Biochemical Profile by GC–MS of Fungal Biomass Produced from the Ascospores of Tirmania nivea as a Natural Renewable Resource

The edible fruiting bodies of desert truffles are seasonally collected and consumed in many regions of the world. Although they are very expensive, they are bought and sold as a result of considerable scientific reports confirming their health and nutritional benefits. This study aimed to conduct laboratory production of the fungal biomass of Tirmania nivea as a natural renewable resource of many active biological compounds using an artificial growth medium. The T. nivea collected from Hafar Al-Batin, which is north of Saudi Arabia, and their ascospores were harvested and used to produce fungal biomass in potato dextrose broth. The cultivation was conducted using a shaking incubator at 25 °C for two weeks at 200 rpm. The crud extracts of the fungal biomass and mycelium-free broth were prepared using ethyl acetate, methanol and hexane. Preliminary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis and their biological activity as antimicrobial agents were investigated. The results showed that the crude extracts have biological activity against mold, yeast and bacteria. The preliminary GC–MS analysis reported that the fungal biomass and extracellular metabolites in the growth medium are industrial renewable resources of several biological compounds that could be used as antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, antioxidant, anti-trypanosomal and anti-inflammatory agents.

Flowers Characteristics of Selected Species of Lime-Tree (Tilia spp.) in Terms of miRNA-Based Markers Activity, Mannose Expression and Biological Compounds Content

The significant healing effect of Tilia platyphyllos Scop. and Tilia cordata Mill. flowers are well known. However, the flowers of Tilia tomentosa Moench. are not suitable for harvest due to their toxic effects. To investigate the diverse background of this effect, we applied a functional miRNA-based marker, mannose expression analysis and determined the content of bioactive compounds. Out of nine tested markers, three (miR160, miR167 and miR408) provided reproducible miRNA-based loci and two of them (miR160 and miR398) enabled the acquisition of fingerprinting specific to flower and leaf samples of T. platyphyllos and T. tomentosa. The most pronounced profiling was specific for miR408 marker, the function of which is connected to plant defense and adaptation mechanisms. We confirmed the suitability of microRNA-based markers for polymorphism determination of flowers of selected species of lime-tree. The highest values of antioxidant activity, flavonoids, total polyphenols and phenolic acids content have been reached in silver linden flowers. When comparing the transcription activity of mannose in flowers, more than 30 times higher levels of mannose transcripts for the silver linden flowers was observed.

Lasso Proteins—Unifying Cysteine Knots and Miniproteins

Complex lasso proteins are a recently identified class of biological compounds that are present in considerable fraction of proteins with disulfide bridges. In this work, we look at complex lasso proteins as a generalization of well-known cysteine knots and miniproteins (lasso peptides). In particular, we show that complex lasso proteins with the same crucial topological features—cysteine knots and lasso peptides—are antimicrobial proteins, which suggests that they act as a molecular plug. Based on an analysis of the stability of the lasso piercing residue, we also introduce a method to determine which lasso motif is potentially functional. Using this method, we show that the lasso motif in antimicrobial proteins, as well in that in cytokines, is functionally relevant. We also study the evolution of lasso motifs, their conservation, and the usefulness of the lasso fingerprint, which extracts all topologically non-triviality concerning covalent loops. The work is completed by the presentation of extensive statistics on complex lasso proteins to analyze, in particular, the strange propensity for “negative” piercings. We also identify 21 previously unknown complex lasso proteins with an ester and a thioester bridge.

Data-Driven Analysis of Fluorination of Ligands of Aminergic G Protein Coupled Receptors

Currently, G protein-coupled receptors are the targets with the highest number of drugs in many therapeutic areas. Fluorination has become a common strategy in designing highly active biological compounds, as evidenced by the steadily increasing number of newly approved fluorine-containing drugs. Herein, we identified in the ChEMBL database and analysed 1554 target-based FSAR sets (non-fluorinated compounds and their fluorinated analogues) comprising 966 unique non-fluorinated and 2457 unique fluorinated compounds active against 33 different aminergic GPCRs. Although a relatively small number of activity cliffs (defined as a pair of structurally similar compounds showing significant differences of activity −ΔpPot > 1.7) was found in FSAR sets, it is clear that appropriately introduced fluorine can increase ligand potency more than 50-fold. The analysis of matched molecular pairs (MMPs) networks indicated that the fluorination of the aromatic ring showed no clear trend towards a positive or negative effect on affinity; however, a favourable site for a positive potency effect of fluorination was the ortho position. Fluorination of aliphatic fragments more often led to a decrease in biological activity. The results may constitute the rules of thumb for fluorination of aminergic receptor ligands and provide insights into the role of fluorine substitutions in medicinal chemistry.

