{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T17:20:20Z","timestamp":1787678420873,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787270400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Seasonal variation can influence plant metabolite composition and modify antimicrobial performance; however, the relationship between seasonal metabolomic changes and antibacterial activity remains poorly understood in many arid-land medicinal plants. To our knowledge, this is the first study to integrate GC\u2013MS metabolomics, antibacterial screening, and phage\u2013extract interaction testing in\n                      <jats:italic>Abutilon pannosum<\/jats:italic>\n                      .\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Leaf extracts of\n                      <jats:italic>Abutilon pannosum<\/jats:italic>\n                      collected during late summer (S1, September 2024), autumn (S2, November 2024), and winter (S3, February 2025) were analyzed using GC\u2013MS. Antibacterial activity was evaluated against selected bacterial isolates using diffusion-based assays and MIC\/MBC determination. The interaction between seasonal extracts and phage CF01 was further assessed against\n                      <jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      O157:H7 under sub-MIC extract concentrations.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      GC\u2013MS analysis resolved the curated dataset into 350 putatively annotated parent metabolites, and PCA demonstrated clear season-dependent metabolomic separation, with 16 metabolites differing significantly among collection periods. S2 exhibited the broadest diversity of literature-supported antibacterial candidates, including\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b1<\/jats:italic>\n                      -linolenic acid, citronellol, dodecanoic acid, farnesol, ferulic acid, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, whereas S3 was enriched in caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, D-limonene, and xylitol. Antibacterial activity varied according to season and bacterial isolate, with\n                      <jats:italic>Staphylococcus aureus<\/jats:italic>\n                      showing the highest susceptibility, while\n                      <jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      exhibited weaker direct sensitivity. Phage\u2013extract interaction assays demonstrated that CF01 enhanced\n                      <jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      O157:H7 suppression at sub-MIC extract concentrations, particularly when extract-only treatment resulted in incomplete bacterial inhibition, with stronger enhancement patterns observed for S2 and S3 extracts.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Integrated metabolomics\u2013bioactivity analysis identified citronellol and\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b1<\/jats:italic>\n                      -linolenic acid as candidate metabolites potentially associated with extract-mediated\n                      <jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      reduction, while p-coumaric acid, citronellol, and \u03b1-linolenic acid showed positive associations with phage-enhanced antibacterial activity. These findings demonstrate that the antibacterial potential of\n                      <jats:italic>Abutilon pannosum<\/jats:italic>\n                      is season-dependent and support combining seasonal metabolomics, plant extract screening, and phage\u2013extract strategies as an approach for identifying bioactive desert-plant metabolites against\n                      <jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      O157:H7.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2026.1916998","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T05:36:12Z","timestamp":1787290572000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Seasonal metabolomics and antibacterial activity of Abutilon pannosum reveal positive interaction with the lytic phage CF01 against Escherichia coli O157:H7 (strain 161\u201384)"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Khaloud Mohammed","family":"Alarjani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ohood","family":"Sallam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University","place":["Shebeen El-Kom, Egypt"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tareq M.","family":"Osaili","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute for Medical and Health Sciences, University of Sharjah","place":["Sharjah, United Arab Emirates"]},{"name":"Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah","place":["Sharjah, United Arab Emirates"]},{"name":"Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Jordan University of Science and Technology","place":["Irbid, Jordan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meriem","family":"Bekliz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Applied Biology, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah","place":["Sharjah, United Arab Emirates"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yousef","family":"Alhaj Hamoud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University","place":["Nanjing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Attiat","family":"Elnaggar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Biotechnology Research Center, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah","place":["Sharjah, United Arab Emirates"]},{"name":"Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, Alexandria University","place":["Alexandria, Egypt"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ali","family":"El-Keblawy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Applied Biology, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah","place":["Sharjah, United Arab Emirates"]},{"name":"Faculty of Pharmacy, Alsalam University","place":["Tanta, Egypt"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"01","DOI":"10.21608\/ejm.2022.115399.1204","article-title":"Phytochemical screening, chemical composition, and antimicrobial activities of Abutilon pannosum (Forst. f.) 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