Phytochemical screening, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of daphne mucronata.

OBJECTIVE: To aim at preliminary phytochemical screening of Daphne mucronata and evaluate its antioxidant and antibacterial activities. METHODS: Preliminary phytochemical screening was conducted for the crude extracts using standard methods. Antioxidant properties of crude methanolic extracts, n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions of leaves, roots and bark were evaluated following standard procedures. The antibacterial activities were checked against Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Morganella morganii (M. morganii) and vancomycin resistant S. aureus (VRSA). RESULTS: Carbohydrates, saponins, steroids, phenols/ tannins, flavonoids and glycosides were present in different parts of Daphne mucronata. The extracts showed good antioxidant activity with EC50 values of 157.82-361.61 µg/mL. Methanolic extracts of roots showed good activity against A. baumannii (86.95%), E. coli (85.18%) and S. aureus (84.61%). Methanolic extracts of bark were active against A. bumanni (65.21%), M. morganii (65.21%) and E. coli (62.96%). Methanolic extracts of leaves showed good activity against A. bumanni (78.26%), E. coli (77.78%), P. aeruginosa (74.07%), S. aureus (73.07%), M. morganii (69.56%), VRSA (68%) and Proteus vulgaris (60%). The n-hexane fraction of roots was effective against A. bumanni (78.26%). Chlorofom fraction of roots showed moderate activity against A. bumanni (60.86%) and S. aureus (61.53%). Ethyl acetate fraction of roots showed moderate activity against A. bumanii (69.56%), E. coli (62.96%) and S. aureus (69.23%). CONCLUSION: This study illustrates that Daphne mucronata possesses good antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The plant could be further exploited as potential natural antioxidant and as a new source of antimicrobials for treatment of various infections.

Fungi as chemical industries and genetic engineering for the production of biologically active secondary metabolites

Fungi is somewhere in between the micro and macro organisms which is a good source of producing biologically active secondary metabolites. Fungi have been used as tool for producing different types of secondary metabolites by providing different nutrients at different laboratory conditions. The fungi have been engineered for the desired secondary metabolites by using different laboratory techniques, for example, homologous and heterologous expressions. This review reported how the fungi are used as chemical industry for the production of secondary metabolites and how they are engineered in laboratory for the production of desirable metabolites; also the biosynthetic pathways of the bio-organic-molecules were reported.