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Large number of strains was isolated from soils of Kaziranga National Park of North-East India using selective isolation procedure. They were assigned to the genus Micromonospora on the basis of their typical colonial and pigmentation features. The taxonomic identities of the isolates were confirmed on the basis of their molecular characters (16SrDNA). A total of one hundred Micromonospora strains were isolated during the present investigation. The diagnostic cell wall sugar and amino acids were determined from these Micromonospora strains. After preliminary screening most of the isolates exhibited excellent anti-infective activity against human bacterial pathogens Staphylococcus aureas, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Echerichia coli, Pseudomonas aeroginosa and fungal pathogens Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum and Candida albicans. Among these isolates one strain designated as HK-10 showed promising activity against human pathogens S. aureas, B. subtilis, P. vulgaris and P. aeroginosa.

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An effort was made to isolate biocatalysts hydrolyzing epoxides from various ecological niches of northeast India, a biodiversity hot spot zone of the world and screened for epoxide hydrolase activity to convert different racemic epoxides to the corresponding 1, 2-vicinal diols. Screening of a total of 450 microorganisms isolated was carried out using NBP colorimetric assay. One of the strains TF1, after internal transcribed spacer sequence analysis, identified as Aspergillus tubingensis, showed promising enantioconvergent epoxide hydrolase activity. The hydrolysis of unsubstituted styrene oxide (1) occurred to give 97 % ee of R-(-)-1-phenylethane-1, 2-diol (6) with more than 99 % conversion within 45 min incubation. It is shown to be a cheap and practical biocatalyst for one step asymmetric synthesis of chiral R-diol. The other representative substrates (2-5), although underwent hydrolysis with more than 99 % conversion beyond 15 h, exhibited poor enantioselectivity.

Abstract:The present work deals with preliminary in-vitro studies to validate the traditional claims of medicinal properties in consuming Curcuma flowers to make the person less susceptible to diseases and the estimation of bioactive compounds responsible for antioxidant activity present. The anti-proliferative activity of aqueous extracts of budding flowers, leaves, full bloomed flowers and mixture of all parts of Curcuma angustifolia was studied using MDCK, Vero and HeLa cell lines. The inhibitory activity in all the three cell lines was found to be dose dependent. The extract of leaves and budding flowers exhibited higher inhibitions in MDCK and Vero cells while the full bloomed flowers extract showed higher inhibitory activities in HeLa cells. The bioactive compounds-total phenolics content ranged from 56.96 to 86.77 mg GEA/100 gm which was highest in full bloomed flowers, total flavonoids and the free radical scavenging activity content ranged from 84.74 to 166.11 mg CE/100 g and 43.91 to 64.02 mg AEAC/100 gm respectively, with maximum content in budding flowers. The result showed potential anti-proliferative and antioxidant properties that substantiate the belief of the indigenous people to include the plant in their dietary habits which could be exploited for use in preparation of herbal drugs and supplements.