Antibacterial activity of selected medicinal plants of northwest Pakistan traditionally used against mastitis in livestock

The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of traditionally used anti-mastitis plants (Allium sativum, Bunium persicum, Oryza sativa and Triticum aestivum) in northwest Pakistan against bacterial pathogens. Selected plants were phytochemically screened for Alkaloids, Flavonoids, and Saponins and checked for in vitro antibacterial activity at concentration of 50 mg/ml against S. aureus, E. coli and K. pneumoniae by agar well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration was determined against multidrug resistant bacteria using tube dilution method. All extracts were found to significantly inhibit (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) the activity against bacterial strains examined. Among phytochemicals, alkaloids of all tested antimastitis plants produced significantly higher inhibition zones against bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of phytochemicals and crude methanolic extracts against tested bacterial strains ranged between 12.5–50 mg/ml and 25–50 mg/ml, respectively. Medicinal plants traditionally used against mastitis are therapeutically active against bacterial pathogens. A. sativum and B. persicum were found to be potential candidate species for the development of novel veterinary drugs with low cost and fewer side effects.     

Effects of water gradients on soil enzyme activity and active organic carbon composition under Carex lasiocarpa marsh

The responses of soil enzyme activity of freshwater marsh, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and aboveground biomass to water gradients were studied with Carex lasiocarpa pot culture experiment. The relationships between soil enzyme activity and MBC, DOC and aboveground biomass were discussed. The water gradients were W1, 15 cm; W2, ?5 cm; W3, ?5–5 cm; W4, submerged. The results indicated that acid phosphatase, invertase and urease activities were decreased with the increase of water level, while catalase activity was increased with moisture content increasing. Drying-wetting alternation (W3) increased soil enzyme activities if compared with W1. MBC content followed the order of W3 > W1 > W2 > W4, and the activities of invertase, urease and catalase were significantly positively correlated with MBC (p < 0.05). DOC content presented the order of W4 > W1 > W3 > W2, and the activities of urease and acid phosphatase were most significantly negatively correlated with DOC (p < 0.01). In addition, drying-wetting alternation promoted the growth of Carex lasiocarpa. When water submerged plants, the growth of Carex lasiocarpa was significantly inhibited. The aboveground biomass was positively related to soil enzyme activities. There were close relationships between the activities of invertase, urease and catalase and the growth situation of Carex lasiocarpa.     

硬化地表对油松和白蜡树下非根围及根围土壤微生物量碳氮的影响

硬化地表是城市化发展的重要特征,为了明确硬化地表下土壤环境的变化,以北京典型绿化树油松和白蜡为试验材料,设置透水硬化地表(PP)、不透水硬化地表(IPP)和自然地表(Ctr)3个水平的地表类型,探讨硬化地表对非根围和根围土壤微生物量碳(MBC)、氮(MBN)的影响。结果表明,与对照(Ctr)相比,PP和IPP显著降低了油松和白蜡树下非根围土壤MBC、MBN、MBC/OC(微生物量碳/有机碳)和MBN/TN(微生物量氮/全氮)(P<0.05),并显著降低了油松树下根围土壤MBN/TN(P<0.05);PP显著降低了白蜡树下根围土壤MBN、MBC/OC、MBN/TN和油松树下根围土壤MBC(P<0.05)。硬化地表引起的土壤MBC、MBN的变化与土壤全碳、全氮、有机碳的变化显著正相关(P<0.05),MBN的变化与含水量呈显著负相关(P<0.05)。可见,硬化地表不利于土壤微生物的生长,并且在非根围土壤中表现更为明显,这种不利影响将可能进一步影响城市绿地的养分循环、树木生境和生态系统服务功能。     

