Ammi majus L.; Family Apiaceae; is a plant indigenous to Egypt. Its fruits contain bioactive compounds such as furanocoumarins and flavonoids of important biological activities. An endophytic fungus was isolated from the fruits and identified as Aspergillus amstelodami (MK215708) by morphology, microscopical characterization, and molecular identification. To our knowledge this is the first time an endophytic fungus has been isolated from the fruits. The antimicrobial activity of the Ammi majus ethanol fruits extract (AME) and fungal ethyl acetate extract (FEA) were investigated, where the FEA showed higher antimicrobial activity, against all the tested standard strains. Phytochemical investigation of the FEA extract yielded five prenylated benzaldehyde derivative compounds isolated for the first time from this species: Dihydroauroglaucin (1), tetrahydroauroglaucin (2), 2-(3,6-dihydroxyhepta-1,4-dien-1-yl)-3,6-dihydroxy-5-(dimethylallyl)benzaldehyde (3), isotetrahydroauroglaucin )4), and flavoglaucin (5). Structure elucidation was carried out using (1H- and 13C-NMR). Fractions and the major isolated compound 1 were evaluated for their antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity. Compound 1 showed high antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) = 1.95 µg/mL, Streptococcus mutans (MIC = 1.95 µg/mL), and Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 3.9 µg/mL). It exhibited high antibiofilm activity with minimum biofilm inhibitory concentration (MBIC) = 7.81 µg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli biofilms and MBIC = 15.63 µg/mL against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans and moderate activity (MBIC = 31.25 µg/mL) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm. This reveals that dihydroauroglaucin, a prenylated benzaldehyde derivative, has a broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. In conclusion, it was observed that the MICs of the FEA are much lower than that of the AME against all susceptible strains, confirming that the antimicrobial activity of Ammi majus may be due to the ability of its endophytic fungi to produce effective secondary metabolites.
Keywords: Ammi majus; Aspergillus amstelodami; anti-biofilm activity; antimicrobial activity; dihydroauroglaucin; endophytic fungi; molecular identification; prenylated benzaldehyde derivatives.