A total of three carbazole alkaloids and essential oil from the leaves of Murraya koenigii (Rutaceae) were obtained and examined for their effects on the growth of five antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria and three tumor cell lines (MCF-7, P 388 and Hela). The structures of these carbazoles were elucidated based on spectroscopy data and compared with literature data, hence, were identified as mahanine (1), mahanimbicine (2) and mahanimbine (3). The chemical constituents of the essential oil were identified using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GCMS). These compounds exhibited potent inhibition against antibiotic resistant bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (210P JTU), Psedomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 25619), Klebsiella pneumonia (SR1-TU), Escherchia coli (NI23 JTU) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (SR16677-PRSP) with significant minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) values (25.0–175.0 mg/mL) and minimum bacteriacidal concentrations (MBC) (100.0–500.0 μg/mL). The isolated compounds showed significant antitumor activity against MCF-7, Hela and P388 cell lines. Mahanimbine (3) and essential oil in particular showed potent antibacteria and cytotoxic effect with dose dependent trends (≤5.0 μg/mL). The findings from this investigation are the first report of carbazole alkaloids’ potential against antibiotic resistant clinical bacteria, MCF-7 and P388 cell lines.

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The traditional use of Murraya koenigii as Asian folk medicine prompted us to investigate its wound healing ability. Three carbazole alkaloids (mahanine (1), mahanimbicine (2), mahanimbine (3)), essential oil and ethanol extract of Murraya koenigii were investigated for their efficacy in healing subcutaneous wounds. Topical application of the three alkaloids, essential oil and crude extract on 8 mm wounds created on the dorsal skin of rats was monitored for 18 days. Wound contraction rate and epithelialization duration were calculated, while wound granulation and collagen deposition were evaluated via histological method. Wound contraction rates were obvious by day 4 for the group treated with extract (19.25%) and the group treated with mahanimbicine (2) (12.60%), while complete epithelialization was achieved on day 18 for all treatment groups. Wounds treated with mahanimbicine (2) (88.54%) and extract of M. koenigii (91.78%) showed the highest rate of collagen deposition with well-organized collagen bands, formation of fibroblasts, hair follicle buds and with reduced inflammatory cells compared to wounds treated with mahanine (1), mahanimbine (3) and essential oil. The study revealed the potential of mahanimbicine (2) and crude extract of M. koenigii in facilitation and acceleration of wound healing.

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Anthracnose, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum sublineolum is one of the most destructive diseases of sorghum and has been reported in most areas where the crop is grown. Several control strategies have been developed but host plant resistance has been regarded as the most eVective strategy for disease control. Here, we describe the search for molecular markers that co-segregate with Cg1, a dominant gene for resistance originally identiWed in cultivar SC748-5. To identify molecular markers linked with the Cg1 locus, F 2:3 plants derived from a cross to susceptible cultivar BTx623 were analyzed with 98 AFLP primer combinations. BTx623 was chosen as the susceptible parent because it is also one on the parents used in creating RFLP and AFLP maps and BAC libraries for sorghum. Four AFLP markers that cosegregate with disease resistance were identiWed, of which Xtxa6227 mapped within 1.8 cM of the anthracnose resistance locus and all four AFLP markers have been previously mapped to the end of sorghum linkage group LG-05. Sequence scanning of BAC clones spanning this chromosome led to the discovery that Xtxp549, a polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker, mapped within 3.6 cM of the anthracnose resistance locus. To examine the eYcacy of Xtxa6227 and Xtxp549 for marker-assisted selection, 13 breeding lines derived from crosses with sorghum line SC748-5 were genotyped. In 12 of the 13 lines the Xtxa6227 and Xtxp549 polymorphism associated with the Cg1 locus was still present, suggesting that Xtxp549 and Xtxa6227 could be useful for marker-assisted selection and for pyramiding of Cg1 with other genes conferring resistance to C. sublineolum in sorghum.