毛苔草湿地土壤酶活性及活性有机碳组分对水分梯度的响应

通过设置的W1（15cm）、W2（-5cm）、W3（-5～5cm）、W4（淹没）4种水分梯度的毛苔草（Carex lasiocarpa）盆栽培养实验,研究了湿地土壤酶活性、微生物量碳（MBC）、可溶性有机碳（DOC）及毛苔草地上生物量对水分梯度的响应及土壤酶活性与MBC、DOC、地上生物量的关系。土壤酸性磷酸酶、蔗糖酶和脲酶活性随着土壤水分增加而降低,但过氧化氢酶活性随着土壤水分增加而增加。与持续淹水相比,于湿交替（W3）增加了土壤酸性磷酸酶、蔗糖酶、脲酶和过氧化氢酶活性。土壤微生物量碳（MBC）含量表现为W3〉W1〉W2〉W4,蔗糖酶、脲酶、过氧化氢酶活性与MBC呈显著正相关（P〈0．05）。土壤可溶性有机碳（DOC）含量表现为W4〉W1〉W3〉W2,脲酶和酸性磷酸酶活性与DOC呈极显著负相关（P〈0．01）。毛苔草地上生物量与土壤酶活性呈正相关,其中,蔗糖酶、过氧化氢酶、脲酶活性与毛苔草生长状况密切相关。     

Trichoplaxin — A new membrane-active antimicrobial peptide from placozoan cDNA

A method based on the use of signal peptide sequences from antimicrobial peptide (AMP) precursors was used to mine a placozoa expressed sequence tag database and identified a potential antimicrobial peptide from Trichoplax adhaerens. This peptide, with predicted sequence FFGRLKSVWSAVKHGWKAAKSR is the first AMP from a placozoan species, and was named trichoplaxin. It was chemically synthesized and its structural properties, biological activities and membrane selectivity were investigated. It adopts an α-helical structure in contact with membrane-like environments and is active against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial species (including MRSA), as well as yeasts from the Candida genus. The cytotoxic activity, as assessed by the haemolytic activity against rat erythrocytes, U937 cell permeabilization to propidium iodide and MCF7 cell mitochondrial activity, is significantly lower than the antimicrobial activity. In tests with membrane models, trichoplaxin shows high affinity for anionic prokaryote-like membranes with good fit in kinetic studies. Conversely, there is a low affinity for neutral eukaryote-like membranes and absence of a dose dependent response. With high selectivity for bacterial cells and no homologous sequence in the UniProt, trichoplaxin is a new potential lead compound for development of broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs.     

An acidic phospholipase A₂ with antibacterial activity from Porthidium nasutum snake venom

Snake venoms are complex mixtures of proteins among which both basic and acidic phospholipases A₂ (PLA₂s) can be found. Basic PLA₂s are usually responsible for major toxic effects induced by snake venoms, while acidic PLA₂s tend to have a lower toxicity. A novel PLA₂, here named PnPLA₂, was purified from the venom of Porthidium nasutum by means of RP-HPLC on a C18 column. PnPLA₂ is an acidic protein with a pI of 4.6, which migrates as a single band under both non-reducing and reducing conditions in SDS-PAGE. PnPLA₂ had a molecular mass of 15,802.6 Da, determined by ESI-MS. Three tryptic peptides of this protein were characterized by HPLC-nESI-MS/MS, and N-terminal sequencing by direct Edman degradation showing homology to other acidic PLA₂s from viperid venoms. PnPLA₂ displayed indirect hemolytic activity in agarose erythrocyte-egg yolk gels and bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus in a dose-dependent manner, with a MIC and MBC of 32 μg/mL. In addition, PnPLA₂ showed a potent inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation with doses up to 40 μg/mL. This acidic PLA₂, in contrast to basic enzymes isolated from other viperid snake venoms, was not cytotoxic to murine skeletal muscle myoblasts C₂C₁₂. This is the first report on a bactericidal protein of Porthidium nasutum venom.     

