Eucalyptus globulus Labill. is one of the most widely utilized medicinal plants throughout the world due to its wide spectrum of interesting biological activities that are mainly attributed to the diversity of phytochemical constituents in the plant parts. The emerging crisis of pathogen resistance for conventional antibiotics is considered a global concern for the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics; hence, there is an urgent need to explore new antimicrobial ingredients from botanical sources, among which the most promising sources are medicinal plants. Moreover, the growing limitation toward synthetic antioxidants motivated the scientific community all over the world to identify plant-acquired antioxidants and antimicrobials. This is a huge global challenge, because of the increasing public health awareness and reliance on natural compounds, as these compounds are safer alternatives. Moreover, the undesirable impacts of synthetic pharmaceuticals can be avoided. Furthermore, plant extracts and their oil could be used as eco-friendly plant-based products for insects, weeds, and plant pathogen control, which will diminish the dependence on synthetic chemicals. Thus, this review is to highlight the richness of the E. globulus plant, with precious bioactive constituents, antioxidants, antimicrobials, and phytoremediation, and herbicidal activities, which will pave the way to the development of new pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, as well as food preservatives. They may also provide potential commercial applications to counteract the limitations of synthetic antioxidants.

Chrysanthemum is a flowering plant grown worldwide and is one of the most popular ornamental plants. Chrysanthemums are usually cultivated using root suckers and shoot cuttings. This conventional technique is relatively slow. In addition, as cuttings are gained regularly from mother plants, there is a chance of viral infection and degeneration, which raises the production cost. The hurdles mentioned above have been managed by applying in vitro propagation techniques, which can enhance reproduction rates through in vitro culture and use very small explants, which are impossible with the conventional approach. Usually, it is difficult to get true-to-type plants as the parents with good quality, but clonal propagation of a designated elite species makes it possible. Hence, this review highlights recent studies of the in vitro propagation of Chrysanthemum included; the appropriate explant sources, medium compositions, alternative disinfection of culture media, plant growth regulators (PGRs), different mutagenesis applications, acclimatization efficiency, and alternative light sources to overcome the shortcomings of conventional propagation techniques.

Wound infections became a great challenge, especially after the emergence of bacterial resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Medicinal plants can be the source of alternative antibacterial agents effective against multi drug resistant (MDR) bacteria. This research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of different Silybum marianum seed extracts in fighting MDR bacteria that infect wounds. First, thirty purified bacterial cultures obtained from superficial, infected wounds were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity tests. The selected MDR isolates were then used to test the antimicrobial effects of different S. marianum seed extracts. The most potent extract was evaluated for its impact on the ultrastructure of the cells of sensitive bacterial isolates using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The bioactive ingredients of this extract were analyzed by means of gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC–MS). Then, in-silico absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) properties were predicted for the main components. The results indicated that four out of 30 bacterial isolates were considered MDR bacteria. Primary morphological features of colonies, secondary (automatic) identification using the Biomerieux Vitek 2 System, and 16S rRNA sequencing of the four isolates confirmed that they represent Staphylococcus aureus, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli. Among different extracts of S. marianum seeds, ethanol extract showed the strongest inhibitory effect on both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values between 9.375 and 1.172 mg/mL. However, at concentrations four times higher, this extract was unable to kill bacterial cells, indicating that it had a bacteriostatic effect on the tested MDR strains. TEM revealed denaturation and distorted cell ultrastructure in S. aureus and S. maltophilia after exposure to ethanol extract. In addition, GC–MS analysis of the ethanol extract identified nine compounds known to have important biological activities, and ADMET analysis showed good drug-likeness for two of these compounds. Consequently, S. marianum seeds could be a good source of alternative bacteriostatic agents effective against MDR bacterial strains that cause wound infections.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a harmful pathogen that causes a variety of acute and chronic infections through quorum sensing (QS) mechanisms. The increasing resistance of this bacterium to numerous antibiotics has created a demand for new medications that specifically target QS. Endophytes can be the source of compounds with antibacterial properties. This research is the first to examine tannic acid (TA) produced by endophytic fungus as a potential biotherapeutic agent. A novel endophytic fungal isolate identified as Penicillium oxalicum was derived from the cladodes of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.). The species identification for this isolate was confirmed through sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region. The metabolites from the culture of this isolate were extracted using ethyl acetate, then separated and characterized using chromatographic methods. This led to the acquisition of TA, a compound that shows strong anti-QS and excellent antibacterial effects against extensively drug-resistant P. aeruginosa strains. Furthermore, it was shown that treating P. aeruginosa with the obtained TA reduced the secretion of virulence factors controlled by QS in a dose-dependent manner, indicating that TA inhibited the QS characteristics of P. aeruginosa. Simultaneously, TA significantly inhibited the expression of genes associated with QS, including rhlR/I, lasR/I, and pqsR. In addition, in silico virtual molecular docking showed that TA could efficiently bind to QS receptor proteins. Our results showed that P. oxalicum could be a new source of TA for the treatment of infections caused by extensively drug-resistant P. aeruginosa.

Gamma irradiation is important agent used to improve the productivity and quality of many plants. The present study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of different doses of gamma rays (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 kR) on germination percentage, vegetative growth, photosynthetic pigments, oil yield, oil components and total phenolic content of Ocimum basilicum L during the two successive seasons of 2017 and 2018 at the Experimental Farm of Sakha Horticulture Research Station, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt. Results showed that low doses of gamma irradiation significantly increased germination percentage, plant height, number of branches, fresh and dry weight per plant and per fed, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, essential oil percentage, oil yield per plant and per fed and essential oil main components. Increasing gamma rays doses significantly reduced germination percentage, vegetative growth characters and oil yield while total carotenoids content and total phenolic content significantly increased as a defensive effect to the increase in irradiation doses. The study suggested 10kR dose as seeds treatment for increasing basil plants production through enhancing germination percentage, vegetative growth, fresh yield, essential oil yield and essential oil components.

: Candida albicans is one of the main agents responsible for opportunistic pathogenic infections. The progressive emergence of fungal resistance to conventional antibiotics and its side effects, as well as treatment costs, are considered major limitations for antifungal drugs. It has drawn scientists' attention to the search for potential substitution and reliable therapeutic alternatives for the antifungal compounds from sources like medicinal plants, which contain numerous bioactive compounds such as essential oils. Essential oils (EO), apart from having lower toxicity and better biodegradability, are eco-friendly in nature as compared with conventional antibiotics. Furthermore, extracted essential oils have been reported to possess potent antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, and antioxidant properties that nominate them as promising natural candidates to combat numerous fungal ailments. Thus, the determination of antifungal efficacy of essential oil-bearing plants on Candida spp. will provide miscellaneous knowledge for future clinical studies that are required for the development of new formulations as alternative therapeutic agents to control the growth of Candida species. Therefore, this review summarizes the gist of major essential oils that have been investigated for their anti- Candida potential with some recommendations for further study.