Purpose:The inappropriate disposal of agricultural residues including spent mushroom substrate (SMS) after harvesting leads to serious environmental issues. Microbial composting is a widely recognized method for the management of such residues in a sustainable manner. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the effililacinum strain LLF22) on the composting of SMS. Method: The experiment consisted of two treatments- T0: only SMS, and T1: SMS + fungal accelerator solution (FAS) + Fungal consortium. The composting process lasted for 42 days and physicochemical parameters were assessed. Results: The results displayed that the fungal consortium accelerated SMS composting as evidenced by the decrease in the C:N ratio, an increase in macronutrient contents (TN, TK, TP, TCa, TMg), coarseness index (CI), and germination index (GI) of the final compost (T1) over the control (T0). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis revealed the breakdown of aromatic and organic compounds in the final compost suggesting humification of SMS. Furthermore, the inoculation of the fungal consortium effectively induced a faster rise in temperature and pH. Conclusion: This study revealed that the lignocellulolytic fungal consortium can be a potential candidate for the bioconversion of agro-waste into high-quality compost for application in sustainable agricultural practices.

IntroductionEndophytes are considered preeminent candidates for novel drug discovery as they possess a wide variety of bioactive compounds. The diversity, biological activities, and metabolites produced by endophytes associated with Curcuma have been studied for the last few years. Therefore, the present review aims to draw attention to the bioactive metabolites produced by endophytes associated with Curcuma species and their significance in the pharmaceutical sector.MethodThe literature investigation was carried out through various databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Elsevier Science Direct, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar. The taxonomic data was validated through “The World Flora Online”, “Medicinal Plant Names Services”, “Plants of the World Online”, and “The Plant List”.ResultsThis literature study revealed that amongst Curcuma species, only 11 species have been studied in the context of endophytes so far. Overall, a total number of 42 endophyte-derived metabolites exhibited various biological activities with anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, and many more were encountered. The reported compounds belong to different chemical classes such as alkaloids, phenolics, terpenoids, steroids, polyketides, and other compounds.ConclusionThis review evidenced Curcuma colonized endophytes as a source of pharmaceutically significant metabolites. This compiled data could act as a source of information on potent endophytes and their bioactive metabolites reported from Curcuma and pave the way for future investigations.

Endolichenic fungi (ELF) are diverse microbial symbionts that live asymptomatically within lichen thalli. In this study, ELF was investigated from three medicinal lichen hosts namely Cryptothecia scripta, Parmotrema tinctorum, and Dirinnaria applanata from Tippi, Dahung and Dirang. Variations in the occurrence of isolates amongst the sites were determined. A total of 406 fungal isolates were isolated from the surface sterilized lichen fragments. Maximum colonization frequency of endolichenic fungi was observed in P. tinctorum (52.01

Alternanthera sessilis and Alternanthera paronychioides are 2 common herbaceous plants in the North Eastern region of India. The 2 species are known traditionally for edibility and medicinal use. The objectives are to qualitatively screen phytochemicals and test for antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity between the 2 species– Alternanthera sessilis and Alternanthera paronychioides. The samples for analysis were collected from aerial leaves and air-dried for phytochemical screening and biological activity tests. Antioxidant assays used are DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-1picrylhydrazyl), H2O2, and FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) assay. For antimicrobial tests, 2 different strains of microbes were used to test the bioactivity of the plants. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of several antioxidant potential groups of phytochemicals like phenols, flavonoids, etc. Phytochemical constituents of Alternanthera sessilis showed more antioxidant potential than Alternanthera paronychioides in DPPH and H2O2 assays but Alternanthera paronychioides showed more potential than Alternanthera sessilis in FRAP assay. The phytochemicals also showed positive tests for antimicrobial activity against 2 bacterial strains, i.e., Escherichia coli (MTCC 443) and Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 737). This study reveals the presence of phytonutrients which suggest the antioxidant and antibacterial activities exhibited by the 2 species of the family. Further exploration of phytochemicals in different aspects could lead to better-performing drugs for various ailments.

The genus Antidesma L. (Phyllanthaceae) consists of 102 species and is distributed throughout the subtropical, temperate, and subpolar regions. Numerous species in this genus are employed in ethnomedical practices to treat a range of ailments including anaemia, diabetes, herpes, skin infections, typhoid, throat and lung diseases, gastrointestinal, jaundice, rheumatic, and many more diseases. This review aimed to highlight the ethnopharmacological uses, phytochemical components, biological activities, and future research opportunities of the genus. A total number of 114 research papers published between the period 1977 and 2023 were considered and reviewed were retrieved from scientific databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, Elsevier Scient Direct, Google Scholar, and PubMed. The literature study revealed that both plant extracts and phytochemicals exhibited a wide range of biological activities including antidiabetes, anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammation, and many other activities. Overall, a total number of 236 compounds have been encountered from the different species of Antidesma. These compounds belong to different chemical groups such as alkaloids, flavonoids, fatty acids, lignans, sterols, terpenoids, coumarins, and others. Three compounds such as antidesmone, amentoflavone, and β-sitosterol were found to be possible chemotaxonomic markers for the genus Antisema. Furthermore, only 16 species have been investigated in the context of phytochemistry and pharmacological activities of the genus so far. This review could serve as a comprehensive resource for future research in drug discovery and also lay the groundwork for the exploration of additional species within this genus for pharmaceutical applications.

