Identification and Validation of a New Male Sex-Specific ISSR Marker in Pointed Gourd ( Trichosanthes dioica

The aim of the present study was to develop a genetic sex marker for the pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) to allow gender determination at any stage in the life cycle. Screening of genomic DNA with intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers was used to discover sex-specific touch-down polymerase chain reaction (Td-PCR) amplification products. Using pooled DNA from male and female genotypes and 42 ISSR primers, a putative male specific marker (~550 bp) was identified. DNA marker specific to male is an indication of existence of nonepigenetic factors involved in gender development in pointed gourd. The ISSR technique has proved to be a reliable technique in gender determination of pointed gourd genotypes at the seedling phenophase. The sex marker developed here could also be used as a starting material towards sequence characterization of sex linked genes for better understanding the developmental as well as evolutionary pathways in sexual dimorphism

<em>Ocimum</em> Phytochemicals and Their Potential Impact on Human Health

The genus Ocimum (Lamiaceae) is distributed all over the world and can be found in many environments. Ocimum species is a rich source of various phytochemicals including tannins, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, phytosterols, and policosanols. These phytochemicals have the potential to significantly impact human health. The economic importance of Ocimum is also evident; Ocimum oil and its constituents and derivatives are used as flavoring agents throughout the world in food, pharmaceutical, herbal, perfumery, and flavoring industry. The important advantages of Ocimum plants in various treatments are their safety besides being less expensive, efficacy and availability throughout the world. This paper will focus on the biological effects of Ocimum essential oils, with particular attention on the molecular mechanism underlying their action

Fungal biodiversity profiles 21–30

The authors describe ten new taxa for science using mostly both morphological and molecular data. In Basidiomycota, descriptions are provided for Botryobasidium fusisporum sp. nov., B. triangulosporum sp. nov., Cantharellus hydnoides sp. nov. and Hydnum aerostatisporum sp. nov. in Cantharellales; Lactarius rahjamalensis sp. nov. and Russula pseudoaurantiophylla sp. nov. in Russulales and for Mycena paraguayensis comb. nov. in Agaricales. In Ascomycota and hyphomycetes, descriptions are provided for Colletotrichurn eryngiicola sp. nov. (Glomerellales), Corynesporella indica sp. nov. (incertae sedis) and Repetophragma zygopetali sp. nov. (Microthyriales)

<span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Assessment of genetic diversity of certain Indian elite clones of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Cymbopogon</i> species through RAPD analysis</span>

109-114Ten elite Indian cultivars of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Cymbopogon, aromatic grasses of essential oil trade types—citronella, palmarosa and lemongrass, were characterized isolated from fresh leaf tissues were amplified with twelve 10-mer arbitrary primers. The amplification produced overall 64 scorable bands in the cultivars studied. Of which 52 were polymorphic and 12 were monomorphic. RAPD markers proved to be the efficient marker system with regard to detection of polymorphism, number of loci scored and PIC values. Polymorphism differed substantially within the discrete groups of cultivars and was approximately 71.88% in palmarosa, 6.25% in citronella and 46.88% in lemongrasses. Genetic variations detected among the elite cultivars could be of much use for the introgression of new characters from wild counterparts to the cultivars, isolation of stable segregating markers, selection of improved varieties and conservation of germplasm resources

Touchdown-PCR based RAPD assay for early diagnosis of gender in <em>Carica papaya</em> L.

136-140Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a well-known medicinally important nutritive fruit tree cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Sex type determination in papaya (Carica papaya L.) is important for optimizing production and productivity. This species has three sex types (male, female and hermaphrodite) determined by a multiallelic locus. Morphological and cytological studies conducted so far have failed to differentiate between the sex forms of papaya. Its dioecious nature, occasional sex-reversal of male flowers and the absence of a heteromorphic pair of sex chromosomes make papaya an interesting system to study sex determination at the molecular level. Present investigation has been carried out to generate gender-specific random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers using touchdown-polymerase chain reaction (Td-PCR). Using pooled DNA from male, female and hermaphrodite plants and 35 RAPD primers, a putative male (~900bp) and hermaphrodite specific markers (~550bp) were identified. This gender diagnostic PCR assay offers a simple and reproducible way for gender determination in papaya genotypes at the seedling phenophase. The RAPD markers developed here could also be used as a starting material towards sequence characterization of sex linked genes for better understanding the developmental as well as evolutionary pathways in sexual dimorphism

Regeneration of plantlets through somatic embryogenesis from root derived calli of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (Roselle) and assessment of genetic stability by flow cytometry and ISSR analysis.

Induction of somatic embryogenesis and complete plantlet regeneration from callus culture of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. var. HS4288 has been made. Leaf and root explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) and Driver-Kuniyuki Walnut (DKW) basal media supplemented with different concentrations of synthetic auxins and cytokinins. Root explants on DKW medium supplemented with 2.26μM 2, 4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) and 4.65μM kinetin (KIN) induced highest percentage (70%) of embryogenic calli. Average number of globular embryos per root derived callus produced within 6 weeks of culture initiation on MS media with different plant growth regulators (PGRs) ranged from 2.27±0.12 to 8.80±0.17 and that of cotyledonary embryos ranged from 0.00 to 2.53±0.20. On DKW medium comparatively more globular embryos (2.70±0.15 to 14.53±0.23) and cotyledonary embryos (0.00 to 8.90±0.17) were produced than that of MS medium. Regeneration of complete plantlets was highest (76.67%) when embryogenic calli with mature somatic embryos were grown on DKW medium containing 2.32μM KIN and 2.22μM 6-Benzyladenine (BA). Plants were primarily hardened in humidity, temperature and light controlled chamber and finally in a greenhouse showed 70% survival ability. Different stages of somatic embryogenesis process in the root derived embryogenic calli were elaborated in detail by morphological, histological and SEM study. The data were statistically analyzed by Duncan Multiple range test (p ≤ 0.05) and Principal component analysis (PCA). Flow cytometry and Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) marker analysis confirmed that there was no genetic variation within the regenerated plants