Antifungal activity of rice straw extract on some phytopathogenic fungi

The antifungal activity of allelochemicals extracted from rice straw on the radial growth rate and the activity of some hydrolyzing enzymes of Aspergillus flavus, Alternaria alternata and Botrytis cinerea were studied in vitro. Five different concentrations (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10%, w/v) of water, methanol and acetone extracts of rice straw were tested. All extracts significantly (P<0.05) inhibited the radial growth rate and protease, carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) and amylase activities of the tested fungal species. The most potent solvent was methanol. The present study suggests that rice straw extract had antifungal properties, thus it can be used as a natural alternative approach to synthetic fungicide.Key words: Rice straw, allelochemicals, antifungal, Aspergillus flavus, Alternaria alternata, Botrytis cinerea, amylase, protease, carboxymethyl cellulase

Electrical performance of efficient quad-crescent-shaped Si nanowire solar cell

The electrical characteristics of quad-crescent-shaped silicon nanowire (NW) solar cells (SCs) are numerically analyzed and as a result their performance optimized. The structure discussed consists of four crescents, forming a cavity that permits multiple light scattering with high trapping between the NWs. Additionally, new modes strongly coupled to the incident light are generated along the NWs. As a result, the optical absorption has been increased over a large portion of light wavelengths and hence the power conversion efficiency (PCE) has been improved. The electron–hole (e–h) generation rate in the design reported has been calculated using the 3D finite difference time domain method. Further, the electrical performance of the SC reported has been investigated through the finite element method, using the Lumerical charge software package. In this investigation, the axial and core–shell junctions were analyzed looking at the reported crescent and, as well, conventional NW designs. Additionally, the doping concentration and NW-junction position were studied in this design proposed, as well as the carrier-recombination-and-lifetime effects. This study has revealed that the high back surface field layer used improves the conversion efficiency by ∼ 80%. Moreover, conserving the NW radial shell as a low thickness layer can efficiently reduce the NW sidewall recombination effect. The PCE and short circuit current were determined to be equal to 18.5% and 33.8 mA/cm$^{2}$ for the axial junction proposed. However, the core–shell junction shows figures of 19% and 34.9 mA/cm$^{2}$. The suggested crescent design offers an enhancement of 23% compared to the conventional NW, for both junctions. For a practical surface recombination velocity of 10$^{2}$ cm/s, the PCE of the proposed design, in the axial junction, has been reduced to 16.6%, with a reduction of 11%. However, the core–shell junction achieves PCE of 18.7%, with a slight reduction of 1.6%. Therefore, the optoelectronic performance of the core–shell junction was marginally affected by the NW surface recombination, compared to the axial junction

An Insight into In Vitro Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, Cytotoxic, and Apoptosis Induction Potential of Mangiferin, a Bioactive Compound Derived from <i>Mangifera indica</i>

Due to their low cost, toxicity, and health risks, medicinal plants have come to be seen as useful products and sources of biologically active compounds. Mangifera indica L., a medicinal plant with a long history, has a high bioactive metabolites content. Mangiferin (C19H18O11) is primary isolated from M. indica’s leaves, which has many pharmacological benefits. In this investigation, ultrasonic-assisted extraction with ethanol as the extraction solvent was applied to obtain mangiferin from a local type of M. indica leaves. HPLC was performed after a dichloromethane-ethyl acetate liquid–liquid fractionation method. Further, UV–vis, FTIR, and NMR spectroscopy were utilized to elucidate the structure. Interestingly, purified mangiferin displayed promising antimicrobial efficacy against a diverse variety of fungal and bacterial pathogens with MICs of 1.95–62.5 and 1.95–31.25 µg/mL, respectively. Time–kill patterns also showed that mangiferin had both bactericidal and fungicidal action. Furthermore, it exhibited strong radical dosage-dependent scavenging activity (IC50 = 17.6 μg/mL) compared to vitamin C (Vc, IC50 = 11.9 μg/mL), suggesting it could be developed into a viable antioxidant agent. To our delight, the IC50 values of mangiferin for the MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines were 41.2 and 44.7 μg/mL, respectively, from MTT cell viability testing, and it was less harmful when tested against the noncancerous cell line. Notably, it significantly induced cell apoptosis in MCF-7 cells by 62.2–83.4% using annexin V-FITC/PI labeling. Hence, our findings suggest that mangiferin can be used in the medical industry to create therapeutic interventions and medication delivery systems for society

Antioxidant, Cytotoxic, and DNA Damage Protection Activities of Endophytic Fungus <i>Pestalotiopsis neglecta</i> Isolated from <i>Ziziphus spina-christi</i> Medicinal Plant

Fungal endophytes are friendly microorganisms that colonize plants and are important in the interactions between plants and their environment. They generate valuable secondary metabolites that are valuable to both plants and humans. Endophytic fungi with bioactivities were isolated from the leaves of the medicinal plant Ziziphus spina-christi. An efficient isolate was selected and identified as Pestalotiopsis neglecta based on nucleotide sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS 1-5.8S-ITS 2) of the 18S rRNA gene (NCBI accession number OP529850); the 564 bp had 99 to 100% similarity with P. neglecta MH860161.1, AY682935.1, KP689121.1, and MG572407.1, according to the BLASTn analysis, following preliminary phytochemical and antifungal screening. The biological activities of this fungus’ crude ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract were assessed. With an efficient radical scavenging activity against 2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and an IC50 value of 36.6 µg mL−1, P. neglecta extract has shown its potential as an antioxidant. Moreover, it displayed notable cytotoxic effects against MCF-7 (breast carcinoma, IC50 = 22.4 µg mL−1), HeLa (cervical carcinoma, IC50 = 28.9 µg mL−1) and HepG-2 (liver carcinoma, IC50 = 28.9 µg mL−1). At 10 µg mL−1, EtOAc demonstrated significant DNA protection against hydroxyl radical-induced damage. Based on FT-IR and GC-MS spectral analysis, it was detected that the EtOAc of P. neglecta product contains multiple bioactive functional groups. Subsequently, this validated the features of major different potent compounds; tolycaine, 1H-pyrazol, 1,3,5-trimethyl-, eugenol, 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione, 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethyl), and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. Since these compounds are biologically relevant in various aspects, and distinct biological activities of fungal extract were acceptable in vitro, this suggests that endophytic fungus P. neglecta may be a viable source of bioactive natural products. This could be a good starting point for pharmaceutical applications