The dominant compounds in Satureja horvatii oil were p-cymene (33.14%), thymol (26.11%) and thymol methyl ether (15.08%). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) varied from 0.03 to 0.57mg/mL for ...bacteria, and from 0.56 to 2.23mg/mL for yeast strains, while minimum bactericidal/yeast-cidal concentration (MBC/MYC) varied from 0.07 to 1.15mg/mL and 1.11 to 5.57mg/mL for bacteria and yeasts, respectively. The antiradical potential of the essential oil was evaluated using hydroxyl radical (•OH) generated in Fenton reaction. The meat preserving potential of essential oil from Satureja horvatii was investigated against L. monocytogenes. Essential oil successfully inhibited development of L. monocytogenes in pork meat. Sensorial evaluation on flavor and color of meat was performed. The color and flavor of meat treated with essential oil improved after 4days of storage. S. horvatii essential oil can act as a potent inhibitor of food spoiling microorganisms, in meat products and also can be a useful source of natural antioxidants.
•S. horvatii was a rich source of p-cymene, thymol and thymol methyl ether.•Essential oil possessed dose dependent antimicrobial activity.•Antiradical properties were recorded.•Pork meat was preserved by essential oil, by inhibiting development of L. monocytogenes.
The antimicrobial activity of methanol extracts of three thalloid liverworts, Marchantia polymorpha, Conocephalum conicum and Pellia endiviifolia and bis-bibenzyl marchantin A, the most dominant ...compound in the methanol extract of M. polymorpha, have been investigated in this research. 1H-NMR spectroscopy revealed that the M. polymorpha and P. endiviifolia extracts of liverwort contain terpenes, oils, sugars and bis-bibenzyls, while these specific macrocyclic compounds were absent in the C. conicum extract. The antimicrobial potential was tested on eight bacterial strains. Antimicrobial effects of extracts and marchantin A were observed against Gram-positive bacteria, while they showed no effect against Gram-negative bacteria in both methods used ? well diffusion and broth microdilution.
The present paper gives new records of the following taxa in SE Europe and
adjacent regions, together with significant data pertaining to them: the
pathogenic fungus Arthrocladiella mougeotii; the ...liverwort Riccia frostii;
the mosses Campylopus fragilis, C. introflexus and Tomentypnum nitens; the
fern Allosorus persicus; the monocots Allium atropurpureum and Sisyrinchium
montanum; and the dicots Calluna vulgaris and Santolina chamaecyparissus.
nema
Bryophytes play important role in forest ecosystem functioning and their distribution and diversity are driven by numerous environmental factors. The aim of the present study was to bring new ...insights in deeper understanding of terrestrial bryophytes diversity in temperate forests, as well as to determine the environmental factors which have predominant influence on ground-floor bryophytes. The survey was conducted in Fruška Gora Mountain (Serbia) across seven forest sites where ground-bryophytes were sampled. Soil moisture, temperature, and pH were measured as soil characteristics, while herbaceous cover, litter cover, stream distance, number of trees and shrubs were used as characteristics of stand structure. Species richness, Shannon diversity index, and evenness index were used as diversity measures. Generalised linear model and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) were used to test the influence of environmental variables on bryophyte diversity. Litter cover was the most important explanatory variable, followed by soil moisture, stream distance and tree number, respectively. Overall, the stand structure was found to have a greater impact on ground-floor bryophyte diversity compared to soil characteristics. Identification of the most significant ecological factors affecting the diversity and distribution of bryophytes in forest ecosystems is of great importance in forest ecology with the aim of defining adequate management methods to preserve the biodiversity of forests, with particular emphasis on endangered and rare bryophyte species.
This study investigates the micromorphology and morphometrics of aggregate fruit (ripe hypanthium and achene) of eight wild Rosa species collected throughout Serbia. Field research was conducted to ...find roses at different habitats, collecting 1,836 aggregate fruits with 25,999 achenes from 137 shrubs. Multicellular glandular trichomes are found on the hypanthium surface, while long and short stalk capitate glandular trichomes were observed on the fruits of R. gallica, R. pendulina, R. tomentosa and R. villosa. Numerous unicellular non-glandular trichomes were found inside the urceolate hypanthium and on the surface of most studied achenes, except for R. spinosissima species. Micromorphological analysis revealed three types of exocarp ornamentation: scalariform (R. dumetorum, R. tomentosa and R. micrantha), reticulate (R. gallica, R. arvensis, R. spinosissima and R. villosa) and reticulate-smooth (R. pendulina). Morphometric analysis indicated significant differences among the 14 morphological characters. Achene length was the most significant morphometric feature for identifying Rosa species (P˂0.05). The results contribute to our poor knowledge of rose fruit morphology and provide some well-defined microcharacters that could be used as additional features for species delimitation.
Based on previous investigations where bis-bibenzyls isolated from liverworts showed various biological activities (cytotoxic, antimicrobial, and antiviral), we investigated their cytotoxic activity ...in several human cancer cell lines. From the methylene-chloride/methanol extract of the liverwort Pellia endiviifolia, three bis-bibenzyls of the perrottetin type were isolated, namely perrottetin E, 10′-hydroxyperrottetin E, and 10,10′-dihydroxyperrottetin E. The last two were found for the first time in this species. Their structures were resolved using 1D and 2D NMR, as well as by comparison with data in the literature. Cytotoxic activity of the isolated compounds was tested on three human leukemia cell lines, HL-60 (acute promyelocytic leukemia cells), U-937 (acute monocytic leukemia cells), and K-562 (human chronic myelogenous leukemia cells), as well as on human embryonal teratocarcinoma cell line (NT2/D1) and human glioblastoma cell lines A-172 and U-251, and compared to the previously isolated bis-bibenzyls (perrottetins) of similar structure. The isolated compounds exhibited modest activity against leukemia cells and significant activity against NT2/D1 and A-172. Overall, the most active cytotoxic compounds in this investigation were perrottetin E (1), isolated in this work from Pellia endiviifolia, and perrottetin F phenanthrene derivative (7), previously isolated from Lunularia cruciata and added for a comparison of their cytotoxic activity.
