Mechanism of antifungal activity of Perilla frutescens essential oil against Aspergillus flavus by transcriptomic analysis

The trend of reducing the use of chemical fungicides in the food industry has prompted antimicrobial volatile substances of plants as an appropriate substitute for food preservatives. In this study, the potential of antifungal activity of Perilla frutescens essential oil (PEO) on Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) was observed by a series of phenotypic changes. Further research found the destructive effect of PEO on A. flavus growth, as indicated by the leakage of intracellular biological macromolecules, the inhibition of ATPase activity, and the intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Based on the current work, transcriptomic was applied to study the gene expression level of A. flavus and transcriptomic analysis demonstrated significant changes in spore development, oxidative stress, membrane permeability, and amino acid metabolism of PEO-treated A. flavus. This study provides new insights into the mechanisms underlying the molecular response in A. flavus by the treatment of PEO, indicating that PEO has the potential to be used as a novel antifungal agent.