Applied Microbiology

Tirmania and Terfezia, so-called desert truffles, are hypogeous ascomycota fungi. These truffles are edible and their geographical distribution is limited to arid and semi-arid lands, mostly in countries around the Mediterranean basin. Terfezia leonis is a rare and famous truffle as well as in Algeria for its pleasant aroma and flavor. People believe that this mushroom has some medicinal properties. Therefore, it is consumed as food and for medicinal purposes; methanol extracts of T. leonis was tested to reveal its antibacterial activity against three clinically important bacteria Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC14028 and Escherichia coli ATCC25922, The in vitro antimicrobial activity was performed by agar disc diffusion method. The scavenging effect of T. leonis on 2, 2-diphenyl-1 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals was measured with a 4.84mg/ml IC50 for 200mg/ml concentration. In addition, the phenolic contents were determined as follows: the total phenolic was 53.62 mg/g, the flavonoids were 18.11mg/g, the carotenoids were 7.95 mg/g and the vitamin C was 574 μg/g. The results showed that T. leonis has antimicrobial activity on the Gram negative and positive bacteria as well as yeast and it also has a high antioxidant capacity. Therefore, T. leonis can

be recommended as an important natural food source.