SILYMARIN PROTECTS AGAINST COPPER-ASCORBATE INDUCED INJURY TO GOAT CARDIAC MITOCHONDRIA IN VITRO: INVOLVEMENT OF ANTIOXIDANT MECHANISM(S)

Silymarin, 'one of the component of the Milk thistle seeds Silybum marianum (L.) is used in traditional food and medicine in India. In the present study, we investigated the antioxidant activities of Silymarin against copper-ascorbate induced toxic injury to mitochondria obtained from goat heart, in vitro. Incubation of isolated cardiac mitochondria with copper-ascorbate resulted in elevated levels of lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation of the mitochondrial membrane, a reduced level of mitochondrial GSH and altered status of antioxidant enzymes as well as decreased activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase and the Kreb's cycle enzymes, altered mitochondrial morphology, mitochondrial swelling and di-tyrosine level. All these changes were found to be ameliorated when the cardiac mitochondria were co-incubated with copper-ascorbate and Silymarin, in vitro. Silymarin, in our in vitro experiments, was found to scavenge hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion free radicals, hydroxyl radicals and DPPH radical, in a chemically defined system, indicating that this compound may provide protection to cardiac mitochondria against copper-ascorbate induced toxic injury through its antioxidant activities. The results of this study suggest that Silymarin may be considered as a future therapeutic antioxidant and may be used singly or as a co-therapeutic in the treatment of diseases associated with mitochondrial oxidative stress

Evaluation of multifarious plant growth promoting traits, antagonistic potential and phylogenetic affiliation of rhizobacteria associated with commercial tea plants grown in Darjeeling, India

<div><p>Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are studied in different agricultural crops but the interaction of PGPR of tea crop is not yet studied well. In the present study, the indigenous tea rhizobacteria were isolated from seven tea estates of Darjeeling located in West Bengal, India. A total of 150 rhizobacterial isolates were screened for antagonistic activity against six different fungal pathogens i.e. <i>Nigrospora sphaerica</i> (KJ767520), <i>Pestalotiopsis theae</i> (ITCC 6599), <i>Curvularia eragostidis</i> (ITCC 6429), <i>Glomerella cingulata</i> (MTCC 2033), <i>Rhizoctonia Solani</i> (MTCC 4633) and <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> (MTCC 284), out of which 48 isolates were antagonist to at least one fungal pathogen used. These 48 isolates exhibited multifarious antifungal properties like the production of siderophore, chitinase, protease and cellulase and also plant growth promoting (PGP) traits like IAA production, phosphate solubilization, ammonia and ACC deaminase production. Amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) and BOX-PCR analysis based genotyping clustered the isolates into different groups. Finally, four isolates were selected for plant growth promotion study in two tea commercial cultivars TV-1 and Teenali-17 in nursery conditions. The plant growth promotion study showed that the inoculation of consortia of these four PGPR isolates significantly increased the growth of tea plant in nursery conditions. Thus this study underlines the commercial potential of these selected PGPR isolates for sustainable tea cultivation.</p></div

Evaluation of different PGP parameters to show the effect of treatments in two different varieties of tea clones TV-1 and Teenali-17in nursery conditions.

<p>(A) shoot length, (B) root length, (C) fresh shoot weight, (D) fresh root weight, (E) dry shoot weight, (F) dry root weight and (G) number of leaves. Values having different superscripts (a-i) differ significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05). [Control (without bacterial inoculums), CF (N:P:K in 2:1:2 mixture), Treatment1 (strain TT5), Treatment 2 (strain TTD21), Treatment 3 (strain BT22), Treatment 4 (strain NT5), Treatment 5 (strain TTD5+ strain TTD21), Treatment 6 (strain TTD5+ strain BT22), Treatment 7 (strain TTD5+ strain NT5), Treatment 8 (strain TTD21+ strain BT22), Treatment 9 (strain TTD21+ strain NT5), Treatment 10 (strain BT22+ strain NT5) and Treatment 11 (strain TTD5+ strain TTD21+ strain BT22 + strain NT5)].</p

PCA analysis showed the effect of PGPR treatments on plant growth parameters of two different varieties of tea clones TV-1 and Teenali-17 in nursery conditions.

<p>The PCA analysis was performed taking the plant growth parameters of root and shoot length, fresh and dry roots and shoots weight and number of tea leaves. (A) and (B) showing the treatment 11 and commercial fertilizer (CF) clustered closer to each other which showed significantly increased in plant growth parameters than the control and other treatments. (The r1, r2, r3, r4 and r5 in the PCA plot are representing the five replications for each treatment). [Control (without bacterial inoculums), CF (N:P:K in 2:1:2 mixture), Treatment1 (strain TT5), Treatment 2 (strain TTD21), Treatment 3 (strain BT22), Treatment 4 (strain NT5), Treatment 5 (strain TTD5+ strain TTD21), Treatment 6 (strain TTD5+ strain BT22), Treatment 7 (strain TTD5+ strain NT5), Treatment 8 (strain TTD21+ strain BT22), Treatment 9 (strain TTD21+ strain NT5), Treatment 10 (strain BT22+ strain NT5) and Treatment 11 (strain TTD5+ strain TTD21+ strain BT22 + strain NT5)].</p

Map showing the location of sample collection sites.

<p>Map showing the location of sample collection sites.</p

Dendrogram generated using Dice similarity coefficient index from ARDRA banding patterns of the rhizobacterial isolates using NTSYS 2.02 software.

<p>Based on the dendrogram generated the rhizobacterial isolates are divided into four major clusters A, B, C and D where B clustered with only <i>Pseudomonas</i> spp. and C clustered with only <i>Brevibacillus</i> spp.</p

Screening of selected rhizobacteria for PGP and antifungal traits.

<p>Screening of selected rhizobacteria for PGP and antifungal traits.</p

Molecular identification of 16S rRNA gene of potent rhizobacteria, sequence accession numbers and their origin.

<p>Molecular identification of 16S rRNA gene of potent rhizobacteria, sequence accession numbers and their origin.</p