Metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) are regarded as critical tools for overcoming ongoing and prospective crop productivity challenges. MONPs with distinct physiochemical characteristics boost crop production and resistance to abiotic stresses such as drought. They have recently been used to improve plant growth, physiology, and yield of a variety of crops grown in drought-stressed settings. Additionally, they mitigate drought-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) through the aggregation of osmolytes, which results in enhanced osmotic adaptation and crop water balance. These roles of MONPs are based on their physicochemical and biological features, foliar application method, and the applied MONPs concentrations. In this review, we focused on three important metal oxide nanoparticles that are widely used in agriculture: titanium dioxide (TiO₂), zinc oxide (ZnO), and iron oxide (Fe₃O₄). The impacts of various MONPs forms, features, and dosages on plant growth and development under drought stress are summarized and discussed. Overall, this review will contribute to our present understanding of MONPs’ effects on plants in alleviating drought stress in crop plants.

Aspergillus niger MH078571.1 and A. niger MH079049.1 were identified previously as the two highest Aspergillus niger strains producing lipase. Biochemical characterizations of lipase activity and stability for these two strains were examined and revealed that the optimal temperature is 45 °C at pH 8for A. niger MH078571.1 and 55 °C for MH079049.1. The lipase production of both strains was studied on medium contains waste oil, as a cheap source to reduce the industrial cost, showed that the optimal incubation period for the enzyme production is 3 days. Moreover, an experiment on lipase activates in organic solvents demonstrated that 50% of acetone is the best solvent for the two strains. In the presence of surfactants, 0.1% of tween 80 surfactant showed the best lipase activities. Furthermore, Mg²⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions enhanced the lipase activity of A. niger MH078571.1, while Na²⁺ and Cu²⁺ enhanced the enzyme activity of A. niger MH079049.1. Lipase activity was also tested for industrial applications such as integrating it with different detergents. Maximum lipase activity was obtained with 1% of Omo as a powder detergent for both strains. In liquid detergent, 0.1% of Fairy showed maximum lipase activity in A. niger MH078571.1, while the lipase in A. niger MH079049.1 was more effective in 1% of Lux. Moreover, the degradation of natural animal fat with crude enzyme was tested using chicken and sheep fats. The results showed that more than 90% of fats degraded after 5 days of the incubation period.

In this study, thirty-seven alkaline protease-producing bacteria were recovered from different regions of Saudi Arabia. The proteolytic strain with the highest productivity was identified as Bacillus sp. Mar64. Maximum productivity of Mar64P alkaline protease was reached at 60 h, pH 9.0, and 45 °C using 1% tyrosine and 0.5% maltose as nitrogen and carbon supplies, respectively. Specific activity was intensified to 8.5-fold with a recovery of 12.4% and SDS—PAGE revealed one band at 28 kDa after enzyme purification. Mar64P was maximally active at 55 °C and pH 11.0 with thermal stability up to 70 °C and pH stability at 7.0–12.0 for 1 h. It was inhibited by EDTA and unaffected by PMSF, therefore tentatively classified as metalloprotease-type. Storage efficacy was effective for up to eight weeks and it was durable in presence of organic solvents (20%, v/v) such as acetonitrile, acetone, and isopropanol upto to 15 days. The enzyme was compatible with dry detergents at both low and high temperature, in addition, was successful in removing various stains such as blood, egg yolk, chocolate, tea, coffee, and sweat. Furthermore, it was successful in removing skin hairs and hydrolyzing gelatin of waste X-ray films. Collectively, due to these unique properties, Mar64P could be considered an environmentally friendly candidate in both detergent and leather industries.

