Multilocational Evaluation of Pigeonpea for Broad-Based Resistance to Fusarium Wilt in India

Nine-hundred and fifty-nine plgeonpea germplasm and breeding lines were evaluated for resistance to wilt caused by Fusarium udum Butler at 12 locations in India over a period of 7 years between 1984 and 1990. ICP 8863,9174,12745, ICPL333,8363,88047, BWR 370, DPPA 85-2,85-3,85-8,85–13,85–14 and Bandapalera were resistant or moderately resistant at 7 to 10 out of 12 locations for 3 to 5 years with an average wilt incidence of less than 15%

Multi-location evaluation of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) for broad-based resistance to sterility-mosaic disease in India

A total of 141 germplasm accessions and 725 breeding lines of pigeon pea were evaluated for resistance to pigeon pea sterility mosaic virus at 13 field locations in India from 1983-84 to 1989-90. Some 50 seeds per test entry were sown at each location and the trials were artificially inoculated by either leaf-stapling (in which 10-15-day-old seedlings were stapled with diseased leaves harbouring mites) or the infector-hedge method (with the susceptible variety NP(WR)15 sown on the border of the nursery 4-6 months in advance of the normal sowing date). The breeding lines included in the evaluation were newly bred, high-yielding lines entered into the Pigeon Pea Co-ordinated trials by ICRISAT and the All-India Co-ordinated Pulses Improvement Project. ICP7182 was used as the susceptible control line. Information is presented on lines and accessions showing broad-based resistance (percentage infection at maturity) during the trial period at each location. Line ICP7035 from Madhyha Pradesh, which contains DSLR55 in its pedigree, was resistant at 12 locations and some 18 lines were resistant at 10 locations

Requirement of argininosuccinate lyase for systemic nitric oxide production

Nitric oxide (NO) is crucial in diverse physiological and pathological processes. We show that a hypomorphic mouse model of argininosuccinate lyase (encoded by Asl) deficiency has a distinct phenotype of multiorgan dysfunction and NO deficiency. Loss of Asl in both humans and mice leads to reduced NO synthesis, owing to both decreased endogenous arginine synthesis and an impaired ability to use extracellular arginine for NO production. Administration of nitrite, which can be converted into NO in vivo, rescued the manifestations of NO deficiency in hypomorphic Asl mice, and a nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-independent NO donor restored NO-dependent vascular reactivity in humans with ASL deficiency. Mechanistic studies showed that ASL has a structural function in addition to its catalytic activity, by which it contributes to the formation of a multiprotein complex required for NO production. Our data demonstrate a previously unappreciated role for ASL in NOS function and NO homeostasis. Hence, ASL may serve as a target for manipulating NO production in experimental models, as well as for the treatment of NO-related diseases

Micropropagation and conservation of selected endangered anticancer medicinal plants from the Western Ghats of India

Globally, cancer is a constant battle which severely affects the human population. The major limitations of the anticancer drugs are the deleterious side effects on the quality of life. Plants play a vital role in curing many diseases with minimal or no side effects. Phytocompounds derived from various medicinal plants serve as the best source of drugs to treat cancer. The global demand for phytomedicines is mostly reached by the medicinal herbs from the tropical nations of the world even though many plant species are threatened with extinction. India is one of the mega diverse countries of the world due to its ecological habitats, latitudinal variation, and diverse climatic range. Western Ghats of India is one of the most important depositories of endemic herbs. It is found along the stretch of south western part of India and constitutes rain forest with more than 4000 diverse medicinal plant species. In recent times, many of these therapeutically valued herbs have become endangered and are being included under the red-listed plant category in this region. Due to a sharp rise in the demand for plant-based products, this rich collection is diminishing at an alarming rate that eventually triggered dangerous to biodiversity. Thus, conservation of the endangered medicinal plants has become a matter of importance. The conservation by using only in situ approaches may not be sufficient enough to safeguard such a huge bio-resource of endangered medicinal plants. Hence, the use of biotechnological methods would be vital to complement the ex vitro protection programs and help to reestablish endangered plant species. In this backdrop, the key tools of biotechnology that could assist plant conservation were developed in terms of in vitro regeneration, seed banking, DNA storage, pollen storage, germplasm storage, gene bank (field gene banking), tissue bank, and cryopreservation. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to critically review major endangered medicinal plants that possess anticancer compounds and their conservation aspects by integrating various biotechnological tool

(2E)-N-Methyl-2-[(2E)-3-phenylprop-2-en-1-ylidene]hydrazinecarbothioamide

The title compound, C11H13N3S, is close to being planar, with a dihedral angle of 9.64 (3)° between the benzene ring and the thiosemicarbazone mean plane, maintained by the presence of π-conjugation in the chain linking the the two systems. In the crystal, N—H...S hydrogen bonds form centrosymmetric dimers through a cyclic association [graph-set R22(8)]