Bioluminescence-based assays for assessing antibacterial properties of medicinal plants

Abstract

Extended research has been carried out to clarify the ecological role of plant secondary metabolites (SMs). Although their primary ecological function is self-defence, bioactive compounds have long been used in alternative medicine or in biological control of pests. One single plant may contain a wide variety of bioactive compounds, making analytics rather costly. The total bactericide capacity can be quantified by either microbiological or ecotoxicological methods. Here, the principle and possible applications of a specific bacterial bioluminescence inhibition based ecotoxicological assay are reviewed.