Chapters authored
Antimicrobial Potential of Genes from Garlic (Allium sativum L.)
With the advancements in agriculture, farming community less or more started to rely on synthetic chemicals to increase the crop production and protection. But the negative impact of these chemicals on environment and cropping system urges the scientists to discover some new ways to combat with crop disease. By keeping in view, garlic is a well-known economically important vegetable throughout the world and recognized as reservoir for a number of bioactive compounds to treat various diseases; scientists have developed a strategy to identify and isolate antimicrobial genes from garlic. By using B. subtilis expression systems, a total of 48 antimicrobial genes, including AsR 416, were identified with the potential to significantly retard the growth of economically important fungal and bacterial pathogens. Furthermore, these antimicrobial genes exhibited the thermal stability along with nontoxic effects on mammalian blood cells, which indicate its potential use in the development of human medicines. These genes can revolutionize the way to treat with pathogens and also give a new wave of knowledge to explore the other organisms for the search of antimicrobial genes. This will also help to search the other cost-effective ways for the treatment of plant and human diseases.
Part of the book: Medicinal Plants