Ahmad El-Oqlah

Antimicrobial activity of extracts of herbal plants used in the traditional medicine of Jordan

Petroleum ether, ethanol, butanol, and aqueous crude extracts of the whole aerial parts of nine plants exhibited variable degrees of antimicrobial activity against four bacterial and three fungal species. Methanol and hexane extracts did not show any activity. Compared with standard antibiotics, extracts had low to moderate activity. The activity spectrum is wide against gram-positive and negative bacteria as well as fungi tested. However, the butanol extracts at 4 mg/disc of Ononis spinosa (OS), Bryonia syriaca (BS) had high moderate antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium moniliforme and Candida albicans relative to miconazole nitrate at 40 microg/disc. Furthermore, higher antibacterial activity was observed though low to moderate compared with streptomycin and very comparable with chloramphenicol. Cyclaman persicum (CP) petroleum ether extracts only exhibited pronounced antibacterial activity.

Antimicrobial Activity of Extracts of Herbal Plants used in the Traditional Medicine of Bahrain

Petroleum ether, methanol, hexane, butanol and aqueous crude extracts of the whole aerial parts of Suaeda vermiculata, Prosopis farcta, Capparis spinosa and Salsola villosa exhibited variable degrees of antimicrobial activity. Extracts had low to moderate actvity against four bacterial and two fungal species compared with that exerted by antibiotics. The petroleum ether extract of S. vermiculata and the butanol extract of S. villosa had high antifungal activity against Candida albicans and Fusarium oxysporum comparable to the antifungal miconazole nitrate.

Evaluation of in Vitro Salt Tolerance in Cucumis Prophetarum L., a Crop Wild Relative = تقييم تحمل نبات Cucumis Prophetarum L. المزروع في أنابيب الاختبار للملوحة

Salinity is the major abiotic factor that limits plant growth and productivity. In this study, we present an in vitro propagation protocol for Cucumis prophetarum L. a crop wild relative to cucumber and compare the effect of salinity on C. sativus and C. prophetarum. Results showed that Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1 mg L-1 Kin and 0.5 mg L-1 NAA was the optimal medium for shoot proliferation and root induction, respectively. Interestingly, C. prophetarum plants showed better growth responses than C. sativus under salinity stress. Furthermore, increased salinity level decreased lipid peroxidation content and increased proline content in C. prophetarum, but C. sativus showed opposite responses. In addition, C. sativus microshoots accumulate more Na than C. prophetarum. In conclusion, this study showed that C. prophetarum is more salt tolerant than C. sativus, this could be used in further work to improve salt tolerance traits in cucumber.

Volatile Components Analysis, Total Phenolic, Flavonoid Contents, and Antioxidant Activity of Phlomis Species Collected from Jordan

Abstract In this study, the composition of the essential oil, flavonoid and phenolic contents, and the antioxidant activities of three Phlomis species from Jordan (P. viscosa Poiret., P. platystegia Post. and P. brachyodon Boiss.) were examined. The essential oil from fresh and air dried aerial parts of these Phlomis species was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS. Germacrene B, E-caryophyllene and γ-muuroleneas were the major constituents of the oil from P. viscosa, while viridiflorol, β-eudesmol, Linalool and γ-cadieneneas dominated in P. platystegia, and γ-muurolene, α-humulene, γ-himachalene and Linalool were the chief components of the oil from P. brachyodon. Comparatively, the different oils extracted from the air-dried parts of the three Phlomis species showed less content in monoterpene and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and higher amounts of oxygenated monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes than the oils from the same fresh areal parts. The total phenol and flavonoid contents from crude fractions obtained from these three species were determined by using Folin-Ciocalteu and AlCl3 assays. And four biochemical assays, namely 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (|DPPH), 2,22 -azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS), hydrogen peroxide scavenging (hydroxyl) and ferrous ion chelating (FIC) were used to evaluate antioxidant activities. The butanol fractions from the different species showed the highest content of both total phenol and flavonoid, when compared to aqueous and methanol extracts. Similarly, the butanol fraction showed the highest antioxidant capacity among the other extracts, as revealed by DPPH free radical scavenging activity, ABTS free radical scavenging assay, Hydroxyl radical assay and ferrous ion chelating assays.

Integrating morphological characters, molecular markers, and distribution patterns to assess the identity of Blepharis species from Jordan

BackgroundBlepharis constitutes an important part of the vegetation of the Jordanian arid and semi-arid regions, yet whether one or more species of this genus occurs in the Jordanian area is uncertain. We addressed this question by assessing morphological characters and testing Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers from three populations of Blepharis: two northern (lower slopes of Kufranjah valley and the Dead Sea region) and one southern (Wadi al Yutm).ResultsShoots from randomly chosen Blepharis plants were harvested from each of the three populations for morphological and molecular analyses. In the northern populations, spikes were lax and bract width was significantly shorter than length of the longest lateral spine compared to the southern population. A multivariate linear discriminant analysis distinguished the northern populations from the southern one by internode length, bract width, longest lateral spine length, and bract width to spine length ratio. The ISSR analysis revealed that 44 markers across eight primers were polymorphic with major allele frequency of 83.6% and an average of 5.5 polymorphic markers per primer. The genetic resemblance among individuals ranged from 0.27 to 0.96. The three Blepharis populations were accordingly clustered into two distinct groups, similar to the analysis of morphological differences and corresponding with the “northern” and “southern” population designations.ConclusionsOur results strongly indicate the occurrence of two discrete Blepharis species in Jordan and reject the hypothesis that the genus is represented by only one species. We propose that the Blepharis species in Jordan are B. attenutata Napper (represented by the northern populations) and B. ciliaris (L.) B. L. Burtt (represented by the southern population). These findings are important for informing and revising floristic work within the region and an updated key has been included in our findings.

In vitro propagation, genetic stability, and secondary metabolite analysis of wild lavender (Lavandula coronopifolia Poir.)

Lavenders (Lavandula species) are important aromatic ornamental medicinal plants with wide ranging applications in perfume and pharmaceutical industries. We developed an in vitro propagation protocol for Lavandula coronopifolia. Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.5 mg·L-1N6 -benzyladenine was the best medium for the proliferation of microshoots, while the highest rooting frequency was obtained using MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg·L-1 indole-3-butyric acid. Inter-simple sequence repeat analysis revealed that the in vitro-propagated microshoots were highly genetically stable, even after subculture. The highest callus fresh weight (667.9 mg) was obtained by propagating on medium supplemented with a combination of 1.0 mg·L-1 naphthaleneacetic acid and 0.5 mg·L-1 butyric acid. Using the Folin-Ciocalteu method, methanolic extracts of wild L. coronopifolia revealed total phenolic content of 4.9 mg expressed in gallic acid equivalents (GAE) (mg GAE·g-1 dry matter). Radical scavenging activity was estimated at 85% using the free radical 2,2-diphyenyl-picrylhydrazyl assay. Using the brine shrimp assay for cytotoxicity, the methanolic extract was found to be nontoxic. Finally, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry with standard reference compounds was used to quantify the key phenolic compounds in both in vitro and in vivo-grown L. coronopifolia. Six major phenolic compounds were identified: caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, rutin, quercetin, luteolin, and hesperidin. Levels of these phenolic compounds were highest in wild plant extracts.