RESUMO
Antibacterial activity in 51 extracts from 29 plant species currently used in traditional medicine in Trinidad and the neighbouring Caribbean islands was tested for by the agar dilution streak method using six bacteria: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Salmonella tophimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Enterococcus faecalis. The extracts from eight of the plants tested showed significant activity against one or more micro-organisms and the most susceptible bacterium was Staphylococcus aureus. In the bioassays for toxicity towards the Aedes aegypti mosquito the most effective plant extracts were from Justicia pectoralis, Manihot utilissima and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis.
Assuntos
Aedes/fisiologia , Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Inseticidas/farmacologia , Extratos Vegetais/farmacologia , Plantas Medicinais/química , Animais , Avaliação Pré-Clínica de Medicamentos , Medicina Tradicional , Trinidad e TobagoRESUMO
Antibacterial activity in 51 extracts from 29 plant species currently used in traditional medicine in Trinidad and the neighbouring Caribbean islands was tested for by the agar dilution streak method using six bacteria: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Salmonella tophimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Enterococcus faecalis. The extracts from eight of the plants tested showed significant activity against one or more micro-organisms and the most susceptible bacterium was Staphylococcus aureus. In the bioassays for toxicity towards the Aedes aegypti mosquito the most effective plant extracts were from Justicia pectoralis, Manihot utilissima and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis.(AU)
Assuntos
21003 , Aedes/fisiologia , Anti-Infecciosos/farmacologia , Inseticidas/farmacologia , Extratos Vegetais/farmacologia , Plantas Medicinais/química , Avaliação Pré-Clínica de Medicamentos , Medicina Tradicional , Trinidad e TobagoRESUMO
ABSTRACT Seven crop and eight weed species from 12 agricultural locations in Trinidad and Tobago were assayed for the presence of whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses (WTGs) by using dot blot hybridization and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the N-terminal coat protein sequence with degenerate primers. The amplified fragments were cloned and analyzed by restriction enzyme digestion to determine fragment length polymorphism among the cloned fragments. Representative clones were then sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analysis to determine the sequence similarity to known WTGs. WTGs were found in every location sampled and in 10 of the 15 species investigated: Lycopersicon esculentum(tomato), Capsicum annuum (pepper), Capsicum frutescens (sweet pepper), Abelmoschus esculentus (okra), Phaseolus vulgaris (beans), Alternanthera tenella, Desmodium frutescens, Euphorbia heterophylla, Malva alceifolia, and Sida acuta. The geminiviruses infecting these plants were closely related to potato yellow mosaic virus from Venezuela (PYMV-VE) and tomato leaf curl virus from Panama (ToLCV-PA). However, in pepper, sweet pepper, okra, Alternanthera tenella, Euphorbia heterophylla, Des-modium frutescens, and in one sample of tomato, a PYMV-VE-related virus was found in mixed infections with a virus related to pepper huasteco virus. Full-length infectious DNA-A and DNA-B of a tomato-infecting geminivirus from Trinidad and Tobago were cloned and sequenced. DNA-A appears to be a recombinant derived from PYMV-VE or ToLCV-PA, and Sida golden mosaic from Honduras. The implications of these findings in the control of WTGs are discussed.