Leaf litter still remains one of the most overlooked organic waste in the present scenario. This study aims to examine the composting efficacy of leaf litter employing different compatible lignocellulolytic fungal consortia. The experiment was carried out in seven treatments (T1-T7) and lasted for 65 days. Based on the results of temperature and pH variations, total organic carbon (TOC), macronutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg), trace elements (Fe, Mn), and plant growth assessment, the final compost (T3) treated with fungal consortia consisting of Pseudoplagiostoma eucalypti (LLF10) and Purpureocillium lilacinum (LLF22) was found to be the best quality compost. Ascomycota (similar to 100 %), Cercozoa (> 65 %), Ciliophora (>45 %), Mucoromycota (>35 %), and Basidiomycota (similar to 30 %) were the dominant fungal phyla in the T3. In conclusion, compatible and effective lignocellulolytic fungal consortia can be tremendous candidates for composting of leaf litter and other lignocellulosic wastes for the generation of quality compost.

Even though modern medicinal system is well developed and easily accessible, the rural people still continues to depend upon traditional medicinal system for curing various ailments. Several cases of fast recovery and many cases of death due to wrong treatment was observed during the year 2018-19 in rural villages of Nagaon district of Assam, India. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of some medicinal plants and their formulations used by traditional healer for treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. The information was collected by interaction with the traditional healers and altogether 14 plant species were documented for preparation of six different formulations. Antibacterial evaluation against E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus revealed that formulation prepared from freshly prepared plant materials showed better efficacy than formulations obtained from traditional healers. Again, organic solvents extracts showed greater antibacterial activity than the aqueous extracts. Amongst the solvents, the polar organic solvent methanol showed greater inhibitory effect as compared to other non polar organic solvents, ethanol and hexane. GC-MS analysis of the potent plant extracts showed presence of several bioactive compounds like tumerone, curlone, hexadecanoic acid, oleic acid, eicosanoic acid, erucic acid and isopimaric acid which have earlier reports of having significant antibacterial activities.

Probiotic potential of thermotolerant lactic acid bacteria isolated from "Gari "a cassava-based African fermented foodBertrand Tatsinkou Fossi, Robert Ndjouenkeu

The present study was conducted to survey and identify foliar fungal diseases of some vegetables crops of Kamrup (M) district of Assam, India.A total of 17 fungal pathogens were identified and were found associated with 15 different host vegetable crops.The common foliar disease symptoms were leaf spots, leaf blights, anthracnoses, wilts, powdery mildews and rusts.The major pathogens were identified to be of the fungal genera Alternaria, Colletotrichum, Cercospora and Erysiphe.Species of Alternaria were isolated from diseased plant belonging to Brassica juncea, Raphanus raphanistrum, Solanum lycopersicum and Xanthosoma violaceum.For the first time, Alternaria leaf blight of Xanthosoma violaceum had been reported in the present study.Similarly, Colletotrichum species causing anthracnose diseases were found associated with disease vegetable crops of Lablab purpureus and Lagenaria siceraria while Cercospora spp.were found associated with diseased vegetable crops of Solanum melongena, Spinacia oleracea, Capsicum annuum.Powdery mildew diseases caused by Erysiphe spp.were found in Brassica juncea, and Lagenaria siceraria.The present investigation is first-hand information of foliar fungal diseases of Kamrup district of Assam, India.This study may help in effective management of the fungal diseases of vegetable crops of the area.

