Nisar Ahmad

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Swat

The genus Artemisia has been utilized worldwide due to its immense potential for protection against various diseases, especially malaria. Artemisia absinthium, previously renowned for its utilization in the popular beverage absinthe, is gaining resurgence due to its extensive pharmacological activities. Like A. annua, this species exhibits strong b...

This study was aimed to evaluate the synergistic effects of polyamines (PAs) and plant growth regulators (PGRs) on in vitro propagation and stevioside production in Stevia rebaudiana (Stevia). A large-scale in vitro propagation protocol was established for leaf explants on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) supplemented with various combinations of PA...

Light is one of the key elicitors that directly fluctuates plant developmental processes and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. In this study, the effects of various spectral lights on biomass accumulation and production of antioxidant secondary metabolites in callus cultures of Prunella vulgaris were investigated. Among different spectral ligh...

Caralluma tuberculata (C. tuberculata) is a very important medicinal plant with a range of anti-diabetic and weight reduction properties. This high-valued medicinal plant is nowadays considered as endangered due to its unsustainable elimination from wild habitats. There is lack of research efforts on its propagation to overcome escalating demand. I...

Prunella vulgaris L. is a very important species with worldwide traditional medicinal uses. Despite of its medicinal importance, there is lack of research efforts on cultivation and phytochemicals production of this plant. In the present study, an effort has been made to optimize various culture conditions for establishment of cell suspension cultu...

Increasing toxic metal pollution in the aquatic ecosystem since the industrial revolution produces serious environmental challenges and has raised critical questions of ecological and human health implications. As a typical aquatic plant, Nasturtium officinale (N. officinale) has drawn significant attention due to its remarkable accumulation of hea...

Background: The worldwide misuse of antibiotics is one of the main factors in microbial resistance that is a serious threat worldwide. Alternative strategies are needed to overcome this issue. Objectives: In this study, a novel strategy was adopted to suppress the growth of resistant pathogens through immobilization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs)...

Stevia ( Stevia rebaudiana ) is well known for production of pharmaceutically important and nontoxic steviol glycosides (SGs) which can be used as alternative sweeteners to regular sugar. The primary focus of this report was to investigate the sweet diterpenes in cell suspension cultures with different growth responses to sucrose. Initially, differ...

Introduction and Background: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by elevated blood glucose levels and is one of the main global health concerns. Synthetic sugar substrate has many side effects such as leukemia, bladder cancer, hepatotoxicity, breast cancer, headache, and brain toxicity. The WHO and FDA has recently banned some of...

The misuse of antibiotics generates resistant bacterial strains that are extremely dangerous and pose a serious threat to global health systems. This global issue needs a rapid and urgent alternative to control the growth of resistant strains. In this study, a novel strategy was adopted to suppress the growth of resistant pathogens. Here, an immobi...

Correction for ‘Biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Rubus fruticosus extract and their antibacterial efficacy against Erwinia caratovora and Ralstonia solanacearum phytopathogens’ by Adnan Khan et al., RSC Adv., 2024, 14, 5754–5763. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3RA06723H.

In the current research, we produced green, cost-effective, eco-friendly silver nanoparticles using a single-step approach. Plants are considered highly desirable systems for nanoparticle synthesis because they possess a variety of secondary metabolites with significant reduction potential. In the current research, the dried leaf extract of Rubus f...

Stress is one of the important factors that directly or indirectly affects the plant architecture, biochemical pathways, and growth and development. Melatonin (MEL) is an important stress hormone; however, the exogenous addition of melatonin to culture media stimulates the defense mechanism and releases higher quantities of secondary metabolites. I...

Indigofera heterantha is a medicinal shrub of the family Fabaceae that naturally produces pharmaceutically important polyphenolics and at the verge of extinction due to ruthless exploitation. The adventitious roots provide bases for the conservation of endangered plants by decreasing pressure on their wild populations and help in the large-scale pr...

Misuse of antibiotics leads to the worldwide spread of antibiotic resistance, which motivates scientists to create new antibiotics. The recurring UTI due to antibiotics-resistant microorganism’s challenges scientists globally. The biogenic nanoparticles have the potential to meet the escalating requirements of novel antimicrobial agents. The green...

Biogenic nanoparticles are considered effective alternatives to chemical pesticides for the management of pathogenic plant diseases. This study was focused on the synthesis of stable silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to control challenging plant pathogenic bacteria in vitro and in planta. We synthesized AgNPs by reacting different proportions of silver...

