Antifungal Activity Of Plants Research Articles

Natural Products from Medicinal Plants against Phytopathogenic Fusarium Species: Current Research Endeavours, Challenges and Prospects.

Many Fusarium species are pathogenic, causing crop diseases during crop production and spoilage of agricultural products in both commercial and smallholder farming. Fusarium attack often results into food contamination, yield loss and increases in food insecurity and food prices. Synthetic fungicides have been used as a control strategy for the management of crop diseases caused by Fusarium pathogens. The negative effects associated with application of many synthetic pesticides has necessitated the need to search for alternative control strategies that are affordable and environmentally safe. Research on medicinal plants as control agents for Fusarium pathogens has received attention since plants are readily available and they contain wide variety of secondary metabolites that are biodegradable. The activities of solvent extracts, essential oils and compounds from medicinal plants have been tested against Fusarium phytopathogenic species. A summary of recent information on antifungal activity of plants against Fusarium species is valuable for the development of biopesticides. This paper reviews the antifungal research conducted on medicinal plants against Fusarium pathogens, over a 10-year period, from January 2012 to May 2021. We also highlight the challenges and opportunities of using natural products from medicinal plants in crop protection. Several databases (Science Direct and Web of Science) were used to obtain information on botanical products used to control Fusarium diseases on crops. Keywords search used included natural products, antifungal, Fusarium, crops diseases, phytopathogenic, natural compounds and essential oil.

Enhanced Stability of Long-Living Immobilized Recombinant β-d-N-Acetyl-Hexosaminidase A on Polylactic Acid (PLA) Films for Potential Biomedical Applications.

β-d-N-acetyl-hexosaminidase (Hex, EC 3.2.1.52) is an acid hydrolase that catalyzes the cleavage of the β-1,4 bond in N-acetyl-d-galactosamine (Gal-NAc) and N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (Glc-NAc) from the non-reducing end of oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates. It is widely expressed in both the prokaryotic and eukaryotic world, where it performs multiple and important functions. Hex has antifungal activity in plants, is capable of degrading many biological substrates, and can play an important role in the biomedical field for the treatment of Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases. With the aim being able to obtain a device with a stable enzyme, a method of covalent immobilization on polylactic acid (PLA) films was developed for the A isoform of the β-d-N-acetyl-hexosaminidase enzyme (HexA), produced in a recombinant way from Human Embryonic Kidney-293 (HEK-293) cells and suitably purified. An in-depth biochemical characterization of the immobilized enzyme was carried out, evaluating the optimal temperature, thermal stability, pH parameters, and Km value. Moreover, the stability of the enzymatic activity over time was assessed. The results obtained showed an improvement in terms of kinetic parameters and stability to heat for the enzyme following immobilization and the presence of HexA in two distinct immobilized forms, with an unexpected ability for one of them to maintain its functionality for a long period of time (over a year). The stability and functionality of the enzyme in its immobilized form are therefore extremely promising for potential biotechnological and biomedical applications.

Comparative antimicrobial activity of South East Asian plants used in Bornean folkloric medicine

Experimental assays were carried out to validate traditional claims about medicinal plants collected by the Traditional Knowledge Documentation Program at the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre on the island of Borneo. The majority of the medicinal plants are utilised as traditional therapies for various diseases, including diarrhoea, food poisoning, vaginomycosis, sexually transmitted infections (gonorrhoea) and furunculosis.Six medicinal plants used as indigenous herbal medicines were individually screened for antimicrobial and antifungal effects using their crude extracts and were found to inhibit a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms. Plant extracts derived from Fibraurea tinctoria, Polyalthia hookeriana, Pyrenaria sp., Baccaurea lanceolata, Goniothalamus tapisoides and Goniothalamus velutinus were demonstrated to have the highest antimicrobial activities. Pyrenaria sp. showed significant antifungal activity against Candida albicans with minimum inhibitory and minimum fungicidal concentrations of 25μg/mL and 50μg/mL, respectively. The evidence in this study has highlighted the effectiveness of using the traditional knowledge approach to screen for antimicrobial and antifungal activity in plants to evaluate their potential as herbal remedies for human and animal protection against pathogens.

Enhancement and quantification of repellent activity in Chenopodium cells

Arthropod–plant interactions are vital in agriculture and pharmacology. However, enhancement and quantification of plant cell behavioural activity is still a challenge. Therefore, the finding of chitosan-induced anti-fungal activity in plants suggested a promising potential. Consequently, we treated autotroph and heterotroph Chenopodium rubrum L. cell cultures with chitosan to test behavioural activity with Tenebrio molitor L. larvae. We found chitosans to enhance repelling, depending on low molecular weight, partial degree of deacetylation, plant cell type and age. These effects of chitosans were compared with abiotic stresses induced by salt, osmotic changes and heat shock, collecting data of six plant cell samples, 18 plant cell treatments, 6,912 larvae and 8,424 analyses of regression and variance. Behavioural activity was quantified by linear, multivariate and nonlinear approaches, testing an exponential model in 78 segments of 5 h time kinetics. Thereby, we introduced a sensitive, low-cost bio-assay and a preference index constant as a measure of transient behaviour. Multivariate analyses revealed the five principal factors to enhance the behavioural activity in plant cells: (1) salt-osmo-sensor, (2) high molecular weight chitosan sensor, (3) acetic acid-antagonized low molecular weight chitosan sensor, (4) heat shock sensor and (5) mannitol-sensitive chitosan sensor. Thus, we suggest the independent factors (1)–(5) for the management of insect pests by autotroph and heterotroph plant materials.

