Around the world, a variety of crops, including tomatoes, suffer serious economic losses due to the Rhizoctonia root-rot disease. Herein, Bacillus velezensis, Bacillus megaterium, and Herpaspirillum huttiense isolated from strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis var. ananassa) plants were pragmatic as plant growth promotors for battling the Rhizoctonia root rot disease and bringing about defense mechanisms as well as growth promotional strategies in tomato plants. These endophytic bacteria demonstrated potent antifungal activity against R. solani in vitro along in vivo. Data explained that the isolated endophytic bacteria could produce Indole acetic acid, Gibberellic acid GA, and siderophore as well as solubilize phosphate in the soil. The consortium of (Bacillus velezensis, Bacillus megaterium, and Herpaspirillum huttiense) increased the protection % against Rhizoctonia infection by (79.4%), followed by B. velezensis by (73.52%), H. huttiense by (70.5%), and B. megaterium by (67.64%), respectively. There was an increase in soluble proteins and carbohydrates in infected plants treated with a consortium of endophytic bacteria by 30.7% and 100.2% over untreated infected plants, respectively. Applying endophytic bacteria either alone or in combination lowered the level of malondialdehyde MDA and hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂ and improved the activities of antioxidant enzymes in both infected and uninfected plants. Also, bacterial endophytes have distinctive reactions regarding the number and concentrations of isozymes in both infected and uninfected plants. It could be recommended the commercial usage of a mixture of targeted bacterial endophyte strains as therapeutic nutrients against Rhizoctonia root-rot disease as well as plant growth inducer.

Trichoderma sp. is extensively applied as a beneficial fungus for the management of plant diseases, plant growth promotion, induced resistance, and plays an important role in global sustainable agriculture. This study aimed to enhance the production of microbial xylanase in high titer from the endophytic fungus Trichoderma harzianum kj831197.1, and the cloning of xylanase genes in E. coli DH5α using a pUC19 vector. A combination of glucose, 0.1 mM, Tween 80 with lactose, and 2 mM galactose combined with malt extract boostedthe enzyme production. Xylanase production was maximized at a pH of 5.0, temp. of 30 °C, and agitation of 150 rpm in the presence of malt extract and bagasse as the best nitrogen source and waste, respectively, using submerged fermentation. The molecular weight of highly purified xylanase was 32 KDa, identified using SDS-PAGE. The xylanase gene of T. harzianum kj831197.1 was screened in fungal DNA using definite primers specified in the gene bank database. The identified region was excised using restriction enzymes HindIII and EcoRI and cloned into a pUC19 plasmid vector. Optimization of fermentation conditions improved xylanase production about 23.9-fold.The antifungal efficacy of xylanase toward different phytopathogenic fungi was determined. The highest inhibition was against Corynespora cassiicola, Alternaria sp., Fusarium oxysporum, and Botrytis fabae. This study offered an economical, simple, and efficient method using Trichoderma harzianum kj831197.1 for the production of the xylanase enzyme via the submerged fermentation method.

Background: Potatoes are a crucial vegetable crop in Egypt in terms of production and consumption. However, the potato industry suffers significant annual losses due to brown rot disease. This study aimed to suppress Ralstonia solanacearum (R. solanacearum), the causative agent of brown rot disease in potatoes, using efficient and economical medications such as CuO and MgO metal oxide nanoparticles, both in vitro and in vivo, to reduce the risk of pesticide residues. Results: CuO and MgO metal oxide nanoparticles were synthesized via a simple chemical process. The average particle size, morphology, and structure of the nanoparticles were characterized using UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), zeta potential analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The growth of R. solanacearum was strongly inhibited by CuO and MgO NPs at a concentration of 3 mg/mL, resulting in zones of inhibition (ZOI) of 19.3 mm and 17 mm, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of CuO-NPs and MgO-NPs were 0.5, 0.6, and 0.6, 0.75 mg/mL, respectively. When applied in vivo through seed dressing and tuber soaking at their respective MIC concentrations, CuO-NPs and MgO-NPs significantly reduced the incidence of brown rot disease to 71.2% and 69.4%, respectively, compared to 43.0% and 39.5% in bulk CuSO₄ and bulk MgSO₄ treatments, respectively. Furthermore, CuO-NPs and MgO-NPs significantly increased the yield, total chlorophyll content, and enzyme efficiency of potato plants compared with the infected control plants. TEM revealed that the bacterial cytomembrane was severely damaged by nanomechanical forces after interaction with CuO-NPs and MgO-NPs, as evidenced by lipid peroxidation and ultrastructural investigations. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that CuO-NPs and MgO-NPs can be used as intelligent agents to manage plant pathogens in agriculture. The use of metal oxide nanoparticles could provide a risk-free alternative for treating plant diseases, which are currently one of the biggest challenges faced by the potato industry in Egypt. The significant increase in yield, photosynthetic pigments, enzymatic activity, and total phenol-promoted resistance to R. solanacearum in potato plants treated with CuO-NPs and MgO-NPs compared to infected control plants highlights the potential benefits for the potato industry in Egypt. Further investigations are needed to explore using metal oxide nanoparticles for treating other plant diseases.