Peach leaf curl disease (PLCuD) is a devastating fungal disease that poses a significant threat to peach production globally, and its impact is also evident in Pakistan's fruit industry. The disease is caused by phyto-parasitic fungi from the Taphrinaceae family, primarily the genus Taphrina. Chemical fungicides are the most common method for contr...

Moringa oleifera, also called miracle tree, is a pharmaceutically important plant with a multitude of nutritional, medicinal, and therapeutic attributes. In the current study, an in-vitro-based elicitation approach was used to enhance the commercially viable bioactive compounds in an in vitro callus culture of M. oleifera. The callus culture was es...

Stevia rebaudiana is an important medicinal plant that belongs to the Asteraceae family. The leaves of Stevia rebaudiana are a rich source of many health-promoting agents such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and steviol glycoside, which play a key role in controlling obesity and diabetes. New strategies such as the elicitation of culture media are need...

Phosphorous is an essential element for physiological and biochemical activities of living cells. Soil is the main source of plant phosphorous, but soils usually contain low levels of readily available phosphorous. As a consequence, phosphorous fertilizers are added to soils to enhance crop yields, though this is not a sustainable solution because...

Salt‐induced hypertension is one of the major issues worldwide and one of the main factors involved in heart and kidney failure. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential role of Benincasa hispida extracts on high salt‐induced hypertension in Dahl‐salt sensitive (D‐SS) rats and to find out the metabolic and biochemical pattern in...

The Mentha species of family Lamiaceae are famous for their flavor and are commercially used in many food products worldwide. They are widely used to cure digestive problems as well as a natural source of antioxidants and antimicrobials. In this report, the essential oils (EOs) of five Mentha species, namely Mentha citrata, Mentha x piperita, Menth...

Plants unlike animals do not have the privilege to escape the external changes arising from biotic and abiotic factors. In most cases, these stresses can intervene in the growth, reproduction, and productivity of crop plants. Abiotic stresses such as temperature, drought, salinity, and heavy metal exposure can compromise the growth and development...

Background: : Brassica rapa is an annual to biennial herb, cultivated worldwide, and mostly adapted to temperate climates. It is commonly cultivated in many countries as edible vegetable and for the production of vegetable oil for growing population. However, the fluctuation in temperature greatly affect the plant growth and development and the pro...

Abiotic stresses are the biggest threat to the increasing population worldwide. Salt stress is one of the most significant abiotic stresses, affecting 20% of the crop production around the world. Plant-derived smoke (PDS) has been reported as a biologically active plant product in stimulating seed germination, seedling growth and physiological char...

Fagonia indica is a rich source of pharmacologically active compounds. The variation in the metabolites of interest is one of the major issues in wild plants due to different environmental factors. The addition of chemical elicitors is one of the effective strategies to trigger the biosynthetic pathways for the release of a higher quantity of bioac...

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The market demand for steviol glycosides (SGs) is gradually increasing worldwide due to their low-caloric nature. SGs are commonly added as a sweetener to various food items and are particularly useful for obese and diabetic patients. Production of SGs is predominantly obtained from the plant Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana). Propagation of Stevia plants...

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) have been produced by physical and chemical methods. Here, the comparative evaluation of both chemically-synthesised ZnO-NPs (C-ZNPs) and in-vitro cultured S. marianum mediated green-synthesised ZnO-NPs (G-ZNPs) were investigated on seed germination frequency, root and shoot growth, callus induction and biochemica...

Stevia rebaudiana is one of the potent members of family Asteraceae and is famous for the synthesis of Steviol glycosides. Recently it is one of the economically important plants with high market demand. Seed infertility and stem cuttings are the major issues in obtaining homogeneous population, therefore, the best alternative is plant cell, tissue...

Background: Prunella vulgaris is medicinally important plant containing high-valued chemical metabolites like Prunellin which belong to family Lamiaceae and it is also known as self-heal. In this research, calli culture exposed to differential ratios of gold (Au) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (1:2, 1:3, 2:1 and 3:1) along with naphthalene acetic ac...

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) is an indoleamine neurotransmitter deriving from tryptophan and is present in almost every single living being on earth such as humans, animals and plants, and regulates numerous physiological functions. It is considered as a vital signalling molecule in plants and animals. 5-HT modulates both growth and develo...

