Ravindra Prasad Aharwal

Allergy and inflammation: an immunological and therapeutic approach.

All organisms are protected by their immune system but occasionally this system overreacts leading to allergic and inflammatory reactions in the body. These reactions are the starting points of various diseases like asthma, eczema and urticaria etc. They involve activation of T cells, release of histamines, toxic chemicals from mast cells and eosinophils respectively. Several chemically and naturally synthesized therapeutic agents are available for the treatment of these immunological diseases. The present review provides a detailed account of mechanism of allergic and inflammatory reactions, its types and various treatment strategies with a special focus on some recent patents in this field.

Endophytic Mycoflora as a Source of Biotherapeutic Compounds for Disease Treatment

Article history: Received on: 27/04/2016 Revised on: 14/06/2016 Accepted on: 29/07/2016 Available online: 29/10/2016 Endophytic mycoflora are ubiquitous organisms residing in the internal tissues of the plants, at least for a portion of their lives without causing apparent symptoms of infection. Endophytes serve as rich sources of novel natural compounds with a wide-spectrum of biologically active agents. This review reveals the significance of endophytic mycoflora from plants as sources of bioactive organic compounds. The bioactive compounds produced by endophytic fungi originate by various biosynthetic pathways like PKS/NRPS. These compounds belong to diverse structural groups such as alkaloids, benzopyranones, chinones, cytochalasines, depsipeptides, enniatines, flavonoids, furandiones, isocumarines, peptides, polyketones, phenols, quinols, terpenoids, tetralones and xanthones were characterized by NMR, mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography etc. Therefore, endophytes, represent a chemical reservoir for array of new compounds which are anti-cancerous, antimicrobial, anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant, anti-parasitical, anti-viral, anti-mycobacterium, anti-insecticidal, antimalarial, anti-biotic, immunosuppressive & immunomodulatory agents, also in addition, other compounds were used in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. This paper mainly focuses on the exploration of novel and useful compounds from endophytic mycoflora, and study of their roles in cure of diseases, the recent scenario of screening approach for novel drugs and their pharmacological interest.

Efficacy of Entomopathogenic Fungi as Green Pesticides: Current and Future Prospects

The growing commercialization all over the world has led to a boost in the widespread use of chemical pesticides for crop protection in agricultural fields. It has not only contributed to an increase in food production, but its toxic and non-biodegradable character has also resulted in adverse effects on environment and nontarget organisms. Moreover, most of the pests have developed resistance against them. These drawbacks of conventional pesticides have led to an increase in the need for the search of some novel, non-harmful, eco-friendly pesticides. Natural pest control materials commonly known as biocontrol agents are the most promising of them. Biocontrol agents include macroorganisms as well as microorganisms. The microorganisms used are bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes and protozoan. The exploitation of these natural and renewable resources is essential for a successful biocontrol strategy. The present review focuses on the use of fungi as potential biocontrol agent for insect pest management. Different fungal formulations and metabolites that have been successfully implemented for pest control and some of the recent patents in this field are also discussed here.

Endophytic Fungi: Eco-Friendly Future Resource for Novel Bioactive Compounds

The current research focuses on the isolation of bioactive compounds from the natural sources which have immense potential for pharmaceutical value. Pharmaceutical biology perceives plants as a unique resource of potentially precious remedial bioactive metabolites. But due to slow growth and harvest of endangerd plants species pose a threat and inbalance in the biodiversity of plants. However, most of the plant species occur on the earth to be a reservoir of vast numbers of endophytic microorganisms like bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi that play an imperative role in the production of novel secondary metabolites for the defense of host and can be utilized for treatment of a number of ailments. Search for isolation and characterization of different plant-associated fungal origin novel bioactive metabolites are given an immense attention to global investigators. The endophytic fungi are an enormous manufacturer of bioactive compounds which can be widely used in the medical, agricultural, and industrial application. Therefore, there is a need to isolate, identify, and characterize these bioactive compounds from the endophytic fungi. Further, research on the biology of endophytes is also required to saturate at the molecular level for a better understanding of host–endophyte interactions and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites thereby. Modern technologies have opened new avenue on endophytic research as natural “warehouse” with very little has been able to tap from this source so far and among the reported natural bioactive metabolites. Thus, there is more research and studies on these groups of endophytic microorganisms are required. The collaboration among chemists and mycologists are needed to comprehend the biology of endophytic fungi and may help to learn the different pathways involved in synthesis of bioactive compounds, and the ecology of the organisms will help to understand the optimization parameters of the organism for the maximum metabolites production, and mycologist will have the chance to increase further imminence into the multifarious diversity of endophytic fungal species. The present review is made on endophytic fungi, biosynthetic pathways responsible for the production of novel bioactive compounds from these microorganisms and their applications.