Aim: The design, synthesis, docking studies and evaluation of the in vitro antifungal and cytotoxic properties of eugenol (EUG) containing 1,2,3-triazole derivatives are reported. Most of the derivatives have not been reported.Materials & methods: The EUG derivatives were synthesized, molecular docked and tested for their antifungal activity.Results: The compounds showed potent antifungal activity against Trichophyton rubrum, associated with dermatophytosis. Compounds 2a and 2i exhibited promising results, with 2a being four-times more potent than EUG. The binding mode prediction was similar to itraconazole in the lanosterol-14-α-demethylase wild-type and G73E mutant binding sites. Additionally, the pharmacokinetic profile prediction suggests good gastrointestinal absorption and potential oral administration.Conclusion: Compound 2a is a promising antifungal agent against dermatophytosis caused by T. rubrum.
[Box: see text].

Growing concerns over the human health and environmental impacts of conventional fungicides, coupled with the escalating challenge of microbial resistance, have fueled the search for sustainable biocontrol strategies against plant pathogens. This study reports, for the first time, the green synthesis and characterization of a novel, eco-friendly nanomaterial, designated Pleurotus eryngii-Lecithin-Chitosan Nanomaterial (PEELCN), derived from P. eryngii extract (PEE), lecithin (L), and chitosan (C). The structural attributes of PEELCN were elucidated using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and zeta potential measurements, confirming the successful formation of a stable and uniform nanostructure. The antifungal activity of PEELCN, and PEE, was assessed against five economically important phytopathogenic fungi: Neoscytalidium dimidiatum, Alternaria alternata, Verticillium dahliae, Bipolaris sorokiniana, and Fusarium oxysporum. Both PEE and PEELCN exhibited significant inhibitory effects on the mycelial growth of V. dahliae, B. sorokiniana, and N. dimidiatum, with varying degrees of efficacy. The differential antifungal activity suggests a species-specific mode of action. The findings highlight the promising potential of PEELCN as a sustainable, biocompatible, and cost-effective nanofungicide for the management of plant diseases, with the potential for development into a commercially viable biofungicide for sustainable agriculture.

To address the urgent need for new antifungal agents, a collection of novel pyrazole carboxamide derivatives incorporating a benzimidazole group were innovatively designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their efficacy against fungal pathogens. The bioassay results revealed that the EC50 values for the compounds A7 (3-(difluoromethyl)-1-methyl-N-(1-propyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide) and B11 (N-(1-(4-chlorobenzyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)-3-(difluoromethyl)-1-methyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide) against B. cinerea were notably low to 0.79 µg/mL and 0.56 µg/mL, respectively, demonstrating the potency comparable to that of the control fungicide boscalid, which has an EC50 value of 0.60 µg/mL. Noteworthy is the fact that in vivo tests demonstrated that A7 and B11 showed superior protective effects on tomatoes and strawberries against B. cinerea infection when juxtaposed with the commercial fungicide carbendazim. The examination through scanning electron microscopy revealed that B11 notably alters the morphology of the fungal mycelium, inducing shrinkage and roughening of the hyphal surfaces. To elucidate the mechanism of action, the study on molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations was conducted, which suggested that B11 effectively interacts with crucial amino acid residues within the active site of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). This investigation contributes a novel perspective for the structural design and diversification of potential SDH inhibitors, offering a promising avenue for the development of antifungal therapeutics.

BACKGROUND: Essential oils have important antibacterial activities and can successfully replace antibiotics, which show their inefficiency, especially against fungi and multi-resistant bacteria.
OBJECTIVE: The main purpose of our research was to investigate the antibacterial and antifungal activity of essential oils from fifteen plants harvested in the Taroudant region.
METHODS: In this work, the essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus. The method of disc diffusion in agar medium (aromatogram) is the one used to evaluate the activity of these essential oils against four pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus sp., and Enterococcus cloacae) and two yeasts (Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans).
RESULTS: Our findings, show that all of the plants\' leaves yielded extremely aromatic essential oils that differed in look and color. Furthermore, the 93.33% of the fifteen essential oils that were evaluated proved to be effective against at least one kind of bacteria or fungus. This suggests that the proportion of essential oils with no antibacterial action was rather low, at around 7%. Our data also showed that the freshness or dryness of the plant at the time of harvest could affect the extraction rate of essential oils. This screening showed us that these essential oils present inhibitory activities towards the studied Gram+ bacteria, as well as a resistance against Gram-, in particular Enterococcus cloacae.
CONCLUSIONS: These essential oils can therefore be used in the prevention and treatment of certain infectious diseases and to fight against bacteria that are multi-resistant to the usual antibiotics.

