EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL POTENTIAL OF Thespesia lampas ROOT EXTRACTS

Thespesia lampas has been used as medicinal plants for centuries to treat diseases and its antimicrobial therapeutic role has been well established. However, limited information is available about its activity against phytopathogens. The current study examined the methanol and chloroform extracts of T. lampas root extracts for polyphenols (total phenol and total flavonoid) through Folin-Ciocalteu, Aluminium chloride, and Phosphomolebdenum method. The antioxidant activity such as ABTS (2,20-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical), and FRAP (Ferric ion reducing antioxidant potential)] were performed through the free radical scavenging method (ABTS & DPPH) and reducing power evaluation method (FRAP). Results of the study suggested that methanol extract is superior to chloroform. Phytochemical screening of crude root extract proved the occurrence of steroids, flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, and saponins.  FTIR analysis of crude extract was carried out and the different functional groups were detected like O-H, C-H, -C=C-, C=O, C-N, and N-H suggesting the occurrence of several metabolites in the extract. From the GC-MS study, 16 major compounds were selected for docking study, among these, Copaene and Squalene confirmed the antimicrobial nature. The antimicrobial properties of extract were also confirmed against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), Magnaporthe oryzae(M. oryzae) and Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines (Xag). Thus, T. lampas could be used as an important ingredient in agricultural formulations against various plant diseases

Standardizing ovule age for in ovulo embryo rescue in seedless grape (Vitis vinifera) breeding under the subtropical region

The present study was carried out during 2018–22 at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi to identify the appropriate ovule age (days after pollination-DAP) to rescue the in ovulo embryo after pollination in various seedless grape (Vitis vinifera L.) genotypes and their cross combinations. The research revealed that in in vitro ovule culture establishment, ovule maturity, and in ovulo embryo germination increased significantly from 18–33 DAP ovule age and declined thereafter from 33–43 DAP. The highest ovule culture establishment (85.17%), ovule maturity (71.38%), and in ovulo embryo germination (25.54%) and ovule growth (2.02 mm2) were consistently observed at 33 DAP ovule age in most of the grape genotypes and cross combinations. The time required for embryo germination was notably reduced at 33 DAP (105.24 days). The optimal ovule age for embryo rescue varied among different grape genotypes. It was noticed that 23 DAP ovule age is ideal for Centennial Seedless; 28 DAP for cross combination, Beauty Seedless × Pusa Urvashi; and 33 DAP for genotypes like Perlette, Beauty Seedless, Pusa Urvashi, Pusa Trishar, Pusa Aditi, Flame Seedless; and cross combination like Pusa Aditi × Beauty Seedless, Pearl of Csaba × Beauty Seedless, Pusa Urvashi × Perlette and Pusa Trishar × Perlette; and 38 DAP for Pusa Swarnika for maximum in ovulo embryo rescue and germination recovery under sub-tropics

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Not AvailableNot AvailableBIRAC-DBT, Go

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Not AvailableNot AvailableBCIL-DBT, GoI

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Understanding the role of miRNAs in governing the drought sensitive response of a rice mega variety, Swarna at reproductive stage

To combat drought stress, the major abiotic stress in rice, major genomic regions governing stress tolerance under field conditions have been identified and exploited, though their molecular basis remains elusive till date. We have recently reported the miRNAs/mRNA modules important for drought stress response in these genomic regions. To further understand this secondary regulation by miRNA/mRNA modules in a mega variety, Swarna, which is sensitive to drought stress at reproductive stage, we generated sRNA-seq data. Our analysis identified 9 putative novel miRNAs and 27 differentially expressed known miRNAs at booting stage under drought stress. The major miRNA/transcript modules, identified through degradome analysis and transcript abundance studies, that had an impact on drought stress response of plant and yield included osa-miR169a/LOC_Os07g41720, Osa-miR171b/f, Osa-miR172d-3p/5p, Osa-miR1876/ LOC_Os11g38330, Osa-miR397a and Osa-miR530–3p. The results indicated a basis for the low spikelet fertility and high grain chalkiness of the mega variety Swarna under drought stress through the modulation of expression of Osa-miR397a/ LOC_Os03g03510 and LOC_Os03g51220 and Osa-miR530–3p/ LOC_Os10g40510 modules. This study provides the potential target genes for improving Swarna, a globally important variety, so as to ensure food security under climate change scenario

