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The thermophilic fungus Gymnascella thermotolerans GTE-21 produces a significant amount of both volatile and nonvolatile compounds with potent antifungal and anticancer properties. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was utilized to identify 14 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by G. thermotolerans. The most predominant compound identified was diisooctyl phthalate, constituting 71.99% of the total VOCs, followed by phenol, 2-methoxy-4-(2-propenyl) at 7.12%. The GTE-21's VOCs demonstrated significant antifungal growth inhibition activity of 42.5% against Fusarium solani and 39.03% against Alternaria alternata. Additionally, GTE-21's crude extract exhibited substantial antibacterial effects, evidenced by inhibition zones of 1.5 cm against S. epidermidis, 1.4 cm against C. ciferrii, and 1.3 cm against S. aureus. The CHR2RClR2R:MeOH (1:1) fraction was more effective against human pathogens, producing the largest zones of inhibition of 1.1 and 1.03 cm against S. epidermidis and C. ciferrii, respectively. The evaluation of GTE-21's antifungal activity using the Evans blue assay showed that fungal spores treated with GTE-21's crude extract exhibited 96.2% inhibition at a concentration of 25 mg/ml. Similarly, the fractions CH2Cl2:MeOH (1:1) and CH2Cl2:MeOH (9:1) demonstrated spore inhibition rates of 96.3% and 94.3%, respectively. The EtOAc crude extract demonstrated pronounced cytotoxic effects against the SKOV-3 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cell lines. For SKOV-3, cell viability decreased to 3.40% and 0.47% at concentrations of 50 and 100 μL, respectively. In the case of MDA-MB-231, cell viability was reduced to 0.19% at both 50 and 100 μL concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The okra crop, cultivated all over the globe, is a source of oil and protein. Despite the economic significance of okra in the livelihoods of millions of small-scale farmers, studies on the nutritional traits of okra are meager. Creating novel hybrid lines with desirable characteristics could be employed to maximize the nutritional quality of the okra plant, precisely the amount of anthocyanin content, phenols, and total antioxidants. We crossed an Egyptian variety, preferably in the market but with low production, with a highly productive Japanese variety with less nutritional value for consumers. The two okra genotypes with their hybrids and 16 segregating populations were arranged in a randomized complete block design. Approximate chemical analyses for primary and secondary metabolites were quantified for each genotype. The analysis of variances indicated a significant variation among okra genotypes in all the physiological and nutritional traits except for ascorbic acid content. Various traits revealed by Principal Component Analysis contributed distinctively to the total variation. Correlation analysis indicated some significant correlations between the nutritional characteristics. Protein contents had a positive and significant correlation with total antioxidant (0.521), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (0.488), proline (0.498), flavonoids (0.474), and saponin (0.536). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rot disease is responsible for serious economic losses related to okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) crops cultivated in Upper Egypt. Colonies with a consistent morphology were isolated from the infected okra stems and leaves and subjected to morphological and molecular examinations. The causal pathogen was identified as Cochliobolus spicifer based on morphological fungus descriptions, as well as on the amplified 28S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) sequences, which showed 99%–100% similarity to the sequences of C. spicifer - CSN-20 strains. The volatile and non-volatile organic compounds (VOCs and n-VOCs, respectively) produced by the endophytic fungi that are associated with the medicinal plant Solenostemma arghel , namely Fusarium solani -F4-1007, Penicillium verrucosum -F2-1006, and Aspergillus terreus -F5-1008, inhibited the growth of the C. spicifer pathogen by 34.2%,31.4%, and 30.5%, respectively. In total,27 VOCs were identified by GC/MS, among which eight were specific to A. terreus -F5-1008, eight to P. verrucosum -F2-1006, and three to F. solani -F4-1007, whereas nine VOCs were commonly produced by the three endophytic fungi. Moreover, F. solani -F4-1007-produced VOCs and n-VOCs exhibited the highest antifungal activity, with 37.27% and 37.1% inhibition against C. spicifer colony growth, respectively. The potent antifungal VOCs produced by F. solani -F4-1007 were identified as 3,4-dihydro-2 h-1,5-(3″-t-butyl) benzodioxepine, 4-(2-hydroxyethyl) phenol, and phenylethyl alcohol using GC/MS. Therefore, F. solani -F4-1007 was tested as a potential biocontrol agent against C. spicifer- CSN-20 using an in-planta assay. Okra plants treated with endophytic F. solani -F4-1007did not show any disease symptoms, whereas those that were not treated with F. solani -F4-1007 exhibited severe disease symptoms when challenged with inoculation of the C. spicifer pathogen. Our results demonstrated the contribution of the endophytic fungus F. solani -F4-1007 as a potential biocontrol agent against the C. spicifer pathogen, to improve okra growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fruit rot disease of sweet melon is responsible for serious of economic crop losses that have occurred sporadically in