Saussurea costus had a wide range of antimicrobial activities which used as alternative for synthetic preservatives that threaten human health. This study aimed to identify the bioactive compounds in S. costus extract (SCE) and to evaluate its antimicrobial activity against some pathogenic microorganisms. HPLC and GC-MS were used to quantify the bioactive compounds in SCE. The results indicated that ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts had the highest levels of polyphenols followed by n-butanol, and then n-hexane extracts. The main phenolic compounds are Naringenin, Chlorogenic acid, Ferulic acid, Ellagic acid, Gallic acid and coffeic acid followed by taxifolin, catechin, syringic acid, methyl gallate, vanillin, kaempferol, cinnamic acid and rutin. GC-MS results showed 14 compounds in S. costus extract. The antibacterial activity of S. costus ethanol extract increased by increasing the concentration of extract from 10 µl to 50 µl for each wells .The inhibition zones were 13 mm and 23mm for S. typhi and Staphylococccus aureus, respectively. Gram (+ve) bacteria found to be more sensitive to SCE than Gram (-ve) bacteria. Similarly; the antifungal activity was increased by increasing the concentration of SCE the inhibition zones were 15.5 mm and 22.5 mm for P. verecossum and A. ochraceous, respectively. A. ochraceous appeared to be more sensitive towards all concentration of the extract. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of SCE for both bacteria and fungi strains ranged from 0.08 -0.3 mg/ml and 0.25 -1.17 mg/ml, respectively. The results revealed that the SCE can play an important role against the human multi-drug resistant pathogens and can alternate the antibiotics as well as chemical preservatives to control infection and food spoilage contaminants.

Investigating the in vitro fumonisin biosynthesis and the genetic structure of Fusarium verticillioides populations can provide important insights into the relationships between strains originating from various world regions. In this study, 90 F. verticillioides strains isolated from maize in five Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Egypt and Iran) were analyzed to investigate their ability to in vitro biosynthesize fumonisin B 1 , fumonisin B 2 and fumonisin B 3 and to characterize their genetic profile. In general, 80% of the analyzed strains were able to biosynthesize fumonisins (range 0.03-69.84 µg/g). Populations from Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Iran showed a similar percentage of fumonisin producing strains (>90%); conversely, the Egyptian population showed a lower level of producing strains (46%). Significant differences in fumonisin biosynthesis were detected among strains isolated in the same country and among strains isolated from different countries. A portion of the divergent FUM1 gene and of intergenic regions FUM6-FUM7 and FUM7-FUM8 were sequenced to evaluate strain diversity among populations. A high level of genetic uniformity inside the populations analyzed was detected. Apparently, neither geographical origin nor fumonisin production ability were correlated to the genetic diversity of the strain set. However, four strains from Egypt differed from the remaining strains. 2 of 17 semitropical and tropical regions including European [4], Mediterranean [8], African [9] and Middle Eastern [10] maize-growing areas. For example, F. verticillioides was the species isolated more frequently from maize kernels harvested in Italy [11-13], Spain [14-16], Egypt [17-21] and Iran [22]. This is also one of the species able to biosynthesize the secondary metabolites fumonisins [23]. Specifically, F. verticillioides is considered the main fumonisin producer; therefore, this is the most important species associated with fumonisin contamination of maize grains [24]. Fumonisins occur worldwide in maize, including Mediterranean [4,8,24,25] farming areas, where this is one of the most widely cultivated crops [26,27]. Fumonisin accumulation in maize grains can occur in the field, following preharvest infections, and possibly continue during grain storage [28].Contaminations strongly impair maize grain quality because of the negative impact on animal and human health [29]. Fumonisin mycotoxins can be divided into four main groups, with the most abundant fumonisins found in nature included in the B group: fumonisin B 1 (FB 1 ), fumonisin B 2 (FB 2 ) and fumonisin B 3 (FB 3 ). Among B analogues, FB 1 is the most detected fumonisin in maize as well as the most toxicologically active [24,30]. In fact, after ingestion, fumonisins may cause a wide range of toxic effects, especially towards liver and kidneys [31][32][33][34][35]. For this reason, the European Commission has established maximum limits for the sum of FB 1 and FB 2 in maize for human consumption [36,37].The amount of fumonisins found in maize kernels is a...