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During the past decade, natural plant products as environmentally safe option have received attention for controlling phytopathogenic diseases. Investigation of plants containing natural antimicrobial metabolites for plant protection has been recognized as a desirable method of disease control. The fungus Fusarium oxysporum causes diseases such as root rot, damping off and Fusarium wilt and it infects many plant species and crops. Methanolic crude extracts of 30 plant species belonging to 17 families collected from the west of Iran were screened for antifungal activity against F. oxysporum during 2012. Bioassay of the extracts was conducted by agar dilution method with five replications. The inhibitory effect of the extracts was examined at concentration of 2000 ppm. Twenty out of 30 tested plant species (67%) showed inhibitory activity against mycelial growth of F. oxysporum. The most effective extracts with more than 50% inhibition belonged to Haplophyllum perforatum and Calendula officinalis. High number of plants with antifungal activity in this experiment showed that the flora in the west of Iran could be regarded as a rich source of plants with antifungal activity. Therefore, further screening of other plant species, identifying active fractions or metabolites and in vivo application of active extracts are in progress.  

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Nanotechnology is a principally attractive area of research related with production of nanoparticles of variable sizes, shapes, chemical compositions and their possible application for human being benefits. Creation, manipulation and utilization of metallic nanoparticles, because of reduction of materials dimensions, affect the physical properties and results in displaying extraordinary thermal, optical and electronic properties of nonmaterial. The biological approaches to synthesis of nanoparticles are better than chemical and physical procedures because of low energy and time expenditure.
In this study the possibility of production of nano-silver particles from dried flower buds of Clove was investigated and antibacterial and anti-fungal activities of produced nanoparticles were studied by diffusion disc and well methods. The displayed UV-visible spectra, with a wavelength of 300 to 600 nm, identifies formation of silver nanoparticles, whenever the colorless initial acclimated mixture turned to brown. The centrifuged powder samples were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) methods. Based on the results of this study, produced silver nanoparticles were spherical in the range of 27 to 69 nm and showed effective antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Therefore clove can be used as a biological source for the synthesis of nanoparticles in an industrial scale with a very low cost.

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Antioxidant properties of plant extracts are apparently related to the content of their phenolic compounds. In this study, phenolic compounds from two acorns varieties namely Q.branti var persica (Q.b) and Q.castaneifolia var castaneifolia (Q.c) were extracted with methanol (80%). After evaporation with rotary evaporator, extracts were dried with freeze drier. The concentrations of phenolic compounds in the extracts were determined according to the Folin-Ciocalteu method, and results were expressed as tannic acid equivalents per gram of dried extract (TAE/g d.e). Castaneifolia variety had the highest phenolic content with 217.65 (TAE/g d.e). Antioxidant activity of methanolic extracts were studied in sunflower oil and compared with synthetic antioxidants, by measuring their peroxide and thiobarbituric acid values during accelerated storage. Methanolic extracts of acorns at three different concentrations (250,500 and 1000 ppm) and synthetic antioxidant at two concentrations were added to sunflower oil. Both extracts retarded the oxidation of sunflower oil at 70°c more efficiently than BHA and BHT. The peroxide and thiobarbitoric acid values of control samles were raised to 328.88 (meq peroxide/ kg oil) and 0.58 (mg malon aldehyde/kg oil) after tewelve days storage while this values were 176.36 and 0.332 for oil sample contain 1000 ppm methanilic extract of Q.c  and 183.2 and for Q.b were 0.374, respectively.

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DNA methylation detection by a novel fluorimetric nanobiosensor for early cancer diagnosis Quantum­ dots as a fluorescent probe are applied for cell biology, DNA transformation, biomedical imaging and cancer therapy. Biological based synthesis of nanoparticles would be more efficient and environment friendly rather than chemical approaches. In the present study, quantum dots have been synthesized through leaf methanolic extracts. The obtained results by UV-vis spectroscopy, TEM, FT-IR and fluorescence spectroscopy showed the presence of synthesized CdS quantum dots. Yellow and orange colors of obtained solution was also indicated the successful synthesis of CdS quantum dots. The maximum UV-Vis spectrum absorption of quantum dots was observed at 410 nm. Results of fluorescence analysis also showed that emission bands were at 475, 490 and 675 respectively which indicated the synthesis of different CdS quantum dots in different pH values. Obtained nanoparticle were spherical and at the range between 2-10 nm according to TEM analysis. FT-IR analysis also showed that the proteins, leucine and lysine amino acids, phenols and other functional groups present in physalis extracts would be determining factors for reducing CdS ions and converting them to quantum dots.  

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In recent years, special attention has been devoted to plant-derived drugs. Herbal medicines contain versatile compounds with a vast range of therapeutic effects. In this study, methanolic extract of Rumex alveollatus L. was obtained thorough the maceration method, and its total phenol content, total flavonoid content, antioxidant activity (DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging methods) and antimicrobial property (disk diffusion agar, well diffusion agar, and minimum inhibitory/bactericidal concentration) against Enterobacter aerogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, and Streptococcus pyogenes were evaluated. The methanolic extract of Rumex alveollatus contained 91.90 mg gallic acid/g total phenols and 48.60 mg quercetin/g total flavonoids. Antioxidant activity results showed that the extract was able to scavenge DPPH (69.58%) and ABTS (80.59%) free radicals. The growth of microorganisms was inhibited in the presence of high concentrations of the extract, and E. aerogenes and S. aureus were the most resistant and sensitive bacterial species to the methanolic extract of Rumex alveollatus. Therefore, Rumex alveollatus methanolic extract could be introduced as an effective compound in controlling bacterial infections and oxidation of lipid-based compounds.       

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