Background Environmental factors like, temperature, humidity, light intensity, the supply of water, minerals, and CO2 influence the growth of a plant and biomass accumulation and production of secondary metabolites. Plant cell culture technologies have been effective tools for both studying and producing plant secondary metabolites under in vitro c...

In current study, the effect of gibberellic acid was tested for production of biomass, polyphenolics and Steviol glycosides in adventitious root cultures of Stevia rebaudiana. Adventitious cultures were induced from the roots of in vitro grown plantlets on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing combination of gibberellic acid (GA 3 ; 0.5, 1.0,...

Nanotechnology is the apprehension, handling, and reengineering of matter in the language of nanometer (less than 100 nm) to manufacture materials with novel characteristics and superior functioning. The concept of nanotechnology incorporates two basic approaches, top-down approach which refers to the process in which structures with larger sizes a...

Prunella vulgaris L. is one of the therapeutic herbs containing various polyphenolics, which is used for multiple medicinal purposes. In this study, plant growth regulators (PGRs)-induced calli cultures from seed-derived leaf explants were exploited for the production of stress enzymes and polyphenolics. A growth curve was plotted for each PGR for...

Elicited artificial in vitro cultures are gaining more interest due to their uniform biosynthesis of industrially valuable secondary metabolites. In this study, a unique methodology was applied, in which different ratios of gold (Au) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) were supplemented to submerge cultures to investigate sustainable production of...

Elicited artificial in vitro cultures are gaining more interest due to their uniform biosynthesis of industrially valuable secondary metabolites. In this study, a unique methodology was applied, in which different ratios of gold (Au) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) were supplemented to submerge cultures to investigate sustainable production of...

A two-step de-novo approach was developed for the prediction of Piperine targets and another prediction of similar (Piperine) compounds from small molecules library using deep learning method. Deep learning and neural network approaches were used for target predictions, similarity search and validation. The approach was trained on records containin...

Ajuga bracteosa (A. bracteosa) is one of the critically endangered and high-valued medicinal plants worldwide. Light is one of the major factor or stimulus involved in the morphogenic responses and bioactive compounds production in various medicinal plants. In this study, unique properties of colored lights have been observed on induction of somati...

The objective of the current study was to monitor the variations caused by the application of exogenous melatonin on growth kinetics and production of stress enzymes in Prunella vulgaris. Leaf and petiole explants were used for callogenesis. These explants were inoculated on Murashige and Skoog media containing various concentrations of melatonin a...

Stevia rebaudiana (S. rebaudiana) is the most important therapeutic plant species and has been accepted as such worldwide. It has a tendency to accumulate steviol glycosides, which are 300 times sweeter than marketable sugar. Recently, diabetic patients commonly use this plant as a sugar substitute for sweet taste. In the present study, the effects...

The major objective of the current study was to investigate the potential effects of differential pH levels on culture development and production of steviol glycosides and other polyphenolics content in submerge root cultures of Stevia rebaudiana. In vitro grown cultures require an optimum pH level for rapid growth and uniform production of seconda...

Light acting as elicitor or stress inducer, it plays a pivotal role in all developmental processes of plant providing necessary building blocks for growth and primary and secondary metabolites production. The main objective of the current study was to investigate the individual effect of colored lights on developmental processes and production of p...

Nanotechnology is one of the advance technologies that almost found implications in every field of science. The importance is due to the unique properties of nanoparticles. In this study, bimetallic alloys of copper (Cu) and gold (Au) were tested in submerge root cultures of Stevia rebaudiana for production of biomass and secondary metabolites. A k...

Natural products are gaining tremendous importance in pharmaceutical industry and attention has been focused on the applications of in vitro technologies to enhance yield and productivity of such products. In this study, we investigated the accumulation of biomass and antioxidant secondary metabolites in response to different carbohydrate sources (...

Prunella vulgaris L. (P. vulgaris) is an important medicinal plant with a wide range of antiviral properties. Traditionally, it is known as self-heal because of its faster effects on wound healing. It is commonly known as a natural antiseptic due to the presence of various polyphenols. There is lack of research efforts on its propagation and produc...

Plant growth regulators (PGRs), polyamines (PAs) and temperature regimes are the key factors that influence morphogenesis and plant architectural development; however, the understanding that how these factors control plant growth and development is still poor and needs further research in Prunella vulgaris. In this study, we monitored the effect of...

