The uncontrolled growth of the global population has become a major concern, prompting the search for low-cost, sustainable protein sources to meet nutritional needs and improve global health and the economy. Mushrooms are affordable and are treasured as protein sources for food or medicinal purposes, helping combat food insecurity and malnutrition. Mushrooms are potential sources of novel proteins and bioactive compounds. Considering their quality, nutritional value, digestibility, and biological benefits, mushroom-derived proteins could be explored as a future alternative protein source. These proteins possess a complete essential amino acid profile (largely strain- and growth-parameter-dependent), meet dietary requirements, and offer economic advantages over animal and plant sources. They are key and efficient in providing health advantages by serving as antimicrobial agents, inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme, antioxidants, and antitumor agents. This can be used as a substrate to stimulate microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract, thereby enhancing human health. Despite the medicinal importance of Ganoderma spp., most especially G. lucidum, the identification/significance of their protein components has not been evaluated, as very few studies have been reported. This review focused on proteins/peptides derived from Ganoderma sp. Different protein-group biochemical profiling and bioproduction sources will be established. Detailed bioactivities of each Ganoderma-derived protein and their applications across diverse industries, including food, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and cosmeceutical, will be evaluated. More evaluation of the identification, structural elucidation, mechanism, characterization, and potential application in diverse areas of study would unlock greater opportunities for further investigations and discoveries in the future.
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can shape rhizosphere microbiomes both through the antimicrobial and other secondary metabolites they secrete and through their activity as living, colonizing organisms, but the relative contribution of each route is rarely disentangled. We compared the effects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa AJ D2, applied either as a crude cell-free organic extract (CFOE) of its secreted metabolites or as a live inoculant, on rhizosphere bacterial communities and early growth of Gossypium hirsutum (cotton) in agricultural and halophilic soils. Plant phenotypic responses and community-level physiological profiling (BIOLOG EcoPlates™) were assessed across three independent biological replicates per treatment; 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was performed on pooled composite soil samples representing each treatment × soil combination. The CFOE produced modest taxonomic shifts, chiefly a reduction in Gram-positive genera such as Bacillus, without altering community metabolic potential or plant growth. Live AJ D2 inoculation was associated with substantially greater restructuring of the rhizosphere community, including a marked reduction in Shannon diversity in halophilic soil (from 2.54 to 1.09) and dominance by Pseudomonas (50.2% relative abundance). Despite this reduction in taxonomic diversity, the live-inoculated community reached a higher metabolic activity (AWCD) plateau and greater substrate richness (19–29 substrates utilized) than the uninoculated control, with markedly higher utilization of carbohydrates and amino acids. Root length under halophilic stress increased by 42% with live inoculation (Tukey’s HSD, p < 0.05), the only plant growth response that reached statistical significance, and was accompanied by small, non-significant reductions in shoot length and chlorophyll content. These findings indicate that the ecological and plant growth-promoting effects of strain AJ D2 are more closely tied to the living, colonizing bacterium than to its secreted chemistry alone, consistent with the organism acting as an ecosystem engineer of the cotton rhizosphere under salinity stress. As the microbiome sequencing was performed on a single pooled sample per treatment, these compositional findings are best regarded as an initial, hypothesis-generating characterization to be confirmed with biologically replicated sequencing.
Probiotics and yeast cell wall extracts are used in aquaculture feeds, although their effects on growth performance and intestinal health may vary depending on the supplement and fish species. Therefore, this study evaluated the effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii, Pediococcus acidilactici, and a yeast cell wall extract containing S. cerevisiae and Cyberlindnera jandinii on growth performance, intestinal microstructure, and goblet cell characteristics in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.). To this end, a 42-day feeding trial was conducted with 96 fish assigned to four dietary groups: an unsupplemented control (G1), S. cerevisiae var. boulardii (G2), P. acidilactici (G3), and yeast cell wall extract (G4). Each supplement was included in the diet at 1 g/kg. At the end of the trial, growth performance and intestinal histomorphometric parameters were evaluated. Although none of the dietary treatments significantly affected growth performance (p > 0.05), differences were observed in intestinal morphology. Specifically, crypt depth was greater in G4 and G2 than in G3 and G1 (p = 0.014), while villus width differed significantly among treatments (p = 0.016), with the highest value recorded in G4 (200.90 ± 25.90 µm). In addition, goblet cell intensity in the intestinal villi was significantly higher in all supplemented groups than in the control group (p < 0.05). Taken together, these findings show that the tested supplements did not improve growth performance under the conditions of this study, but were associated with changes in intestinal microstructure and increased goblet cell intensity.
