Biological activities and variation of symbiotic fungi isolated from Coral reefs collected from Red Sea in Egypt.

Ten specimens of coral reefs were collected from the Red Sea in the Ein El-Sukhna region. Fungal isolation was done using two media, Dextrose Yeast Extract Agar (DYA) and Rose Bengal Agar (RBA). The morphological traits identified 18 fungal isolates belonging to the phyla Ascomycota, Mucoromycota and Deuteromycota. Five genera in three orders have been isolated: Eutrotiales (Aspergillus, Penicillium and Byssochlamys), Mucorales (Rhizopus) and Moniliales (Curvularia). The heat mapping clustering of the isolated fungi declared that Aspergillus and Penicillium were the most frequently isolate fungi in coral reefs. It was found that A. fumigatus colonised eight coral samples with 80% colonisation rate. Moreover, about 50% of the isolated fungal species were specific to one coral reef only such as A.candidus and A.carneus isolated from Isophyllastrea rigida only, A.japonicus and A.ochraceopetaliformis from Glaxaea fascicularis, A.niger van Tieghem from Porites astreoides, A.sydowii, A.terreus and P.waksmanii from Cladocora arbuscula, P.janthinellum from Pterogorgia guadalupensis and Curvularia tuberculata, Byssochlamys spectabilis and Rhizopus oryzae from Acropora humilis. Biological activities (antimicrobial, antioxidant antiradical and cytotoxicity) of the most predominant fungal species were investigated. The antimicrobial activity of coral fungal filtrates were investigated against six pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli ATCC11775, Neisseria gonorrhoeae ATCC19424, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC10145, Streptococcus faecalis ATCC19433, Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus ATCC25923, Bacillus subtilis subsp. spizizenii ATCC6633 and two pathogenic yeast including Candida albicans ATCC7102 and Candida parapsilosis ATCC22019. Most of these fungal filtrates exhibited moderate to high antibacterial activities against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria, however it showed relatively low bioactivity towards the pathogenic Candida species. Investigating the free radical scavenging activity using DPPH reagent showed low to moderate bioactivities. The highest cytotoxic activity against liver cancer cell line Hep-G2 with an IC50 values of 18.8 µg/ml was exhibited by Aspergillus ochraceopetaliformis MN083316 and a metabolomics study was done on the ethyl acetate extract of this strain using LC-ESI-MS fingerprints leading to the isolation and purification of compound 1. Using 1D and 2D NMR techniques compound 1 was identified as ditryptophenaline. Compound 1 exhibited a strong antimicrobial, antioxidant activities as well as cytotoxic activities against MCF-7 and HEPG2 with IC50 values of 5.8 and 7.6 mmole, respectively. The objective of this study, isolation of Coral-reef associated fungi and studying their biological activities to produce the most active secondary metabolite which might possess a novel biological activity.

Two-year survey on the seasonal incidence of aflatoxin M1 in traditional dairy products in Egypt.

The most popular and economically important traditional dairy products in Egypt are raw milk, Karish cheese (an Arabian dairy product made from defatted cow milk) and Zabady (an Arabian yoghurt made from buffalo and cow milk). In this study, 302 traditional dairy samples including raw milk (120), white Karish cheese (118), and Zabady (64) were analyzed for aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) during different seasons in 2016 and 2017. Contamination of raw milk samples with AFM1 was 21.6% and 18.3% in samples collected in the two respective years with percentages of 100% and 90.9% exceeding the legal European limit (0.05 µg L-1). In Karish cheese samples, the contamination level was 33.9% and 44.6%, in the 2 years examined with percentages of 90.47% and 80% that were above the European limit (0.25 µg kg-1). In the case of Zabady, the AFM1-positive samples were 12.5% and 18.75%, and all of them were above the European limit (0.25 µg kg-1). However, average toxin concentration in Zabady was lower than that detected in milk and cheese. Despite the seasonal variations influencing the occurrence of AFM1 in the three dairy products, the AFM1 levels in samples collected in winter were significantly (P ≤ 0.001) greater than those collected in summer. The contamination levels of AFM1 in the traditional dairy products consumed in Egypt; represent a serious health risk. It is urgent to inspect dairy farms for contamination with aflatoxins in a regular manner.

Virulent Escherichia coli strains among Egyptian patients with acute diarrhoea versus urinary tract infection, and their antibiotic susceptibility.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Diarrhoea and urinary tract infection (UTI) are common clinical problems. Meanwhile, Escherichia coli (E. coli), is the commonest bacterial pathogen reported in both of them. This study aimed to evaluate the pathogenic E. coli (PEC) in stool of acute diarrhoea and urine of UTI regarding their virulence genes and their influence on the susceptibility to routinely prescribed antibiotics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty two stool and another 22 urine samples of patients with acute diarrhoea and UTI respectively were collected from patients admitted at Kasr Al-Ainy Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt. E. coli isolation, identification of their phyla; chuA, yjaA, and TspE4.C2, and further identification of 10 virulent genes; fimH, papC, papG//, papG///, papEF, afa, sfa, CNF1, iroN & hlyA was performed. Antibiotic susceptibility was studied against quinolones, gentamicin (GM), and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (TMP-SMX). RESULTS: The studied virulence genes were comparably detected in both pathogenic samples. In diarrheogenic E. coli (DEC); phylum A was significantly related to both ciprofloxacin (CIP) and TMP-SMX resistance, and both of the virulence genes fimH and iroN were significantly related to all the studied antibiotics resistance, while afa was significantly related to nalidixic acid (NA) resistance. In uropathogenic E. coli (UEC); phylum D was significantly related to CIP and levofloxacin resistance, and both of the virulence genes fimH and iroN were significantly related to most of the studied antibiotics resistance. CONCLUSION: The isolated PEC was evidently and broadly resistant to the studied antibiotics, with limited influence of their phyla and virulence genes (fimH and iroN).