Algae-based approaches for Holistic wastewater management: A low-cost paradigm.

Aquatic algal communities demonstrated their appeal for diverse industrial applications due to their vast availability, ease of harvest, lower production costs, and ability to biosynthesize valuable molecules. Algal biomass is promising because it can multiply in water and on land. Integrated algal systems have a significant advantage in wastewater treatment due to their ability to use phosphorus and nitrogen, simultaneously accumulating heavy metals and toxic substances. Several species of microalgae have adapted to thrive in these harsh environmental circumstances. The potential of algal communities contributes to achieving the United Nations' sustainable development goals in improving aquaculture, combating climate change, reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and providing biomass as a biofuel feedstock. Algal-based biomass processing technology facilitates the development of a circular bio-economy that is both commercially and ecologically viable. An integrated bio-refinery process featuring zero waste discharge could be a sustainable solution. In the current review, we will highlight wastewater management by algal species. In addition, designing and optimizing algal bioreactors for wastewater treatment have also been incorporated.

Recent advancement in protected delivery methods for carotenoid: a smart choice in modern nutraceutical formulation concept.

Carotenoids are fat-soluble bio pigments often responsible for red, orange, pink and yellow coloration of fruits and vegetables. They are commonly referred as nutraceutical which is an alternative to pharmaceutical drugs claiming to have numerous physiological benefits. However their activity often get disoriented by photonic exposure, temperature and aeration rate thus leading to low bioavailability and bio accessibility. Most of the market value for carotenoids revolves around food and cosmetic industries as supplement where they have been continuously exposed to rigorous physico-chemical treatment. Though several encapsulation techniques are now in practice to improve stability of carotenoids, the factors like shelf life during storage and controlled release from the delivery vehicle always appeared to be a bottleneck in this field. In this situation, different technologies in nanoscale is showing promising result for carotenoid encapsulation and delivery as they provide greater mass per surface area and protects most of their bioactivities. However, safety concerns related to carrier material and process must be evaluated crucially. Thus, the aim of this review was to collect and correlate technical information concerning the parameters playing pivotal role in characterization and stabilization of designed vehicles for carotenoids delivery. This comprehensive study predominantly focused on experiments carried out in past decade explaining how researchers have fabricated bioprocess engineering in amalgamation with nano techniques to improve the bioavailability for carotenoids. Furthermore, it will help the readers to understand the cognisance of carotenoids in nutraceutical market for their trendy application in food, feed and cosmeceutical industries in contemporary era.

Artemisia vestita: A Folk Medicine with Hidden Herbal Fortune.

Traditional medicines are nature's gift and our native heritage, which play a vital role in maintaining a disease-free life. Artemisia vestita Wall. ex Besser (family: Asteraceae), popularly known as "Kubsha" or "Russian wormwood", is a highly enriched folklore medicine with wound- healing, antiphlogistic, antifebrile, antifeedant, anti-helminthic, antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumor, and antiproliferative potential attributed to the presence of various volatile and non-volatile secondary metabolites. A systematic and extensive review of the literature on A. vestita was carried out via the Web of Science, PubMed, INMEDPLAN, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and NCBI, as well as from several websites. The highly relevant literature contained in 109 references was selected for further inclusion in this review. A total of 202 bioactive compounds belonging to different chemical classes such as terpenoids, coumarins, flavonoids, alkaloids, acetylenes, tannins, carotenoids, and sterols have been reported in A. vestita, which are responsible for different pharmacological activities. The chemical structures obtained from the PubChem and Chem Spider databases were redrawn using the software Chem Draw® version 8.0. This review paper summarizes the distribution, botanical description, phytochemistry, pharmacological activities, and conservation of A. vestita, which will assist scientists for further investigation. Extensive studies on the active constituents, pharmaceutical standardization, mode of action, and sustainable conservation of A. vestita are needed to further explore its wound-healing and allied medicinal properties.

Antiobesity Potential of Bioactive Constituents from Dichloromethane Extract of Psoralea corylifolia L. Seeds.

Purpose: Effectively controlling the accumulation of adipose tissue can be a therapeutic strategy for treating obesity, which is a global problem. The present study was designed for comparative assessment of in vitro antiobesity activities of the Psoralea corylifolia-dichloromethane seed extract (DCME) and the isolated phytochemicals, bakuchiol, isopsoralen, and psoralen, through antiadipogenesis and pancreatic lipase (PL) inhibition assays. Material and Methods. In vitro pancreatic lipase activity was determined spectrophotometrically by measuring the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl butyrate (p-NPB) to p-nitrophenol at 405 nm, and adipogenesis was assayed in 3 T3-L1 adipocytes (by using Oil Red O staining) using P. corylifolia-dichloromethane seed extract (DCME) and individual compounds, isolated from the extract. Result: Antilipase as well as antiadipogenesis activity was displayed by both the DCME and the compounds. Maximum antilipase property was recorded in DCME (26.02 ± .041%) at 100 µg/ml, while, among the isolated compounds, bakuchiol exhibited a higher activity (24.2 ± 0.037%) at 100 µg/ml concentration, compared to other isolates. DCME was found to exhibit antiadipogenesis property, 75 ± 0.003% lipid accumulation, compared to the control at 100 µg/ml dose. Bakuchiol, isopsoralen, and psoralen inhibited the lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, 78.06 ± 0.002%, 80.91 ± 0.004%, and 80.91 ± 0.001%, respectively, lipid accumulation in comparison to control at 25 µM dose. Conclusion: The present study highlights the antiobesity potential of P. corylifolia and its active constituents. Thus, it can be concluded that P. corylifolia has the potential to treat obesity and related diseases; however, further research on dose standardization and clinical trials are required.

