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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, May 2002, p. 1226-1230, Vol. 46, No. 5
0066-4804/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AAC.46.5.1226-1230.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Antibacterial Activity of Licochalcone A against Spore-Forming Bacteria

Ryo-Ichi Tsukiyama, Harumi Katsura, Nozomu Tokuriki, and Makio Kobayashi^*

Research Laboratory, Higashimaru Shoyu Co., Ltd., 100-3, Tominaga, Tatsuno, Hyogo 679-4193, Japan

Received 12 November 2001/ Returned for modification 24 December 2001/ Accepted 31 January 2002

Licochalcone A was isolated from the roots of licorice, Glycyrrhiza inflata, which has various uses in the food and pharmaceutical industries; isolation was followed by extraction with ethanol and column chromatography with silica gel. In this study, the activities of licochalcone A against some food contaminant microorganisms were evaluated in vitro. The vegetative cell growth of Bacillus subtilis was inhibited in a licochalcone A concentration-dependent manner and was completely prevented by 3 µg of licochalcone A/ml. Licochalcone A showed a high level of resistance to heating at 80 to 121°C for 15 min. Licochalcone A did not inhibit the germination of heat-treated spores of B. subtilis induced by L-alanine. Licochalcone A showed effects against all gram-positive bacteria tested and especially was effective against all Bacillus spp. tested, with MICs of 2 to 3 µg/ml, but was not effective against gram-negative bacteria or eukaryotes at 50 µg/ml. Although the cationic antimicrobial peptides protamine and -poly-L-lysine resulted in the loss of antimicrobial activity in the presence of either 3% (wt/vol) NaCl or protease at 20 µg/ml, the antibacterial activity of licochalcone A was resistant to these conditions. Thus, licochalcone A could be a useful compound for the development of antibacterial agents for the preservation of foods containing high concentrations of salts and proteases, in which cationic peptides might be less effective.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Research Laboratory, Higashimaru Shoyu Co., Ltd., 100-3, Tominaga, Tatsuno, Hyogo 679- 4193, Japan. Phone: 81 791 634567. Fax: 81 791 634852. E-mail: mkobayashi{at}higashimaru.co.jp.

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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, May 2002, p. 1226-1230, Vol. 46, No. 5
0066-4804/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AAC.46.5.1226-1230.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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