Several phytopathogens attack eggplant, causing crop damage. One of the most destructive plant diseases, Root-Knot Nematode (RKN), causes significant damage to eggplant seedlings. Finding safe and effective biological alternatives to prevent eggplant root nematode disease, which significantly limits plant productivity, is the innovative aspect of this study. Six isolates of plant growth-promoting fungus (PGPF) were tested in the current work for improving biochemical defense and physio-biochemical performance in eggplant seedlings under the Meloidogyne incognita challenge. PGPF isolates were tested in vitro for some biochemical traits such as Siderophores and HCN production. Besides, the antagonistic efficacy of PGPF filtrates against M. incognita was tested in vitro. The best isolates capable of producing HCN were F5 and F3 respectively. Also, F5 followed by F3 exhibited the maximum mortality proportions of 74.20% and 60.35% mortality in nematode juveniles after 96 hours respectively. Moreover, F5 has the highest level of antioxidant activity, with IC50 145 µg/mL followed by F3 with IC50 350 µg/mL. thus, we identified F5 and F3 completely as Rhizopus microsporus (OQ291571.1 and Aspergillus oryzae OQ291572.1. Implementing R. microsporus and A. oryzae collectively in vivo study was the most successful therapy, limiting nematode recordings as 95.23%, 86.98%, 80.35%, 80%, and 68.78% reduction in females, galls, developmental stage, egg masses, second juveniles, respectively, in diseased seedlings. It could be suggested that the use of ethyl acetate extracts (EAE) of A. oryzae and R. microsporus might be commercially applied as a stimulator of eggplant and or anti-nematodes against M. incognita.

The utilization of fermented foods with health-promoting properties is becoming more popular around the world. Consequently, kefir, a fermented milk beverage made from kefir grains, was shown in numerous studies to be a probiotic product providing significant health benefits. Herein, we assessed the antibacterial and antifungal potential of kefir against a variety of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. This study also showed the effectiveness of kefir in healing wounds in human gastric epithelial cells (GES-1) by (80.78%) compared with control (55.75%) within 48 h. The quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) results of kefir-treated HCV- or HBV- infected cells found that 200 µg/mL of kefir can eliminate 92.36% of HCV and 75.71% of HBV relative to the untreated infected cells, whereas 800 µg/mL (the highest concentration) completely eradicated HCV and HBV. Moreover, the estimated IC₅₀ values of kefir, at which HCV and HBV were eradicated by 50%, were 63.84 ± 5.81 µg/mL and 224.02 ± 14.36 µg/mL, correspondingly. Kefir can significantly suppress the elevation of TNF-α and upregulate IL-10 and INF-γ in both treated HCV- and HBV-infected cells. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of kefir revealed the presence of numerous active metabolites which mainly contribute to the antimicrobial, antiviral, and immunomodulatory activities. This study demonstrated, for the first time, the anti-HBV efficacy of kefir while also illustrating the immunomodulatory impact in the treated HBV-infected cells. Accordingly, kefir represents a potent antiviral agent against both viral hepatitis C and B, as well as having antimicrobial and wound healing potential.

Globally, there is a severe problem of widespread water contamination. Adsorption and photocatalytic degradation are considered the most suitable methods for removing these water pollutants because of their simplicity, environmental friendliness, and capacity to generate high-quality water. By a completely green route, in this recent study, the fungus Aspergillus tubingensis was able to synthesize TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ NPs with an average diameter of 28.0 and 65 nm, respectively. The smallest NPs diameters were produced when the precursor salt concentrations were 10⁻³ M and 10⁻² M for TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃, respectively, at pH 3 and an incubation time of 72 h. The biosynthesized NPs were characterized using DLS, TEM, EDX, and VSM. They were then applied in the preparation of titanium-iron nanocomposites with different ratios (1:1, 1:2, and 2:1 (w/w)) and characterized by FTIR and XRD. In this study, Escherichia coli (E. coli) was photo-catalytically inactivated using a TiO₂–Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite as a photocatalyst in the presence of direct sunlight. This material’s photocatalytic performance was evaluated in comparison to that of TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ NPs. After 60 min of exposure to direct sunlight, the cell death was estimated as 97.97%, 99.32%, 89.06%, 30.96%, and 25.14% in the presence of TF-1, TF-2, TF-3, TiO₂, and Fe₂O₃, respectively. Under direct natural sunlight irradiation for 60 min, TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles alone have the least impact on E. coli, whereas TF-2 nanocomposite has a higher level of photocatalytic bacterial inactivation competency than TF-1 and TF-3 nanocomposites. No significant toxicity has been observed for TF-2-treated water samples in the toxicity assessment.