Evaluation of morphophysiological, biochemical and antioxidant activity of green gram (Vigna radiata (L.) R.Wilczek) in responses to gamma irradiation

Mutation breeding plays a vital role as a source of genetic diversity to improve plant growth and development. Green gram (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) “Vamban 2” variety was selected for this investigation. The doses applied to the healthy seeds of green gram were 100 Gy, 200 Gy, 300 Gy, 400 Gy, 500 Gy, 600 Gy, 700 Gy and 800 Gy and non-treated seeds were kept as control throughout this study. A lethal dose (LD50) was observed at 500 Gy, whereas seedling length, fresh and dry weight decreased as the applied doses increased while compared to the control. Irradiated seedlings showed a decreased content of chlorophyll a compared to Chlorophyll b and increased carotenoid content compared to the control. Biochemical characteristics such as reducing sugar, starch, protein, amino acid and proline content were increased and noted maximum at 800 Gy. Antioxidants and lipid peroxidation (MDA) increased gradually along with increasing doses. FTIR analysis exhibited maximum functional groups at 600 Gy and ESR data showed ample hyperfine range of structure at 500 Gy, 600 Gy and 700 Gy. This investigation found considerable alterations in morphology, photosynthetic pigment, biochemical characteristics and antioxidant analyses, which suggest an idea to select an appropriate dose of gamma irradiation in green gram for successive breeding program

Mutagenic effect of gamma rays on induced mutation and principal component analysis of yield characters on green gram in M2 generation

The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of gamma irradiation on green gram through chlorophyll mutation frequency, leaf mutation frequency, mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency and principal component analysis. Eight different types of chlorophyll mutants, namely albino, aurea, striata, tigrina, xantha, chlorina, viridis, xanthaviridis and variegated were observed at different doses of gamma irradiation in M2 generation. Albino showed the highest frequency percentage (0.229) followed by Viridis (0.163) and Xantha (0.131) and the highest frequency was noted at 500 Gray (Gy). Though, chlorophyll mutants can be lethal in nature, they increase genetic variability and induce new traits. Leaf mutant is another key indicator for induced mutations that induce leaf morphology changes and the highest frequency was noted in 500 Gy. Among the mutagenic treatments, the mutagenic effectiveness shows the maximum at 100 Gy and efficiency shows at 500 Gy. This indicated that low to moderate doses are more effective for induced mutation. This was also confirmed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) results, which specified that gamma irradiation of 500 Gy indicated that the first five principal components were attributed to 70.82% total variability of traits studied. From this, the experimental finding evidently showed that 500 Gy of gamma irradiation, an optimum dose, resulted in considerable variation in all the parameters analyzed

Larvicidal, Histopathological, Antibacterial Activity of Indigenous Fungus Penicillium sp. Against Aedes aegypti L and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) (Diptera: Culicidae) and Its Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition and Toxicity Assessment of Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Fungal metabolites are considered to be most efficient tools to overcome the issues related to insecticide resistance and environmental pollution. The present study focus on the evaluation of the mosquito larvicidal efficacy of metabolites of seven indigenous fungal isolates (Penicillium sp. Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. parasiticus, Rhizopus sp. Mucor sp. and Aspergillus sp.) on the larvae of Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus under the laboratory condition. The preliminary screening of the isolate, Penicillium sp. showed better larvicidal effect when compared to other fungi. The fungus was grown on Potato Dextrose Broth (PDB) in the laboratory (at 25°C) and maintained in the relative humidity (at 76 ± 4% for 15 days). Larvicidal potency of mycelial ethyl acetate extract (MEAE) of Penicillium sp. was performed against 1st to 4th instars larvae of Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus using four different concentrations (100, 200, 300, and 500 μg/ml) that showed better larval mortality values (μg/ml) of LC50 = 6.554, 5.487, 6.874, 6.892, and the LC90 = 11.486, 10.366, 12.879, 13.865 for Ae. aegypti and LC50 = 7.000, 13.943, 18.129, 25.212 and the LC90 = 12.541, 23.761, 30.923, 41.696 for Cx. quinquefasciatus. Exposure of metabolite to larvae resulted in behavior changes i.e., excitation, up and down with aggressive movement, anal papillae biting behavior. Further, the larvae treated with Penicillium sp. metabolite exhibited significant reduction in the levels of acetylcholinesterase. The 4th instar mosquito larvae treated with the 500 μg/ml mycelia extract showed severe histological damages. During the antibacterial analysis of Penicillium sp.- mycelium the maximum growth inhibition zone was recorded in Shigella dysenteriae (31.2 mm) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (31.1 mm) followed by others. In addition, to check the toxicity of Penicillium sp. MEAE against embryos of Zebrafish, a model system, using different concentrations of metabolites (1.0, 0.5, 0.125 mg/ml, 30, 3.0, and 0.5 μg/ml) and life-stage parameters were observed at 124 hpf. Furthermore, the Fourier Transformed Infrared and GCMS spectrum analysis of mycelium reflected several chemical compounds. The outcome of the study clearly shows that Penicillium sp. metabolites could serve as an ideal eco-friendly, single-step and inexpensive source for the control of Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus larvae

