Pharmaceutical botany investigations on Origanum solymicum P.H. Davis and Origanum saccatum P.H. Davis

Within the scope of this thesis, morphological, anatomical, molecular, phytochemical and biological activity studies were carried out on the endemic species Origanum saccatum P.H. Davis and Origanum solymicum P.H. Davis, from Türkiye. The morphological characteristics of the species were describe and the various parts of the plants were measured. Anatomical examinations of the root, stem and leaf were conducted and diagnostic characters were determined. The DNA sequence of the ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 rRNA gene region was detected and similarity analysis was performed using BLAST. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out in the MEGA11 software using DNA sequences of other Origanum species available in the NCBI database. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed using GC and GC-MS. Ethanol, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of the plants were obtained by dynamic maceration. The extracts were tested for anticancer activity against MCF-7 and A549 cell lines using the MTT cytotoxicity assay and the ethyl acetate extract of O. saccatum was exhibited selective cytotoxicity against the MCF-7 cell line. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts and essential oils were evaluated by the microdilution method against six different bacterial and fungal strains and they exhibited moderate antimicrobial activity.