No abstract

Cellulase and pectinase are degrading cellulosic and pectic substances that form plant cell walls and, thereby, they have a wide range of applications in the agro-industrial by-products recycling and food industries. In the current research, Mucor circinelloides and M. hiemalis strains were tested for their ability to produce cellulase and pectinase from tangerine peel by submerged fermentation. Experiments on five variables: temperature, pH, incubation period, inoculum size, and substrate concentration, were designed with a Box–Behnken design, as well as response surface methodology (RSM), and analysis of variance was performed. In addition, cellulase and pectinase were partially purified and characterized. At their optimum parameters, M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis afforded high cellulase production (37.20 U/mL and 33.82 U/mL, respectively) and pectinase (38.02 U/mL and 39.76 U/mL, respectively). The partial purification of M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis cellulase produced 1.73- and 2.03-fold purification with 31.12 and 32.02% recovery, respectively; meanwhile, 1.74- and 1.99-fold purification with 31.26 and 31.51% recovery, respectively, were obtained for pectinase. Partially purified cellulase and pectinase from M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis demonstrated the highest activity at neutral pH, and 70 and 50 °C, for cellulase and 50 and 60 °C, for pectinase, respectively. Moreover, 10 mM of K+ increased M. circinelloides enzymatic activity. The production of cellulase and pectinase from M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis utilizing RSM is deemed profitable for the decomposition of agro-industrial wastes.

Valorizing chicken feather agro-wastes nowadays is imperative, if these wastes are disposed of without treatment, they could contribute to environmental problems. Conventional methods of processing chicken feathers such as landfilling, chemical treatment and burning are costly, non-time consumable and are toxic to the environment. Microbial hydrolysis, on the contrary, is now considered the main environmental-friendly recycling alternative. Hence, the aim of this study is to isolate keratinolytic bacteria with efficient feather hydrolysis, to optimize some of the physical parameters that could affect both bacterial growth and consequently its degrading ability. Results demonstrated an efficient feather degrading ability of newly identified Bacillus sp. D4 strain isolated from chicken feathers under optimal mesophilic temperature 37˚C, pH 8.0 and 10 6 CFU/mL cell size inoculum, interpreted by highest keratin activity (55.0 ± 1.35 U/mL) and (54.3 ± 1.5 U/mL) respectively and higher total protein content in the cell free supernatant of 0.65 mg/mL. Beyond these parameters values, a moderate enzyme activity was observed at 40˚C (35.1 ± 2 U/mL), 25˚C (30.1 ± 2 U/mL), similarly at the initial pH 7.5 (52.3 ± 2 U/mL), pH 9.0 (49.0 ± 1.2 U/mL) and pH 10.0 (38.2 ± 1.35 U/mL). Bacillus sp. D4, on the other hand, was not able to tolerate high alkaline pH value 11.0 nor acidic pH 4.0 and 5.0 and high temperature of 55˚C, correspondingly low enzyme activity was noted (19.0 ± 1 U/mL).

Xylan is the primary hemicellulosic polymer found in lignocellulosic agricultural wastes and can be degraded by xylanase. In the current research, Mucor circinelloides and M. hiemalis were tested for their ability to produce xylanase from tangerine peel by submerged fermentation. Experiments on five variables were designed with Box–Behnken design and response surface methodology. Analysis of variance was exercised, the xylanase output was demonstrated with a mathematical equation as a function of the five factors, and the quixotic states for xylanase biosynthesis was secured. In addition, xylanase was partially purified, characterized, and immobilized on calcium alginate beads. The optimum parameters for xylanase production by M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis were consisted of incubation temperature (30 and 20°C), pH value (9 and 7) incubation period (9 and 9 days), inoculum size (3 and 3 mL), and substrate concentration (3 and 3 g/100 mL), respectively. M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis demonstrated the highest xylanase activities after RSM optimization, with 42.23 and 35.88 U/mL, respectively. The influence of single, interchange, and quadratic factors on xylanase output was investigated using nonlinear regression equations with significant R 2 and p values. The partial purification of M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis xylanase yielded 1.69- and 1.97-fold purification, and 30.74 and 31.34% recovery with 292.08 and 240.15 U/mg specific activity, respectively. Partially purified xylanase from M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis demonstrated the highest activity at neutral pH and 60 and 50°C, respectively. The immobilized M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis xylanase retained 84.02 and 79.43% activity, respectively. The production of xylanase from M. circinelloides and M. hiemalis utilizing RSM is deemed profitable for the decomposition of the agro-industrial wastes.

