I primarily was investigating previous research investigating fruits, as I assumed that any compounds found as a result would be more likely to be non-toxic in humans and I knew that other fruits (e.g. grapefruits) have had well-established properties in relation with bacteria. There was previous research showing efficacy of lemon peel extracts against some strains of Salmonella, which gave me more confidence in focusing on compounds from or within lemon peel extracts.
Great job, your poster was great! Could you expand on what the results of figure two were a little bit more, I was a little unclear on what your conclusion was from that figure!
Sure! We were unable to demonstrate antibiotic properties in bergamottin or the direct ethanol lemon peel extract because they did not have significant zones of inhibition (if you look at the bottom right labeled AMP, you can clearly see a darker area surrounding the well which demonstrates a lack of bacteria in that area).
There is significant research illustrating general efficacy of lemon peel extractions with antibiotic properties, although the research on specific compounds is more limited. From the background research we did, we found research finding three other specific active compounds, although they were tested on different kinds of bacteria (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3551112/).
The initial study that led us to testing the lemon peel extract and its compounds was actually more general in that it demonstrated antibiotic properties in citrus peels, which are relatively similar in their composition (https://plantmedicines.org/citrus-peels-challenge-antibiotics-in-fighting-bacteria/). There wasn’t any particular reason we chose lemons out of other citrus fruits outside of availability and pricing, although we wouldn’t expect significantly different results with other citruses given the similarity in their composition. In terms of other compounds in citrus peels, we think our research further demonstrates the antibiotic properties citrus peels have and so researching those compounds would be a great step for future research.
We were interested in investigating the antibiotic properties of fruits or other foods based on the assumption that they would be less likely to have severe side effects in humans over other lab-based compounds. We chose lemon peel extracts based on a sizeable base of research indicating the antibiotic properties of citrus peel extractions, with some indicating effects against other strains of Salmonella which provided us with high confidence. We initially only tested an ethanol lemon peel extraction, but later expanded our search into bergamottin and epoxybergamottin (two specific compounds within lemon peels) to avoid having to use ethanol as a positive control which was causing us problems in our liquid culture testing.
It’s great that you tested three compounds and got promising results! What was it in your background research that drew you to your compounds?
I primarily was investigating previous research investigating fruits, as I assumed that any compounds found as a result would be more likely to be non-toxic in humans and I knew that other fruits (e.g. grapefruits) have had well-established properties in relation with bacteria. There was previous research showing efficacy of lemon peel extracts against some strains of Salmonella, which gave me more confidence in focusing on compounds from or within lemon peel extracts.
Great job, your poster was great! Could you expand on what the results of figure two were a little bit more, I was a little unclear on what your conclusion was from that figure!
Sure! We were unable to demonstrate antibiotic properties in bergamottin or the direct ethanol lemon peel extract because they did not have significant zones of inhibition (if you look at the bottom right labeled AMP, you can clearly see a darker area surrounding the well which demonstrates a lack of bacteria in that area).
To clarify, the ampcillin (AMP) was an example of a compound with a zone of inhibition which demonstrates antibiotic properties
Are there any other active compounds in lemon peel that are already known to have antimicrobial qualities?
There is significant research illustrating general efficacy of lemon peel extractions with antibiotic properties, although the research on specific compounds is more limited. From the background research we did, we found research finding three other specific active compounds, although they were tested on different kinds of bacteria (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3551112/).
Have you considered testing any other compounds found in the lemon peel or compounds found in other citrus?
The initial study that led us to testing the lemon peel extract and its compounds was actually more general in that it demonstrated antibiotic properties in citrus peels, which are relatively similar in their composition (https://plantmedicines.org/citrus-peels-challenge-antibiotics-in-fighting-bacteria/). There wasn’t any particular reason we chose lemons out of other citrus fruits outside of availability and pricing, although we wouldn’t expect significantly different results with other citruses given the similarity in their composition. In terms of other compounds in citrus peels, we think our research further demonstrates the antibiotic properties citrus peels have and so researching those compounds would be a great step for future research.
Great idea! What made you choose your component?
We were interested in investigating the antibiotic properties of fruits or other foods based on the assumption that they would be less likely to have severe side effects in humans over other lab-based compounds. We chose lemon peel extracts based on a sizeable base of research indicating the antibiotic properties of citrus peel extractions, with some indicating effects against other strains of Salmonella which provided us with high confidence. We initially only tested an ethanol lemon peel extraction, but later expanded our search into bergamottin and epoxybergamottin (two specific compounds within lemon peels) to avoid having to use ethanol as a positive control which was causing us problems in our liquid culture testing.