Water salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses, and the use of saline water for the agricultural sector will incur greater demand in the coming decades. Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) have been used for developing numerous plant fertilizers as a smart and powerful form of material with dual action that can alleviate the adverse effects of salinity and provide the plant with more efficient nutrient forms. This study evaluated the influence of calcium phosphate NPs (CaP-NPs) as a soil fertilizer application on the production and bioactive compounds of broad bean plants under salinity stress. Results showed that salinity had deleterious effects on plant yield with 55.9% reduction compared to control. On the other hand, CaP-NPs dramatically improved plant yield by 30% compared to conventional fertilizer under salinity stress. This improvement could be attributed to significantly higher enhancement in total soluble sugars, antioxidant enzymes, proline content, and total phenolics recorded use of nano-fertilizer compared to conventional use under salt stress. Additionally, nano-fertilizer reflected better mitigatory effects on plant growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments, and oxidative stress indicators (MDA and H2O2). Therefore, our results support the replacement of traditional fertilizers comprising Ca2+ or P with CaP-nano-fertilizers for higher plant productivity and sustainability under salt stress.

Aromatic gum from Boswellia carteri (olibanum oleogum) has long been used in Egyptian traditional medicine. Cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) enzyme inhibitory assay guided purification of the extracts of this resin resulted in five bioactive compounds, 3α-O-acetyl-8,24-dien-tirucallic acid (1), verticilla-4(20),7,11-triene (2), cembrene A (3), incensole acetate (4), and incensole (5). The pure isolates were investigated for their inhibitory effects on COX-1 and-2 enzymes and human tumor cell lines Hep-G2, MCF-7 and RAW 264.7. Compounds 1−5 inhibited COX-2 enzyme by 39.0, 32.7, 60.0, 46.3, and 49.8%, respectively. Furthermore, compound 2 showed an inhibitory concentration of 50% (IC 50) at 9 µg/mL against Hep-G2 tumor cell line. This is the first report of COX-1 and-2 enzyme and tumor cell proliferation inhibitory effects of compounds 1 and 2.

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Recently, it has also been purified from the seeds of Triticum aestivum (Kord et al., 2012).So far, the purification and characterization of the trehalase enzyme from seeds has not been properly studied. The present study deals with the extraction, purification, and characterization of trehalase from the seeds of Cicer arietinum 'Giza 1' . Materials and methods Plant materialIn this study, purification of trehalase was carried out using seeds of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivar Giza 1. The seeds were purchased from the Agricultural Research Center of Giza, Egypt. Preparation of a crude extractFirst, 300 g of chickpea seeds were surface-sterilized by immersion in 20% sodium hypochloride (v/v) for 20 min and were rinsed with sterile distilled water. The sterile seeds were homogenized in a prechilled mortar with 900 mL of extraction buffer composed of 100 mM cold sodium citrate buffer (pH 5.5), 1 mM phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride, 1 mM EDTA, 10 µM 2-mercaptoethanol, 10% glycerol (v/v), and insoluble polyvinylpyrrolidone ( 10Abstract: In the present study, trehalase was purified and characterized from the seeds of Cicer arietinum L. 'Giza 1' . Crude extract was prepared and purified for electrophoretic homogeneity using ammonium sulfate, chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, CM Sepharose, and Sephadex G-200. The final specific activity was 7 U/mg protein, with 232-fold purification. The purified enzyme exhibited its pH optimum at 5.5. The optimum temperature was 60 °C. The determined K m value was 3.64 mM trehalose. The enzyme activity was stimulated by 20 mM Mn 2+ , Ni 2+ , or Co 2+ , while it was inhibited by 20 mM Na + , K + , Li + , Ca 2+ , Zn 2+ , Cu 2+ , or Fe 3+ . Zn 2+ proved to be a noncompetitive inhibitor, while mannitol and validamycin A proved to be competitive inhibitors. The inhibition constants (K i ) of Zn 2+ , mannitol, and validamycin A were 7 mM, 9 mM, and 4 nM, respectively. The molecular mass of the native enzyme was 223 kDa by gel filtration. SDS-PAGE indicated that the enzyme consisted of 6 identical subunits with a molecular mass of 38 kDa.

