Antimicrobial activity of aqueous and methanolic extracts of pomegranate fruit skin

Punica granatum, commonly known as pomegranate, has emerged as a medicinal plant with potential antimicrobial activity. The present study was planned to evaluate this activity against both Gram positive Staphylococcus aureus [S. aureus] and negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa [P. aeruginosa] bacteria as well as against pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans [C. albicans]. The aqueous and methanolic extracts of pomegranate fruit skin were prepared using a Soxhalet apparatus. Antimicrobial effect of the extracts was studied and compared with commercial antibiotics using three different methods; agar dilution, cylinder plate, and disk inhibition zone techniques. Both extracts showed good antibacterial activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Also the methanolic extract presented strong antifungal effect on C. albicans. The antimicrobial activities against S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and C. albicans were comparable with those of cloxacillin, gentamycin and clotrimazole, respectively. The methanolic extract was found to be more effective than aqueous one against all the tested microorganisms. The extracts from pomegranate fruit skin possess strong antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms. Therefore this plant could be an important source of new antimicrobial compounds to treat bacterial and fungal infections

Molecular cloning, expression and purification of protein TB10.4 secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Tuberculosis [TB] is the leading cause of mortality among the infectious diseases, especially in developing countries. One of the main goals in tuberculosis research is to identify antigens which have the ability of inducing cellular and/or humoral immunity in order to use them in diagnostic reagents or vaccine design. The aim of this study was to clone and express the TB10.4 protein in Escherichia coli expression system. DNA was extracted from Mycobacerium tuberculosis H37Rv. Gene specific primers were designed using Gene Runner software according to sanger sequence database. Gene tb 10.4 fragment was amplified by PCR method and purified tb 10.4 gene was cloned into pET 102/D vector. Plasmid containing pET 102/D-10.4 was transformed into competence E. coli TOP10. A positive transformant was chosen and plasmids DNA was isolated and subsequently transformed into competence E. coli BL21 [DE3]. The bacterium was induced by IPTG and its lysates were loaded directly onto SDS-PAGE. Purified recombinant protein was achieved using metal affinity chromatography [Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid]. TB10.4 molecule was successfully cloned, expressed, and purified. An approximately 26.4 kDa exogenous protein was observed on the SDS-PAGE. The recombinant protein was confirmed by DNA sequencing of correct insert. The success of expressing the TB10.4 protein could serve as a basis for further studies on the usefulness of the gene and its expression product in the development of submit vaccine and diagnostic method