Antioxidant and antibacterial capacity of stingless bee honey from Borneo (Sarawak)

Stingless honey bees form a large group of bees that lack of a sting and are found among Meliponinae species indigenous to various tropical and subtropical regions. They are able to produce “stingless bee honey” that contains divergent categories of phenolic and flavonoid compounds and have been associated with antioxidant and antibacterial activity. This study examines the physicochemical properties, antioxidant-activity and anti-microbial activity of stingless bee honey from Malaysia that was produced by Geniotrigona thoracica, Heterotrigona itama and Heterotrigona erythrogastra. The results show that G. thoracica honey has the highest concentration of the total phenolic context (99.04?±?5.14?mg/ml) and the greatest reducing power (19.05?±?0.79%), while flavonoids (17.67?±?0.75?mg/ml), reducing power (18.10?±?0.35%), DPPH (47.40?±?3.18%) and FRAP (50.66?±?5.77?mM of Fe²⁺/100?g) of H. itama honey is significantly higher than those of the other honeys. In addition, G. thoracica honey has the highest antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus xylosus (2.10?±?0.10?cm), which is Gram-positive bacterium, and against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1.60?±?0.10?cm) and Vibrio parahaemolyticus (2.03?±?0.06?cm), which are Gram-negative bacteria. These results suggest that stingless bee honeys possess useful amounts of phenolic and flavonoid compounds that are able to act as natural anti-oxidants and also have significant anti-microbial activity.     

Promising antibacterial agents against multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Rapid emergence of multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections has created a critical health menace universally. Resistance to all the available chemotherapeutics has been on rise which led to WHO to stratify Staphylococcus aureus as high tier priorty II pathogen. Hence, discovery and development of new antibacterial agents with new mode of action is crucial to address the multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. The egressing understanding of new antibacterials on their biological target provides opportunities for new therapeutic agents. This review underlines on various aspects of drug design, structure activity relationships (SARs) and mechanism of action of various new antibacterial agents and also covers the recent reports on new antibacterial agents with potent activity against multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This review provides attention on in vitro and in vivo pharmacological activities of new antibacterial agents in the point of view of drug discovery and development.     

Effects of water gradients on soil enzyme activity and active organic carbon composition under Carex lasiocarpa marsh

The responses of soil enzyme activity of freshwater marsh, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and aboveground biomass to water gradients were studied with Carex lasiocarpa pot culture experiment. The relationships between soil enzyme activity and MBC, DOC and aboveground biomass were discussed. The water gradients were W1, 15 cm; W2, ?5 cm; W3, ?5–5 cm; W4, submerged. The results indicated that acid phosphatase, invertase and urease activities were decreased with the increase of water level, while catalase activity was increased with moisture content increasing. Drying-wetting alternation (W3) increased soil enzyme activities if compared with W1. MBC content followed the order of W3 > W1 > W2 > W4, and the activities of invertase, urease and catalase were significantly positively correlated with MBC (p < 0.05). DOC content presented the order of W4 > W1 > W3 > W2, and the activities of urease and acid phosphatase were most significantly negatively correlated with DOC (p < 0.01). In addition, drying-wetting alternation promoted the growth of Carex lasiocarpa. When water submerged plants, the growth of Carex lasiocarpa was significantly inhibited. The aboveground biomass was positively related to soil enzyme activities. There were close relationships between the activities of invertase, urease and catalase and the growth situation of Carex lasiocarpa.     

Potential impacts of climate warming on active soil organic carbon contents along natural altitudinal forest transect of Changbai Mountain

Understanding soil carbon fractions and their responses to the global warming is important for improving soil carbon management of natural altitudinal forest ecosystem. In this study, the contents of soil total organic carbon (SOC), soil labile organic carbon (LOC), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in soil upper layers (0–20 cm) were measured along a natural altitudinal transect in the north slope of Changbai Mountain. The results showed that under natural conditions the contents of SOC and LOC were largest in Betula ermanii forest (altitude 1996 m), moderate in spruce-fir forest (altitude 1350 m), and smallest in Korean pine mixed broad-leaf tree forest (altitude 740 m). MBC contents in different forest ecosystems decreased in the order of Betula ermanii forest, Korean pine mixed broad-leaf tree forest, and dark coniferous forest. In addition, the responses of SOC, LOC, and MBC to soil warming were conducted by relocating intact soil cores from high- to low-elevation forests for one year. As expected, the soil core relocation caused significant increase in soil temperature but made no significant effect on soil moisture. After one year incubation, soil relocation significantly decreased SOC contents, whereas the contents of LOC, MBC, and the ratios of LOC to SOC and MBC to SOC increased.