Optimization of physiological conditions for L-asparaginase production by endophytic fungi (Fusarium solani) isolated from Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Hook. F & Thomson

Asparaginase converts L-asparagine to L-aspartic acid and has received considerable attention in the recent years for its anti-carcinogenic potential. In the present investigation, the endophytic fungi isolated from T. cordifolia were screened for the production of extracellular L-asparaginase during their growth on Modified Czapekdox medium (MCD). The physical and nutritional conditions were optimized for maximum production of L-asparaginase by F. solani under submerged fermentation conditions (SmF). The fungi exhibited significant variations in the production of L-asparaginase under the influence of incubation period, temperature, pH, carbon and nitrogen sources. It was observed that maximum enzyme activity was recorded on the 6th day of incubation period at pH 7.0 with an incubation temperature of 30°C at 120 rpm. Sucrose (0.2%) was the best carbon source. Different nitrogen sources at concentrations ranging from 0.1% to 0.5% were assessed. Among them, ammonium nitrate (0.4%) and sodium nitrate (0.4%) showed maximum production of L- asparaginase

Induction of Systemic Resistance by Trichoderma Asperellum against Bacterial Wilt of Tomato Caused by Ralstonia Solanacearum

Trichoderma asperellum was used as a biological control agent against bacterial wilt disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. The present investigation is focused on the role of defense- related enzymes in imparting resistance to tomato against bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. Two isolates of Trichoderma asperellum (T4 and T8) exhibiting high antagonistic activity against a virulent strain of Ralstonia solanacearum (RS) were selected during screening for studies on several biocontrol mechanisms under greenhouse conditions. Seed treatment with T. asperellum isolates significantly improved the quality of seed germination and seedling vigor. Efficacy of T4 and T8 isolates, evaluated under greenhouse conditions exhibited suppression by about 50% in disease incidence of bacterial wilt and promoted growth in tomato plant. The isolates T4 and T8 were further tested for their ability to induce the production of defense-related enzymes in plants. The seed application with T4 and T8 isolates induced a significant increase in the activities of peroxidase (POX), Polyphenol oxidase (PPO), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), and â.1, 3-glucanase in treated tomato plants. Increased activities of phenylalanine ammonia lyase, peroxidase, Polyphenol oxidase, â-1, 3-glucanase were observed in T4 and T8 pre-treated tomato plants challenged with Ralstonia solanacearum. Trichoderma asperellum treatment also triggered the defense related enzymes involved in synthesis of phenols. Higher accumulation of phenolics was noticed in plants pre-treated with T4 and T8 challenged with Ralstonia solanacearum. Native PAGE analysis of both peroxidase (POX) and Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) was carried out for the time course of enzyme activities. The present study shows that in addition to direct antagonism and plant growth promotion; induction and increased activity of defense related enzymes involved in the phenyl propanoid pathway collectively contributed to enhanced resistance against invasion of bacterial wilt in tomato caused by Ralstonia solanacearum

Induction of Systemic Resistance in Tomato against Ralstonia Solanacearum By Pseudomonas Fluorescens

The biological control agent Pseudomonasfluorescens was used against the bacterial wilt causing Ralstoniasolanacearum. The present investigation focuses on the role of defenserelated enzymes in imparting resistance in tomato against R. solanacearum. A total of ten rhizobacterial isolates werescreened against R. solanacearum, ofwhich three isolates (Pf3, Pf5 & Pf8) showed a maximum inhibition againstthe pathogen and were further identified as P.fluorescens by 16S rRNA analysis. Seedling treatment with P. fluorescens isolates significantlyenhanced the quality of seed germination and seedling vigor. The three P. fluorescens strains were furthertested for their ability to induce the production of defense-related enzymes inplants. Involvement of defense related enzymes in bacterial wilt pathogenesiswas studied in susceptible tomato cultivar (Arka Meghali). Root dip inoculationwas performed with bacterial suspensions of R.solanacearum and P. fluorescens (1× 108 cfu/ml) on ten days old seedlings and harvested at differenttime intervals (0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, etc. up to 72 h) and assayed for thedefense related enzyme activity. The seedling treatment of P. fluorescens isolatesinduced a significant increase in the activities of peroxidase (POX), Polyphenoloxidase (PPO), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), and β-1, 3-glucanase in treated tomato plants and the same trend ofincrease in enzyme activity was observed in P.fluorescens treated tomato seedlings challenged with R. solanacearum. The activities of the enzymes PAL, POX, PPO and β-1, 3-glucanase reached maximum at 24,18, 24 and 24 h after inoculation respectively. Higher accumulation ofphenolics was noticed in plants pre-treated with P. fluorescens and challenge inoculated with R. solanacearum. Native PAGE analysis of both Peroxidase (POX) andPolyphenol oxidase (PPO) was carried out for the time course of enzymeactivities and the isoforms of POX and PPO were examined