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Not AvailableA study of fifty five F1 hybrids of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) in a half diallel set involving eleven parents were conducted in a Randomized Block Design with three replications. Over-dominance was found for all the characters which indicated predominance of non-additive gene action for the inheritance of these characters. The positive value of F in all the characters showed preponderance of dominant alleles in parents. Dominance effect (H) was found to be higher than additive effect (D) for all characters except plant height & days to 50% flowering and average degree of dominance was more than one for all the characters, confirmed the predominant role of non-additive gene action. For all traits narrow sense of heritability was less than 50% except plant height and days to 50% flowering, which suggests the preponderance of non-additive gene action and commercial exploitation of recombinant breeding for improvement of these characters.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableDeeper Rooting 1 (DRO1) gene identified from a major QTL on chromosome 9 increases the root growth angle (RGA) and thus facilitates survival under drought and hence is an excellent candidate for rice improvement. Twenty-four major Indian upland and lowland genotypes including the ‘yield under drought’ (DTY) QTL donors were subjected to allele mining of DRO1 (3058 bp) using four pairs of overlapping primers. A total of 216 and 52 SNPs were identified across all genotypes in the gene and coding region (756 bp) respectively with transversions 3.6 fold more common than transitions in the gene and 2.5 times in the CDS. In 251 amino acid long protein, substitutions were found in 19 positions, wherein change in position 92 was the most frequent. Based on allele mining, the 24 genotypes can be classified into 16 primary structure variants ranging from complete functional allele (Satti, IR36 and DTY 3.1 donor, IR81896-B-B-195) to truncated non-functional alleles in PMK2, IR64, IR20 and Swarna. All the DTY donors, other than IR81896-B-B-195, and most of the upland drought tolerant cultivars (Nagina 22, Vandana and Dhagaddeshi) had accumulated 6–19 SNPs and 4–8 amino acid substitutions resulting in substantial differences in their protein structure. The expression analysis revealed that all the genotypes showed upregulation under drought stress though the degree of upregulation varied among genotypes. The information on structural variations in DRO1 gene will be very useful for the breeders, especially in the light of recent breeding programmes on improving drought tolerance using several DTY donors and upland accessions

RiceMetaSys for salt and drought stress responsive genes in rice: a web interface for crop improvement

Abstract Background Genome-wide microarray has enabled development of robust databases for functional genomics studies in rice. However, such databases do not directly cater to the needs of breeders. Here, we have attempted to develop a web interface which combines the information from functional genomic studies across different genetic backgrounds with DNA markers so that they can be readily deployed in crop improvement. In the current version of the database, we have included drought and salinity stress studies since these two are the major abiotic stresses in rice. Results RiceMetaSys, a user-friendly and freely available web interface provides comprehensive information on salt responsive genes (SRGs) and drought responsive genes (DRGs) across genotypes, crop development stages and tissues, identified from multiple microarray datasets. ‘Physical position search’ is an attractive tool for those using QTL based approach for dissecting tolerance to salt and drought stress since it can provide the list of SRGs and DRGs in any physical interval. To identify robust candidate genes for use in crop improvement, the ‘common genes across varieties’ search tool is useful. Graphical visualization of expression profiles across genes and rice genotypes has been enabled to facilitate the user and to make the comparisons more impactful. Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) search in the SRGs and DRGs is a valuable tool for fine mapping and marker assisted selection since it provides primers for survey of polymorphism. An external link to intron specific markers is also provided for this purpose. Bulk retrieval of data without any limit has been enabled in case of locus and SSR search. Conclusions The aim of this database is to facilitate users with a simple and straight-forward search options for identification of robust candidate genes from among thousands of SRGs and DRGs so as to facilitate linking variation in expression profiles to variation in phenotype. Database URL: http://14.139.229.20