Enhancing the production of an antifungal compound from Anabaena laxa through modulation of environmental conditions and its characterization

Insight to biotechnological utility of phycochemicals from cyanobacterium Anabaena sp.: An overview

Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are well-known for the ability to excrete extra-cellular products, as a variety of cyanochemicals (phycocompounds) of curio with several extensive therapeutic applications. Among these phycocompound, the cyanotoxins from certain water-bloom forming taxa are toxic to biota, including crocodiles. Failure of current non-renewable source compounds in producing sustainable and non-toxic therapeutics led the urgency of discovering products from natural sources. Particularly, compounds of the filamentous N2-fixing Anabaena sp. have effective antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. Today, such newer compounds are the potential targets for the possible novel chemical scaffolds, suitable for mainstream-drug development cascades. Bioactive compounds of Anabaena sp. such as, anatoxins, hassallidins and phycobiliproteins have proven their inherent antibacterial, antifungal, and antineoplastic activities, respectively. Herein, the available details of the biomass production and the inherent phyco-constituents namely, alkaloids, lipids, phenols, peptides, proteins, polysaccharides, terpenoids and cyanotoxins are considered, along with geographical distributions and morphological characteristics of the cyanobacterium. The acquisitions of cyanochemicals in recent years have newly addressed several pharmaceutical aliments, and the understanding of the associated molecular interactions of phycochemicals have been considered, for plausible use in drug developments in future.

Cyanobacteria: A Promising Source of Antifungal Metabolites

Cyanobacteria are a rich source of secondary metabolites, and they have received a great deal of attention due to their applicability in different industrial sectors. Some of these substances are known for their notorious ability to inhibit fungal growth. Such metabolites are very chemically and biologically diverse. They can belong to different chemical classes, including peptides, fatty acids, alkaloids, polyketides, and macrolides. Moreover, they can also target different cell components. Filamentous cyanobacteria have been the main source of these compounds. This review aims to identify the key features of these antifungal agents, as well as the sources from which they are obtained, their major targets, and the environmental factors involved when they are being produced. For the preparation of this work, a total of 642 documents dating from 1980 to 2022 were consulted, including patents, original research, review articles, and theses.

Review of advances in the thin layer chromatography of pesticides: 2012-2014

Publications reporting techniques and applications of thin layer chromatography (planar chromatography) for the separation, detection, qualitative, and quantitative determination, and preparative isolation of pesticides and their metabolites are reviewed for the period from November 1, 2012 to November 1, 2014. Analyses are described for a variety of sample types and pesticide classes. In addition to references on residue analysis, studies such as pesticide structure - retention relationships, identification and characterization of natural and synthesized pesticides, metabolism, bioactivity, degradation, soil mobility, and lipophilicity are covered.

Biological activity of microalgae can be enhanced by manipulating the cultivation temperature and irradiance

The escalating levels of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria and the side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs in use forced the efforts of scientists to search for natural antimicrobial and anticancer substances with novel structures and unique mechanism of action. Focusing on bioproducts, recent trends in drug research have shown that microalgae (including the cyanobacteria) are promising organisms to furnish novel and safer biologically active compounds. Many microalgal metabolites have been found to possess potent antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anticancer and antiinflammatory activities, as well as antioxidant, enzyme inhibiting and immunostimulating properties. In this paper, the studies on the biological activity of microalgae associated with potential medical and pharmaceutical applications are briefly presented. Attention is focused on the impact of cultivation temperature, irradiance and growth stage on the biomass accumulation, activity and pathways of cell metabolism and the possibilities of using these variable factors to increase the diversity and quantity of biologically active substances synthesized by microalgae.