Short protocols in molecular biology

A Manual of Soil Fungi

Endophytes are abundant in plants and studies are continuously emanating on their ability to protect plants from pathogens that cause diseases especially in the field of agriculture. The advantage that endophytes have over other biocontrol agents is the ability to colonize plant’s internal tissues. Despite this attributes, a deep understanding of the mechanism employed by endophytes in protecting the plant from diseases is still required for both effectiveness and commercialization. Also, there are increasing cases of antibiotics resistance among most causative agents of diseases in human beings, which calls for an alternative drug discovery using natural sources. Endophytes present themselves as a storehouse of many bioactive metabolites such as phenolic acids, alkaloids, quinones, steroids, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids which makes them a promising candidate for anticancer, antimalarial, antituberculosis, antiviral, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiarthritis, and immunosuppressive properties among many others, even though the primary function of bioactive compounds from endophytes is to make the host plants resistant to both abiotic and biotic stresses. Endophytes still present themselves as a peculiar source of possible drugs. This study elucidates the mechanisms employed by endophytes in protecting the plant from diseases and different bioactivities of importance to humans with a focus on endophytic bacteria and fungi.

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Elucidating Mechanisms of Endophytes Used in Plant Protection and Other Bioactivities With Multifunctional Prospects.

Bio-remediation approaches for alleviation of cadmium contamination in natural resources

ABSTRACT Biofilms of a municipal water distribution system were characterized to assess the occurrence of fungi within surface matrixes. Densities of filamentous fungi ranged from 4.0 to 25.2 CFU cm−2, whereas yeast densities ranged from 0 to 8.9 CFU cm−2. Observations by scanning electron microscopy further suggested that spores, not hyphae or vegetative cells, comprised the primary source of viable propagules.

Characterization of fungal biofilms within a municipal water distribution system

Uric acid in plants and microorganisms: Biological applications and genetics - A review.

This study aimed to explore the antioxidant potential and antiviral activity of endophytic fungi which were isolated from healthy living tissues of medicinal plants. Endophytic strains (29 different taxa) were isolated from 18 Egyptian medicinal plants collected from Saint Katherine Protectorate, Egypt. The fungal endophytes were identified based on morphological characters. All isolates were identified as ascomycetes, except two Zygomycetes strains (Absidia corymbifera and Mucor fuscus). Isolated endophytes were cultivated on potato dextrose media. The fungal metabolites were extracted by ethyl acetate and examined for their biological activities. Among 99 total extracts, only Chaetomium globosum, which was isolated from Adiantum capillus, showed a promising DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging activity (99% at 100 µg/mL). Fifteen extracts prohibited the reproduction of HSV-2 virus. On the other hand, the reproduction of VSV-virus was inhibited by sixteen endophytic extracts. The promising anti-(HSV-2 and VSV) extract of endophytic Pleospora tarda strain; that was originally isolated from the medicinal plant Ephedra aphylla, showed viral inhibitory activity of 40.7% and 15.2%, respectively. Two compounds, for which antiviral activates could be attributed, were isolated and identified as alternariol and alternariol-(9)-methyl ether using different NMR techniques from P. tarda extract. For the first time, we report here the ability of the endophytic fungus P. tarda to produce alternariol and alternariol-(9)-methyl ether. The results indicate that the endophytic fungi from medicinal plants are promising sources of bioactive compounds.

https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/4/3/49/pdf

Antiviral and Antioxidant Potential of Fungal Endophytes of Egyptian Medicinal Plants

The main objective of this research work focused on investigating the biological and chemical aspects of endophytic fungus Chaetomium globosum, for pharmaceutical purposes to improve the drug discovery process The endophytic C globosum was isolated from healthy leaves of Egyptian medicinal plant Adiantum capillus-veneris collected from Saint Katherine Protectorate, Sinai, Egypt The identification of C globosum was on the basis of classical and molecular taxonomy Gene encoding for 18S rRNA was partially sequenced, submitted to the GenBank and got the accession number JN711454, to resolve the phylogenetic relations with fungal ancestor using phylogenetic tree To explore the biosynthetic power of endophytic C globosum JN711454, the fungus was cultivated over five different media, oatmeal, rice, yeast malt glucose, potato dextrose agar (PDA) and Czapek's dox media, for 3 weeks at 30 °C, followed by extraction with different solvents, ethyl acetate (EA), and methanol The ethyl acetate extract of C globosum cultivated on PDA medium was the most potent extract It showed strong antioxidant activity with EC50 115 μg/ml, potent anticancer activity with 55 % toxicity toward HepG-2 cells at 100 μg/ml and 66 % cytotoxicity to FGC4 cells at 250 μg/ml, promising butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activities (>85 %), and moderate antimicrobial and stopped the attachment of HSV-2 virus to VERO cells The metabolomic profiling of PDA-EA extract using LC-MS revealed the presence of several metabolites to which the observed bioactivities could be attributed Here we report for the first time inhibitory activity of endophytic C globosum JN711454 secondary metabolites to butyrylcholinesterase, one of neuro hydrolase enzymes that play a major role in development of Alzheimer's disease