Aswan, Egypt recently. The symptoms appeared as water-soaking lesion which advanced to the rotting of the fruit surface. White mycelial mats with brown color inside appear on the lesion at the surface of the fruit. Disease symptoms, morphological and mycological characteristics, pathogenicity and molecular identification, indicated as Fusarium solani, are the disease causative. When healthy fruits of sweet melon sprayed with spore suspension of the isolated F. solani, the disease symptoms appeared as white spot, which enlarged and turned brown. Dual culture techniques showed that the endophytic fungi, Aspergillus terreus, Fusarium solani and Penicillium verrucosum isolated from the medicinal plant Solenostemma arghel inhibited the pathogen growth in variable levels. The extract of ethyl acetate of the endophytic fungal was found to be active against Fusarium solani. The ethyl acetate fractions of Penicillium verrucosum inhibited the pathogen growth by 47% while A. terreus, and F. solani showed inhibition percentage of 45% and 40%, respectively [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important worldwide vegetable crop. This paramount crop would be infected by a serious set of pathogenic fungal diseases. Growth and production are hampered by early blight caused by Alternaria phragmospora. In vitro the production of growth promoted hormone indole acetic acid (IAA) by Aspergillus flavus isolated from the medicinal plant, Euphorbia geniculata was stimulated in culture media supplemented or not by tryptophan (120 and 40 μg mL−1) respectively. The blue fluorescence test showed that the endophytic A. flavus was lacking to produce aflatoxins. Inoculation of S. lycopersicum with A. flavus enhanced the fresh weight (FW) and plant length (PL) of S. lycopersicum significantly in comparison to untreated plants. The PL of treated plants was 39.05 cm ± 3.16, while control was 22.19 cm ± 4.54. IAA stimulated overproduction of lateral roots and root hairs in treated plants compared to control. After spraying with A. phragmospora , the treated plant with A. flavus showed healthy leaves and completely protected (100%) from the disease symptoms. There were significant increases in chlorophyll (1.68 mg g−1 FW), flavonoids (105.4 mg g−1 dry weight), carbohydrates (155.5 mg g−1 dry weight), phenolics (0.9 mg g−1 dry weight) and total proteins contents (94.13 mg g−1 dry weight) in treated plants relative to untreated control plants. Our findings demonstrated the contribution of A. flavus to improve the growth and the secondary metabolites contents of tomato, which subsequently leads to the improvement of the resistance of this plant to an aggressive plant pathogen like A. phragmospora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jojoba ( Simmondsia chinensis ) is a potential alternative crop in Egyptian desert because its seed contains a liquid wax which, in addition to several miscellaneous uses. Short term selection programs that identify higher productive jojoba clones of higher wax quality are desirable to supply commercial plantations with superior jojoba clones. Ten promising jojoba clones i.e. S-700, S-1700, S-1300, S-610, S-118, S-B, S-G, S-L, S-MT and S-Z were subjected to short term selection program. These clones were grown at Middle Sinai Experimental Station, Desert Research Center, North Sinai Governorate, Egypt. Evaluated clones showed variations in the studied vegetative growth traits i.e. tree height, tree canopy volume, and branching and node traits. Also, the evaluated clones showed differences in the studied fruiting traits i.e. fruit set, seed yield, seed weight and seed wax content. Seed waxes were analyzed for acidity, iodine and saponification values. There are low significant differences between clones in their liquid wax chemical properties. The results showed that plant height and fruit set percentage had significant positive correlation with seed yield. The best clones regarding seed yield were S-700, S-B and S-610. Moreover, S-G, S-700 and S-L showed superiority in seed wax content, which give these clones competently to establish commercial plantations in Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) associate with ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1) to direct post-transcriptional gene silencing and regulate numerous biological processes. Although AGO1 predominantly binds miRNAs in vivo, it also associates with endogenous small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). It is unclear whether the miRNA/siRNA balance affects miRNA activities. Here we report that FIERY1 (FRY1), which is involved in 5′−3′ RNA degradation, regulates miRNA abundance and function by suppressing the biogenesis of ribosomal RNA-derived siRNAs (risiRNAs). In mutants of FRY1 and the nuclear 5′−3′ exonuclease genes XRN2 and XRN3, we find that a large number of 21-nt risiRNAs are generated through an endogenous siRNA biogenesis pathway. The production of risiRNAs correlates with pre-rRNA processing defects in these mutants. We also show that these risiRNAs are loaded into AGO1, causing reduced loading of miRNAs. This study reveals a previously unknown link between rRNA processing and miRNA accumulation. Arabidopsis AGO1 binds both microRNA (miRNA) and endogenous small interfering RNA (siRNA). Here the authors show that 5′−3′ RNA degradation suppresses siRNA biogenesis from ribosomal RNA to prevent overloading of AGO1 with ribosomal siRNA and maintain miRNA-directed post translational gene silencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]