Cryptothecia sp. is a crustose lichen having varied medicinal properties. The present study aims to isolate and to determine the antimicrobial activity of endolichenic fungi from the surface sterilized lichen thallus of Cryptothecia sp. The isolation was done on three different media i.e., Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), Malt Extract Agar (MEA) and Water Agar (WA) media. A total of 19 isolates of endolichenic fungi were recovered. The isolates were identified on the basis of colonial morphology and microscopic investigation. Dominant endolichenic fungus was Monilinia sp. (23.33%) followed by Mycelia sterilia (16.66%). Other fungal isolates were Trichoderma sp., Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp.and Dreschlera sp. The fungal isolates were tested for antimicrobial activity by agar cup diffusion assay against clinically significant human pathogenic test organisms such as Escherichia coli (MTCC 443), Candida albicans (MTCC 227) and Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 737) procured from IMTECH, Chandigarh. All the isolates exhibited antimicrobial activity against the test pathogens in varying degree. One isolate Penicillium sp., (CRP 3a) showed highest inhibition against all the pathogens. The present study indicated that Cryptothecia sp. harbours various endolichenic fungi with potent antimicrobial activity. Further detailed investigation of the compounds isolated from endolichenic fungi may lead to therapeutic applications as a new source of novel natural products which are helpful to the mankind.

Background: Seed borne endophytic fungi play an important role in seed germination and plant health. There are ubiquitous and have been found associated in every plant species investigated so far. They colonize plant seeds without causing any disease and are often vertically transmitted. Despite their occurrence, seed borne endophytic fungi are poorly investigated and their role for application in agriculture is still to be elucidated. Methods: In the present study endophytic fungi associated with seeds of some indigenous rice varieties of North East, India was investigated. The isolates were determined for IAA activity in-vitro and antifungal activity against rice pathogen, Magnaporthe grisea. Crude metabolites obtained from potent isolates were characterized by GCMS analysis to reveal the presence of bioactive compounds. Result: Our result indicated that commonly isolated fungal genera were Aspergillus, Fusarium, Gliocladium, Mucor, Penicillium, Bipolaris, Basidiobolus and Mycelia sterilia. Amongst them, colonization frequency (CF %) of Fusarium (8.8%) was found to be highest and was isolated from seeds of almost all the varieties. It was observed that four isolates of Fusarium showed good IAA production in the medium amended with tryptophan. The isolates also displayed antifungal activity against Magnaporthe grisea. GCMS analysis of the metabolites indicated presence of several bioactive compounds. The study suggests that seed borne endophytes can be explored as bio-inoculants for crop improvement in future research program.

Abstract A new 6-benzyl-γ-pyrone (1), named aspergyllone was isolated from the culture filtrates of an endolichenic fungus Aspergillus niger Tiegh, obtained from lichen thallus Parmotrema ravum (Krog & Swinscow) Serus, collected in India. 1 was isolated for the first time from an endolichenic fungus together with six other known metabolites identified as aurasperones A (2) and D (3), asperpyrone A (4), fonsecinone A (5), carbonarone A (6) and pyrophen (7). The compounds were tested against a panel of human, plant, food borne and fish pathogens. Aspergyllone showed strong selective antifungal activity against Candida parapsilosis (Ashford) Langeron & Talice, with an IC50 of 52 µg/mL. Aurasperone A and pyrophen showed moderate to strong antimicrobial activity inhibiting seven different test pathogens, being pyrophen active with IC50 ranging from 35 to 97 µg/mL.

Mushrooms seem to be a potential source for prebiotics as they contain different polysaccharides such as chitin, hemicellulose, α- and β-glucans, mannans, xylans and galactans. Among mushroom polysaccharides, β-(1→3)-D-glucans, and their peptide/protein derivates (polysaccharide-peptide/protein complexes), proteoglycans are essential prebiotics and found to play vital role in immunomodulating and antitumor activities. These prebiotic compounds display immunomodulating and antitumor activity similar to those effected by immune effector cells such as lymphocytes, macrophages, hematopoietic stem cells, T cells, dendritic cells (DCs) and natural killer (NK) cells that play essential roles in innate and adaptive immunity, resulting in production of biologic response modifiers. Several glucans and heteroglycans were found with their significant immunoenhancing properties which could stimulate the macrophages, splenocytes and thymocytes. Thus this review aims to summarize and explore the potential of mushroom polysaccharides as prebiotics with their antitumor and immunomodulating properties for the development of nutraceutical foods and drugs.

Similipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR) is a tropical moist deciduous forest dominated by the species Shorea robusta. To the best of our knowledge their rich biodiversity has not been explored in term of its microbial wealth. In the present investigation, soil samples were collected from ten selected sites inside SBR and studied for their physicochemical parameters and culturable soil fungal diversity. The soil samples were found to be acidic in nature with a pH ranging from of 5.1–6.0. Highest percentage of organic carbon and moisture content were observed in the samples collected from the sites, Chahala-1 and Chahala-2. The plate count revealed that fungal population ranged from 3.6 × 104–2.1 × 105 and 5.1 × 104–4.7 × 105 cfu/gm of soil in summer and winter seasons respectively. The soil fungus, Aspergillus niger was found to be the most dominant species and Species Important Values Index (SIVI) was 43.4 and 28.6 in summer and winter seasons respectively. Among the sites studied, highest fungal diversity indices were observed during summer in the sites, Natto-2 and Natto-1. The Shannon-Wiener and Simpson indices in these two sites were found to be 3.12 and 3.022 and 0.9425 and 0.9373 respectively. However, the highest Fisher’s alpha was observed during winter in the sites Joranda, Natto-2, Chahala-1 and Natto-1 and the values were 3.780, 3.683, 3.575 and 3.418 respectively. Our investigation revealed that, fungal population was dependent on moisture and organic carbon (%) of the soil but its diversity was found to be regulated by sporulating species like Aspergillus and Penicillium.

