Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers.

The pressures on honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations, resulting from threats by modern pesticides, parasites, predators and diseases, have raised awareness of the economic importance and critical role this insect plays in agricultural societies across the globe. However, the association of humans with A. mellifera predates post-industrial-revolution agriculture, as evidenced by the widespread presence of ancient Egyptian bee iconography dating to the Old Kingdom (approximately 2400 BC). There are also indications of Stone Age people harvesting bee products; for example, honey hunting is interpreted from rock art in a prehistoric Holocene context and a beeswax find in a pre-agriculturalist site. However, when and where the regular association of A. mellifera with agriculturalists emerged is unknown. One of the major products of A. mellifera is beeswax, which is composed of a complex suite of lipids including n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and fatty acyl wax esters. The composition is highly constant as it is determined genetically through the insect's biochemistry. Thus, the chemical 'fingerprint' of beeswax provides a reliable basis for detecting this commodity in organic residues preserved at archaeological sites, which we now use to trace the exploitation by humans of A. mellifera temporally and spatially. Here we present secure identifications of beeswax in lipid residues preserved in pottery vessels of Neolithic Old World farmers. The geographical range of bee product exploitation is traced in Neolithic Europe, the Near East and North Africa, providing the palaeoecological range of honeybees during prehistory. Temporally, we demonstrate that bee products were exploited continuously, and probably extensively in some regions, at least from the seventh millennium cal BC, likely fulfilling a variety of technological and cultural functions. The close association of A. mellifera with Neolithic farming communities dates to the early onset of agriculture and may provide evidence for the beginnings of a domestication process.

Isolation and characterization of novel Streptomyces strain from Algeria and its in-vitro antimicrobial properties against microbial pathogens.

BACKGROUND: The constant development of microbial resistance to the traditional antimicrobial agents and the emergence of new infectious diseases justify the urgent need for new effective antimicrobial molecules. However, the irrational use of antibiotics increases microbial resistance dramatically and along with that the frequency of mortality associated with infections is higher. Therefore, to combat the antimicrobial resistance, the screening of compounds with novel chemical structures is essential. This study intended to determine the antimicrobial potential of Streptomyces GLD22 strain isolated from Algeria. METHODS: The characterization of Streptomyces strain GLD22 was performed by physiological, biochemical and molecular tests. The antimicrobial activity was tested by the well diffusion method and the minimum inhibitory concentration value calculation were performed using broth micro dilution technique. The extracellular metabolites profiling was done using GC-MS. RESULTS: Physiological, biochemical and phylogenetic analysis confirmed that the strain GLD22 showed maximum identity towards Streptomyces species. The extra cellular metabolites revealed their antimicrobial activity at 1 mg/ml for Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli, whereas Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis documented 0.5, 1 and 1 mg/ml respectively. GC-MS analysis confirmed that 2-tert-butyl-4,6-bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzyl) phenol, Dibutyl phthalate and Cyclo(leucyloprolyl) were the major drug molecules present in the extract. CONCLUSION: The novel Streptomyces strain GLD22 recovered from the Gueldaman cave of Algeria showed better antimicrobial activity towards both Gram positive and Gram negative pathogens. Interestingly, the MIC values were comparable with the standard drug molecules. In addition, the identification of active metabolites present in the crude extracts was an advantage.