Phytochemical Screening and in Vitro Assessment of Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Potential of Andrographis Serpyllifolia-An Endemic Medicinal Plant from South India

The current study was aimed to investigate the phytochemical composition, antibacterial and antioxidant activity of A. serpyllifolia plant extracts. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloid, tannins, steroids, terpenoids, phlobatannin, anthraquinones flavonoids, saponins and phenolic compounds. Quantitative analysis revealed the presence of saponins (4.2%) in high concentration followed by tannins (4.12%), phenolics (1.4%), alkaloids (1.2%) and flavonoids (0.98%). This study will provide phytochemical information for preparation of concentrated and effective extract of A. serpyllifolia. Petroleum ether, chloroform, benzene and methanol extracts of shade dried plant parts of A. serpyllifolia were tested for antibacterial activity against six strains of bacterial species, viz., Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella sps and Staphylococcus aureus using the standard agar disk diffusion method. All the extracts have shown significant activity against tested microbes with the inhibition zone ranged of 5.7-16.8mm. Among various solvent extracts studied petroleum ether extract showed a highest antibacterial activity followed by methanol, benzene, chloroform. Antioxidant potential of methanol extracts was determined by DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging assay. The extracts showed a very good antioxidant property and the IC50 value was found to 268.12ìg/ml for DPPH assay and 398.46ìg/ml for ABTS assay. Ascorbic acid taken as control showed highest antioxidant power in the present study. The results suggest that A. serpyllifolia has promising antioxidant activity and could serve as potential source of natural antioxidant

Efficacy of Trichoderma asperellum against Ralstonia solanacearum under greenhouse conditions

The rhizosphere soil samples of healthy tomato plants were used to isolate Trichoderma spp and identified based on morphological and molecular characterization as a Trichoderma koningii (T1) T. flavofuscum (T2), T. harzianum (T3), T. asperellum (T4), T. harzianum (T5 & T7), T. koningii (T6), T. asperellum (T8), T. harzianum (T9), T. viride (T10). The isolates screened for antagonistic activity against ten virulent strains of Ralstonia solanacearum (Rs). Two isolates of Trichoderma (T4 and T8) exhibiting high antagonistic activity (24-29mm and 20-27mm respectively) and also studied for several biocontrol mechanisms under greenhouse conditions. These strains were found to be positive to protease, β-1, 3-glucanase, Cellulase, Chitinase, Xylanase, Amylase, Pectinase and lipase activity. Germination percentage increased by 48% and 45% by Trichoderma with pathogen treated seeds and also increased root length, shoot length, fresh weight, dry weight and vigour index. Efficacy of T4 and T8 isolate were evaluated under green house conditions in suppressing disease and promoting tomato plant growth. The disease incidence was significantly reduced by about 50% in tomato plants raised under green house conditions

Studies on nutritional and anti-​nutritional composition of Bambusa multiplex (lour.) raeusch. Ex schult

Bambusa multiplex, a multipurpose ornamental and com. bamboo species used for hedges, construction, basketing and as handicraft material. The shoots are edible and consumed in Southeast Asia and in North eastern regions of India. As earlier investigations does not emphasize on finding out the harvesting time, an attempt has been made to find out the harvesting time to obtain quality shoots. The bamboo shoots were harvested on different days (7-​30 days after emergence from ground) and analyzed for chem., nutritional and anti-​nutritional components. The shoots harvested at various time intervals showed variation in nutritional compn. with an overall decrease in protein and increase in dietary fiber and carbohydrate content. All the nutritional elements except calcium showed decreased content with shoot maturity. The optimum harvesting age for B. multiplex shoots were found to be 7- 10 days with high nutritional content and antinutritional component, cyanide was found to be completely absent