Pesticides play an important role in the development of agriculture, as they can prevent and control crop diseases and pests, improve crop yield and quality. However, the abuse and improper use of pesticides can lead to negative impacts such as environmental pollution and pest resistance issues. There is an urgent need to develop green, safe, and efficient pesticides. In this work, natural product arecoline was selected as parent structure, a series of arecoline derivatives were designed, synthesized, and systematically investigated antiviral activities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). These compounds were found to have good to excellent anti-TMV activities for the first time. The antiviral activities of 4a, 4 h, 4 l, 4p, 6a, 6c, and 6f are higher than that of ningnanmycin. Compounds 4 h (EC50 value 146 µg/mL) and 4p (EC50 value 161 µg/mL) with simple structures and excellent activities emerged as new antiviral candidates. We chose 4 h to further investigate the antiviral mechanism, which revealed that it can cause virus fragmentation by acting on the viral coat protein (CP). We further validated this result through molecular docking. These compounds also displayed broad-spectrum fungicidal activities against 8 plant pathogenic fungi. This work lays the theoretical foundation for the application of arecoline derivatives in the agricultural field.

Citrus black spot (CBS) is a fungal disease caused by Phyllosticta citricarpa Kiely, (McAlpine Van der Aa), with most cultivars being susceptible to infection. Currently, disease control is based on the application of protective fungicides, which is restricted due to resistance, health and environmental concerns. Although using natural products for disease management is gaining momentum, more advances are required. This study obtained the metabolic profiles of the essential oil and cuticular waxes of two citrus cultivars with a varying susceptibility to CBS infection using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A multivariate data analysis identified possible biomarker compounds that contributed to the difference in susceptibility between the two cultivars. Several identified biomarkers were tested in vitro for their antifungal properties against P. citricarpa. Two biomarkers, propanoic acid and linalool, were able to completely inhibit pathogen growth at 750 mg/L and 2000 mg/L, respectively.

In our ongoing work to create potential antifungal agents, we synthesized and tested a group of C1-substituted acylhydrazone β-carboline analogues 9a-o and 10a-o for their effectiveness against Valsa mali, Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum, and Fusarium graminearum. Their compositions were analyzed using different spectral techniques, such as 1H/13C NMR and HRMS, with the structure of 9l being additionally confirmed through X-ray diffraction. The antifungal evaluation showed that, among all the target β-carboline analogues, compounds 9n and 9o exhibited more promising and broad-spectrum antifungal activity than the commercial pesticide hymexazol. Several intriguing findings regarding structure-activity relationships (SARs) were examined. In addition, the cytotoxicity test showed that these acylhydrazone β-carboline analogues with C1 substitutions exhibit a preference for fungi, with minimal harm to healthy cells (LO2). The reported findings provide insights into the development of β-carboline analogues as new potential antifungal agents.

Carbamate is a key structural motif in the development of fungicidal compounds, which is still promising and robust in the discovery of green pesticides. Herein, we report the synthesis and evaluation of the fungicidal activity of 35 carbamate derivatives, among which 19 compounds were synthesized in our previous report. These derivatives were synthesized from aromatic amides in a single step, which was a green oxidation process for Hofmann rearrangement using oxone, KCl and NaOH. Their chemical structures were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Their antifungal activity was tested against seven plant fungal pathogens. Many of the compounds exhibited good antifungal activity in vitro (inhibitory rate > 60% at 50 μg/mL). Compound 1ag exhibited excellent broad-spectrum antifungal activities with inhibition rates close to or higher than 70% at 50 μg/mL. Notably, compound 1af demonstrated the most potent inhibition against F. graminearum, with an EC50 value of 12.50 μg/mL, while compound 1z was the most promising candidate fungicide against F. oxysporum (EC50 = 16.65 μg/mL). The structure-activity relationships are also discussed in this paper. These results suggest that the N-aryl carbamate derivatives secured by our green protocol warrant further investigation as potential lead compounds for novel antifungal agents.

