Cnidium officinale Makino, a perennial crop in the Umbeliperae family, is one of Korea’s representative forest medicinal plants. However, the growing area of C. officinale has been reduced by plant disease and soil sickness caused by fusarium wilt. This study isolated rhizosphere bacteria from C. officinale, and their antagonistic activity was evaluated against Fusarium solani. Particularly, four isolated strains, namely, PT1, ST7, ST8, and SP4, showed a significant antagonistic activity against F. solani. An in planta test showed that the mortality rates of shoots were significantly low in the PT1-inoculated group. The fresh and dry weights of the inoculated plants were also higher than that of the other groups. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified the strain PT1 as Leclercia adecarboxylata, and downstream studies confirmed the production of antagonism-related enzymes such as siderophore and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase. The phosphorous solubilizing ability and secretion of related enzymes were also analyzed. The results showed that PT1 strain could be utilized as promising plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and biocontrol agents (BCAs).

This study aimed to investigate the ethnomedicinal plant knowledge among people living in The Uvira Territory. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews with and field observation in seven villages. The ethnomedicinal data was analyzed using the informant consensus factor (ICF), family importance value (FIV), and Jaccard index (JI). Sixty-nine medicinal plants belonging to 61 genera and 34 families were used to treat eight disease categories. Fabaceae was not only the dominant family but also a family with the high FIV. Decoction and pound were the most common methods of preparation, while leaves were the most used part. We compared this study with 24 other ethnomedicinal studies conducted in RD Congo and neighboring countries, and the results showed that the Jaccard index ranged from 0.57 to 10.94. The highest degree of similarity (10.94) was found with another study conducted in Congo, while the lowest degree of similarity (0.57) was found with a study conducted in Rwanda. The disease category for which there was the highest number of use (66) and plant species (39) was “diseases of the digestive system disorders and intestinal parasites” (ICF 0.42). The investigation of the plants used as drugs in the study area revealed that the population daily relies on medicinal plants to treat different diseases.

Trichloroethylene (TCE), a chlorinated organic solvent, is one of the most common and widespread groundwater contaminants worldwide. Among the group of TCE-degrading aerobic bacteria, Burkholderia cepacia G4 is the best-known representative. This strain requires the addition of specific substrates, including toluene, phenol, and benzene, to induce the enzymes to degrade TCE. However, the substrates are toxic and introducing them into the soil can result in secondary contamination. In this study, poplar leaf homogenate containing natural phenolic compounds was tested for the ability to induce the growth of and TCE degradation by B. cepacia G4. The results showed that the G4 strain could grow and degrade TCE well with the addition of phytochemicals. The poplar leaf homogenate also functioned as an inducer of the toluene-ortho-monooxygenase (TOM) gene in B. cepacia G4.

En République démocratique du Congo (RDC), le paludisme est transmis par un parasite appelé Plasmodium falciparum. Le paludisme représente un problème majeur de santé publique dans ce pays en provoquant la mort de dizaines de milliers de personnes chaque année, en milieu urbain et rural. Des médicaments antipaludiques sont couramment utilisés mais des cas avérés de résistance à ces médicaments représentent un obstacle important à la lutte contre le paludisme. Il est donc impératif d'identifier de nouvelles molécules bioactives pouvant s'y substituer. De nombreuses plantes médicinales ayant des propriétés diverses s'utilisent en RDC pour traiter différentes maladies, dont le paludisme. Le présent article propose une revue systématique des ressources végétales antipaludiques en RDC. Sur la base de 28 articles sur l'ethnomédecine publiés entre 2001 et 2019, 232 espèces végétales appartenant à 67 familles de végétaux et identifiées dans 13 provinces ont été répertoriées pour le traitement du paludisme. De nombreuses espèces appartiennent aux familles des Fabacées, Astéracées, Euphorbiacées, Rubiacées et Apocyanacées. Les espèces dont l'utilisation est citée pour plus de trois provinces comprennent Cymbopogon citratus, Vernonia amygdalina, Rauvolfia vomitoria et Catharanthus roseus. La plupart des espèces identifiées comme plantes antipaludiques sont des essences ligneuses, principalement des phanérophytes. D'autre part, les principaux ingrédients identifiés pour la préparation des remèdes sont les feuilles, utilisées en décoction le plus souvent administrée par voie orale.