Antibacterial activity of Nymphaea nouchali (Burm. f) flower.

BACKGROUND: The present work aimed to find out the antibacterial activity of Nymphaea nouchali flower on human and plant pathogenic bacteria. METHODS: Antibacterial potency of methanol, acetone, ethyl acetate and petroleum spirit extracts of Nymphaea nouchali flower has been tested against four human pathogenic bacteria Bacillus subtilis (FO 3026) Escherichia coli (IFO 3007), Klebsiella pneumonia (ATTC 10031) and Sarcina lutea (IFO 3232) and one plant pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas campestris (IAM 1671) by disc diffusion assay. Zone of inhibition produced by different extracts against the test bacteria was measured and compared with standard antibiotic disc. RESULTS: Methanol extract possessed better antibacterial activity against two pathogenic bacteria, B. subtilis (FO 3026) and S. lutea (IFO 3232) than commercial antibiotic nalidixic acid. Acetone extract showed moderate sensitivity whereas B. subtilis (FO 3026), S. lutea (IFO 3232) and X. campestris (IAM 1671) showed resistance to ethyl acetate and petroleum spirit extracts. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of various extracts were ranged between 128-2048 µgml-1. CONCLUSIONS: Nymphaea nouchali flower could be a potential candidate for future development of novel broad spectrum antibacterial herbal formulation.

Structural basis and designing of peptide vaccine using PE-PGRS family protein of Mycobacterium ulcerans-An integrated vaccinomics approach.

Buruli ulcer is an emerging tissue-necrosis infectious disease, caused by the pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans, leading to permanent deformity if untreated. Despite this debilitating condition, no specific disease-modifying therapeutics or vaccination is available to date. Therefore, we aimed to design an effective multi-epitope vaccine against M. ulcerans using vaccinomics approach. Briefly, the highest antigenic PE-PGRS protein was selected from which the promiscuous T- and B-cell epitopes were predicted. After rigorous assessment, 15 promising T- and B-cell epitopes were selected. The identified T-cell epitopes showed marked interactions towards their HLA-binding alleles and provided 99.8 % world population coverage. Consequently, a vaccine chimera was designed by connecting these epitopes with suitable linkers and LprG adjuvant. The vaccine construct was highly antigenic, immunogenic and non-allergenic; hence, subjected to homology modelling. The molecular docking and dynamics simulation revealed a strong and stable interaction between vaccine and toll-like receptor 2. The binding energy and dissociation constant were -15.3 kcal/mol and 5.9 × 10-12 M, respectively. The computer-simulated immune responses showed abundance of immunoglobulins, increased interferon-γ production, and macrophages activation which are crucial for immune response against M. ulcerans. Furthermore, disulfide bridging and in silico cloning were also performed. These results suggest that the vaccine, if validated experimentally, will be a promising candidate against M. ulcerans and prevent Buruli ulcer disease.

In vitro callus induction and plantlet regeneration of Achyranthes aspera L., a high value medicinal plant.

OBJECTIVE: To study callus induction from different explants (internode, leaf, root) and in vitro plantlets propagation from medicinally important plant Achyranthes aspera L. METHODS: Sterilized explants were prepared by using 0.1% HgCl2 and 0.5% Bavistin and callus was obtained when cultured onto Murashige Skoog's (MS) medium by using different concentrations and combination of 2,4-D, NAA, BAP, IAA, IBA with 3% sucrose and 0.8% agar. Induced callus was immediately transferred to MS medium containing at different concentrations of phytohormones for shootlets and rootlets induction respectively. RESULTS: Sterilization treatment of 0.1% HgCl2 for 2-3 min and Bavistin 0.5% for 10-12 min showed the highest percentage of asepsis and survival rate. Maximum induction of callus was obtained from a combination of 2.0 mg/L 2,4-D and 0.5 mg/L NAA from leaf. Highest shootlets number (4.83±0.17) and length (3.8±0.16) cm were observed on full strength MS medium when fortified with BAP 4.0 mg/L and KIN 0.5 mg/L. Concerted efforts of BAP 2.0 mg/L and NAA 0.5 mg/L on full strength MS medium showed highest leaf number (6.77±0.94). In vitro raised shoots were allowed to root on different strengths of MS medium fortified with IAA and IBA at different concentrations. Experimentally, 3.0 mg/L IBA was enabled to induce maximum rootlets number (10.0±9.82) on full strength MS medium. Afterwards, regenerated shoots with well developed roots were successfully subjected to hardening process and were acclimatized. The survived plantlets showed 66.67% survival frequency without any morphological abnormality. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrated that different explants were good source of callus induction, morphology analysis as well as indirect plantlets regeneration.