Breast, cervical, and ovarian cancers are among the most serious cancers and the main causes of mortality in females worldwide, necessitating urgent efforts to find newer sources of safe anticancer drugs. The present study aimed to evaluate the anticancer potency of mycoendophytic Alternaria tenuissima AUMC14342 ethyl acetate extract on HeLa (cervical cancer), SKOV-3 (ovarian cancer), and MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma) cell lines. The extract showed potent effect on MCF-7 cells with an IC50 value of 55.53 μg/mL. Cell cycle distribution analysis of treated MCF-7 cells revealed a cell cycle arrest at the S phase with a significant increase in the cell population (25.53%). When compared to control cells, no significant signs of necrotic or apoptotic cell death were observed. LC-MS/MS analysis of Alternaria tenuissima extract afforded the identification of 20 secondary metabolites, including 7-dehydrobrefeldin A, which exhibited the highest interaction score (-8.0156 kcal/mol) in molecular docking analysis against human aromatase. Regarding ADME pharmacokinetics and drug-likeness properties, 7-dehydrobrefeldin A, 4’-epialtenuene, and atransfusarin had good GIT absorption and water solubility without any violation of drug-likeness rules. These findings support the anticancer activity of bioactive metabolites derived from endophytic fungi and provide drug scaffolds and substitute sources for the future development of safe chemotherapy.

Resveratrol (3,4,5-trihydroxystilbene) is a naturally occurring polyphenolic stilbene compound produced by certain plant species in response to biotic and abiotic factors. Resveratrol has sparked a lot of interest due to its unique structure and approved therapeutic properties for the prevention and treatment of many diseases such as neurological disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammation, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. Over the last few decades, many studies have focused on the production of resveratrol from various natural sources and the optimization of large-scale production. Endophytic fungi isolated from various types of grapevines and Polygonum cuspidatum, the primary plant sources of resveratrol, demonstrated intriguing resveratrol-producing ability. Due to the increasing demand for resveratrol, one active area of research is the use of endophytic fungi and metabolic engineering techniques for resveratrol’s large-scale production. The current review addresses an overview of endophytic fungi as a source for production, as well as biosynthesis pathways and relevant genes incorporated in resveratrol biosynthesis. Various approaches for optimizing resveratrol production from endophytic fungi, as well as their bio-transformation and bio-degradation, are explained in detail.

The coronavirus (CoV) family has many more pathological causes for humans and animals. CoV disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread very rapidly worldwide is endemic, was first identified, isolated from pneumonia, and sourced to Wuhan is located in central China in 2019. The last reports have proposed that severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated CoV (SARS-CoV) deems altered CoV from bat source that came to many people as a due of zoonosis relocation. CoV was treated as a simple non-fatal virus until 2002, then started showing deaths SARS-CoV-1 from 2003 at a rate of 9.6%, in 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared of emergency. Middle East respiratory syndrome CoV has been discovered in dromedaries and has continued to kill humans since 2012, and the WHO was confirmed by the Chinese government of several cases of pneumonia by the end of 2019 and these cases were related to the Seafood Market in Huanan, 2020, was the COVID-19 pandemic, this virus was able to spread rapidly among people in most countries of the world, which made the proportion of mortality is rising very alarmingly. Therefore, all states must be careful and take precautionary measures to avoid infection. In this article, we review the origin of CoVs, their global transmission map, and their path of entry into humans.