Soil samples from petroleum-contaminated soil were collected from 25 different petroleum filling stations and automobile workshops in the district of Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Pakistan. A total of seven bacterial genera were isolated. All of the isolates were Gram-positive bacteria. The genera identified by the culture and cell morphological chara...

Soil samples from petroleum-contaminated soil were collected from 25 different petroleum filling stations and automobile workshops in the district of Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Pakistan. A total of seven bacterial genera were isolated. All of the isolates were Gram-positive bacteria. The genera identified by the culture and cell morphological chara...

Stevia rebaudiana (S. rebaudiana) is a very important species with worldwide medicinal and commercial uses. Light is one of the major elicitors that fluctuate morphogenic potential and biochemical responses. In the present study, we investigated the effect of various spectral lights on biomass accumulation and secondary metabolite production in cal...

Plants produce secondary metabolites, which are used in their growth and defense against pathogenic agents. These plant based metabolites can be used as natural antibiotics against pathogenic bacteria. Synthetic antibiotics caused different side effects and become resistant to bacteria. Therefore the main objective of the present study was to inves...

Background: Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is an important anti-diabetic medicinal herb containing noncaloric sweet compounds. In this study, the effect of gamma irradiation on growth kinetics and accumulation of various bioactive compounds were investigated during callogenesis. Results: Callus was developed from leaf pieces inoculated on Murashige and...

In this study, the effect of differentpropagation techniques(in vitroandin vivo) and gamma irradiation has beeninvestigated on Steviosides (Stev) and Rebaudioside (Reb) A contentinStevia rebaudianaBertoni.Stev and Reb-A arethe major active compoundsofStevia rebaudianathat is non-genotoxic and frequently used in manyfood items as sugaralternative du...

Adventitious root cultures of Prunella vulgaris L. were established in shaking flask system for the production of biomass and secondary metabolites. Adventitious root cultures were induced from callus cultures obtained from leaf explants on solid Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing combination of 6-benzyladenine (BA; 1.0 mg l(-1)) and naphth...

Dengue virus in the family Flaviviridae is the causative agent of dengue fever, which is a major growing health problem. Dengue virus has four serotypes. Sometime due to infection or re-infection from different serotypes, dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever enters into sever dengue shock syndrome. Two species of mosquitoes namely Aedes aegyp...

Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.) is an emerging sugar alternative and anti-diabetic plant in Pakistan. That is why people did not know the exact time of propagation. The main objective of the present study was to establish feasible propagation methods for healthy biomass production. In present study, seed germination, stem cuttings and micropropagation wa...

In this study, a novel approach for in vitro regeneration of Piper nigrum L. has been applied in order to increase healthy biomass, phytochemicals and piperine production via reverse photoperiod (16hD/8hL). Leaf portions of the seed-derived plants were placed on an MS-medium fortified with different PGRs. Under 16hD/8hL, thidiazuron (TDZ; 4.0mg L(-...

Aim of study: The main objective of this study is to introduce a reliable system for in vitro seed germination. Because Cedrus deodara stands are gradually decreasing in different regions of the world due to overexploitation, natural disasters and lower seed viability. Area of study: Swat is situated at the northwestern corner of Pakistan; with tot...

In the present study, the effect of different in vitro cultures (callus, in vitro shoots) and commercially available peppercorn extract was investigated for its activity against toxic metabolite-producing strains (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albic...

An efficient method of regeneration for antidiabetic plant (Stevia rebaudiana) has been established for healthy biomass and main steviol glycosides (SGs) production, using different PGRs and agar concentrations. Higher callus induction (93.3%) was recorded when leaf explants were placed on an MS medium supplemented with 3.5gL(-1) agar and 2.0mgL(-1...

High-valued medicinal plants Achillea millefolium, Acorus calamus, Arnebia nobilis, Fumaria indica, Gymnema sylvestre, Origanum vulgare, Paeonia emodi, Peganum harmala, Psoralea corylifolia, Rauwolfia serpentina, and Vetiveria zizanioides were identified with the help of taxonomical markers and investigated for characterization and palynological st...

Medicinal plants are small natural factories that produced valuable secondary metabolites which can be used for the treatment of various ailments. The present study was carried out to investigate the Ethnobotanical uses of medici-nal plants by the locals of Madyan valley, District Swat. During the studies 100 plants of the area were found to be diu...

A reliable in vitro regeneration system for the economical and medicinally important Piper nigrum L. has been established. Callus and shoot regeneration was encouraged from leaf portions on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium augmented with varied concentrations of plant growth regulators. A higher callus production (90 %) was observed in explants incu...

