BackgroundCombretum zeyheri, belongs to the family Combretaceae and is one of the most popular herbal plants in tropical and subtropical countries. The leaves of Combretum zeyheri have been used as herbal medicine and have been reported to have pharmacological activity which includes anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anticancer and antioxidant properties. The goal of this study was to isolate, identify and characterize compounds from C. zeyheri leaves which are responsible for its antifungal activity.MethodsThe preliminary isolation of C. zeyheri active compounds was carried out using chromatographic techniques which include sephadex gel column chromatography, silica gel column chromatography and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). The isolated compounds were then investigated for their antifungal activity using broth dilution assay. The combined effect of the most potent compound and an antifungal drug miconazole was investigated using the checkerboard assay. Time-kill assays were conducted for the combinations using the colony counting method. The mechanism of action of 5-hydroxy-7,4’-dimethoxyflavone as a potent antifungal agent was investigated by determining its inhibitory activity on Candida albicans drug efflux pumps using the ciprofloxacin assay. The ability of 5-hydroxy-7,4’-dimethoxyflavone to inhibit antioxidant enzymes as well as the biosynthesis of ergosterol were also investigated.ResultsA total of four pure compounds (A-D) were isolated from C. zeyheri leaf extract. Compound B (5-hydroxy-7,4’-dimethoxyflavone) was found to be active against Candida albicans using broth dilution method. This compound was also found to have synergistic activity on growth of C. albicans when combined with miconazole, completely inhibiting growth after only 4 hrs of incubation. Analysis of ergosterol content from Candida albicans showed a time-dependent decrease to 91 % and 63 % at 16 and 24 hrs respectively, in cells treated with ½ MIC of 5-hydroxy-7,4’-dimethoxyflavone. The compound 5-hydroxy-7,4’-dimethoxyflavone also showed inhibition of both the drug efflux pumps (with IC50 = 51.64 μg/ml) and the antioxidant enzymes (at 5 μM).ConclusionThe compound 5-hydroxy-7,4’-dimethoxyflavone may be partly responsible for the reported antifungal activity of C. zeyheri, and may serve as a potential source of lead compounds that can be developed as antifungal phytomedicines.
The in vitro effects of Combretum zeyheri leaf ethanol extract (CZLE) on ergosterol biosynthesis of Candida albicans were investigated by quantifying the ergosterol in C. albicans in the presence and absence of the extract using UV-visible spectrophotometric analyses. Miconazole was used as the positive control. CZLE showed ergosterol biosynthesis inhibition at sub-inhibitory concentration for growth of C. albicans and also at the MIC (0.08 mg.mL −1 ). The decrease in ergosterol in C. albicans cells was dose-dependant with 67%, 79%, and 100% after growing in 20, 40, and 80 μg.mL −1 of CZLE, respectively. CZLE exerted its fungicidal effects by targeting the ergosterol biosynthesis in C. albicans and disrupting the membrane integrity.
Background The excessive use of polystyrene as a packaging material has resulted in a rise in environmental pollution. Polystyrene waste has continually increased water pollution, soil pollution and the closing of landfill sites since it is durable and resistant to biodegradation. Therefore, the challenge in polystyrene disposal has caused researchers to look for urgent innovative and eco-friendly solutions for plastic degradation. The current study focuses on the isolation and identification of bacteria produced by the larvae of beetle Tenebrio molitor (yellow mealworms), that enable them to survive when fed with polystyrene foam as their sole carbon diet. Materials and methods The biodegradation of polystyrene by Tenebrio molitor was investigated by breeding and rearing the mealworms in the presence and absence of polystyrene. A comparison was made between those fed with a normal diet and those fed on polystyrene. The mealworms which were fed with polystyrene were then dissected and the guts were collected to isolate and identify the bacteria in their guts. The viability and metabolic activity of the isolates were investigated. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by sequencing was used for molecular identification of the isolates. The PCR products were directly sequenced using Sanger’s method and the phylogenetic tree and molecular evolutionary analyses were constructed using MEGAX software with the Neighbour Joining algorithm. The evolutionary distances were computed using the Maximum Composite Likelihood method. Results The decrease in mass of the polystyrene as feedstock confirmed that the mealworms were depending on polystyrene as their sole carbon diet. The frass egested by mealworms also confirmed the biodegradation of polystyrene as it contained very tiny residues of polystyrene. Three isolates were obtained from the mealworms guts, and all were found to be gram-negative. The sequencing results showed that the isolates were Klebsiella oxytoca ATCC 13182, Klebsiella oxytoca NBRC 102593 and Klebsiella oxytoca JCM 1665. Conclusion Klebsiella oxytoca ATCC 13182, Klebsiella oxytoca NBRC 102593 and Klebsiella oxytoca JCM 1665 maybe some of the bacteria responsible for polystyrene biodegradation.
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