Mohamed S. Abdel-Aziz

Comparative Correlation Between Chemical Composition and Cytotoxic Potential of the Coral-Associated Fungus Aspergillus sp. 2C1-EGY Against Human Colon Cancer Cells

Cancer is a leading cause of death in several countries. In the search for new anticancer drugs, marine organisms have played an important role in the discovery of lead compounds and the development of new pharmaceuticals for their wide diversity of chemical structures and biological activities. In the present study, the cytotoxicity on colorectal cancer cells HCT116 exerted by marine fungus Aspergillus sp. 2C1-EGY extracts associated with the soft coral Sinularia sp. was investigated; the sub-fractions Fr 2c and Fr 2d had significantly high cytotoxic activity (88 and 85%, respectively). Moreover, the major hexadecanoic, octadecanoic, and octadecenoic acids as well as their methyl esters were isolated. GC/MS analysis revealed the identification of 46 major and minor compounds, from which 19 saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and eight fatty acid esters were identified.

Novel Egyptian bacterial strains exhibiting antimicrobial and antiaflatoxigenic activity

The aim of this study was is to isolate and characterize new Egyptian marine bacterial strains and to evaluate the antimicrobial, antioxidant and total phenolic content of their bioactive secondary metabolites. Eight bacterial strains were isolated from marine sediment samples collected from different areas in Red sea governorate, Egypt. Antifungal activity was recorded as zone inhibition of growth between the fungus and the organism tested and two bacterial isolates were selected (designated 21 and 30). These isolates significantly reduced fungal growth and AFB1 production especially the isolate 30. These promising isolates were selected and identified using molecular identification technique and identified as Brevundimonas and Bacillus. The crude extracts from the two bacteria were extracted and the biological activity of these crude extracts was studied. The crude extracts exhibited potent antimicrobial activities against a set of microbial pathogens as well as antioxidant activity and total phenolic content.