Ursolic acid, an important bioactive compound, was isolated from ethanol extract of aerial parts of Sambucus australis. In order to develop bioactive ursolic acid derivatives, two semi-synthetic compounds were obtained through modification at C-3. The antibacterial activity of the ursolic acid and its derivatives was investigated. The microdilution method was used for determination of the minim...

Biodiversity in the seas is only partly explored, although marine organisms are excellent sources for many industrial products. Through close co-operation between industrial and academic partners, it is possible to successfully collect, isolate and classify marine organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, micro- and macroalgae, cyanobacteria, and marine invertebrates from the oceans and seas globally...

The diversity of some of the culturable microorganisms associated with marine flora and fauna collected off Vizhinjam and Mulloor coast of South India was evaluated and their bioactive production potential determined. From a total of 24 bacteria, 4 actinomycetes and 8 fungi isolated from diverse marine sources, five bacterial species-BLM3, BSP2, BCS1, BCS4 and BMA6 showed inhibitory activity ag...

In South Africa, the antimicrobial activity of various indigenous plants has been studied extensively. Most of the work however, has focused on their activity against planktonic bacteria with less attention given to biofilms. Many organisms, including the opportunistic pathogen Listeria monocytogenes which is associated with severe infections in humans, occurs more frequently as biofilms. The a...

Marine Streptomyces are prolific producers of majority of bioactive secondary metabolites which are used in pharmaceutical industry as effective drugs against life threatening diseases. The cytotoxic activity of the pure compound 1, 2- benzene dicarboxylic acid, mono 2- ethylhexyl ester (DMEHE) from marine derived actinomycete Streptomyces sp. VITSJK8 was investigated against mouse embryonic fi...

A wide range of food-derived bioactive peptides have been shown to exert health-promoting actions and are therefore considered functional foods or nutraceuticals. Some of these actions are related to the maintenance, reinforcement or repairment of the intestinal barrier function (IBF) whose role is to selectively allow the absorption of water, nutrients and ions while preventing the influx of m...

We identified a novel population of melanocyte-like cells (also known as cardiac melanocytes) in the hearts of mice and humans that contribute to atrial arrhythmia triggers in mice. To investigate the electrical and biological properties of cardiac melanocytes we developed a procedure to isolate them from mouse hearts that we derived from those designed to isolate neonatal murine cardiomyocytes...

The resource-based view is a theory of firm performance. Its principal argument is that a firm=s distinctive competencies are the bases for sustainable competitive advantage. These distinctive competencies are explicitly knowledge based resources. How do managers protect these rent generating assets--the skill sets and organizational routines of high value workers--from dissipation? Theory sugg...

The isolation and partial purification of toxic substances derived from Pfiesteria piscicida Steidinger & Burkholder extracts is described. Four distinct bioassay systems were used to monitor bioactivity of the P. piscicida extracts, including a high throughput cell cytotoxicity assay and a reporter gene assay as well as assays using brine shrimp and fish. Using these bioassays to guide fractio...

Objective: To isolate, evaluate and characterize the potential bioactive compound producing actinomycetes from soil sample of different location of Gwalior. Method: A total of 11 strains of actinomycetes were isolated from soil collected from different location of Gwalior. The isolates were characterized by using morphological and biochemical methods. 11 isolates were identified and subjected t...