Euphorbia retusa (Forssk.) A PROMISING SOURCE FOR BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS IN BIOMEDICAL AND AGRICULTURE APPLICATIONS

Euphorbia retusa (family Euphorbiaceae) is an annual plant in the desert of Egypt with a 20 to 60 cm high. The aerial part of the plant containing latex is used in many biological activities. This study aimed to determine the phytochemical constituents, antioxidant, antimicrobial properties and allelopathic activities of aerial parts of E. retusa collected from Wadi Arabah, North Eastern Desert, Egypt. Standard methods were used for the qualitative and quantitative of tannins, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloid, phenolics, steroids, terpenoids, and glycosides. The antioxidant activity was measured based on the reduction of DPPH.Antimicrobial activity was evaluated against pathogenic bacteria, as well as the allelopathic potential against Chenopodium murale was assayed. E. retusa attained the highest values of saponins, tannins, and phenolics compared. In the DPPH test system, the IC50 value of the antioxidant inhibition for E. retusa was 802.74µg mL-1. The data obtained indicated that, the sensitivity of the seedling growth to the extract was higher than the germination of the test species. In addition, the root growth of C. murale was more affected than the shoot system to the inhibitory allelopathic activity induced by E. retusa. At higher concentration (40 g L-1) the germination of the tested seed was highly inhibited by 51.77%, while the shoot and root were reduced by 60.98% and 74.55%, respectively. However, the opposite response was observed at the lower concentration (2.5 g L-1).In conclusion, theextract of E. retusa plant has phytotoxic properties and thus contains phytotoxic substances

Molecular Characterization of Penicillium expansum Isolated from Grapes and its Management by Leaf Extract of Chenopodium murale

Penicillium expansum Link causes an economically important postharvest blue mold disease in a number of fruits and vegetables. In the present study, this fungus was isolated from rotted grapes and identified on morphological basis. Identification of the pathogen was further confirmed on molecular basis by using four different primer pairs namely ITS, β-tubulin, CMD and CF under accession numbers MN752155, MN787831, MN787832 and MN787833, respectively. Leaf extract of Chenopodium murale was assessed for its potential to control in vitro growth of P. expansum. For this purpose, leaves were extracted in methanol and after evaporation of the solvent, the resulting extract was successively partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol followed by antifungal bioassays with different concentrations (1.562 to 200 mg mL-1) each organic solvent fraction. Although all the fractions variably controlled the fungal pathogen, however, n-butanol fraction showed the highest antifungal activity causing 45–86% reduction in biomass of the pathogen. Ethyl acetate fraction was also highly antifungal and reduced fungal biomass by 44–81%. Chloroform and n-hexane fractions were comparatively less effective and reduced biomass of P. expansum by 30–72% and 11–44%, respectively. This study concludes that ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions are highly antifungal in nature against P. expansum.

ETHYL ACETATE EXTRACT OF Chenopodium murale ROOT, A SOURCE OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS

Chenopodium murale L. is a winter weed of Chenopodiaceae. In this study, bioactive compounds present in ethyl acetate fraction of root extract of C. murale were identified. The weed plants were collected from Jehlem, Pakistan. Its roots were dried, powdered and extracted in methanol. After evaporation of the solvent, the remaining extract was mixed in water and partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform and finally with ethyl acetate. The last fraction was analyzed through GC-MS that indicated the presence of 15 compounds. These included the three major compounds namely o-xylene (15.03%), cyclopentanol (13.42) and 2-hexanol (13.99%). The moderately and less abundant compounds were ethylbenzene (5.47); methyl acetate (6.00%); cholestrol (4.33%); 2-phenanthrenol (3.01%); cyclohexanone (5.32%); p-xylene (5.12%); furostan-3,26-diyl dibenzoate (3.29%); dihexyl phthalate (4.99%); tricosanoic acid (2.74%); dioctyl phthalate (4.99%), hexanal (3.05%) and ergostane (1.29%). Literature survey showed that 10 of the identified compounds exhibited various biological activities including antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer and antipsoriatic. Most of the compounds were antimicrobial in nature.

