Antioxidant activity, total phenolic and flavonoid contents of selected medicinal plants used for liver diseases and its classification with chemometrics

Liver disease has become one of the major health problems in the world, and the death rate is going rapidly toincrease. Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the emerging, development, and the progression of liver diseases.Ethnobotanical research has an undoubted profound impact on the development of numerous new drugs. The aimof this research, therefore, was to examine the antioxidant activities of 14 selected plants used for treating liverdiseases by traditional healers of Indonesia ethnicities and to classify these plants using chemometrics of principalcomponent analysis (PCA). The extraction using methanol as the solvent was performed with two stages maceration.Total phenolic and flavonoid compounds were determined by Folin–Ciocalteau and AlCl3 method, respectively,whereas antioxidant activity was estimated using 2,2′-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging,trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Among 19methanol extracts of 14 plants, the leaves of Baccaurea racemosa, Macaranga subpeltata, and Piper sp. showed thehighest antioxidant properties. The phenolic content correlated with TEAC, FRAP, and DPPH radical scavengingactivity, while flavonoid did not significantly affect these antioxidant activity methods. PCA successfully classifiedthe plant samples using the variables of antioxidant activities and phenolic-flavonoid contents. The selected plantshave promising antioxidant properties which support their utilization for either liver diseases medication or oxidativestress-related diseases prevention

Diversity and functional characterization of antifungal-producing Streptomyces-like microbes isolated from the rhizosphere of cajuput plants (Melaleuca leucodendron L.)

Aims@#The study was undertaken to evaluate the diversity of actinomycetes from the rhizosphere of the cajuput plant (Melaleuca leucodendron L.) using ARDRA, and to examine their in vitro antifungal potency against selected fungi. @*Methodology and results@#A total of 78 Streptomyces-like microbes were isolated from the limestone rhizosphere of cajuput plants and cultured in SN agar medium. The ability to inhibit fungal growth was observed using a dual culture assay. The diversity of the isolates was examined by morphological and genotype profiling using ARDRA (Amplified 16S ribosomal DNA restriction analysis), following which they were assigned to eight groups. Seventeen (21.8%) strains showed the ability to produce the antifungal compound as evidenced by their antagonism in vitro against the tested fungi, namely Saccharomyces cerevisiae BY 47420, Candida albicans CGMCC 2538, Aspergillus flavus NRLL 3357, and Fusarium oxysporum KFCC 11363P in the dual culture assay. One isolate, GMR22, which showed potent antagonism against unicellular and filamentous fungi, displayed 97% 16S rRNA sequence similarity to Streptomyces vayuensis. @*Conclusion, significance and impact of study@#This study demonstrated that a diversity of Streptomyces-like antifungal producing microbes were present in the rhizosphere of cajuput plants in the Wanagama Forests of Indonesia. This rhizosphere represents a potential new source of actinomycetes that produce biologically active compounds. One selected strain (GMR22) has the potential to be developed as a commercial biofungicide.