VOLUME1, ISSUE 1 | 2004

S. Bennis1, F. Chami1, N. Chami1, K. Rhayour1, A. Tantaoui-Elaraki2, A. Remmal1*
1 Faculté des Sciences, Laboratoire de Biotechnologie BP 1796 Atlas Fez, Morocco
2 Sup Agro, 22 rue le Câtelet Belvédère, Casablanca, Morocco.
*Corresponding author: Phone +21261532398, Fax +21255732981, E-mail adnaneremmal@hotmail.com
Abstract. Eugenol, the phenolic major component of clove essential oil, was used in this study to elucidate its antimicrobial mechanism against the yeast; Saccharomyces cerevisiae, gram positive bacteria; Bacillus subtilis and gram negative bacteria; Escherichia coli. For all organisms tested, the treatment with this phenolic major component reduced the cellular viability by inducing the release of substances absorbing at 260 nm. This supposes that cell lethality was a consequence of cellular lysis. In addition, scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that the envelope of all treated cells by eugenol was significantly damaged.
Key words: Eugenol, S. cerevisiae, B. subtilis, E. coli, Mechanism of action.