Email-Set Visualization: Facilitating Re-Finding in Email Archives

In this paper we describe ESVT – EmailSet Visualization Tool, an email archive tool that provides users a visualization to re-find and discover information in their email archive. ESVT is an end-to-end email archive tool that can be used from archiving a user’s email messages to visualizing queries on the email archive. We address email archiving by allowing import of email messages from an email server or from a standard existing email client. The central idea in ESVT’s visualization, an “email-set”, is the set of emails that are the result of a query on a user’s email archive. ESVT provides a multiple email-set view - visualization of multiple email-sets on a time axis. In addition, each email set can be individually visualized based on person and time axis, using the single email-set view. Query logs, individual email visualization, multiple email set visualization provide rich contextual cues, thus enabling end users to deal with email overload and re-find past email which otherwise wouldn’t be discovered easily

Autonomous Solar Powered Suborbital Satellite

We are going to Launch an autonomous CanSat that consists of a container and a payload. The payload will deploy from the container and will gently descend and safely land one raw hen egg. CanSat will be launched in a rocket then deployed from it at an altitude of about 670 meters or higher. Upon deployment from rocket, container and payload shall descend at 12 meters per second using any passive descent control system. At an altitude of 500 meters, the payload shall be released from the container. Payload will free fall with a descent rate of 10 meters per second or less. Temperature and pressure data will be collected every second in each of the payload and container. Power must be harnessed from the environment. Thin sheets of solar cells will be used to harvest energy. A three-axis accelerometer will be used to measure the stability and angle of descent of the payload during descent. Data will be sent from the transmitter in bursts and retrieved at the ground station through a transceiver. All data will be displayed in real time and saved on a computer in the ground station

Design of joints for laterally loaded UHPC columns

This study focuses on the use of Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) on seismic applications. As part of this effort, UHPC members have been tested for the first time under non-emulative connections for resisting seismic type lateral loads. Due to the limited compression strain of UHPC, identifying a suitable soft interface material at the member end was the main objective in order to accommodate large compression strain demand so that the UHPC members can be subjected to large lateral displacements. Three precast unbounded post-tensioned UHPC columns were experimentally and analytically investigated using three different interface materials. They were Hydrostone, steel fiber grout and glass fiber epoxy pad along with easily replaceable external steel angles as energy dissipaters. Through this investigation, it was intended to establish a precast UHPC column connection with replaceable external energy dissipater and adequately deformable member end interface as these features enable the UHPC columns to be used in seismic applications. Before testing, a finite element model was developed to predict the lateral load behavior of the test columns, using all known UHPC properties and assumed interface material properties. To study the influence of the pad on the system, the UHPC columns were first tested for few cycles only with the pad. In addition to repeating these cycles, they were tested under large lateral displacements after the external energy dissipaters had been added. As the tests were conducted, samples from the interface materials were collected and tested separately for obtaining compressive stress-strain envelopes, which were later used in the finite element model to improve the analysis results. Based on the research results, it was found that the Glass fiber epoxy performed better than other interface materials and the analytically calculated load versus displacement responses closely matched with the responses of all the experimental results. It was also found from the analysis that use of hollow UHPC columns may be adequate as this would lead to cost-effective design

Evaluation of Antioxidants and Phytoactives in Colocasia Esculenta (L.) Schott

Colocasia esculenta is a perennial plant of araceae family and possess a large corm having a very large, heart-shaped leaves that are borne on thick stalks. The juvenile leaves of this plant are rich in Vitamins C, B1, B2, Riboflavin and Niacin. The tubers contain amino acids and are rich in starch. This multipurpose perennial plant is used as a traditional medicine that acts as anti-cancer agent, anti-hepatotoxic agent, antimicrobial agent, anti-diabetic agent. This shows the necessity for the study of Colocasia esculenta. In this study, The ethanolic leaves extract of Colocasia esculenta showed the maximum antioxidant activity and phytoactives efficacy, Thus suggesting the sample to be as a potential therapeutic source of various disease