Endophytic fungi serve as a reservoir for important secondary metabolites. The current study focused on the antibacterial properties of endophytic fungi isolated from Artemisia sieberi. Initially, six endophytic fungi were isolated and purified from the stem of A. sieberi. Endophytic fungi were identified by morphological characteristics, as well as by molecular identification using 18S rRNA gene sequencing method. All the six isolates were subjected to the preliminary screening for their antibacterial activity against nine important pathogenic bacteria using the disk-diffusion method. Crude extracts of the most active isolate were obtained using ethyl acetate. Antibacterial activity of the ethyl acetate extract was evaluated using well diffusion method on the selected isolate. The antibacterial efficiency of the selected isolate was evaluated by determining the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC). MIC values were in appreciable quantity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria ranging from 3.125 to 6.25µg/mL and 12.5 to 50µg/mL, respectively. This result indicated that Gram-positive bacteria were more susceptible to the endophytic fungi extract. Moreover, the molecular identification results revealed that all the isolates belong to Ascomycota and represented Aspergillus and Penicillium genera and three species: A. oryzae (three isolates), A. niger (one isolate), and P. chrysogenum (two isolates). All six endophytic fungi were able to inhibit the growth of at least two of the tested bacteria. Among the isolated strains, isolate AS2, which identified as P. chrysogenum, exhibited the highest antibacterial activity against all nine tested bacteria and was higher than or equal to the positive control against most of the tested bacteria. Future studies are required to isolate and identify these bioactive substances, which can be considered as a potential source for the synthesis of new antibacterial drugs to treat infectious diseases.

Chitosan-aluminum oxide nanocomposite was synthesized, characterized, and used as a green heterogeneous catalyst to synthesize novel imidazopyrazolylthione derivatives. Nanocomposite polymeric material was characterized by EDS-SEM and XRD. The powerful catalytic activity, and its base character of the nanocomposite, was used to synthesize imidazopyrazolylthione (1) in a good yield compared to traditional cyclocondensation synthesis. Using the nanocomposite catalyst, substitution of the thiol group (1) afforded the corresponding thiourea (2) and the corresponding ester (3). The efficiency of the nanocomposite over the traditional base organic catalyst, Et₃N and NaOH, makes it an effective, economic, and reproducible nontoxic catalyst. Moreover, the heterogeneous nanocomposite polymeric film was easily isolated from the reaction medium, and recycled up to four times, without a significant loss of its catalytic activity. The newly synthesized derivatives were screened as antibacterial agents and showed high potency. Molecular docking was also performed for a more in-depth investigation. The results of the docking studies have demonstrated that the docked compounds have strong interaction energies with both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

Due to the indiscriminate use of antimicrobial drugs in the treatment of infectious diseases, human pathogenic bacteria have developed resistance to many commercially available antibiotics. Medicinal plants such as Convolvulus arvensis represent a renewable resource for the development of alternative therapeutic agents. This study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) biosynthesized from C. arvensis against two clinical antibiotic-resistant bacterial isolates. The pathogenic isolates were identified as Staphylococcus aureus MRSA and Escherichia coli ESBL using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized via a green synthesis approach, and their physicochemical properties were characterized using UV–Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, zeta potential, and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The synthesized C. arvensis–AgNPs exhibited a surface plasmon resonance peak at 475 nm and predominantly spherical morphology with particle sizes ranging from 102.34 to 210.82 nm. FTIR analysis indicated the presence of O–H, C–O, C–N, C–H, and amide functional groups. The nanoparticles showed a zeta potential of −18.9 mV and an average hydrodynamic diameter of 63 nm. The antibacterial activity of the biosynthesized AgNPs was evaluated against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA and ATCC 29213) and E. coli (ESBL and ATCC 25922) using agar diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) assays. Inhibition zones ranged from 10 to 13 mm, with MIC and MBC values of 12.5–25 µg/mL and 25–50 µg/mL, respectively. In addition, the nanoparticles exhibited antioxidant activity (DPPH assay, IC₅₀ = 0.71 mg/mL) and anti-inflammatory effects as determined by protein denaturation inhibition. No cytotoxic effects were observed in the MCF-7 cell line at the MIC level. These findings suggest that C. arvensis–AgNPs have potential as natural antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory agents.