A Comprehensive review on Dichrostachys cinerea

For a very long time, the medical plants have been used worldwide to treat human diseases and it serves as a safe source of drugs to cure several diseases and conditions through complementary medicine system. It is a native plant of Indian subcontinent, Africa and North Australia and is known to have significant pharmacological activities. The wide range of pharmacological activities of D.cinerea are due to the presence of different groups of active biological compounds present in it. Traditionally, D.cinerea has been used for the treatment the treatment of many diseases such as headache, toothache, dysentery, leprosy, coughs, syphilis and also as diuretic, anthelmintic, purgative and laxative. Research on the pharmacological, biological isolation of metabolites and biologically active compounds of this plant have already been done worldwide. However, the study to evaluate the complete therapeutic values of this plant still needed to conduct. This paper briefly reviews the various pharmacological properties of D.cinerea that could be useful for further experimental and clinical investigations.

Effects of Wine Components in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

With the rising prevalence of Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) worldwide, and the rising cost of treatment with novel biological drugs, there is an increasing interest in various diets and natural foods as a potential way to control/modulate IBD. As recent data indicates that diet can modify the metabolic responses essential for the resolution of inflammation, and as wine compounds have been shown to provide substantial anti-inflammatory effect, in this review we aimed to discuss the current evidence concerning the impact of biological compounds present in wine on IBD. A number of preclinical studies brought forth strong evidence on the mechanisms by which molecules in wine, such as resveratrol or piceatannol, provide their anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, anti-tumor, and microbiota-modulation effects. However, concerning the effects of alcohol, it is still unclear how the amount of ethanol ingested within the framework of moderate wine consumption (1–2 glasses a day) affects patients with IBD, as human studies regarding the effects of wine on patients with IBD are scarce. Nevertheless, available evidence justifies the conductance of large-scale RCT trials on human subjects that will finally elucidate whether wine can offer real benefits to the IBD population.

The endemic plants – a valuable resource with vast potential in Bulgaria: A brief overview

The plant kingdom with its natural products, both terrestrial and marine, has been widely studied. Plant-based products have long been used for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Many natural compounds are reported to have a number of interesting and significant biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antiparasitic, analgesic, antidiabetic, antiatherogenic, antiproliferative, and cardioprotective and neuroprotective activities. In order to find a natural product, researchers often explore the possibilities given by nature. Special attention is paid to bioactive compounds synthesized by endemic plants as a specific resource of limited habitat. This review focuses on a brief overview of endemic plants in Bulgaria, most common in the mountainous regions of the country, with the aim to encourage the knowledge of these resources with vast potential for unique biological compounds and specific characteristics beneficial to humans for various purposes.

Venom of Viperidae: A perspective of its antibacterial and antitumor potential

: The emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria and limitations on cancer treatment represent two important challenges in modern medicine. Biological compounds have been explored with particular focus on venoms. Although they can be lethal or cause considerable damage to humans, venom is also a source rich in components with high therapeutic potential. Viperidae family is one of the most emblematic venomous snake families and several studies highlighted the antibacterial and antitumor potential of viper toxins. According to the literature, these activities are mainly associated to five protein families – svLAAO, Disintegrins, PLA2, SVMPs and C-type lectins- that act through different mechanisms leading to the inhibition of the growth of bacteria, as well as, cytotoxic effects and inhibition of metastasis process. In this review we provide an overview of the venom toxins produced by species belonging to the Viperidae family, exploring their roles during the envenoming and their pharmacological properties, in order to demonstrate its antibacterial and antitumor potential.

PHARMACOINFORMATICS APPROACH OF IDENTIFIED BIOLOGICAL COMPOUNDS FROM SELECTED PLECTRANTHUS (L.) SPECIES IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA: AN IN-SILICO APPROACH

Aim: Plectranthus (Linn) is a typical genus of the Indian flora. It had been used in the folk medicines for its several medicinal properties. In this study, there are twenty-five major biological compounds were selected from Plectranthus forskohlii, Plectranthus coleoides, Plectranthus rotundifolius and Plectranthus vettiveroides for molecular docking analysis and find out the active compounds against Diabetic, Cancer and Tuberculosis diseases. Materials and methods: Biological compounds of Plectranthus Species were identifying and investigated by GC-MS and the biological activities of these compounds were studied with virtual screening, ADMET analysis, Protein ligand interaction through molecular docking analysis. Results: Twenty-five major biological compounds were selected for virtual screening analysis to find out the drug likeness activity. Out of these twenty-five compounds nine compounds are drug likeness in nature. Based on the ADMET analysis, Thymol beta D-Glucoside showed the low toxicity level and it represent Lipinski rule of five. The molecular docking results of Thymol beta D-Glucoside interact with different target proteins used in the study showed the maximum docking energy was obtained against tuberculosis protein -10.1846kcal/mol followed by diabetic protein -10.8736kcal/mol and cancer protein -11.4109kcal/mol. Conclusion: Plectranthus amboinicus leaves showed significant anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, anti-tuberculosis activity when compared to other studied species such as Plectranthus forskohlii, Plectranthus coleoides, Plectranthus rotundifolius and Plectranthus vettiveroides.