This is a refereed journal and all articles are professionally screened and reviewed ORIGINAL ARTICLE Advances in Environmental Biology, 5(6): 1271-1278, 2011 ISSN 1995-0756 1271 Role of Phylogenetic Analysis for Anti-bacterial Activity of Essential Oil of Trachyspermum Ammi L. Against Water Borne Pathogens 1 Awadhesh Kumar, 1 Rohit K. Mishra, 1 Shalu Srivastava, 1 Amit K. Tiwari, 1 Anand Pandey, 2 Amritesh Chandra Shukla and 1 Anupam Dikshit 1 Biological Product Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Allahabad Allahabad-211002, India. 2 Department of Horticulture, Aromatic and Medicinal Plants, Mizoram University, Tanhril, Aizawl-796 009, India. Awadhesh Kumar, Rohit K. Mishra, Shalu Srivastava, Amit K. Tiwari, Anand Pandey, Amritesh Chandra Shukla and Anupam Dikshit: Role of Phylogenetic Analysis for Anti-bacterial Activity of Essential Oil of Trachyspermum Ammi L. Against Water Borne Pathogens ABSTRACT In developing countries the unsafe drinking water is the main cause of several human fatal diseases of bacterial origin. The phylogenetic relationships of five water borne bacterial pathogens were determined with help of ClustalW computer program using their ITS1 sequences of the aligned standard strains. In the present study the essential oil of Trachyspermum ammi L. extracted by hydrodistilation process and their bio-active constituents were analyzed by the Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy. In vitro antibacterial activity of essential oil was tested against Escherichia coli (ATCC-25922); Escherichia coli (MTCC-723); Vibrio Cholerae (MTCC-3906); Salmonella typhimurium (MTCC- 98) and Shigella dysenteriae (ATCC-23513) using Broth Microdilution method recommended by CLSI (NCCLS). The essential oil of T. ammi exhibited the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against E. coli (ATCC) 0.087 mg/ml, V. cholerae 0.107 mg/ml, S. typhimurium 0.109 mg/ml, E. coli (MTCC) 0.128 mg/ml, S. dysenteriae 0.162 mg/ml respectively. The in vitro susceptibility testing indicated that the essential oil of T. ammi L. was most potent antibacterial tool for water borne bacterial diseases originated by contaminated drinking water. Key words: Bacterial origin, ClustalW, MIC, NCCLS, Susceptibility, Introduction Water is one of the key natural resource that is inevitable for sustainability of human and environmental health. There is a strong and direct link between people’s health and the development of communities. Gleick [1] and the World Health Organization [2] summarized these links as: poor health reduces life expectancy and educational achievement; it reduces investment and returns from investment (as production, productivity and employment decrease); it reduces parental investment in children (and increases the fertility rate); it increases health inequity and poverty; and it reduces social and political stability. Inadequate water services together with sanitation to the rural poor are among the most serious challenges facing the developing world. Every year, approximately 3.4 million people die due to water-borne diseases, with the greatest health burden falling on children [3]. India is amongst those developing countries, where still vast population resides in the rural areas. They are basically dependent on the supply of untreated water, and mostly on river, ponds and dug wells. This water is unsafe for drinking purposes having a lot of water borne disease causing bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium Shigella dysenteriae, Corresponding Author Anupam Dikshit, Biological Product Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Allahabad Allahabad-211002, India. E-mail: anupambplau@rediffmail.com