Stone fruit crops are frequently affected by mixed viral infections, posing significant challenges for certification programmes and the production of virus-free planting material. In this study, a highly sensitive and specific multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (mRT-PCR) assay as well as multiplex reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification (mRT-RPA) assay were developed for the simultaneous detection of four important viruses of stone fruit crops: Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV), American plum line pattern virus (APLPV), plum bark necrosis stem pitting-associated virus (PBNSPaV), and little cherry virus 1 (LChV-1). Primers of 20–24 bp size targeting conserved regions of the coat protein (CP) genes of PBNSPaV, and the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene of LChV-1 were designed. These along with the pre-existing primers for PNRSV and APLPV were optimized for mRT-PCR to generate distinct amplicons of 450 bp, 309 bp, 262 bp, and 208 bp for PNRSV, APLPV, PBNSPaV, and LChV-1, respectively, without non-specific amplification. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated reliable detection up to a 10⁻⁸ dilution of naturally co-infected samples, with analytical sensitivity comparable to that of the corresponding singleplex RT-PCR assays. Field evaluation of 52 field samples (plum, peach, and sweet cherry) collected from stone fruit orchards in Jammu and Kashmir, India, revealed a high incidence of mixed viral infections, with PNRSV detected in all samples, followed by PBNSPaV (80.8%), APLPV (61.5%), and LChV-1 (48.1%). The same PCR primer sets were used to develop a rapid mRT-RPA assay, marking a significant advancement in RPA-based diagnostics. As opposed to the longer RPA primers, these short PCR primers performed with similar efficiency for the detection of all four viruses within 30 min at 42 °C using crude sap, total RNA, and cDNA templates. Field evaluation across 52 samples produced comparable results for all mRT-PCR-positive samples infected with all four viruses. This is the first study reporting both mRT-PCR and mRT-RPA assays for the simultaneous detection of PNRSV, APLPV, LChV-1, and PBNSPaV using 20–24 bp size primer pairs. The developed assays provide rapid, sensitive, cost-effective, and field-deployable diagnostic tools for large-scale surveillance, phytosanitary certification, germplasm indexing, and the production of virus-free planting material.
Objectives: Multidrug-resistant ( MDR ) Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a significant global health concern due to its high prevalence in nosocomial infections and limited treatment options. Lytic bacteriophages offer a targeted, antibiotic-free strategy to combat these resistant pathogens. This study aimed to isolate and characterize lytic bacteriophages from municipal sewage and evaluate their antibacterial efficacy against MDR P. aeruginosa strains collected from clinical samples. Methods: Out of 84 clinical specimens, 78 isolates were phenotypically identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and 70 were confirmed by PCR targeting the oprI gene. Antibiotic susceptibility of these PCR-confirmed isolates was assessed using the Kirby-Bauer method. Isolates resistant to at least three antibiotic classes (n = 32) were defined as multidrug-resistant (MDR) and selected for phage susceptibility testing. Lytic phages were isolated from sewage, enriched, and evaluated by plaque assay, TEM, and MOI-based bacterial inhibition. Results: Among 70 PCR-confirmed P. aeruginosa isolates, 32 (45.7%) were MDR. Of these, 28 (87.5%) showed clear plaques following exposure to sewage-derived phages. TEM revealed Podoviridae-like and Corticoviridae-like morphologies. Growth inhibition was observed even at MOI = 1, showing comparable efficacy to MOI = 100, indicating strong lytic activity at low phage concentrations. Conclusions: The lytic bacteriophages isolated from sewage demonstrated strong and specific antibacterial activity against MDR P. aeruginosa . These phages represent promising candidates for future therapeutic applications and infection control, especially in antibiotic-compromised clinical settings.
