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Abstract Pomegranate crops are prone to wilt complex disease, which is known to severely hamper the crop yield. There have been limited studies that have explored bacteria–plant–host associations in wilt complex disease affecting pomegranate crops. In the present study, wilt infected rhizosphere soil samples (ISI, ASI) in pomegranate were studied in comparison to a healthy control (HSC). The 16S metagenomics sequencing approach using the MinION platform was employed for screening of bacterial communities and predictive functional pathways. Altered physicochemical properties in the soil samples were recorded showing a comparatively acidic pH in the ISI (6.35) and ASI (6.63) soil samples to the HSC soil (7.66), along with higher electrical conductivity in the ISI (139.5 µS/cm), ASI soil (180 µS/cm), HSC soil sample (123.33 µS/cm). While concentration of micronutrients such as Cl and B were significantly higher in the ISI and ASI soil as compared to the HSC, Cu and Zn were significantly higher in the ASI soil. The effectiveness and accuracy of 16S metagenomics studies in identifying beneficial and pathogenic bacterial communities in multi-pathogen–host systems depend on the completeness and consistency of the available 16S rRNA sequence repositories. Enhancing these repositories could significantly improve the exploratory potential of such studies. Thus, multiple 16S rRNA data repositories (RDP, GTDB, EzBioCloud, SILVA, and GreenGenes) were benchmarked, and the findings indicated that SILVA yields the most reliable matches. Consequently, SILVA was chosen for further analysis at the species level. Relative abundance estimates of bacterial species showed variations of growth promoting bacteria, namely, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megatarium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas stutzeri and Micrococcus luteus. Functional profiling predictions employing PICRUSt2 revealed a number of enriched pathways such as transporter protein families involved in signalling and cellular processes, iron complex transport system substrate binding protein, peptidoglycan biosynthesis II (staphylococci) and TCA cycle VII (acetate-producers). In line with past reports, results suggest that an acidic pH along with the bioavailability of micronutrients such as Fe and Mn could be facilitating the prevalence and virulence of Fusarium oxysporum, a known causative pathogen, against the host and beneficial bacterial communities. This study identifies bacterial communities taking into account the physicochemical and other abiotic soil parameters in wilt-affected pomegranate crops. The insights obtained could be instrumental in developing effective management strategies to enhance crop yield and mitigate the impact of wilt complex disease on pomegranate crops.

Bambusa tulda (Poaceae) is one of the most valuable bamboo species in terms of health-promoting effects. The goal of this research work was to carry out the in-vivo acute toxicity, anti-diabetic and anti-oxidative activities of hydro-methanolic extract of B. tulda leaves. The median lethal dose (LD50) of the hydro-methanolic extract of B. tulda leaves was found to be 6088.13 mg/kg body weight in mice. Supplementing the low (100 mg/kg) and high dose (200 mg/kg) of B. tulda leaf extract showed significant elevation in the endogenous enzymes level of superoxide dismutase (24.81%) and glutathione peroxidase (31.60%) with a decline in malondialdehyde levels (21.90%) when compared to untreated alloxan-induced diabetic control rats. The histopathological assessment of pancreas also showed an increase in ß-cells, though not at a significant level. Hence the presence of phyto-constituents substantiates the pharmacological activities of hydro-methanolic extract of B. tulda leaf particularly as a potential candidate for anti-diabetic activity. However, detailed studies are needed to elucidate its exact mechanism of action against diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak and rapid spread of novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in global pandemic. The purpose of this work is to provide an ethnopharmacological overview of selected medicinal plants having antiviral activity along with their applications to treat COVID-19 related symptoms based on fragmented literature. Hundreds of published research articles were screened and reviewed using online search engines such as PubMed, PMC and Google Scholar with relevant keywords related to coronavirus, antiviral medicinal plants, phytochemical compounds, cough and fever. A total of 12 plants having antiviral activity against a number of viruses were documented with their probable mechanism of action. Most of the studied plants and their compounds were also reported to have other therapeutic potentials and were used to boost immunity, treat cough, fever, tiredness, difficulty in breathing and diarrhoea, which are common symptoms of COVID-19 infections as per World Health Organization. This review hopefully opens a new horizon in the development of antiviral drug against novel coronavirus COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Myrica nagi Thunb. (family Myricaceae) are actinorhizal plants showing symbiotic interaction with Frankia. Inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme is known to be significant in preventing inflammation and in therapeutics. Objectives: Our principal focus was to identify COX-2 enzyme inhibitors, safer and natural anti-inflammatory compounds from M. nagi. Protein–ligand interaction has a significant role in structure-based drug design. Materials and Methods: Sixty-eight phytochemicals were therefore screened and evaluated for their binding energies with COX-2. These phytoconstituents were screened and analyzed for drug Likeliness along with Lipinski's rule of five. The X-ray crystallographic structure of the target COX-2 (protein data bank [PDB] ID: 4PH9), obtained from PDB, was docked with PubChem structures of phytochemicals using AutoDock 4.2 that uses Lamarckian genetic algorithm. Further, myricetin was subjected to in vitro anti-inflammatory assay using RAW-264.7 cell lines and inhibitory concentration (IC50) value was also determined. Results: The myricetin, myricitrin, and corchoionoside-C inhibited COX-2 with − 6.52, −4.94, and − 4.94 Kcal/mol binding energies, respectively, comparable to ibuprofen. Eventually, bioactivity score and absorption distribution metabolism excretion-toxicity properties showed considerable biological activities as G protein-coupled receptor, nuclear receptor, protease inhibitor, and enzyme inhibitors for myricetin, myricitrin, and corchoionoside-C phytochemicals. Molecular docking revealed hydrophobic interactions followed by four, nine, and four numbers of hydrogen bonds between myricetin, myricitrin, and corchoionoside-C, respectively, within the binding site of COX-2. Flavonol myricetin showed 112 μg/mL as IC50 value when it was subjected to in vitro cytotoxicity assay. These results clearly demonstrated that myricetin, myricitrin, and corchoionoside-C could act as highly potential COX-2 inhibitors. Therefore, in silico and in vitro studies revealed that of three best phytochemicals, myricetin could be promising candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]