ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
This article is part of the Research TopicPlant Natural Products: Biosynthesis, Regulation, and Function, Volume IIView all 5 articles
Isolation, identification and antibacterial effect analysis of active components from Humulus scandens against Phytophthora nicotianae
Provisionally accepted
Xiaoyun Wu1
Yuxuan Liu1
Xiaoping Qin1*
Xiao Ding2*
Deqiang Qin1Dongmei Liu3Yongsheng Ren3Jin Tian3Siyue Lan1- 1Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
- 2State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China, Kunming Institute of Botany,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Kunning, China
- 3Yunnan Tobacco Company, Qujing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Monomeric compounds from Humulus scandens that effectively inhibit Phytophthora nicotianae were isolated, and their antibacterial effects were analyzed. Methanol extracts were isolated using a combination of activity tracking and chemical separation methods. Compound structures were identified using NMR and other techniques. Antifungal activity against P. nicotianae was assessed via the mycelial growth rate method with mycelial morphology further observed using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Five compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) layer of H. scandens; including chromone (compound 1), tectochrysin (compound 2), isorhamnetin (compound 3), hyperoside (compound 4) and Apigenin 7-glucoside (compound 5). All compounds exhibited varying degrees of antibacterial activity. Compounds 1 and 5 demonstrated superior inhibitory effects, with EC50 values of 51.70 and 31.71 μg/ml, and MIC values of 400 and 200 μg/mL, respectively. Microscopic examination revealed that compounds 1 and 5 induced distortion, deformation, shrinkage, collapse, and damage in P. nicotianae mycelia. Additionally, they increased membrane permeability and inhibited mycelial growth by disrupting cellular integrity. This study provides lead compounds for developing green botanical pesticides against tobacco black shank disease and offers data to support green agriculture initiatives.
Keywords: Antibacterial activity, Chemical composition, Humulus scandens, Isolation, Phytophthora nicotianae
Received: 15 Dec 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wu, Liu, Qin, Ding, Qin, Liu, Ren, Tian and Lan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaoping Qin
Xiao Ding
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.