Indones. J. Chem., 2023, 23 (3), 681 - 691 Pelin Şenel et al. 681 Pharmacological Properties of Genista sagittalis L. (Fabaceae) Grown in Turkey Pelin Şenel 1 , Bleda Can Sadıkoğulları 1 , Elif Çepni Yüzbaşıoğlu 2 , Gülnur Mertoğlu Elmas 3 , Dilek Oral 4 , Ayşegül Gölcü 1* , and Ayşe Daut Özdemir 1** 1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences and Letters, Istanbul Technical University, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, Istanbul University, Vezneciler, 34134 Istanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Forest Industrial Engineering, Forest Faculty, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, 34473 Istanbul, Turkey 4 Department of Forest Botany, Forest Faculty, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, 34473 Istanbul, Turkey * Corresponding author: email: aysgolcu@itu.edu.tr * ; daut@itu.edu.tr ** Received: November 28, 2022 Accepted: April 14, 2023 DOI: 10.22146/ijc.79477 Abstract: The genus Genista L. (Family: Fabaceae) is a plant having several traditional uses for treating common ailments such as diabetes, ulcer, and respiratory diseases. In this current study, the composition of essential oil and the biological activities of Genista sagittalis L. (Fabaceae) from Kocaeli: Yuvacık Dam Basin have been studied. A total of fourteen components were identified in the essential oil. The identified compounds belonged to straight-chain alkane, aromatic ether, and terpenoid derivatives. The antibacterial activity analyses demonstrated that G. sagittalis flower extract only had low activity against P. mirabilis and P. aeruginosa with MICs 1 to 2 mg/mL, as the peduncle extract showed strong anti-QS activity at 1.3 mg/mL. To the best of our knowledge, the current work is the first to report the antimicrobial and anti-quorum sensing activity of G. sagittalis growing in Turkey. Double-stranded DNA binding affinity investigations of the flower and peduncle ethanol extracts indicate that there are interactions with double- stranded DNA and related binding constants (K b ) were found as 1.97 × 10 3 ± 0.37 and 3.68 × 10 2 ± 0.44 for the flower and peduncle extract, respectively. Keywords: antibacterial; anti-quorum sensing; DNA binding; Fabaceae; Genista sagittalis; plant extracts ■ INTRODUCTION The genus Genista L., being a genus of the Fabaceae family, contains about 100 species (such as G. anglica L., G. pilosa L., G. sagittalis L., G. tenera (Jacq. ex Murray) Kuntze, G. tinctoria L., etc.) and has been used generally as folk medicine in Mediterranean area in the treatment of diabetes, ulcer, respiratory diseases and also in rheumatic disorders [1]. Apart from these kinds of medicinal uses, the genus Genista L. is also known for its yellow pigment property [2]. Genista species are also characterized by their flavonoid and isoflavonoid content [3], acting as primary antioxidants or free radical scavengers [4-5]. One of its species, Genista sagittalis L. (Syn. Chamaespartium sagittale (L.) P.E. Gibbs, Genistella sagittalis (L.) Gams) is native to West, South of Europe, and Northwestern Turkey [6-9]. It is a naturalized species in the Czech Republic [10-11], Poland [12], and Lithuania [13]. The distribution of this species in Turkey has emerged with its population determined in the Yuvacık Dam Basin of Kocaeli province by Efe et al. [8]. Genista sagittalis usually grows in maquis habitats, in oak or conifer forests, shrub fields, dry grasslands, slopes, and mountain slopes at 1050–1600 m (rarely 2360 m) in South and Central Europe, in open woodland, maquis scrub, and rocky slopes at 450–850 m in Kocaeli. It was recommended by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) [14] as the Red data category EN due to road construction works and livestock grazing in Turkey [8]. Genista sagittalis plant, which can be grown to a height of 10–50 cm from the soil surface, has leaf-like branches, semi-shrub, procumbent, rhizome or