Bioefficacy of engineered Beauveria bassiana with scorpion neurotoxin, LqqIT1 against cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis and cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora

Cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis (Tinsley) and cowpea aphid Aphis craccivora (Koch) are notorious polyphagous, hemipteran sap sucking insect pests. A recombinant toxin gene ‘LqqIT1’ from the scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus quinquestriatus (Ehrenberg) was cloned in the pAL1 fungal expression vector and then expressed in the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balasmo) using genetic modification techniques. The genetically transformed B. bassiana strain (BbLqqIT1-3) and its un-transformed parent strain (Bb-C) were screened to infect the third instar nymphs of P. solenopsis and first instar nymph of A. craccivora through leaf treatment and topical application (spray) method at 1 * 107 spores per ml concentration. The recombinant strain BbLqqIT1-3 was highly pathogenic against A. craccivora but non pathogenic to P. solenopsis. BbLqqIT1-3 induced 72 and 43.33% mortality in A. craccivora nymphs 96 h after leaf treatment and topical application, respectively. The nymphs of A. craccivora infected with BbLqqIT1-3 displayed classical neurotoxic symptoms such as sluggishness, solublize and liquification of the body. Crude soluble toxin protein, BbLqqIT1a-CSE and Bb-WT-CSE was extracted from the BbLqqIT1-3 and Bb-C, respectively using ammonium sulphate precipitation method, and their oral toxicity was analyzed at 5 µg/ml concentration. The survival of the studied insects was negatively affected by the crude soluble toxin extracts. The LT50 values of BbLqqIT1a-CSE against P. solenopsis and A. craccivora were 22.18 and 17.69 h, respectively. Exposure to crude soluble toxin extracts also accounted for the imbalance of ionic concentrations in the hemolymph of treated insects such as hyperpotassemia (3.53–8.18 meq/ml) in the P. solenopsis and hypopotassemia (7.52–0.47 meq/ml) in A. craccivora. The transformed fungus BbLqqIT1-3 strain exhibited promising results in invitro study

Impact analysis of biodiesel production parameters for different catalyst

Catalysts play a major role in the transesterification process. In recent years, heterogeneous catalysts have gathered attention due to the advantage of reusability and easy separation. The use of renewable sources for catalyst preparation has advanced the use of heterogeneous catalysts. The biomass-derived catalysts are important in decreasing the cost of production and promoting the commercialization of biodiesel. Various renewable sources such as sea sand, shells, fish bones, large-scale industrial wastes can be used for catalyst preparation. Catalysts prepared from these wastes can make the transesterification reaction more sustainable and cost-effective. Thus, this work comprises a review of the advancements of various catalyst technologies used in biodiesel production, including the use of waste biomass for catalyst preparation. The paper also discussed the Bimetallic and trimetallic heterogeneous catalysts for several applications in energy and biodiesel generation from microalgal lipids.</p