In developing countries, orphan legumes stand at the forefront in the struggle against climate change. Their high nutrient value is crucial in malnutrition and chronic diseases prevention. However, as the 'orphan' definition suggests, their seed systems are still underestimated and seed production is scanty.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant polyphenols are nutraceutical components with relevant biological effects on human health. They act against development of several diseases including cancer. In this study, the methanolic extracts of four date palm Phoenix dactylifera leaves (Deglet Noor (DN), Barhee (B), Khalas (KS) and Khunezi (KZ)) collected from south Tunisia were preliminary analyzed for their effects against U87 (human glioblastoma) and MDA-MB-231 (human breast cancer) cell line development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoil contamination by heavy metals is one of the major problems that adversely decrease plant growth and biomass production. Inoculation with the plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can attenuate the toxicity of heavy metals and enhancing the plant growth. In this study, we evaluated the potential of a novel extremotolerant strain (IS-2 T) isolated from date palm rhizosphere to improve barley seedling growth under heavy metal stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this work, five novel phosphonium salts derived from the Michael reaction were screened for their antiplatelet activity. Our findings revealed that compounds 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d significantly inhibit platelet aggregation triggered by ADP or collagen (P < 0.001).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany inherited conditions cause hepatocellular cholestasis in infancy, including progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC), a heterogeneous group of diseases with highly overlapping symptoms. In our study, six unrelated Tunisian infants with PFIC suspicion were the subject of a panel-target sequencing followed by an exhaustive bioinformatic and modeling investigations. Results revealed five disease-causative variants including known ones: (the p.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA novel symmetric -imidazolium--heterocycle, called C7, was designed and synthesized in a quick two-step pathway, with the objective to synthesize biologically active supramolecular assembly. The synthesized compound was then analyzed for its photophysical properties, for a potential application in theragnostic (fluorescence) or phototherapy (photodynamic therapy, with the production of reactive oxygen species, such as singlet oxygen O). C7 was thus screened for its biological activity, in particular against important human pathogens of viral origin (respiratory viruses such as adenovirus type 2 and human coronavirus 229E) and of fungal and bacterial origin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe phytochemical investigation of Thymelaea tartonraira leaves led to the isolation and characterization of six compounds, including one new flavonoid glycoside identified as hypolaetin 8-O-β-D-galactopyranoside (4) along with five known compounds, daphnoretin (1), triumbelletin (2), genkwanin (3), tiliroside (5) and yuankanin (6). Their structures were established based on spectroscopic methods, such as UV, IR, NMR, and HR-ESI-MS. Triumbelletin (2) and tiliroside (5) were isolated for the first time from T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has created an urgent need to develop effective strategies for prevention and treatment. In this context, therapies against protease M, a conserved viral target, would be essential to contain the spread of the virus and reduce mortality. Using combined techniques of structure modelling, in silico docking and pharmacokinetics prediction, many compounds from algae were tested for their ability to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 main protease and compared to the recent recognized drug Paxlovid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe COVID-19 new variants spread rapidly all over the world, and until now scientists strive to find virus-specific antivirals for its treatment. The main protease of SARS-CoV-2 (M) exhibits high structural and sequence homology to main protease of SARS-CoV (93.23% sequence identity), and their sequence alignment indicated 12 mutated/variant residues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant, the anti-inflammatory, and the antitumoral activities of the aqueous ethanolic extract from L. parthenocarpic dates. The antioxidant activity was carried using DPPH radical scavenging activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree different concentrations of a purified maltogenic amylase (FSA) from fenugreek () seeds were incorporated into the cake formulation. The addition of FSA at 0.003, 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA continuous research is attempted to fulfil the highest industrial demands of natural amylases presenting special properties. New -amylases extracted from stems and leaves of , which is widespread and growing spontaneously in Tunisia, were studied by the means of their activities optimization and purification. Some similarities were recorded for the two identified enzymes: (i) the highest amylase activity showed a promoted thermal stability at 50°C; (ii) the starch substrate at 1% enhanced the enzyme activity; (iii) the two -amylases seem to be calcium-independent; (iv) Zn, Cu, and Ag were considered as important inhibitors of the enzyme activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe studied date palm phytochelatin synthase type I (PdPCS1), which catalyzes the cytosolic synthesis of phytochelatins (PCs), a heavy metal binding protein, in plant cells. The gene encoding PdPCS1 (Pdpcs) consists of 8 exons and 7 introns and encodes a protein of 528 amino acids. PCs gene history was studied using Notung phylogeny.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhoenix dactylifera L. plays an important role in social, economic, and ecological Tunisian sectors. Some date palms produce parthenocarpic fruit named Sish.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Phoenix dactylifera L. plays an important role in social, economic and ecological Tunisian sectors. Some date palms produce parthenocarpic fruit named Sish.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmong various chronic disorders, cancer and diabetes mellitus are the most common disorders. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of hydroalcoholic extract of Phoenix dactylifera L. leaves (HEPdL) in animal models of type II diabetes in vitro/in vivo and in a human melanoma-derived cell line (IGR-39).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOat (Avena sativa L.) seed extracts exhibited a high degree of catalytic activity including amylase activities. Proteins in the oat seed extracts were optimized for their amylolytic activities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study focuses on effects of untreated and treated ink industry wastewater on germination of maize, barley and sorghum. Wastewater had a high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and metal content compared to treated effluent. Germination decreased with increasing COD concentration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOat is a promising plant for the future. It is edible and beneficial thanks to its nutritional, medicinal and pharmaceutical uses and, hence, recognized to be useful for a healthier world. The assessment of the vital functions of oat components is important for industries requiring correct health labelling, valid during the shelf life of any product.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Pollut Res Int
July 2015
The bioaccumulation efficiency of cadmium (Cd) by fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) was examined using different concentrations of CdCl2. The germination rate was similar to control except at 10 mM Cd. However, early seedling growth was quite sensitive to the metal from the lowest Cd level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
January 2015
Statistical approaches were employed for the optimisation of the extraction of amylolytic activity from oat (Avena sativa) seeds. The application of the response surface methodology allows us to determine a set of optimal conditions (ratio seed weight/buffer volume 0.1, germination days 10 days, temperature 20 °C and pH 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOpuntia ficus-indica f. inermis (cactus pear) flowers have wide application in folk medicine. However, there are few reports focusing on their biological activity and were no reports on their chemical composition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn amylase and lipase producing bacterium (strain C2) was enriched and isolated from soil regularly contaminated with olive washing wastewater in Sfax, Tunisia. Cell was aerobic, mesophilic, Gram-negative, motile, non-sporulating bacterium, capable of growing optimally at pH 7 and 30°C and tolerated maximally 10% (W/V) NaCl. The predominant fatty acids were found to be C(18:1)ω7c (32.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of copper on germination and growth of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) was investigated separately using different concentrations of CuSO₄. The germination percentage and radical length had different responses to cupric ions: the root growth increased with increasing copper concentration up to 1 mM Cu²⁺ and was inhibited thereafter. In contrast, the germination percentage was largely unaffected by concentrations of copper below 10 mM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have previously cloned and characterized the thermostable phytase (PHY US417) from Bacillus subtilis US417. It differs with PhyC from B. subtilis VTTE-68013 by the R257P substitution.
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