scholarly journals Endophytic fungi residing in medicinal plants have the ability to produce the same or similar pharmacologically active secondary metabolites as their hosts

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Venieraki ◽  
M. Dimou ◽  
P. Katinakis

SummaryMedicinal plants have been used for thousands of years in folk medicines and still are used for their health benefits. In our days medicinal plants are exploited for the isolation of plant-derived drugs as they are very effective and have relatively less or no side effects. However, the natural resources of medicinal plants are gradually exhausted and access to plant bioactive compounds is challenged by the low levels at which these products accumulate in native medicinal plants. For instance, to meet the market demands of 3 Kg per year of vinca alkaloids, powerful plant-derived anticancer drugs, 1.5×106Kg dry leaves are required. In this regard, this review aims to highlight the fact that endophytic fungi residing in medicinal plants are capable to biosynthesize pharmacologically active secondary metabolites similar or identical to those produced by their host medicinal plant. Furthermore, the evolutionary origin of the genes involved in these metabolic pathways as well as the approaches designed to enhance the production of these metabolites by the isolated endophytic fungi are also discussed.

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMIL AHMED KHAN ◽  
RAJINDER PAUL

Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir is a reservoir of enormous natural resources including the wealth of medicinal plants. The present paper deals with 12 medicinal plant species belonging to 8 genera of angiosperms used on pneumonia in cattle such as cows, sheep, goats and buffaloes in different areas of Poonch district. Due to poverty and nonavailability of modern health care facilities, the indigenous people of the area partially or fully depend on surrounding medicinal plants to cure the different ailments of their cattles. Further research on modern scientific line is necessary to improve their efficacy, safety and validation of the traditional knowledge.


Author(s):  
Noor Ali ◽  
Widad M K Al-Ani ◽  
Ibrahim S. Al-Jobouri

Evaluation of Iraqi medicinal plants is very crucial to help people avoid the use of herbs without prior knowledge which results in many side effects and sometimes even leads to death. The plant constituents vary according to season, weather and type of soil, therefore it is necessary to evaluate the chemical constituents and determine the time of collection of medicinal plants. In this research evaluation of the medicinal plant Calendula officinal grown in Iraq was performed by measuring the quantity of hyperoside found in the plant together with macroscopical and microscopical evaluation of the plant.


Author(s):  
Aashaq Hussain Bhat ◽  
Shahla Nigar

Medicinal plants are a great source of medicine for treating various human ailments. Traditional use of herbal medicine, which was developed within an ethnic group before the development and spread of modern science, is the very basis and an integral part of various cultures. Different medicinal systems throughout the globe are still operational and use natural herbs for treating diseases. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, Kampo, Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM), and Unani are some commonly found traditional medicinal systems in use today. They are used directly, or their secondary metabolites are used as anti-bacterial, antifungal, immunomodulators, anti-hair fall, and multiple other purposes. However, their blood purification properties prevent blood from toxicity. Hundreds of medicinal plants are used in Ayurveda for blood purification, particularly plants which are astringent or bitter (pungent or sharp tastes). In addition, medicinal herbs do not have side effects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 443-487
Author(s):  
Snober Shabeer Wani ◽  
Parvaiz A. Dar ◽  
Sajad M. Zargar ◽  
Tanveer A. Dar

Biologically active molecules obtained from plant sources, mostly including secondary metabolites, have been considered to be of immense value with respect to the treatment of various human diseases. However, some inevitable limitations associated with these secondary metabolites like high cytotoxicity, low bioavailability, poor absorption, low abundance, improper metabolism, etc., have forced the scientific community to explore medicinal plants for alternate biologically active molecules. In this context, therapeutically active proteins/peptides from medicinal plants have been promoted as a promising therapeutic intervention for various human diseases. A large number of proteins isolated from the medicinal plants have been shown to exhibit anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-HIV, anticancerous, ribosome-inactivating and neuro-modulatory activities. Moreover, with advanced technological developments in the medicinal plant research, medicinal plant proteins such as Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor and Mistletoe Lectin-I are presently under clinical trials against prostate cancer, oral carcinomas and malignant melanoma. Despite these developments and proteins being potential drug candidates, to date, not a single systematic review article has documented the therapeutical potential of the available biologically active medicinal plant proteome. The present article was therefore designed to describe the current status of the therapeutically active medicinal plant proteins/peptides vis-à-vis their potential as future protein-based drugs for various human diseases. Future insights in this direction have also been highlighted.


2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 225-229
Author(s):  
Jie Zhou ◽  
Zi-Xin Xu ◽  
Zhi-Fang Ran ◽  
Lei Fang ◽  
Lan-Ping Guo

Although treatments of smoke-water (SW) have been successfully used for promoting seed germination as well as plant growth, less reports have been documented on the influence of SW on the production of secondary metabolites in endophytes isolated from medicinal plants. The study investigated the effects of SW and its active compound butenolide (KAR1) on the accumulation of lipophilic tanshinones in endophyte Trichoderma atroviride D16 isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza. Results showed that the mycelia of T. atroviride D16 treated with SW and KAR1 displayed a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the content of tanshinone I, which was evaluated with 2.26-fold (SW) and 1.86-fold (KAR1) of the control on 20 d after treatment. Comparing with the control, the treatment of SW and KAR1 resulted in a significant increase in the content of tanshinone IIA, and the highest levels were observed to be 31.87% (SW 1:2000, v/v) and 17.77% (KAR1 at 10-9 M) on 20 d after treatment. These findings imply the possibility of using SW and KAR1 for enhancing the biosynthesis of tanshinones in T. atroviride D16, and enrich the application of smoke water in the medicinal plant field.


Author(s):  
KAMRAN ASHRAF

Nowadays, the use of medicinal plants increased significantly for the aim of producing more effective drugs with fewer side effects. Gynura procumbens (family Asteraceae) is a high value medicinal plant with different properties that are considered less, regardless of having great therapeutic potential in traditional medicine. Many pharmacological studies have established the ability of this plant to exhibit antimicrobial, antioxidant, hepatoprotection, antigenotoxic, antiplasmodial, cytotoxic, cardioactive, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, etc. The aim of this study was to review the updated phytochemical, pharmacological investigations as well as the traditional and therapeutic uses of G. procumbens. Important and different experimental data have been addressed along with a review of most of the phytochemicals identified in this plant.


2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-146
Author(s):  
ANM Alamgir ◽  
Kaniz Fatema

In this report, 40 antidysenteric medicinal plant species representing 24 families were considered for qualitative assessment of their secondary metabolites like alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, sterols and tannins. Alkaloids were present in all plant species, though in different degrees and the relative effectiveness of Dragendorffs’ reagent was better than others. Distribution of flavonoids, glycosides, sterols and tannins was sporadic in different plant species except A. cepa, A. marmelos, I. coccinea, M. indica, S. dulcis and Z. officinale, where all these metabolites were present. Abundance and mode of distribution of secondary metabolites in different test plants and their organs were discussed. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jasbs.v39i2.17850 J. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 39(2): 139-146, December 2013


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 2352-2360

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by the Schistosoma genus' parasites, and several complications associated with this pathology can lead to death. Indeed, Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium are the major species responsible for this disease, spreading particularly in Africa. While synthetic drugs used to treat Schistosomiasis are often not effective and represent major side effects. In this context, many research teams are currently focusing on identifying natural secondary metabolites with anti-schistosomal properties. Therefore, this work highlighted an overview of some medicinal plants' anti-schistosomal activity and their bioactive compounds.


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