GC-MS PROFILING, CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION, ANTIOXIDANT, Α-AMYLASE AND Α-GLUCOSIDASE INHIBITION OF SELECTED SEAWEEDS FROM SOUTHEAST COAST OF INDIA: AN IN VITRO APPROACH

The present study focuses on in vitro antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activity of three different solvent extracts (Methanol, Ethyl acetate and Hexane) of 3 different seaweeds viz: Sargassum wightii, Caulerpa racemosa, and Acanthophora spicifera. The preliminary phytochemical analyses of the seaweed extracts have revealed the presence of various phytochemicals. The antioxidant activities of the seaweed extracts have shown the scavenging effect. Among the extracts, SWEA, SWME and SWHE have exerted effective antioxidant activity with the IC50 values (µg/mL) of: 32.86, 130.1 and 212.8, respectively. And similar trend of α-amylase and α-glucosidase activity/inhibitory property by seaweeds have been recorded. Hence, the ethyl acetate extract of S. wightii was subjected to gas chromatography. All the seaweed extracts were characterized through HPLC and, FTIR analyses. The GC-MS analysis of ethyl acetate extract of S. wightii showed the presence of a bioactive compound, Heptadecanoic acid that might be have been the reason for the recorded inhibitory activity. Keywords: Seaweeds, Sargassum wightii, DPPH, Column chromatography, GC-MS

Phytochemical profiling of Turbinaria ornata and its antioxidant and anti-proliferative effects

أهداف البحث: لتحليل المواد الكيميائية النباتية، وتقييم القدرات المضادة للأكسدة والمضادة للتكاثر لـ “تربيناريا أورناتا“ ( ترنر) أجارد ١٨٤٨. طرق البحث: أجريت التحاليل الكيميائية النباتية للمستخلص الهكساني، والمستخلص المائي لـ “تربيناريا أورناتا”. تم تحليل المستخلصات باستخدام تقنيات؛ الطيف الكتلي اللوني للغاز، وجهاز ”فورييه“ للتحويل الطيفي للأشعة تحت الحمراء، وفاصل الألوان السائل عالي الكفاءة. تم تحديد الخاصية المضادة للأكسدة للمستخلص الهكساني والمستخلص المائي لـ ”تربيناريا أورناتا“ باستخدام فحص بكرايل هايدرزايل ثنائي الفينايل للكسح الجذري وفحص قوة اختزال أيون الحديديك. بالإضافة إلى ذلك تم تقييم الخاصية المضادة للتكاثر داخل الخلية على الخلايا الظهارية الكلوية للقرد الأفريقي الأخضر (فيرو)، والخلايا الظهارية القاعدية السنخية البشرية السرطانية باستخدام فحص إم تي تي. النتائج: كشف الفحص الكيميائي النباتي لـ “تربيناريا أورناتا” وجود سابونين، وقلويدات وأحماض أمينية، وزيت ودهن ثابتين، ومركبات فينولية (العفص وفلافونيدات والفينول الكلي). وجدت الخاصية المضادة للتكاثر الأعلى في المستخلص الهكساني ويليها المستخلص المائي لـ “تربيناريا أورناتا”. كانت قيم فعالية مكافحة التكاثر (بالـ مايكروجرام/ مليلتر) بالنسبة للمستخلص الهكساني والمستخلص المائي على الخلايا الظهارية القاعدية السنخية البشرية السرطانية وخلايا فيرو: ٦٢٬٩١ و٩٣٬٠٠ و٧٢٬٦٤ و١٠٦٬٦ على التوالي. وقد أظهر التحليل باستخدام جهاز “فورييه” للتحويل الطيفي للأشعة تحت الحمراء وجود مجموعات وظيفية هي: الكحول، الأميدات والعطريات، والأمينات، وهاليدات الألكيل، والألكاينات، والألكانات، والأحماض الكربوكسيلية. كما كشف الطيف الكتلي اللوني للغاز عند تحليل المستخلص الهكساني لـ “تربيناريا أورناتا” عن وجود ١٣ مركبا نشطا. الاستنتاجات: بناء على الخاصية المضادة للتكاثر المسجلة فإن هناك حاجة للمزيد من الدراسات الدوائية في سبيل تحضير دواء مضاد للسرطان

In silico identification of novel and conserved microRNAs and targets in peppermint (Mentha piperita) using expressed sequence tags (ESTs)

