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Antimicrobial and morphogenic effects of emodin produced by Aspergillus awamori WAIR120

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Abstract

The antimicrobial activity of anthraquinone emodin isolated from Aspergillus awamori WAIR120 (LC032125) culture was investigated against some clinical, phytopathogenic and foodborne pathogenic microorganisms using an agar diffusion method. Among bacterial and fungal strains tested, the highest activity was obtained against Enterococcus faecalis AHR7 as well as Aspergillus niger OC20 with minimal inhibitory emodin concentration of 125 and 85 μg/mL, respectively. Emodin was found to induce morphogenic effects including swelling and elongation of bacterial cell and conidiation decrease, pigmentation loss, and cytoplasmic retraction of fungal cell, as was shown by light microscopy. Additionally, cellular effects were also resulted, in which emodin caused considerable changes in the nature of cell membrane and submicroscopic structure of bacterial and fungal cell, as was shown by transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, there was an evidence of a disruption of lipid metabolism of fungal cell. These findings thus indicate the future possibility of exploiting emodin as an effective inhibitor of clinical, phytopathogenic and foodborne pathogenic microorganisms.

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Abbreviations

HPLC:

high performance liquid chromatography

MIC:

minimal inhibitory concentration

TEM:

transmission electron microscopy

TLC:

thin layer chromatography

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Basma Hamdy Amin, TEM Unit, Regional Center for Mycology and Biotechnology, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, for excellent technical assistance during the processing steps of TEM. The work employed herein was supported in part by the Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Zagazig University, Egypt.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Zagazig University, 44519, Zagazig, Egypt

    Ahmed A. Ismaiel, Gamal H. Rabie & Marwa A. Abd El-Aal

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  1. Ahmed A. Ismaiel
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  2. Gamal H. Rabie
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  3. Marwa A. Abd El-Aal
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Correspondence to Ahmed A. Ismaiel.

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Ismaiel, A.A., Rabie, G.H. & Abd El-Aal, M.A. Antimicrobial and morphogenic effects of emodin produced by Aspergillus awamori WAIR120. Biologia 71, 464–474 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1515/biolog-2016-0067

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