Exploring the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of Lentzea flaviverrucosa strain E25-2 isolated from Moroccan forest soil.

The alarming rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has created a significant public health challenge, necessitating the discovery of new therapeutic agents to combat infectious diseases and oxidative stress-related disorders. The Lentzea flaviverrucosa strain E25-2, isolated from Moroccan forest soil, represents a potential avenue for such research. This study aimed to identify the isolate E25-2, obtained from soil in a cold Moroccan ecosystem, and further investigate its antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed the strain's classification within the Lentzea genus, with a sequence closely resembling that of Lentzea flaviverrucosa AS4.0578 (96.10% similarity). Antimicrobial activity in solid media showed moderate to strong activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Bacillus cereus strain ATCC 14579, Escherichia coli strain ATCC 25922, Candida albicans strain ATCC 60193 and 4 phytopathogenic fungi. In addition, ethyl acetate extract of this isolate demonstrated potent antimicrobial activity against 7 clinically multi-drug resistant bacteria. Furthermore, it demonstrated antioxidant activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) free radicals, as well as a significant increase in ferric reducing antioxidant power. A significant positive correlation was observed between antioxidant activities and total content of phenolic compounds (p < 0.0001), along with flavonoids (p < 0.0001). Furthermore, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed the presence of amines, hydroxyl groups, pyridopyrazinone rings, esters and pyrrolopyrazines. The Lentzea genus could offer promising prospects in the fight against antibiotic resistance and in the prevention against oxidative stress related diseases.

Antimicrobial potential of Streptomyces coeruleofuscus SCJ isolated from microbiologically unexplored garden soil in Northwest Morocco.

Research on microorganisms in various biotopes is required to identify new, natural potent molecules. These molecules are essential to control the development of multi-drug resistance (MDR). In the present study, a Streptomyces sp., namely SCJ, was isolated from a soil sample collected from a Moroccan garden. SCJ isolate was identified on the basis of a polyphasic approach, which included cultural, micro-morphological, biochemical, and physiological characteristics. The sequence of the 16S rRNA gene of the SCJ strain showed 99.78% similarity to strains of Streptomyces coeruleofuscus YR-T (KY753282.1). The preliminary screening indicated that the SCJ isolate exhibited activity against Candida albicans ATCC 60,193, Escherichia coli ATCC 25,922, Staphylococcus aureus CECT 976, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25,923, Bacillus cereus ATCC 14,579, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27,853, as well as various other clinical MDR bacteria and five phytopathogenic fungi. The ethyl acetate extract of the isolated strain demonstrated highly significant (p < 0.05) antimicrobial activity against multi-resistant bacteria and phytopathogenic fungi. The absorption spectral analysis of the ethyl acetate extract of the SCJ isolate obtained showed no absorption peaks characteristic of polyene molecules. Moreover, no hemolytic activity against erythrocytes was observed in this extract. GC-MS analysis of the ethyl acetate extract of the SCJ isolate revealed the presence of 9 volatile compounds including 3,5-Dimethylpyrazole, and pyrrolizidine derivatives (Pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine 1,4-dione, hexahydro-3-(2-methylpropyl)), which could potentially explain the antimicrobial activity demonstrated in this study.

Exploring the impact of light intensity under speed breeding conditions on the development and growth of lentil and chickpea.

The use of high-performant varieties could help to improve the production of food legumes and thus meet the demand of the growing world population. However, long periods needed to develop new varieties through traditional breeding are a major obstacle. Thus, new techniques allowing faster genetic advance are needed. Speed breeding using longer periods of light exposure on plants, appears to be a good solution for accelerating plant life cycles and generation turnover. However, applying extended photoperiod causes plant stress and mortality due to lack of information on the adequate intensity to be used in speed breeding protocol. This study examines the impact of light intensity under speed breeding conditions on the development and growth of lentils and chickpeas, with a keen interest in enhancing genetic gain in these key food legumes. Four distinct levels of light intensity (T1: Green-house: 2000 µmol/m2/s; T2: 148-167 µmol/m2/s; T3: 111-129 µmol/m2/s; T4: 74-93 µmol/m2/s) under a photoperiod of 18 h of light and 6 h of darkness were tested in a growth chamber. Significant variation depending on light intensity was observed for plant height, total biomass, number of secondary stems, pods number, number of seeds per plant, growth rate, green canopy cover, time to flowering, time of pod set, time to maturity, vegetative stage length, reproduction stage length and seed filling stage length. Light intensity significantly influenced flowering/maturity and plant's stress compared to normal conditions in green-house where flowering/maturity were around 67/97 days for lentil and 79/111 days for chickpea. Therefore, lentils in treatment 2 flowered and reached maturity in 30/45 days respectively, with high stress, while chickpeas in the same treatment did not flower. In contrast, treatment 4 showed interesting results, promoting optimal growth with low stress, and flowering/maturity in 27/46 days and 28/54 days, respectively for lentils and chickpeas. These results underline the crucial importance of light management in speed breeding to accelerate vegetative growth and phenology while allowing healthy growth conditions for plants to produce enough seeds for generation turnover.

Exploring genetic variability under extended photoperiod in lentil (Lens Culinaris Medik): vegetative and phenological differentiation according to genetic material's origins.

Lentil is an important pulse that contributes to global food security and the sustainability of farming systems. Hence, it is important to increase the production of this crop, especially in the context of climate changes through plant breeding aiming at the development of high-yielding and climate-smart cultivars. However, conventional plant breeding approaches are time and resources consuming. Thus, speed breeding techniques enabling rapid generation turnover could help to accelerate the development of new varieties. The application of extended photoperiod prolonging the duration of the plant's exposure to light and shortening the duration of the dark phase is among the simplest speed breeding techniques. In this study, genetic variability response under extended photoperiod (22 h of light/2 h of dark at 25 °C) of a lentil collection of 80 landraces from diverse latitudinal origins low (0°-20°), medium (21°-40°) and high (41°-60°), was investigated. Significant genetic variations were observed between accessions, for time to flowering [40 → 120 days], time of pods set [45 → 130 days], time to maturity [64 → 150 days], harvest index [0 → 0.24], green canopy cover [0.39 → 5.62], seedling vigor [2 → 5], vegetative stage length [40 → 120 days], reproduction stage length [3 → 13 days], and seed filing stage length [6 → 25 days]. Overall, the accessions from Low latitudinal origin demonstrated a favorable response to the extended photoperiod application with almost all accessions flowered, while 18% and 57% of accessions originating from medium and high latitudinal areas, respectively, did not successfully reach the flowering stage. These results enhanced our understanding lentil responses to photoperiodism under controlled conditions and are expected to play important roles in speed breeding based on the application of the described protocol for lentil breeding programs in terms of choosing appropriate initial treatments such as vernalization depending on the origin of accession.