Objectives: Mentha piperita, generally known as peppermint is a popular herb cultivated in the temperate region around the world belongs to the family Lamiaceae. M. piperita is widely used as traditional food flavoring, in addition they are as well used to treat cold, fever and throat inflammation, and they have anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. The characteristics of MicroRNAs (miRNAs) includes, small size with single stranded non-coding regions having 22 nucleotides. They are evolutionary conserved and actively involved in post-transcriptional regulation of RNAs, which plays various important roles in metabolic and cellular processes of animals and plants. Methods: The present study reports the potent computational method based on homology search used to find potential miRNA of peppermint. EST sequences were retrieved from NCBI GenBank and BLAST against with plant miRNAs. By various filtration criteria we identified potential miRNAs from miRNA family with suitable properties. Results and Conclusion: A total of 1216 ESTs were and 1188 unigenes were identified in this study. A set of prospective target genes were identified in peppermint based on sequence homologies mainly encodes for transcription factor, transport inhibitor like protein, GRR1-like protein and DNA-binding protein. The present study endows valuable information on miRNA in peppermint which will accelerate further research in peppermint

<i>Antigonon leptopus</i>: a potent biological source for extermination of fish bacterial pathogens <i>Providencia</i> and <i>Aeromonas</i>

<div><p>This study pertains to the phytochemical components and the biological properties of the weed, <i>Antigonon leptopus</i> Hook. & Arn. (AUT/PUS/064). Phytochemical screening of methanolic leaf extract of <i>A. leptopus</i> revealed the presence of saponin, phenolic compounds, tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, fixed oils and amino acids. Accordingly, 12 phytochemical components were analysed and characterised by GC–MS. Antibacterial activity was evaluated against fish and clinical pathogens. Fish pathogens, <i>Providencia vermicola</i> (MTCC 5578) and <i>Aeromonas hydrophila</i> (MTCC 646) were more sensitive to the methanolic leaf extract than clinical pathogens. A useful information was obtained from the phytochemistry of <i>A. leptopus</i> leaves, which would pave way to further applications to treat fish diseases and for utility in the pharmaceutical field.</p></div

Antitumor effect of proanthocyanidin induced apoptosis in human colorectal cancer (HT-29) cells and its molecular docking studies

Abstract Proanthocyanidin (PAC) is a promising compound that has displayed its potent antineoplastic properties with a specific intrinsic pathway. This precise us to explore the phyto-preventive effect of PAC against colon cancer (HT-29). The results showed that PAC inhibited the cell growth and GI50 value was found to be 6.25 μM for 24 h exposure, when correlated to the normal cell line does not have toxicity was noticed. The linguistic differences, similarly membrane blebbing, cell shrinkage fragmented nuclear bodies and mitochondrial membrane were observed in AO/EtBr and DAPI staining. The features of regular mechanical apoptotic characterization was analyzed by DNA fragmentation. The cell cycle arrest at G2/M phases was detected using FACS analysis. The early and late apoptotic cells were observed by using Annexin V/PI staining. The ligand–protein interaction and docking studies were performed using Schrodinger’s software. The QPLD analysis of docking studies revealed that PAC exhibited better binding affinity of − 5.23, − 5.17 and − 4.43, − 4.47 kcal/mol against BCL-XL, CDK2 and were compared with 5-FU respectively, which significantly reveals the anticancerous activity of Proanthocyanidin compound. Thus, the PAC compound provides future application of therapeutic option in the treatment of colon cancers

Bio-efficacy of insecticidal molecule emodin against dengue, filariasis, and malaria vectors.

Emodin, a compound isolated from Aspergillus terreus, was studied using chromatographic and spectroscopic methods and compound purity (96%) was assessed by TLC. Furthermore, high larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti-AeA (LC50 6.156 and LC90 12.450 mg/L), Culex quinquefasciatus-CuQ (8.216 and 14.816 mg/L), and Anopheles stephensi-AnS larvae (6.895 and 15.24 mg/L) was recorded. The first isolated fraction (emodin) showed higher pupicidal activity against AeA (15.449 and 20.752 mg/L). Most emodin-treated larvae (ETL) showed variations in acetylcholine esterase, α and β-carboxylesterases, and phosphatase activities in the 4th instar, indicating the intrinsic differences in their biochemical changes. ETL had numerous altered tissues, including muscle, gastric caeca, hindgut, midgut, nerve ganglia, and midgut epithelium. Acute toxicity of emodin on brine shrimp Artemia nauplii (54.0 and 84.5 mg/L) and the zebrafish Danio rerio (less toxicity observed) was recorded. In docking studies, Emodin interacted well with odorant-binding-proteins of AeA, AnS, and CuQ with docking scores of - 8.89, - 6.53, and - 8.09 kcal mol-1, respectively. Therefore, A. terreus is likely to be effective against mosquito larvicides