Several species of the family Culicidae are important vectors of diseases in humans and other animals. Immature stages are filter-feeders of organic particulate matter and microorganisms. Studies on microbial diversity can contribute to the discovery of new substances that can be used in the pharmaceutical industry for food or for biological control. The aim of this study was to isolate and ide...

Thymol is present in the essential oils from herbs and spices, such as thyme. It is produced by these plant species as a chemical defense against phytopathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, this compound has attracted great attention in food industry, i.e., it has been used as a natural preservative in foods such as cheese to prevent fungal growth. Previous studies concerning the biotransformati...

Results The data analyzed so far revealed the presence of different pollen and fungal species at both sites. The ratio between the pollen and fungal spores was 1:5. The airborne pollen grains showed quantitative and qualitative differences between the two sites. At FD site, the major pollen grains included Phoenix dactylifera (31%), grass pollen (14%), Atriplex nummularia (12%), Amaranthus viri...

The decolorization of molasses by 17 different fungi in 2 media was studied. Trichoderma viride showed the highest decolorization yield (53.5%) when cultivated at 30ºC for 7 days in Medium 1 which contained the molasses which was diluted to 40 g/L in distilled water. The other Trichoderma species and Penicillium sp. also gave similar results of 40-45%. Decolorization yield was increased by addi...

Antioxidants are molecules that scavenge or neutralize free radicals. Free radicals are generated in human body during normal physiological processes and have implications on various human diseases. Endophytic fungi from medicinal plants are gaining tremendous impetus as potential source of antioxidant compounds. In this studyPlackett-Burman design was used to evaluate the media components affe...

In the course of our continuous interest in identifying bioactive compounds from marine microbes, we have investigated a tunicate-derived fungus, Penicillium sp. CYE-87. A new compound with the 1,4-diazepane skeleton, terretrione D (2), together with the known compounds, methyl-2-([2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]carbamoyl)acetate (1), tryptamine (3), indole-3-carbaldehyde (4), 3,6-diisobutylpyrazin-2(1...

In this paper we have reported the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using Penicillium sp. was isolated from the soil sample collected from Pallavakam beach of Chennai, Tamil Nadu India. When the fungal biomass was challenged with 1mM Silver nitrate (AgNO3) results in the change of solution color in to dark brown shows the formation of Silver nanoparticles(SNP).These Silver nanoparticles wer...

In the course of screening rhizosphere microflora of Sonoran desert plants for potential anticancer agents1,2), an unidentified Penicillium sp. (Trichonaceae) isolated from the rhizosphere of the apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa D. Don; Rosaceae) was found to produce several cytotoxic substances. Fractionation of the cytotoxic EtOAc extract led to the isolation of a new anthraquinone (1), a know...

The invasive red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is considered one of the world's most devastating insect pests to palm trees. It was observed that larvae of this pest are able to inhibit microbial growth on the rearing media when they start feeding and this observation has led us to study the effect of red palm weevils on various microbial species. T...

 Out of 65 medicinal herbs and spices screened, 60 were contaminated while 5 were free from fungal contamination.  Analysis revealed that 45.31% of the samples have a fungal load above 1×10 cfu/g which is the permissible limit set by World Health Organization.  A total of 191 fungi were isolated in which Aspergillus and Penicillium were the predominant microorganism. Among the various fungal...