Publication

Abstract : A focus on evaluation of in vitro antifungal activity of essential oil of Cedrus deodara (bark), against fungus Curvularia lunata was studied. In this study, the essential oil was extracted via hydro distillation method, further chemical compositions were identified by GC–MS and antifungal potential was assessed against three pathogenic fungal strains viz., Alternaria alternata, Curvularia lunata and Bipolaris spicifera through poison food technique. The essential oil showed strong antifungal potential against Curvularia lunata, further leading to isolation of antifungal fraction using TLC bioautography against Curvularia lunata, the identification revealed the presence of ten molecules in antifungal fraction identified through GC–MS. Additionally, molecular docking study was applied to validate antifungal activity and results predicts strong binding affinity of isolated antifungal molecules with an important virulence factor of Curvularia lunata, a melanin biosynthetic enzyme trihydroxy naphthalene reductase (PDB ID-1YBV) confirming it antifungal potential. Thus, obtained results suggested the importance of essential oil from Cedrus deodara (bark) as a beneficial native source of the compounds with antifungal properties.