Master thesis on the vital activity of basil plant

A master’s thesis in the Department of Biology investigated molecular variations in basil as a medicinal plant, by MSc student  Zahraa Hamoudi Hussein, under the supervision of Professor Dr. Atiaf Jamil Thamer.

The thesis aims to investigate the molecular variations in basil, and benefit from these variations in their effects on the components of basil oil and its biological activity.

The thesis included detection of molecular variations of basil cultivars, extraction of oil from seeds, testing its biological activity against bacteria and fungi, and analysis of the components of seed oil using high-performance liquid chromatography.

The basil cultivars showed a molecular variation that was reflected in the variation in their biological activity, and the local green cultivar outperformed the red cultivar in most of the studied parameters.