In Vitro Plant Regeneration from Catharanthus roseus L. and Antibacterial activity of Leaves against Human Pathogens

Catharanthus roseus L. (periwinkle) is an important medicinal plant for novel pharmaceuticals since most of the bacterial pathogens are developing resistance against many of the currently available anti microbial drugs. To identify the antibacterial activity of Catharanthus roseus L. in vitro leaf extracts of the plant for its antibacterial activity. Antibacterial activity of C. roseus L. was performed with different solvents (aqueous and ethyl acetate) against various human pathogens viz., Bacillus subtilis and Proteus vulgaris. Nodal explants of C. roseus L. were cultured on MS medium supplemented with different concentration of BAP and KIN (0.5-2.0 mg/l). The maximum number of shoot bud regeneration was observed at 0.5 mg/l BAP. The in vitro regenerated leaves were used for antibacterial activity studies against human pathogens such as Proteus vulgaris and Bacillus subtilis in two different solvent extracts (ethyl acetate and water). The ethyl acetate extract showed a maximum zone of inhibition (10.6 mm) than compare to aqueous leaf extracts of C. roseus against Proteus vulgaris and Bacillus subtilis. The ethyl acetate leaves extract of C. roseus can be used as potential antibacterial sources for the development of plant based novel drugs.