Biological Evaluation of Endophytic Fungus, Chaetomium globosum JN711454, as Potential Candidate for Improving Drug Discovery

BACKGROUND: Annona muricata (Soursop) has an antimicrobial activity toward various pathogenic microorganisms which support its ethnomedicinal for the treatment of many infectious diseases.
AIM: Aim of the present study to evaluate the relation between antimicrobial activities of terpenoids extracted from different soursop parts with the isolated endophytic fungi.
METHODS: Endophytic fungal species of pulp and peel of Annona fruit along with those of seeds were isolated. Salkowski test was used for qualitative screening of terpenoids in plant and the isolated endophytic Aspergillus niger strain SH3.
RESULTS: Endophytic A. niger strain SH3 and Annona seed extract showed high terpenoid content indicated by the high intensity of reddish-brown colour. GC/Mass analysis revealed six compounds of terpenoids from endophytic A. niger strain SH3 extract and four compounds from seed extract with different retention times. The antimicrobial assay was performed using A. niger strain SH3 extract and Annona seed extract singly or in combinations against S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, E. coli and C. albicans.
CONCLUSION: The results revealed the significant antimicrobial activity of both extracts. However, the combined extract showed some reduction in antimicrobial activity which could be attributed to the antagonistic effect exhibited by their constituents.

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Antimicrobial Activity of Terpenoids Extracted from Annona muricata Seeds and its Endophytic Aspergillus niger Strain SH3 Either Singly or in Combination

The pollution of wastewater by heavy metal ions is hazardous to the environment and human health. Cd(II) has been recognized as one of the heavy metals that causes severe toxic effects. The present study is aimed at removing Cd(II) from wastewater using fungal biomass either immobilized on loofa sponges or in Ca-alginate beads. Two fungal species were isolated from pools of Cd(II)-polluted wastewater obtained from some Egyptian industrial plants, and using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) primers, they were molecularly identified as Penicillium chrysogenum and Cephalotheca foveolata with accession numbers MT664773 and MT664745, respectively. The sorbents used in this study were heat-inactivated mycelia of P. chrysogenum (PEN), heat-inactivated mycelia of C. foveolata (CEP), P. chrysogenum immobilized on loofa sponge (PEN-ILS), C. foveolata immobilized on loofa sponge (CEP-ILS), P. chrysogenum immobilized in Ca-alginate beads (PEN-IA), and C. foveolata immobilized in Ca-alginate beads (CEP-IA). The effects of pH, contact time, initial Cd(II) concentration, and interfering ions on Cd(II) removal from aqueous solution were tested. Maximum Cd(II) sorption capacity was obtained at pH 7.0, with thirty minutes contact time and 0.5 mol l−1 initial Cd(II) concentration for all sorbents used. However, Ca2+ displayed synergistic interference with Cd(II) that was greater than that from Na+ and K+, with decreasing sorption capacity for all sorbents. Optimum conditions were applied to real wastewater samples collected from two Egyptian industrial plants. All sorbents had the ability to remove Cd(II) from wastewater samples, and enhanced removal occurred when fungal cells were immobilized as compared to free cells.

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Tahany Abdel-Rahman

Papers

Uric acid in plants and microorganisms: Biological applications and genetics - A review.

Antiviral and Antioxidant Potential of Fungal Endophytes of Egyptian Medicinal Plants

Biological Evaluation of Endophytic Fungus, Chaetomium globosum JN711454, as Potential Candidate for Improving Drug Discovery

Antimicrobial Activity of Terpenoids Extracted from Annona muricata Seeds and its Endophytic Aspergillus niger Strain SH3 Either Singly or in Combination

Fungal remediation of Cd(II) from wastewater using immobilization techniques