Piper nigrum L. is considered the king of spices throughout the world due to its pungent principle piperine. Peppercorn of Piper nigrum as a whole or its active components are used in most of the food items. Different parts of Piper nigrum including secondary metabolites are also used as drug, preservative, insecticidal and larvicidal control agent...

Edible mushrooms (EMs) are nutritionally rich source of proteins and essential amino acids. In the present study, the antioxidant activity via 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and antimicrobial potential in EMs (Pleurotus ostreatus, Morchella esculenta, P. ostreatus (Black), P. ostreatus (Yellow) and Pleurotus sajor-caju) were investigated. The...

Toxicity of heavy metal is a wide spread environmental problem affecting all life forms including plants. In the present study the toxic effects of heavy metals, cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) and lead (Pb) on seed germination rate (%), germination index (G-index) and growth (mm) of Brassica rapa var. turnip have been investigated. The seeds were soak...

Multi-drug resistant strains of fungi and bacteria are imposing the need for new drugs. Reliable natural sources with minor side effects are needed to control anti-human pathogenic invaders specially bacteria. Given the demands for natural products that are inherently safe and environmentally compatible, the advancement in antimicrobial potential h...

Silybum marianum L. is medicinally important for its active principle component silymarin. Silymarin regenerates damaged hepatic tissues. On the basis of such regenerative properties, the radical scavenging activity (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)) of different tissues and the phenotypic difference of the hepatoprotective species, S. marianum...

The active parts of 11 medicinal plants were analyzed for physico-chemical evaluation, phytochemical determinationand antioxidant activity. The physico-chemical evaluation revealed that highest water soluble extractive was from Origanumvulgare (38%), highest chloroform extractive was from Psoralea corylifolia (21%); highest ethanolic extractive was...

Feasible regeneration protocols and the antioxidant activity of regenerated tissues of an economically important plant, Sinapis alba, were evaluated and compared with seed-derived plantlets. Shoot regeneration was achieved from four-weekold seed-derived leaf explants, cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium incorporated with several plant growt...

Callogenesis and organogenesis of ovary of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) cv. Blood red was carried on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of N 6 benzyl adenine (BA), 1-napthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 2,4-D. 1 mg/l BA + 0.5 mg/l NAA on MS medium was the most effective in callus induction and p...

A feasible plant regeneration protocol was established for economically important plant, black pepper. Callogenesis was induced from petiole explants of potted plants incubated on murashige and skoog (MS) - medium supplemented with different concentrations of several phytohormones (PGRs). The best callus induction (85%) was observed for MS-medium s...

The main objective of the current study is to investigate the potential of Carica papaya leaves extracts against Dengue fever in 45 year old patient bitten by carrier mosquitoes. For the treatment of Dengue fever the extract was prepared in water. 25 mL of aqueous extract of C. papaya leaves was administered to patient infected with Dengue fever tw...

DPPH-scavenging antioxidant potential of in vitro regenerated tissues of Stevia rebaudiana, Citrus sinensis and Saccharum officinarum was carried out to evaluate and explore new potential sources for natural antioxidants. These species are used in everyday life and produced valuable secondary metabolites that scavenge toxic free radicals. Toxic fre...

Mentha species are used in every day life in various food items. These species produce valuable secondary metabolites that scavenge toxic free radicals. Toxic free radicals can cause different diseases in the human body. In the present study free radical scavenging potential (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity) in nine Mentha species...

The callogenic and shoot organogenic potential of the medicinaly important plant, S. rebaudiana were investigated. Callus induction and shoot regeneration were induced from flower explants of greenhouse plants incubated on Murashige and Skoog (MS)-medium supplemented with different plant growth regulators (PGRs). The best callogenic response was ob...

Plants produce a diverse range of bioactive molecules, making them rich source of different types of medicines. In the present study the, In vitro antibacterial activity of 3 medicinal plants viz., Parthenium hysterophorus, Stevia rebaudiana and Ginkgo biloba were evaluated by using different solvent extracts. The extracts were tested against Es...

To investigate in vitro larvicidal and antioxidant enzymes potential of the medicinal plants Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba), Stevia rebaudiana (S. rebaudiana) and Parthenium hysterophorous (P. hysterophorous) against Anopheles stephensi (An. stephensi) 4th instars larvae. For evaluation of larvicidal potential, the ethanolic, methanolic and dichlorometh...