Ilmenite-derived titanic acid species: exploring their outstanding light-independent antibacterial activity.

The emergence of resistance in detrimental pathogenic bacteria towards well-recognized antibiotics has greatly impacted global medicine, consequently exploring potent antibacterial compounds is becoming a potential area of research. Although photocatalytic metal oxides have been extensively explored in this regard, their applicability is diminished due to the requirement of photon energy. Therefore, in our study, we explored the light-independent antibacterial effect of two unexplored titanium species, known as metatitanic acid (MTA) and potassium titanate, against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas spp. using the disk diffusion method in Luria-Bertani agar medium, where the well-known antibiotic, gentamicin, was used as the positive control. These two titanium compounds were readily synthesized through a novel process which was originally developed for the extraction of TiO2 from ilmenite. The synthesized MTA was characterized using FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, TGA, UV-visible spectroscopy, and SEM. According to our findings, both MTA and potassium titanate exhibited superior light-independent antibacterial properties, where for some concentrations, the effect was even greater than gentamicin. However, nano-TiO2 totally failed as an antibacterial compound against the tested three strains under dark conditions.

Multi-Gene Phylogeny and Morphology Reveal Haplohelminthosporium gen. nov. and Helminthosporiella gen. nov. Associated with Palms in Thailand and A Checklist for Helminthosporium Reported Worldwide.

Palms (Arecaceae) are substrates for a highly diverse range of fungi. Many species are known as saprobes and many are important plant pathogens. Over the course of our studies of micro-fungi from palms in Thailand, two new taxa were discovered. Morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of combined ITS, LSU, SSU, and tef1-α sequence data revealed their taxonomic positions within Massarinaceae. There are currently ten genera identified and accepted in Massarinaceae, with the addition of the two new genera of Haplohelminthosporium and Helminthosporiella, that are introduced in this paper. Each new genus is provided with a full description and notes, and each new taxon is provided with an illustration for the holotype. A list of identified and accepted species of Helminthosporium with morphology, host information, locality, sequence data, and related references of Helminthosporium reported worldwide is provided based on records in Species Fungorum 2021. This work provides a micro-fungi database of Haplohelminthosporium, Helminthosporiella, and Helminthosporium which can be modified and validated as new data come to light.

Serpulanines A to C, N-Oxidized Tyrosine Derivatives Isolated from the Sri Lankan Fungus Serpula sp.: Structure Elucidation, Synthesis, and Histone Deacetylase Inhibition.

Serpulanines A (1), B (2), and C (3) have been isolated from extracts of the rare Sri Lankan macrofungus Serpula sp. The structures of 1, 2, and 3 were elucidated by a combination of spectroscopic and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Serpulanines A (1) and B (2) both contain the rare (E)-2-hydroxyimino hydroxamic acid functional group array. A proposed biogenesis for serpulanine B (2) suggests that its (E)-2-hydroxyimino hydroxamic acid moiety arises from a diketopiperazine precursor. Synthetic serpulanine A (1) inhibited class I/II histone deacetylases in murine metastatic lung carcinoma cells with an IC50 of 7 µM.

Rapid degradation of FOG discharged from food industry wastewater by lipolytic fungi as a bioaugmentation application.

Fats, oils and grease (FOG) congregate in grease traps and are a slowly biodegradable particulate organic matter, which may require enzymatic or hydrolytic conversion to form readily biodegradable soluble organic matter. The existing treatment methods employ water-based hydrolysis of FOG to form long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). The LCFAs discharged into wastewater treatment system create functional difficulties, especially the inhibitory effect caused by accumulation of LCFAs. This study aims to find an effective treatment method for this persistent problem encountered in conventional wastewater treatment system. Solid-state degradation by lipolytic fungi was performed in a tray-type reactor as a novel approach of bioaugmentation. Grease trap waste samples were dried to have moisture content of 25-35% and mixed with coir fiber (1% w/v) for proper aeration. Each 10 mg/g dry weight of substrate was inoculated with 1 mL of spore suspension (1 × 107 spores/mL) of lipolytic fungi. Thereafter, moisture content in the reactor was increased to 65%, and incubated at 30°C. Within 72 h of post incubation, degradation efficiency of about 50% was recorded by fungal isolates. The feasibility of using developed protocol for FOG degradation was tested with a laboratory-scale prototype reactor.

Antioxidant potential, in vitro cytotoxicity and apoptotic effect induced by crude organic extract of Anthracophyllum lateritium against RD sarcoma cells.

BACKGROUND: Macrofungi have an established history of use in traditional oriental medicine. Anthracophyllum lateritium is a terrestrial macrofungus found in the dry zone forest reserves in Sri Lanka. Yet there are no scientific reports on bioactive properties of this species. Hence, the current study was aimed at determining the antioxidant potential, in vitro antiproliferative activity and apoptotic effect induced by crude methanolic extract of A. lateritium against RD sarcoma cell line. METHOD: The crude extract of A. lateritium was dissolved in methanol (MEFCA) and antioxidant activity was evaluated using in vitro assays: inhibition of DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging, ferric ion reducing power and 2-deoxy-D-ribose degradation assay. Total phenol and flavonoid contents of MEFCA were assayed using folin Ciocalteu method and aluminium chloride colorimetric method. In vitro cytotoxicity was determined using MTT assay against RD cells after 24 h exposure to MEFCA. Ethidium bromide/ acridine orange staining, DNA fragmentation and protein synthesis experiments were used to study the apoptotic features and antiproliferative activities of the treated cells. Glutathione assay and griess nitrite assay were used to analyze the reduced glutathione content and liberation of nitric oxide from apoptotic cells. RESULTS: MEFCA showed promising antioxidant activity with EC50 values of 8.00 ± 0.35 µg/mL for DPPH scavenging and 83.33 ± 0.45 µg/mL for 2-deoxy-D-ribose degradation assay. The phenolic content was 265.15 ± 0.46 of (w/w) % of Gallic acid equivalents and flavonoid content was 173.01 ± 0.35 of (w/w) % of Epigallocatechingallate. A. lateritium showed strong in vitro cytotoxic activity with an EC50 of 18.80 ± 4.83 µg/mL for MTT assay against RD cells. Ethidium bromide/acridine orange staining and DNA fragmentation indicated the apoptotic features of treated cells. Protein levels showed a dose dependent decrease supporting the fact that A. lateritium induces apoptosis of treated cells. Glutathione content and nitric oxide content of cells exhibited a dose dependent increase suggesting the apoptosis of RD cells was mediated by both nitrie ions and nitric oxide. CONCLUSIONS: The crude extract of the A. lateritium exhibited potent antioxidant, antiproliferative activity and apoptotic effect against RD cells providing supportive evidence for the ethnopharmacological use of this fungus in control of oxidative damage and remedy of cancer.