial activity against 20 strains of clinical
relevance was evaluated by the macrodilution method at minimum inhibitory and minimum
bactericidal concentrations. The extracts showed selective antimicrobial activity,
inhibiting the growth of Streptococcus pyogenes and Bacillus
thuringiensis at different concentrations. The plant tissue culture
methods produced plant materials with antibacterial properties, as well as in
vivo grown plants. The antibacterial activity of material obtained
through biotechnological procedures of A. mucosa is reported here
for the first time.