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress severely limits agricultural crop production throughout the world, and the stress is increasing particularly in the irrigated agricultural areas. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important grain legume that plays a significant role in the nutrition of the developing world. In this study, we used a chickpea subset collected from the genebank of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA). This collection was selected by using the focused identification of germplasm strategy (FIGS). The subset included 138 genotypes which have been screened in the open field (Arish, Sinai, Egypt) and in the greenhouse (Giza, Egypt) by using the hydroponic system at 100 mM NaCl concentration. The experiment was laid out in randomized alpha lattice design in two replications. The molecular characterization was done by using sixteen SSR markers (collected from QTL conferred salinity tolerance in chickpea), 2,500 SNP and 3,031 DArT markers which have been developed and used for association study. The results indicated significant differences between the chickpea genotypes. Based on the average of the two hydroponic and field experiments, seven tolerant genotypes IGs (70782, 70430, 70764, 117703, 6057, 8447 and 70249) have been identified. The data analysis indicated one SSR (TAA170), three DArT (DART2393, DART769 and DART2009) and eleven SNP markers (SNP948) were associated with salinity tolerance. The flanking regions of these markers revealed genes with a known role in the salinity tolerance, which could be candidates for marker-assisted selection in chickpea breeding programs. IntroductionAbout 7.5 billion human share the same land, food and water resources. The global food demands are exponentially expanded while; the water scarcity will affect 1.8 billion people in 2025. One of the most crucial problems that face food security is salinity. According to FAO, over 6.5% of the world's land is affected, which is translated into 800 million HA of arable lands and expanding dramatically 1 . Filling the gap between the consumption and production require more research in order to enhance unprepared economic plant varieties to face such sudden environmental changes and unlock their ability to tolerance.Chickpea is one of the candidate cereal crops, which provides food with high nutritional value for an expanding world population. In addition, its global annual production is over 12 million tons. The chickpea production is centered in China (17%), India (12%), Russia and the USA (8%) 2 . Chickpea is sensitive to salinity which reduces its yield greatly 3 . Upon exposure to salt stress, the meristems accumulate salts in the vacuoles of the xylem 4 , to lower their osmotic potential till reaching high concentrations 5,6 . Other strategies to tolerate salinity can be by efficient osmotic adjustment, homeostasis, retention in root and mesophyll cells, and ROS detoxification 7,8 . The sodium (Na + ) accumulation in the cytoplasm dehydrates the cell by causing ion homeos...

The present investigation aims to highlight the role of salt priming in mitigating salt stress on faba bean. In the absence of priming, the results reflected an increase in H2O2 generation and lipid peroxidation in plants subjected to 200 mM salt shock for one week, accompanied by a decline in growth, photosynthetic pigments, and yield. As a defense, the shocked plants showed enhancements in ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), peroxidase (POX), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities. Additionally, the salt shock plants revealed a significant increase in phenolics and proline content, as well as an increase in the expression levels of glutathione (GSH) metabolism-related genes (the L-ascorbate peroxidase (L-APX) gene, the spermidine synthase (SPS) gene, the leucyl aminopeptidase (LAP) gene, the aminopeptidase N (AP-N) gene, and the ribonucleo-side-diphosphate reductase subunit M1 (RDS-M) gene). On the other hand, priming with increasing concentrations of NaCl (50–150 mM) exhibited little significant reduction in some growth- and yield-related traits. However, it maintained a permanent alert of plant defense that enhanced the expression of GSH-related genes, proline accumulation, and antioxidant enzymes, establishing a solid defensive front line ameliorating osmotic and oxidative consequences of salt shock and its injurious effect on growth and yield.

On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic a public health emergency of international concern. The viral outbreak led in turn to an exponential growth of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, that is, a multiorgan disease that has led to more than 6.3 million deaths worldwide, as of June 2022. There are currently few effective drugs approved for treatment of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 patients. Many of the compounds tested so far have been selected through a drug repurposing approach, that is, by identifying novel indications for drugs already approved for other conditions. We here present an up-to-date review of the main Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved drugs repurposed against SARS-CoV-2 infection, discussing their mechanism of action and their most important preclinical and clinical results. Reviewed compounds were chosen to privilege those that have been approved for use in SARS-CoV-2 patients or that have completed phase III clinical trials. Moreover, we also summarize the evidence on some novel and promising repurposed drugs in the pipeline. Finally, we discuss the current stage and possible steps toward the development of broadly effective drug combinations to suppress the onset or progression of COVID-19.

One of the deadliest pandemics of the 21st century is being driven by SARS-CoV-2, a significant betacoronavirus, causing severe to moderate respiratory tract infections and represents a major public health threat than other human coronaviruses like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which has been ravaging the world’s health, social life, and the economy. In response to the sixth wave of SARS-CoV-2, we aim to develop novel innovative viral replication inhibitor therapeutics. We achieved highly specific siRNAs by optimizing RNAi efficacy and reducing potential side effects and considering various factors such as target RNA variations, thermodynamics, accessibility of the siRNA, and off-target effects. Out of 258 siRNAs targeting conserved regions, four siRNAs (siRNA1, siRNA2, siRNA3, siRNA4) were chosen based on their predicted potency and high specificity that target critical highly conserved areas (NSP8, NSP12, and NSP14) in the viral genomes of SARS, MERS, and SARS-CoV2 with no predicted human genome off-targets. We assess the effectiveness of the four siRNAs on SARS-CoV2 strain hCoV-19/Egypt/NRC-03/2020. In VeroE6 cells, the selected siRNAs at a concentration 100nM had no cellular toxicity. siRNA2 significantly reduced viral replication with a knockdown percentage of 98% after 24 hr post-infection. In addition, siRNA4 had a statistical significance and knockdown percentage, in S gene and ORF1b gene, of 94% in viral replication. SiRNA2 and siRNA4 could be considered as potential siRNA therapy for SARS-CoV-2 infection.