Phytochemical analysis and biological activities of three wild Mesembryanthemum species growing in heterogeneous habitats

The objective of this study was to analyze the phytochemicals and to determine the antioxidant, antibacterial and allelopathic potential of three wild Mesembryanthemum species (M. crystallinum L., M. forsskaolii Hochst. Ex Boiss and M. nodiflorum L.). The phytochemical composition of the methanolic extract of studied species revealed the considerable quantities that might be responsible for their powerful antioxidant activity. The IC50 values were 386.51, 592.97, and 752.23µg/ml for M. nodiflorum, M. crystallinum and M. forsskaolii extracts respectively. The antibacterial activity index was calculated for each extract in comparison with the standard antibiotics. M. nodiflorum showed higher potency than ampicillin and penicillin G against against Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. The allelopathic potential showed that the studied Mesembryanthemum species expressed a significant phytotoxic activity against Chenopodium murale weed in a dose dependent manner. M. nodiflorum sample showed the most phytotoxic effect among the studied species.

The 28 Ser Amino Acid of Cucumber Mosaic Virus Movement Protein Has a Role in Symptom Formation and Plasmodesmata Localization

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV, Cucumovirus, Bromoviridae) is an economically significant virus infecting important horticultural and field crops. Current knowledge regarding the specific functions of its movement protein (MP) is still incomplete. In the present study, potential post-translational modification sites of its MP were assayed with mutant viruses: MP/S28A, MP/S28D, MP/S120A and MP/S120D. Ser28 was identified as an important factor in viral pathogenicity on Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi, Cucumis sativus and Chenopodium murale. The subcellular localization of GFP-tagged movement proteins was determined with confocal laser-scanning microscopy. The wild type movement protein fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) (MP-eGFP) greatly colocalized with callose at plasmodesmata, while MP/S28A-eGFP and MP/S28D-eGFP were detected as punctate spots along the cell membrane without callose colocalization. These results underline the importance of phosphorylatable amino acids in symptom formation and provide data regarding the essential factors for plasmodesmata localization of CMV MP.

HEXANE SOLUBLE BIOACTIVE COMPONENTS OF Chenopodium murale STEM

Chenopodium murale L. is a common winter weed mostly growing along the road-sides. In the present study, n-hexane soluble fraction of methanolic stem extract of this weed was subjected to GC-MS analysis that showed the presence of 28 compounds in this fraction. Major compounds included oleic acid (16.55%), palmitic acid (11.22%), β-sitosterol (9.63%), hexadecanoic acid (7.71%) and methyl oleate (5.90%). Other prominent compounds were piperine (4.75%), nonacosane (4.69%), monoplalmitin (4.21%), γ-sitosterol (3.91%), methyl linoleate (3.88%), neocurdione (3.86%) and ethanonone (3.25%). The compounds such as stigmasterol (2.92%), 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (2.78%), tetracosanoic acid (1.19%), stearic acid (1.36%), tridecanoic acid (1.35%), tridecanal (1.30%), phytol (1.29%), docosanoic acid, methyl ester (1.23%), octadecanoic acid (1.20%), 4-pyrimidinecarboxylic acid (1.05%), 2-hydroxy-2-phenylbutanamide (0.91%), hexacosanoic acid (0.76%), cholestrol (0.61%), methyl octacosanoate (0.55%) and tetracosanoic acid (0.30%) were present in low concentrations. A thorough literature survey showed that most of the identified compounds possessed antifungal and/or antibacterial properties while very few of them also possessed antioxidant potential. This study concludes that n-hexane soluble fraction of methanolic stem extract of C. murale is a big storehouse of antimicrobial compounds.

CHEMICAL EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE ICLUSION OF AMARANTHACEAE AND CHENOPODIACEAE INTO ONE FAMILY AMARANTHACEAE JUSS. (s.l.)

In this study, separation of chemical compounds using Thin layer chromatography technique revealed close relationship between the studied members of the newly constructed family Amaranthaceae Juss. (s.l.). 68% of the calculated affinities between the studied species are above 50% which is an indication for close relationships. 90% is the chemical affinities reported between Chenopodium murale and three species of the genus Amaranthus despite of their great morphological diversity. Among the selected members of the chenopodiaceae, Chenopodium murale and Suaeda monoica are the most closely related species to all of the studied Amaranthaceae . 60%-88% and 54%-88% chemical affinities were reported for the two species with the Amaranthaceae members respectively. GC-Mass analysis of methanolic extracts of the studied species identified 20 compounds common between different species. 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-,2-hydroxy-1 and 7-Hexadecenal,(Z)- are the major components common between Amaranthus graecizans, Digera muricata Aerva javanica Gomphrena celosioides of the historical family Amaranthaceae and Suaeda monoica Salsola vermiculata Chenopodium murale Cornulaca monocantha of the historical family Chenopodiaceae, Most of the identified compounds are of pharmaceutical importance such as antioxidants, anti-inflammatory , and Anti-cancerous. KEYWORDS: Chemical affinity; TLC; GC- Mass analysis; Amarancaceae; Chenopodiaceae