The organic acids produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) during the fermentation of sourdoughs have the ability to reduce the growth of different molds. However, this ability depends on the LAB used. For this reason, in this study, the proportions of different LAB were optimized to obtain aqueous extracts (AEs) from sourdough to reduce fungal growth in vitro, control the acetic acid concentration, and obtain a specific lactic to acetic acid ratio. In addition, the optimized mixtures were used to formulate partially baked bread (PBB) and evaluate the mold growth and bread quality during refrigerated storage. Using a simplex-lattice mixture design, various combinations of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Lacticaseibacillus casei, and Lactobacillus acidophilus were evaluated for their ability to produce organic acids and inhibit mold growth. The mixture containing only Lpb. plantarum significantly reduced the growth rates and extended the lag time of Penicillium chrysogenum and P. corylophilum compared with the control. The AEs\' pH values ranged from 3.50 to 3.04. Organic acid analysis revealed that using Lpb. plantarum yielded higher acetic acid concentrations than when using mixed LAB. This suggests that LAB-specific interactions significantly influence organic acid production during fermentation. The reduced radial growth rates and extended lag times for both molds compared to the control confirmed the antifungal properties of the AEs from the sourdoughs. Statistical analyses of the mixture design using polynomial models demonstrated a good fit for the analyzed responses. Two optimized LAB mixtures were identified that maximized mold lag time, targeted the desired acetic acid concentration, and balanced the lactic to acetic acid ratio. The addition of sourdough with optimized LAB mixtures to PBB resulted in a longer shelf life (21 days) and adequately maintained product quality characteristics during storage. PBB was subjected to complete baking and sensory evaluation. The overall acceptability was slightly higher in the control without sourdough (7.50), followed by bread formulated with the optimized sourdoughs (ranging from 6.78 to 7.10), but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The sensory analysis results indicated that the optimization was used to successfully formulate a sourdough bread with a sensory profile closely resembling that of a nonsupplemented one. The designed LAB mixtures can effectively enhance sourdough bread\'s antifungal properties and quality, providing a promising approach for extending bread shelf life while maintaining desirable sensory attributes.

β-1,3-glucanases can degrade β-1,3-glucoside bonds in β-glucan which is the main cell-wall component of most of fungi, and have the crucial application potential in plant protection and food processing. Herein, a β-1,3-glucanase FlGluA from Flavobacterium sp. NAU1659 composed of 333 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 36.6 kDa was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21, purified and characterized. The deduced amino acid sequence of FlGluA showed the high identity with the β-1,3-glucanase belonging to glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 16. Enzymological characterization indicated FlGluA had the highest activity on zymosan A, with a specific activity of 3.87 U/mg, followed by curdlan (1.16 U/mg) and pachymaran (0.88 U/mg). It exhibited optimal catalytic activity at the pH 5.0 and 40 °C, and was stable when placed at 4 °C for 12 h in the range of pH 3.0-8.0 or at a temperature below 50 °C for 3 h. Its catalytic activity was enhanced by approximately 36 % in the presence of 1 mM Cr3+. The detection of thin-layer chromatography and mass spectrometry showed FlGluA hydrolyzed zymosan A mainly to glucose and disaccharide, and trace amounts of tetrasaccharide and pentasaccharide, however, it had no action on laminaribiose, indicating its endo-β-1,3-glucanase activity. The mycelium growth of F. oxysporum treated by FlGluA was inhibited, with approximately 37 % of inhibition rate, revealing the potential antifungal activity of the enzyme. These results revealed the hydrolytic properties and biocontrol activity of FlGluA, laying a crucial foundation for its potential application in agriculture and industry.