Manganese peroxidase (MnP) was produced from white rot edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus on the culture filtrate. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity using (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, DEAE-Sepharose and Sephadex G-100 column chromatography. The final enzyme activity achieved 81 U mL(-1), specific activity 78 U mg(-1) with purification fold of 130 and recovery 1.2% of the crude enzyme. SDS-PAGE indicated that the pure enzyme have a molecular mass of approximately 42 kDa. The optimum pH was between 4-5 and the optimum temperature was 25 °C. The pure MnP activity was enhanced by Mn(2+), Cu(2+), Ca(2+) and K(+) and inhibited by Hg(+2) and Cd(+2). H2O2 at 5 mM enhanced MnP activity while at 10 mM inhibited it significantly. The MnP-cDNA encoding gene was sequenced and determined (GenBank accession no. AB698450.1). The MnP-cDNA was found to consist of 497 bp in an Open Reading Frame (ORF) encoding 165 amino acids. MnP from P. ostreatus could detoxify aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) depending on enzyme concentration and incubation period. The highest detoxification power (90%) was observed after 48 h incubation at 1.5 U mL(-1) enzyme activities.

The antifungal efficiency of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) was investigated against two pathogenic fungal species, F. oxysporum and P. expansum. The two fungi were identified at molecular level by nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) identities. They have been submitted to the GenBank with accession numbers of AB753032 and AB753033 for F. oxysporum and P. expansum, respectively. The antifungal activity of ZnO NPs was found to be concentration dependent. Hence, maximal inhibition of mycelial growth corresponded to the highest experimental concentration (12 mg L−1), where 77 and 100% growth inhibition was observed for F. oxysporum and P. expansum, respectively. The effect of ZnO NPs on the mycotoxins fusaric acid and patulin production by F. oxysporum and P. expansum, respectively, was investigated using HPLC quantification. It was observed that ZnO NPs prevented both mycotoxins synthesis in a concentration dependent manner. Fusaric acid was reduced from 39.0 to 0.20 mg g-1while patulin production was reduced from 14.2 to 1.10 mg g-1 in control and 12 mg L−1ZnO NPs treated samples, respectively. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed obvious deformation in the growing mycelia treated with ZnO NPs in F. oxysporum which may be the cause of growth inhibition. Key words: Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), antifungal efficiency, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium expansum.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) have been effectively integrated to the agricultural procedures as an ecofriendly approach to support the production and quality of plants. However, less attention has been given to the synchronous application of AMF and eCO₂ and how that could affect the global plant metabolism. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of AMF and eCO₂, individually or in combination, on growth, photosynthesis, metabolism and the functional food value of Thymus vulgare. Results revealed that both AMF and eCO₂ treatments improved the photosynthesis and biomass production, however much more positive impact was obtained by their synchronous application. Moreover, the levels of the majority of the detected sugars, organic acids, amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, volatile compounds, phenolic acids and flavonoids were further improved as a result of the synergistic action of AMF and eCO₂, as compared to the individual treatments. Overall, this study clearly shows that co-application of AMF and eCO₂ induces a synergistic biofertilization impact and enhances the functional food value of T. vulgare by affecting its global metabolism.

Due to their low cost, toxicity, and health risks, medicinal plants have come to be seen as useful products and sources of biologically active compounds. Mangifera indica L., a medicinal plant with a long history, has a high bioactive metabolites content. Mangiferin (C₁₉H₁₈O₁₁) is primary isolated from M. indica’s leaves, which has many pharmacological benefits. In this investigation, ultrasonic-assisted extraction with ethanol as the extraction solvent was applied to obtain mangiferin from a local type of M. indica leaves. HPLC was performed after a dichloromethane-ethyl acetate liquid–liquid fractionation method. Further, UV–vis, FTIR, and NMR spectroscopy were utilized to elucidate the structure. Interestingly, purified mangiferin displayed promising antimicrobial efficacy against a diverse variety of fungal and bacterial pathogens with MICs of 1.95–62.5 and 1.95–31.25 µg/mL, respectively. Time–kill patterns also showed that mangiferin had both bactericidal and fungicidal action. Furthermore, it exhibited strong radical dosage-dependent scavenging activity (IC₅₀ = 17.6 μg/mL) compared to vitamin C (Vc, IC₅₀ = 11.9 μg/mL), suggesting it could be developed into a viable antioxidant agent. To our delight, the IC₅₀ values of mangiferin for the MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines were 41.2 and 44.7 μg/mL, respectively, from MTT cell viability testing, and it was less harmful when tested against the noncancerous cell line. Notably, it significantly induced cell apoptosis in MCF-7 cells by 62.2–83.4% using annexin V-FITC/PI labeling. Hence, our findings suggest that mangiferin can be used in the medical industry to create therapeutic interventions and medication delivery systems for society.