Effect of Ibicella lutea on uropathogenic Proteus mirabilis growth, virulence, and biofilm formation.
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BACKGROUND: Proteus mirabilis, an important uropathogen that can cause complicated urinary tract infections (UTI), has emerged as a therapeutic problem following mutations that compromise the use of antimicrobial drugs. Due to the serious effects associated with uropathogenic P. mirabilis and the problems related to the use of antibiotics, it is necessary to develop alternative strategies for its control. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of Ibicella lutea extract, a South American indigenous plant, on growth, virulence and biofilm production of uropathogenic P. mirabilis. METHODOLOGY: This study was based on the extract generation and the assessment of its effect on bacterial features related to virulence. These assays involved determination of antibacterial activity, swarming motility, Western blot to assess expression of fimbriae and flagella, biofilms formation, haemagglutination, haemolysis, and electron microscopy. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: I. lutea extract had an effect on bacterial growth rate and bacterial morphology. It also affected P. mirabilis swarming differentiation, hemagglutination and biofilm formation on glass and polystyrene. These findings suggest that I. lutea may have a role as an agent for the control of P. mirabilis UTI. (+info)
Isolation and characterization of 3-carbomethoxypyridine from the leaves of Pyrenacantha staudtii Hutch and Dalz (Icacinaceae).
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Pyrenacantha staudtii is a medicinal plant used widely in the West African sub-region particularly in Nigeria for the treatment of threatened abortion and dysmenorrhea. This study reports for the first time the chemical isolation and characterization of 3-carbomethoxypyridine from one of the active fractions of the methanolic extract of Pyrenacantha staudtii leaves. The crude methanolic extract was subjected to accelerated gradient chromatography (AGC) to give various fractions. One of the active fractions was further subjected to a reversed phase lobar column chromatography to give the alkaloidal compound using methanol : water as solvent system. The structure was unequivocally determined by physical, chemical and spectral techniques. (+info)
New filobasidiaceous yeasts found in the phylloplane of a fern.
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Nitrate-positive strains of anamorphic yeasts representing the genus Cryptococcus were isolated on fern infusion agar from Athyrium filix-femina. Phylogenetic analyses of the D1/D2 domain of the LSU rRNA and of the ITS region placed them in Cylindricus clade in the Filobasidiales. Morphological and physiological characteristics, as well as mycocinotyping and molecular analysis, show a close affinity between strains. Subsequent comparative studies of new isolates revealed that they were not conspecific with any other known Cryptococcus species, and the cultures represented an undescribed species with two varieties, for which the names Cryptococcus filicatus var. filicatus (type strain VKM Y-2954 = CBS 10874) and Cryptococcus filicatus var. pelliculosus (type strain VKM Y-2955 = CBS 10875) are proposed. (+info)
Triterpenoids from Angiopteris palmiformis.
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Two new fernane triterpenoids, 7alpha-hydroxyfern-8-en-11-one (1) and 11beta-hydroxyfern-8-en-7-one (2), and two new filicane triterpenoids, 3beta-hydroxyfilic-4(23)-ene (3) and filicenol (5), together with one known filicane-type triterpenoid, 3alpha-hydroxyfilic-4(23)-ene (4), were isolated from the methyl alcohol extract of the leaves of Angiopteris palmiformis. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive analyses of their spectroscopic data (NMR, MS, IR) and comparison with spectroscopic data in the literature. (+info)
Lindnera rhizosphaerae sp. nov., a yeast species isolated from rhizospheric soil.
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