Impact of Geographical Distribution on Chemical Composition and Biological Potential of Juniperus communis L. Essential Oil: A Case Study From Western Himalayas

Abstract

The current study was focused to assess the impact of geographical distribution (1325‐3200 m, asl) on essential oil yield, chemical composition, and biological activities of Juniperus communis leaves. Soil mineral content was also analyzed to understand their impact on chemical composition. EO yield variation were observed (0.22‐0.48%), with highest in JCTH (0.48%) sample. Further, refractive index, specific gravity, optical rotation of EOs revealed notable differences among the samples. Six trace elements in soils were found, with iron being the most abundant at all locations. Total phenolic and flavonoid content indicated significant variations, highest TPC in JCTH (6.100±0.649 mgGAE/g) sample while TFC in JCM (1.126±0.004 mgRE/g) sample. GC/GCMS based metabolite profiling had shown overall thirty metabolites, including terpenes and monoterpene‐hydrocarbons. Free radical scavenging assays showed strong antioxidant activity of JCCI and JCTH samples (IC50‐ABTS=4.222±0.166μg/mL and IC50‐DPPH=3.211±0.307μg/mL, respectively). Moreover, EOs significantly inhibit α‐glucosidase, & α‐amylase enzymes, gram positive and negative bacterial strains. These finding suggested its promising biological potential. Furthermore, identified metabolites based statistical analysis (PCA & HCA) highlighted similarities and discriminations of geographical impacted samples. This research will be helpful to understand the metabolite composition and their accumulation under different environmental conditions.