A variety of edible mushrooms are growing in Similipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR), some of which are used as ethno-medicine by indigenous tribals. In the present study, three wild edible mushrooms viz., Russula vesca, Russula delica and Termitomyces eurrhizus of SBR were analyzed for their nutritional and mineral contents along with antioxidant and antibacterial potential. The results showed that these three mushrooms are rich sources of nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, starch, reducing sugars and low fats), micronutrients (vitamins and carotenoids) and minerals (P, K, Mn, Co, Ni, Cd, Fe) with promising bioactive properties (antioxidant and antibacterial potentials). In general, these mushrooms revealed high amounts of proteins (22.82–35.17 g/100 g) and carbohydrates (45.68–63.27 g/100 g) and low contents in fats (2.03–4.62 g/100 g), while micronutrients (vitamins and carotenoids) and minerals were present in significant amounts. The antioxidant potentials of three different solvent extracts (ethanol, methanol and aqueous) of studied wild mushrooms showed strong antioxidant properties (ABTS, DPPH, H2O2 and metal chelating activities) with scavenging potential up to 89 % at concentration 100 μg/ml. Total phenol content was found between 21.92–41.99 mg catechol/g extract and flavonoid 2.53–7.52 mg quercetin/g extract. The studied mushrooms possess moderate antibacterial properties with zones of inhibition ranging from 13 to 30 mm against six human pathogenic bacteria which are comparable with Amphoxyllin standard. Being a source of nutrients and molecules with medicinal potential, the studied mushrooms can be used in human diet as nutraceuticals/functional foods for maintaining and promoting health, longevity and life quality.

An endophytic fungus displaying considerable antimicrobial activity was isolated from stem tissue of an invasive plant species, Ipomoea carnea . The fungus was identified as Quambalaria sp. and confirmed by ITS rDNA sequence analysis. A BLAST search result of the sequence indicated 97 % homology with Quambalaria cyanescens . Crude metabolites of the fungus showed considerable antimicrobial activity against a panel of clinically significant microorganisms. The metabolites showed highest in vitro activity against Shigella dysenteriae followed by Escherichia coli and Candida albicans . Optimum metabolites production required neutral pH and a 15-day incubation period. Bark extracts amended with fungal media demonstrated higher antimicrobial activity. Optimum metabolites activity was recorded in Czapek Dox broth amended with leaf extracts (CDB + LE) of the host plant. The metabolites showed UV λ-max in ethyl acetate at 284.6 nm with an absorbance value of 1.093. Phylogenetic tree generated by the Maximum Parsimony method showed clustering of our isolate with Q. cyanescens with supported bootstrap of 65 %. Species of Quambalaria are pathogens to Eucalyptus and occurrence of this fungus as endophytes support it to be a latent pathogen. Sequence base analysis and RNA secondary structure study also confirmed such a relationship. Secondary structural features like two hinges and a 5’ dangling end were found to be unique to our isolate. These structural features can also be used as potential barcodes for this fungus. The findings indicate that invasive plant species can be a reliable source of novel endophytes with rich antimicrobial metabolites. The study also validates the assumption that endophytes can become parasites and share a close affinity.

The aim of this work was to study the endophytic fungi associated with the tissues of Ipomoea carnea, a common invasive plant of India. A total of 69 isolates belonging to ten taxa comprising 1.45% Zygomycetes, 10.14% Coelomycetes, 62.32% Hypomycetes, 18.84% sterile mycelia and 7.25% unidentified species were obtained. Species of Curvularia, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Colletotrichum and sterile fungus were isolated as dominant endophytes. Colonization frequency of Curvularia (7.25%) was highest which was isolated from all the tissues. The samples collected during the monsoon harbored more endophytes and showed higher species richness than the samples obtained in summer season. Of the total isolates, 15 isolates (21.74%) displayed antimicrobial activity, inhibiting at least one of the test microorganisms that comprised of pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Shigella dysentriae) and fungi (Trichophyton rubrum, Aspergillus fumigatus, Trichophyton sp). The results provided promising baseline information on the endophytic fungal diversity associated with I. carnea tissues and their potential exploitation as antimicrobial agents.