Liverworts are characterized by a high content of bioactive compounds reported to show antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant properties. In this study, the biological effects of the methanol ...extract of the liverwort Pellia endiviifolia and its constituents, bis-bibenzyls perrottetin E, 10′-hydroxyperrottetin E, and 10,10′-dihydroxyperrottetin E, were investigated using human peripheral blood cells as a model system. The assessment of the investigated compounds comprised testing their genotoxicity, apoptotic potential, and redox modulating activities. The genotoxicity testing indicated that medium (25 µM) and high concentrations (100 µM) of the investigated compounds displayed genotoxic and antiproliferative effects in human lymphocytes as revealed by significant, concentration-dependent enhancement of the micronuclei incidence and decrease in the cytokinesis-block proliferation index compared to the control (P < .001). Analysis of leukocyte apoptosis showed a substantial potential of all investigated compounds to induce apoptosis, which was not concentration-dependent. The P endiviifolia extract and perrottetin E demonstrated considerable pro-apoptotic potential, even at the lowest concentration (1 µM) applied. Evaluation of the redox modulating effects, which comprised measuring erythrocyte catalase activity and the lymphocyte malondialdehyde level, showed that the investigated compounds did not induce oxidative stress in human peripheral blood cells (P > .05). The observed genotoxic, antiproliferative, and proapoptotic effects of the investigated compounds make them suitable for further comprehensive studies related to their possible applications as anticancer agents.
The biogeography of bryophytes present in Serbia is analysed for the first
time in this paper. Bryophyte spectra in different regions and units within
the country are compared with each other, as ...well as with the Southeast
European spectrum. The obtained results show similarities and differences in
comparison with Southeast European bryophyte spectra, reveal certain
biogeographical peculiarities of Serbia?s bryophytes and indicate regions of
the country with an under-recorded bryoflora. The biogeographical
characteristics of bryophytes also suggest a strong overlap with local
climate types. These results should be taken into consideration when
preparing a national strategy for conservation and management of bryophyte
diversity.
nema
This is the first report on the composition and variability of the needle‐wax n‐alkanes in natural populations of Pinus nigra in Serbia. Samples of 195 trees from seven populations belonging to ...several infraspecific taxa (ssp. nigra, var. gocensis, ssp. pallasiana, and var. banatica) were analyzed. In general, the size of the n‐alkanes ranged from C16 to C33, with the exception of ssp. nigra, for which it ranged from C18 to C33. The most abundant were C23‐, C25‐, C27‐, and C29‐alkanes. The needle waxes of Populations I–III and V were characterized by a higher content of C23‐, C25‐, and C27‐alkanes and a lower content of C24‐, C26‐, C28‐, and C30‐alkanes, compared to the other populations, and the trees of these populations could be assigned to ssp. nigra. The samples of Population VI were characterized by higher amounts of C22‐, C24‐, C30‐, and C32‐alkanes and lower amounts of C25‐ and C27‐alkanes, and the trees could be considered as ssp. pallasiana. The samples of Population VII, consisting of trees belonging to var. banatica, were richer in C29‐, C31‐, and C33‐alkanes. The wax compositions of Populations IV and V, both composed of trees previously determined as P. nigra var. gocensis, showed a tendency of splitting. Indeed, the alkane composition of Population IV was closer to that of ssp. pallasiana pines, while that of Population V was more similar to that of ssp. nigra pines. From the results presented here, it is obvious that in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula, significant diversification and differentiation of the populations of black pine exists, and these populations could be defined as different intraspecific taxa. Our results also indicate the validity of n‐alkanes as chemotaxonomic characters within this aggregate.
The volatile constituents of the essential oils of 23 taxa belonging to the Apioideae subfamily were studied in detail. The investigated taxa were Pimpinella serbica (Vis.) Bentham & Hooker, ...Libanotis montana Cr., Cnidium silaifolium (Jacq.) Simk. ssp. orientale (Boiss.) Tutin, Bupleurum praealtum L., B. sibthorpianum S. S. var. diversifolium (Roch.) Hay, Aegopodium podagraria L., Torilis anthriscus (L.) Gmel., Orlaya grandiflora (L.) Hoffm., Laserpitium siler L., Laser trilobum (L.) Brokh., Chaerophyllum aureum L., C. hirsutum L., C. temulum L., Pastinaca sativa L., P. hirsuta Pancic., Tordylium maximum L., Physospermum cornubiense (L.) DC., Peucedanum alsaticum L., P. oreoselinum (L.) Moench, P. cervaria (L.) Cuss., P. austriacum (Jacq.) Koch, P. longifolium W. et K., and P. officinale L. All of these species grow wild in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. The essential oils were found to be complex mixtures of various compounds, more than 100 constituents being in each taxon, with contributions of main products never exceeding 25% of the total content. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were found to be the main group of constituents of all taxa, except for Peucedanum species, where monoterpene hydrocarbons were identified as the main components. The chemotaxonomic value of the essential‐oil composition is discussed according to results of principal‐component analysis (PCA). The essential‐oil composition mainly reflects current taxonomic relationships between the investigated taxa.