Evaluation of the effect of carvacrol on the Escherichia coli 555 metabolome by using H-NMR spectroscopy

Cultures of Escherichia coli 555 were grown at four levels of carvacrol (0–2 mM) and the E. coli endo-metabolome was extracted and measured by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The results show that glucose concentration is going up with concentration of carvacrol and so do formate until the highest concentration is reached, from which point it suddenly decreases. This is interpreted as if the bacteria are increasingly unable to further metabolize glucose and as if the bacteria increasingly shifts with higher levels of carvacrol toward sugar fermentation as carbon source, until the level of carvacrol reaches a level (2.00 mM), where the E. coli must give up. Additionally, the multivariate Principal Component Analysis suggests that the adaptation occurring at sub-lethal doses of carvacrol is different from that occurring at higher doses.