In-Silico Validation of Prosopis ciniraria Therapeutic Peptides Against Fungal Cell Wall: Better Treatment Strategy for Fungal Diseases.

Prosopis cineraria commonly known as Druce are valuable herb that holds antibacterial role, antifungal properties. We identified different peptides from this plant by deploying CADD (Computer-aided-drug-designing) approaches, these peptide sequences are as follows seq1 (RHDEEEEKAKV),seq3(KSNSTVEISQNVQSVDSSKM),seq4(KQVAEMNKPAVGSKTSDANHDLKS),seq5(KTKSAGNDSIQSTKPVPSALTVDKA),seq6(RELEDSNIHHVAASVVLESKSSRT), and seq8(LYSKVELHPFGLHNLGNSCYANAVFSV), these peptides holds therapeutic properties as shows interaction with chitin, a major constituent of fungal cell wall. Molecular docking was conducted by using AutoDock-Vina tool and the results were found to be promising where all binding energies were found in the range of - 9.1 to - 7.5 kcal/mol, it indicates strong binding of peptide sequences with chitin molecule. Even the toxicity analysis supports the considered peptide sequences to hold therapeutic role against fungus with non-toxic effect on humans. These peptides were successfully predicted as important therapeutic agents of P. cinerariaseed that can initiate chitin breakdown, due to their possible strong interaction with fungal cell wall and it also suggests this medicinal plant holds the key for multiple fungal disease treatments. This study will open new research dimensions and integration of computational biology with microbial pathology that will assist scientific and medical community to develop rapid disease prevention strategies against fungal pathogenesis.

Utilization of Swertia chirayita Plant Extracts for Management of Diabetes and Associated Disorders: Present Status, Future Prospects and Limitations.

Diabetes mellitus is referred as common metabolic abnormalities characterized as hyperglycemia, mainly caused due to insufficient production of insulin at cellular level or/and defects in insulin action. Such an endocrine disorder is responsible for serious health problems and its worldwide prevalence is rapidly increasing. Common management of diabetes by oral administration of drugs without creating any side effects is still considered a challenging task and increasing cost of conventional medicine in developing countries is another matter of concern. To address these issues, traditional preparations of herbal plant extracts in the form of medicines already gained immense attention. Swertia chirayita is one among such plants which is known for its hypoglycemic potential. Numerous chemical constituents with promising pharmacological properties have been identified from such plant extracts but still, such compounds have not been well characterized, specifically against human application. Hence, more research efforts are necessitated to understand exact mechanism of such compounds and to develop overall safety of such plant formulations. Present review clearly represents antidiabetic properties of Swertia chirayita extract, strategies to be taken to strengthen its safety application on humans and biotechnological interventions that ensure conservation of such endangered species to promote its future application in modern medicine.

Hemidesmus indicus L. Br.: critical assessment of in vitro biotechnological advancements and perspectives.

Hemidesmus indicus (L.) R. Br. ex Schult., commonly known as Indian sarsaparilla or Anantamul, is an ethnopharmacologically important medicinal plant from the family Apocynaceae. Biosynthesis of an array of bioactive compounds such as methoxybenzaldehydes and their derivatives has been accountable for its intensive medicinal attributes. Low seed setting, over-exploitation from natural habitat and a need for selection and preservation of elite germplasms yielding higher levels of bioactive compounds have led researchers to enquire the standardization of micropropagation techniques and quantitative estimation of phytochemicals from H. indicus. The present work aims to have a comprehensive account on micropropagation in H. indicus, a comparative estimation of biotic and abiotic factors, viz. elicitors and precursors playing a crucial role in H. indicus tissue culture, a critical appraisal of applied protocols to nullify embellished claims and a discussion on future perspectives. The review also highlights the comparative effect of different plant growth regulators as well as their combined role in rhizogenesis, callogenesis, base callus formation, callusing and somatic embryo-mediated indirect organogenesis, outcome of explant selection, contribution of abiotic (temperature, photoperiod, moisture, inorganic molecules) factors, role of carbon source, application of sterilization techniques and associated success rates, role of factors essential for acclimatization and secondary metabolite production, synthetic seed production and genetic transformation techniques. The compiled information along with individual study details, respective outcome and variability of reports will aid in proper assessment of cited standardized tissue culture protocols in H. indicus especially in relation to secondary metabolite production. Moreover, the assessment of applicability of different methodologies in this aspect will aid in the selection of high-yielding germplasms or chemotypes which is not only profitable for industrial application but also important for basic and applied preclinical and clinical research studies. KEY POINTS: • Critical and updated assessment on in vitro biotechnology in Hemidesmus indicus. • Biotechnological advancement via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. • Key shortcomings and future research directions Graphical abstract Effect of biotic and abiotic factors on Micropropagation and secondary metabolite synthesis in Hemidesmus indicus.

Antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of selected varieties of Piper betle L. (Betel leaf).

Piper betle L., is an evergreen perennial creeper belonging to family Piperaceae and is known to possess numerous medicinal properties. Current study focuses on evaluating antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of betel leaf. For the present study, distilled water, hexane, acetone and ethanolic extracts of two varieties of betel leaves: Meetha paan and Banarasi paan were used. Biochemical tests such as proximate analysis (moisture, ash, protein, lipids, minerals viz., sodium and potassium), antioxidant activity tests (DPPH radical scavenging activity, total phenolics, ascorbic acid, reducing power) and antimicrobial test (antibacterial and antifungal susceptibility test) against four pathogens viz., B. subtilis, E. coli, A. niger and S. cerevisiae were determined. Ethanolic extract had the highest antioxidant activity (89.46% inhibition), while the aqueous extract exhibited lowest antioxidant activity (62.03% inhibition). With increasing concentration (5, 10, 25 and 50 µg/mL), the reducing power of leaf extracts also increased. The ascorbic acid was not significant in Banarasi paan (5.21mg/100 g) and Meetha paan (5.20mg/100 g). The highest antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract (Banarasi paan) may be attributed to the presence of phytosterols in the leaf varieties. Antioxidant and antimicrobial potential study will help to build a database and promote the utilization of betel leaf as a medicinal herb.

Production of biodiesel from soybean oil biomass as renewable energy source.

Transesterification of vegetable oils with short-chain alcohols is used to produce biodiesel. In the present study, crude soybean oil was investigated on the basis of three principal variables, such as optimum reaction temperature (60?C), the amount of catalyst concentration from 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5%? and molar ratio of methanol 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5 and 1:6, respectively affecting yield of biodiesel. Under optimum condition, at molar ratio 1:6 in the presence of 0.5% NaOH and 60°C reaction temperature and 350 rpm approximately 99.1% biodiesel yield was obtained.

Improved growth and colchicine concentration in Gloriosa superba on mycorrhizal inoculation supplemented with phosphorus-fertilizer.

BACKGROUND: Gloriosa superba produces an array of alkaloids including colchicine, a compound of interest in the treatment of various diseases. The tuber of Gloriosa superba is a rich source of colchicine which has shown anti-gout, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor activity. However, this promising compound remains expensive and Gloriosa superba is such a good source in global scale. Increase in yield of naturally occurring colchicine is an important area of investigation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effects of inoculation by four arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), fungi, Glomus mossae, Glomus fasciculatum, Gigaspora margarita and Gigaspora gilmorei either alone or supplemented with P-fertilizer, on colchicine concentration in Gloriosa superba were studied. The concentration of colchicine was determined by high-performance thin layer chromatography. RESULTS: The four fungi significantly increased concentration of colchicine in the herb. Although there was significant increase in concentration of colchicine in non-mycorrhizal P-fertilized plants as compared to control, the extent of the increase was less compared to mycorrhizal plants grown with or without P-fertilization. This suggests that the increase in colchicine concentration may not be entirely attributed to enhanced P-nutrition and improved growth. Among the four AM fungi Glomus mossae was found to be best. The total colchicine content of plant (mg / plant) was significantly high in plants inoculated with Glomus mossae and 25 mg kg(-1)phosphorus fertilizer (348.9 mg /plant) while the control contain least colchicine (177.87 mg / plant). CONCLUSION: The study suggests a potential role of AM fungi in improving the concentration of colchicine in Gloriosa superba tuber.

Healthy response from chromium survived pteridophytic plant-Ampelopteris prolifera with the interaction of mycorrhizal fungus-Glomus deserticola.

Interaction between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus deserticola and pteridophytic member Ampelopteris prolifera was found abundant on entire growth level based on elemental composition and gaseous exchange as a potential remediation system for phytoextraction of chromium. Inoculated A. prolifera (AM) and non-inoculated A. prolifera (Non-AM) were supplied with two Cr species: 12 mmol of trivalent cation (Cr(+3)) [Cr(III)] and 0.1 mmol of divalent dichromate anion (Cr2O7(-2)) [Cr(VI)]. Both Cr species were found to be depressed in overall growth and inefficient stomatal conductance (g(s)) and net photosynthesis (NP). Mycorrhizal association was found to be natural scavenger of Cr toxicity as indicated by greater growth in plants exposed to Cr species, and increased gas exchange of Cr(III) treated plants. Though, chromium reduction resulted lower level of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) but interestingly elevated the level of aluminum (Al), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) uptake in many folds which is the significance of sustainable growth of plant.