Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity of Bryopsis pennata and Chaetomorpha antennina against Multidrug Resistant Morganella morganii and Salmonella species Isolated from Healthy Individuals

The problem of antibiotic resistance is fast becoming a pandemic which has necessitated the need for new drugs discovery. This study was carried out to screen two green algal species- Bryopsis pennata and Chaetomorpha anteninna for antibacterial activity against multidrug resistant pathogenic enteric organisms (Morganella morganii and Salmonella species) obtained from healthy individuals. Algal samples were obtained and processed. Crude extraction was carried out with dichloromethane/methanol (2:1) while the antibacterial screening was done by agar-well diffusion method. Results revealed that M. morganii was 3.37% of the total isolates recovered while Salmonella species was 6.74%. Result also showed that C. antennina was active against all the strains of Salmonella species with inhibitory zones ranging from 10 mm to 17 mm and the M. morganii with inhibitory zone of 11 mm while B. pennata showed inhibitory activities against only S. pullorum and S. enterica subspecies diarizonae with inhibitory zones of 12 mm and 7 mm respectively as well as the M. morganii strain with 14 mm. The antibacterial activities observed from these green algae showed that Bryopsis pennata and Chaetomorpha antennina from the West African coast are promising in the quest for new drugs with potentials against multidrug resistant strains of bacteria and therefore should be intensely researched int

Isolation, Screening and Identification of Laccase Producing Fungi from Eturnagaram Forest, Warangal District, Telangana, India

Lacasse is one of the extracellular enzymes excreted from white and brown rot fungi, which is involved in ligninolysis. Laccases are N-glycosilated multi copper oxidases belonging to the group of the blue copper proteins. In fungi, laccase is present in Ascomycetes, Deuteromycetes, Basidiomycetes and is particularly abundant in many white-rot fungi that degrade lignin. Laccases have been subject of intensive research in the last decades due to their broad substrate specificity. In the recent years, their uses span from the textile to the pulp and paper industries, and food applications to bioremediation processes. Laccases also have uses in organic synthesis, where typical substrates are phenols and amines, and the reaction products are dimers and oligomers derived from the coupling of reactive radical intermediates. In this present study thirty white rot fungi were collected and investigated for highest laccase producing organisms in submerged fermentation. Among 30 cultures eighteen showed brown colour zone. Out of these, five isolates (Pv5, Pv3, Pv8, Pv11, and Pv12) had shown the brown colour zone from day one and Pv5 showed highest brown zone. This study describes the isolation of white rot fungi, their molecular identification and screening for their ability to produce laccase.. Based on sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis with reference taxa the strain Pv5 was identified as Trametes sp