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In the present study, the biological activity of an extract of the secondary metabolites (E-G6-32) produced by the Curvularia sp. G6-32 endophyte (isolated from the medicinal plant Sapindus saponaria L.) was investigated. The antioxidant potential was confirmed by the DPPH (22.5%) and ABTS (62.7%) assays, and the total phenolic compound content was 40 µg gallic acid equivalents/mg. The extract E-G6-32 displayed good inhibitory activity toward butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE; IC50 = 110 ± 0.05 µg mL−1). The extract E-G6-32 was subjected to spectroscopic and mass spectrometry analyses. Comparison with the literature data confirmed that (-)-asperpentyn (1) was a major component. Asperpentyn belongs to the epoxyquinone family, which has attractive structural complexity, diverse functional groups, and a broad range of biological activities, including specific enzyme inhibitory activity. Our results suggest that Curvularia sp. G6-32 is a promising source of bioactive secondary metabolites and contains (-)-asperpentyn, which has potential pharmaceutical interest.

Endophytes are fungi and bacteria that inhabit plant tissues without causing disease. Endophytes have characteristics that are important for the health of the plant and have been isolated from several plants of economic and medicinal interest but rarely from ornamental plants. The current study isolates and identifies endophytic fungi from the leaves of Pachystachys lutea and evaluates the antagonistic activity of these endophytes as well as cellulase production by the endophytes. Fungi were isolated by fragmentation from surface-disinfected leaves and were identified by the sequencing of the ITS gene and the genes coding for EF 1-α and β-tubulin followed by multilocus sequence analysis. Molecular taxonomic analysis revealed that 78% of the identified fungi belonged to the genus Diaporthe. We also identified strains belonging to the genera Colletotrichum, Phyllosticta, Xylaria, Nemania, and Alternaria. Most of the strains tested were able to inhibit the growth of pathogenic fungi, especially PL09 (Diaporthe sp.), which inhibited the growth of Colletotrichum sp., and PL03 (Diaporthe sp.), which inhibited the growth of Fusarium oxysporum. The production of cellulase ranged from 0.87 to 1.60 μmol/min. Foliar endophytic fungal isolates from P. lutea showed promising results for the in vitro control of plant pathogens and for cellulase production. This paper is the first report on culturable endophytic fungi isolated from the ornamental plant P. lutea.

Sapindus saponaria L. of Sapindaceae family is popularly known as soldier soap and is found in Central and South America. A study of such medicinal plants might reveal a more complex diversity of microorganisms as compared to non-medicinal plants, considering their metabolic potential and the chemical communication between their natural microbiota. Rhizosphere is a highly diverse microbial habitat with respect to both the diversity of species and the size of the community. Rhizosphere bacteriome associated with medicinal plant S. saponaria is still poorly known. The objective of this study was to assess the rhizosphere microbiome of the medicinal plant S. saponaria using pyrosequencing, a culture-independent approach that is increasingly being used to estimate the number of bacterial species present in different environments. In their rhizosphere microbiome, 26 phyla were identified from 5089 sequences of 16S rRNA gene, with a predominance of Actinobacteria (33.54%), Acidobacteria (22.62%), and Proteobacteria (24.72%). The rarefaction curve showed a linear increase, with 2660 operational taxonomic units at 3% distance sequence dissimilarity, indicating that the rhizosphere microbiome associated with S. saponaria was highly diverse with groups of bacteria important for soil management, which could be further exploited for agricultural and biotechnological purposes.

A diversidade do meio ambiente esta diretamente relacionada com equilibrio ambiental, o qual e diretamente afetado pela liberacao de residuos industriais e urbanos. Algumas especies de microrganismos podem atuar como decompositores, em processos de biorremediacao, auxiliando na recuperacao de areas contaminadas. O municipio de Maringa, localizado no estado do Parana – Brasil, vem apresentando rapido crescimento populacional e se destacando principalmente nos setores de construcao civil, textil, entre outros. Como consequencia, ha o aumento de residuos gerados e, desta forma, a necessidade de implantacao de novas tecnologias de tratamentos de residuos a fim de reduzi-los, de maneira a diminuir o impacto socio-economico-ambiental. A cidade conta com o Plano de Gerenciamento de Residuos (PGR), que visa o controle dos residuos produzidos e a sua destinacao correta. Com o intuito de melhorar e buscar alternativas para o tratamento dos residuos gerados, o objetivo deste trabalho foi relacionar os dejetos industriais e domesticos produzidos no municipio de Maringa com possiveis formas de tratamento utilizando, de maneira sustentavel, o potencial biorremediador de microrganismos.

Microrganismos endofiticos sao aqueles que colonizam o interior das plantas, sem causar danos ou doencas, conferindo vantagens ao hospedeiro, protegendo-o contra insetos e molestias, podendo produzir substâncias de interesse biotecnologico. Sapindus saponaria L. e uma arvore conhecida como sabao-de-soldado. Preparacoes desta planta sao utilizadas na medicina popular como calmante, diuretico, expectorante, contra a tosse e outros. O objetivo neste trabalho foi avaliar a atividade antagonista in vitro de quatro bacterias endofiticas isoladas de S. saponaria contra o fitopatogeno Didymella bryoniae . Disco de 6mm do fitopatogeno foi inoculado no centro da placa de Petri, e posteriormente inoculado o endofitico com duas estrias equidistantes. No controle foi inoculado somente o fitopatogeno no centro da placa. O crescimento micelial foi aferido utilizando o programa imageJ 1.46r. Os Im’s foram: 8,3% (isol.69), 8,6% (isol.72), 19,2% (isol.79) e 36,6% (isol.129). Futuros estudos sao necessarios para evidenciar o real potencial no controle deste fitopatogeno.

Endofitos sao microrganismos que habitam o interior de plantas, sem causar danos ao hospedeiro, podendo trazer beneficios a planta, como a resistencia a patogenos. Quando habitam plantas medicinais, podem ter acoes similares as da planta, como a atividade antimicrobiana. Sapindus saponaria L. e uma arvore conhecida como sabao-de-soldado, utilizada na medicina popular. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a atividade antagonistica dos fungos endofiticos Phoma sp. e Alternaria sp. isolados de folhas de S. saponaria contra o fitopatogeno Fusarium solani . Disco de 6mm do endofitico e do fitopatogeno foram inoculados em polos opostos da placa de Petri. No controle, apenas o fitopatogeno em um dos polos. O crescimento micelial foi medido utilizando o programa imageJ 1.46r. Os Im’s foram: 10,83% (Phoma sp.) e 22,28% (Alternaria sp.). A interacao foi analisada pela escala de Badalyan, sendo do tipo “deadlock” com contato micelial. Estes endofitos sao potencialmente promissores no controle deste fitopatogeno.