Medicinal plants have been playing an essential role in the development of human culture. As a source of medicine, Medicinal plants have always been at forefront virtually all cultures of civilizations. Medicinal plants are regarded as rich resources of traditional medicines and from these plants many of the modern medicines are produced. For thousands of years medicinal plants have been used to treat health disorders, to add flavor and conserve food and to prevent diseases epidemics. The secondary metabolites produced by the plants are usually responsible for the biological characteristics of plant species used throughout the world. The microbial growth in diverse situations is controlled by plant derived products. In this review we gave general overview of the medicinal plants.

A Psychrotolerant alkaline protease producing bacterium IIIM-ST045 was isolated from a soil sample collected from the Thajiwas glacier of Kashmir, India and identified as Stenotrophomonas sp. on the basis of its biochemical properties and 16S ribosomal gene sequencing. The strain could grow well within a temperature range of 4-37°C however, showed optimum growth at 15°C. The strain was found to over-produce proteases when it was grown in media containing lactose as carbon source (157.50 U mg(-1)). The maximum specific enzyme activity (398 U mg(-1)) was obtained using soya oil as nitrogen source, however, the inorganic nitrogen sources urea, ammonium chloride and ammonium sulphate showed the lowest production of 38.9, 62.2 and 57.9 U mg(-1). The enzyme was purified to 18.45 folds and the molecular weight of the partially purified protease was estimated to be ~55 kDa by SDS-PAGE analysis. The protease activity increased as the increase in enzyme concentration while as the optimum enzyme activity was found when casein (1% w/v) was used as substrate. The enzyme was highly active over a wide range of pH from 6.5 to 12.0 showing optimum activity at pH 10.0. The optimum temperature for the enzyme was 15°C. Proteolytic activity reduced gradually with higher temperatures with a decrease of 56% at 40°C. The purified enzyme was checked for the removal of protein containing tea stains using a silk cloth within a temperature range of 10-60°C. The best washing efficiency results obtained at low temperatures indicate that the enzyme may be used for cold washing purposes of delicate fabrics that otherwise are vulnerable to high temperatures.

Natural products represent major approach for the discovery and development of new drugs. An updated review on the natural products is lacking in the literature. So, in the present review, an attempt has made to pool the source of current natural product information for health care professionals, to update the detailed information about natural products, to generate data bank on latest medical and scientific studies on natural products, including medically active foods (nutraceuticals).

Endophytic fungus Fusarium oxysporum is a rich source of cellulases. In the present study, the highest activity was reported at 28˚C, pH 5.6 with 2% Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as carbon source. CMC was purified using Sephadex G and DEAE cellulose chromatography to 15.9 folds and the molecular weight was determined to be 84 kDa by SDS-PAGE analysis and was subsequently characterized. The purified enzyme was stable over the pH range from 4.0 to 8.0 and at temperatures below 50˚C. The enzyme was highly active on CMC and reduced or no activity on Avicel, cellobiose and it was suggested to be CMCase/endoglucanase. The activity of endoglucanase was enhanced in the presence of MgCl 2 , CoCl 2 , FeCl 3 , CaCl 2 , FeCl 2 and intensive to HgCl 2 . The purified enzyme showed its optimum activity at pH 5.0 -6.0 and was quite stable at 50˚C for 30 min and retained 45% of original activity.