Biotechnological Perspective of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-Mediated Stress Tolerance in Plants

All environmental cues lead to develop secondary stress conditions like osmotic and oxidative stress conditions that reduces average crop yields by more than 50% every year. The univalent reduction of molecular oxygen (O2) in metabolic reactions consequently produces superoxide anions (O2•−) and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) ubiquitously in all compartments of the cell that disturbs redox potential and causes threat to cellular organelles. The production of ROS further increases under stress conditions and especially in combination with high light intensity. Plants have evolved different strategies to minimize the accumulation of excess ROS like avoidance mechanisms such as physiological adaptation, efficient photosystems such as C4 or CAM metabolism and scavenging mechanisms through production of antioxidants and antioxidative enzymes. Ascorbate-glutathione pathway plays an important role in detoxifying excess ROS in plant cells, which includes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in detoxifying O2•−radical and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) respectively, monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) involved in recycling of reduced substrates such as ascorbate and glutathione. Efficient ROS management is one of the strategies used by tolerant plants to survive and perform cellular activities under stress conditions. The present chapter describes different sites of ROS generation and and their consequences under abiotic stress conditions and also described the approaches to overcome oxidative stress through genomics and genetic engineering

Isolation and identification of airborne microflora in traffic intersection of Mysore city

The aim of the study was to isolate and identify airborne bacteria and fungi at the five traffic intersections namely Ramaswamy circle, Canara Bank circle, Milk Dairy Circle, Kiadb Industrial Area and Highway circle in Mysore city. The study was conducted for two hours at the peak hours of the day by the petriplate exposure method using nutrient agar and Czapek Dox agar media. The present study was aimed at finding the air borne microorganisms and pollutants of auto exhaust which cause hazardous effect on human health. There is a significant variation in the concentration of bacteria at different circles. The higher the concentration of bacteria was recorded in Canara bank circle and lowest concentration at Kiadb Industrial Area. Micrococcus one of the most dominant bacterial groups followed by Bacillus. Air borne fungi were dominant in Ramaswamy circle and Canara Bank circle whilethe lower levels were detected in the Kiadb Industrial Area. Fusarium, Cladosporium, Aspergillus niger, Alternaria and Trichoderma species were the dominant fungi were recorded in the circle

Research Paper - Effect of shilajit on blood glucose and lipid profile in alloxaninduced diabetic rats

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of shilajit (a herbomineral preparation) on blood glucose and lipid profile in euglycemic and alloxan-induced diabetic rats and its effects on the above parameters in combination with conventional antidiabetic drugs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Diabetes was induced in albino rats by administration of a single dose of alloxan monohydrate 5% (125 mg/kg, i.p.). Effects of three different doses of shilajit (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/day, orally), alone for 4 weeks and a combination of shilajit (100 mg/kg/day, orally) with either glibenclamide (5 mg/kg/day, orally) or metformin (0.5 g/kg/day, orally) for 4 weeks were studied on blood glucose and lipid profile. RESULTS: In the diabetic rats, all the three doses of shilajit produced a significant reduction in blood glucose levels and also produced beneficial effects on the lipid profile. The maximum effect was observed with the 100 mg/kg/day dose of shilajit. Combination of shilajit (100 mg/kg) with glibenclamide (5 mg/kg/day) or metformin (0.5 gm/kg/day) significantly enhanced the glucose-lowering ability and improvement in lipid profile than any of these drugs given alone. CONCLUSION: Shilajit is effective in controlling blood glucose levels and improves the lipid profile

Blue luminescent cyanopyridone based molecular architectures: A structure-property study

A new class of molecular architecture made of five conjugated rings carrying terminal methyl or variable alkoxy (chain lengths of 4, 6, 8, or 16) substituted at para positions has been synthesized. Among the five rings, two rings are of cyanopyridones utilized as an electron deficient N-heterocycle along with blue luminescent motif, and the rest of them are phenylene motifs. All the compounds produced good yield and ATR-IR, NMR and Mass spectroscopy confirmed their structures. Further, the compounds were stable up to ≈200 °C and the degradation occurs at higher temperature as evident from the TGA analysis. The mesomorphic study reveals that compound is only having very long terminal n-hexadecyloxy substituents appeared in-layers liquid crystalline organization as confirmed by POM and variable temperature XRD analysis. Further, the compounds showed intense blue fluorescence in both solution as well as solid state and their fluorescence quantum yields are dependent on the length of alkoxy chains. Calculated HOMO/LUMO levels by cyclic voltammetry measurements revealed that the compounds are ambipolar in nature and cited as an ideal candidates for electroluminescent applications.This research was supported by the Science & Engineering Research Board ( SERB ) under Young Scientists Scheme (Project File no.: YSS/2014/000835 ), Govt. of India, New Delhi. The author acknowledges the Mysore University, Mysore for the instrumental analysis. The authors also acknowledge the Ape instrument, Italy for AFM analysis. J. B. and M. B. R. have been financially supported by MINECO-FEDER of Spain-UE (Projects MAT2014-55205-P, CTQ2015-70174P, and MAT2015-66208-C3-1-P) and the Arag?n Government and FSE (Project E04). Special thanks to Thermal Analysis Services from the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Arag?n, Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC (Spain). Appendix AScopu