Antifungal activity in plants from Chinese traditional and folk medicine

Ethnopharmacological relevanceFrom over 100 Chinese clinical trial publications, we retrieved 22 commercial preparations and 17 clinical prescriptions used as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for treating mycotic vaginitis, typically caused by Candida albicans. The 8 most frequently used plants as well as another 7 TCM and 18 folk medicinal plants used in the South of China for antifungal therapy were investigated for in vitro antifungal activity. Materials and methodsFor each plant we tested 4 extracts prepared with different solvents (water, ethanol, acetone, and n-hexane) for inhibition of Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth in liquid culture. ResultsSome plants have quite strong antifungal activity, such as Tujinpi (Pseudolarix kaempferi Gord.), of which each extract could significantly inhibit the growth of both tested fungi. In addition, the acetone extract of Kushen (Sophora flavescens Ait.), the ethanol, acetone, and hexane extracts of Guanghuoxiang (Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth.) and Gaoliangjiang (Alpinia officinarum Hance), the hexane extract of Dingxiang (Eugenia caryophyllata Thunb.), and the ethanol and acetone extracts of Kulianpi (Melia toosendan Sieb. et Zucc.) and Laliao (Polygonum hydropiper L.), all inhibited Candida albicans growth by more than 50%. In some cases growth inhibition was even comparable to that by the clinically used antifungal miconazole, which we used as our positive control. ConclusionsThe majority of plants, whose clinical use for antifungal treatment is well supported within TCM or Chinese folk medicine, show in vitro antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Since Candida species represent the most common fungal pathogen of humans, these results provide more scientific evidence supporting the clinical application of these plants, and can serve as a starting point for new drug discovery from TCM and Chinese folk medicine.

Ultraviolet induction of antifungal activity in plants

Ultraviolet-C irradiation as a method to induce the production of plant compounds with antifungal properties was investigated in the leaves of 18 plant species. A susceptibility assay to determine the antifungal susceptibility of filamentous fungi was developed based on an agar dilution series in microtiter plates. UV irradiation strongly induced antifungal properties in five species against a clinical Fusarium solani strain that was responsible for an onychomycosis case that was resistant to classic pharmacological treatment. The antifungal properties of three additional plant species were either unaffected or reduced by UV-C irradiation. This study demonstrates that UV-C irradiation is an effective means of modulating the antifungal activity of very diverse plants from a screening perspective.

Ethnobotanical survey and antifungal activity of plants identified for the management of opportunistic fungal infections in HIV/AIDS patients in the Amathole District of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Ethnobotanical survey and antifungal activity of plants identified for the management of opportunistic fungal infections in HIV/AIDS patients in the Amathole District of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Antileishmanial and antifungal activity of plants used in traditional medicine in Brazil

The antileishmanial and antifungal activity of 24 methanol extracts from 20 plants, all of them used in the Brazilian traditional medicine for the treatment of several infectious and inflammatory disorders, were evaluated against promastigotes forms of two species of Leishmania ( L. amazonensis and L. chagasi) and two yeasts ( Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans). Among the 20 tested methanolic extracts, those of Vernonia polyanthes was the most active against L. amazonensis (IC 50 of 4 μg/ml), those of Ocimum gratissimum exhibited the best activity against L. chagasi (IC 50 of 71 μg/ml). Concerning antifungical activity, Schinus terebintifolius, O. gratissimum, Cajanus cajan, and Piper aduncum extracts were the most active against C. albicans (MIC of 1.25 mg/ml) whereas Bixa orellana, O. gratissimum and Syzygium cumini exhibited the best activity against C. neoformans (MIC of 0.078 mg/ml).

Co-expression of a modified maize ribosome-inactivating protein and a rice basic chitinase gene in transgenic rice plants confers enhanced resistance to sheath blight.

Chitinases, beta-1,3-glucanases, and ribosome-inactivating proteins are reported to have antifungal activity in plants. With the aim of producing fungus-resistant transgenic plants, we co-expressed a modified maize ribosome-inactivating protein gene, MOD1, and a rice basic chitinase gene, RCH10, in transgenic rice plants. A construct containing MOD1 and RCH10 under the control of the rice rbcS and Act1 promoters, respectively, was co-transformed with a plasmid containing the herbicide-resistance gene bar as a selection marker into rice by particle bombardment. Several transformants analyzed by genomic Southern-blot hybridization demonstrated integration of multiple copies of the foreign gene into rice chromosomes. Immunoblot experiments showed that MOD1 formed approximately 0.5% of the total soluble protein in transgenic leaves. RCH10 expression was examined using the native polyacrylamide-overlay gel method, and high RCH10 activity was observed in leaf tissues where endogenous RCH10 is not expressed. R1 plants were analyzed in a similar way, and the Southern-blot patterns and levels of transgene expression remained the same as in the parental line. Analysis of the response of R2 plants to three fungal pathogens of rice, Rhizoctonia solani, Bipolaris oryzae, and Magnaporthe grisea, indicated statistically significant symptom reduction only in the case of R. solani (sheath blight). The increased resistance co-segregated with herbicide tolerance, reflecting a correlation between the resistance phenotype and transgene expression.