Two remarkable xylariaceous ascomycetes associated with elephant dung

A continuing survey of coprophilous fungi associated with elephant dung in Kerala State, India has resulted in the discovery of two lesser known xylariaceous fungi. This forms the second record worldwide of Podosordaria elephanti and the first record of Poronia pileiformis on elephant dung. Both fungi are described, illustrated and discussed based on the Kerala collections

A novel approach of homozygous haplotype sharing identifies candidate genes in autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heritable disorder of complex and heterogeneous aetiology. It is primarily characterized by altered cognitive ability including impaired language and communication skills and fundamental deficits in social reciprocity. Despite some notable successes in neuropsychiatric genetics, overall, the high heritability of ASD (~90%) remains poorly explained by common genetic risk variants. However, recent studies suggest that rare genomic variation, in particular copy number variation, may account for a significant proportion of the genetic basis of ASD. We present a large scale analysis to identify candidate genes which may contain low-frequency recessive variation contributing to ASD while taking into account the potential contribution of population differences to the genetic heterogeneity of ASD. Our strategy, homozygous haplotype (HH) mapping, aims to detect homozygous segments of identical haplotype structure that are shared at a higher frequency amongst ASD patients compared to parental controls. The analysis was performed on 1,402 Autism Genome Project trios genotyped for 1 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We identified 25 known and 1,218 novel ASD candidate genes in the discovery analysis including CADM2, ABHD14A, CHRFAM7A, GRIK2, GRM3, EPHA3, FGF10, KCND2, PDZK1, IMMP2L and FOXP2. Furthermore, 10 of the previously reported ASD genes and 300 of the novel candidates identified in the discovery analysis were replicated in an independent sample of 1,182 trios. Our results demonstrate that regions of HH are significantly enriched for previously reported ASD candidate genes and the observed association is independent of gene size (odds ratio 2.10). Our findings highlight the applicability of HH mapping in complex disorders such as ASD and offer an alternative approach to the analysis of genome-wide association data

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING IN VITRO BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES AND ISOLATION OF ACTIVE MOLECULE FROM VITEX ALTISSIMA LEAVES

Objective: The objective of this work is to investigate the antibacterial, anthelmintic activity of the leaves of Vitex altissima and isolation of the bioactive molecule. Methods: The agar disk diffusion method is implemented to evaluate the antibacterial activity of the plant leaves of V. altissima, using petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and ethanol extracts. Exactly 1 mg of each extract is dissolved in 1 ml of dimethyl sulfoxide. The circular Whatman filter paper of diameter 5 mm was dipped in each extract and placed over solidified agar medium. The zone of inhibition was measured. The petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and ethanol extracts of the plant have been used to carry out the anthelmintic activity against Indian earthworms Pheretima posthuma. The column chromatography technique is used for the isolation of bioactive molecules. Results: The results revealed that the ethyl acetate extract exhibited a remarkable zone of inhibition against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and ethanol extracts produce zero percentage zone of inhibition against Escherichia coli bacteria. The ethanol extract showed potent anthelmintic activity. The spectral data confirm that the structure of the bioactive molecule is 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. Conclusion: The preliminary results of the study revealed that the ethyl acetate extract of the plant exhibited a broad zone of inhibition against various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains and ethanol extract showing significant anthelmintic activity. Spectral data confirmed the structure of the bioactive molecule. The obtained bioactive molecule is responsible for exhibiting potent antibacterial activity

Enhanced Cl2 sensitivity of cobalt-phthalocyanine film by utilizing a porous nanostructured surface fabricated on glass

In this paper, we demonstrate a very simple and effective approach to improve the sensitivity and the low detection limit of cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) films towards the detection of chlorine by creating a porous nanostructured surface on a glass substrate via a vapor phase etching process. CoPc films grown on etched glass (CoPc-etched films) exhibited entirely different morphology as compared to CoPc films grown on plain glass (CoPc-plain films). For 60 nm thickness, randomly distributed CoPc nanostructures were grown on the etched surface, whereas the CoPc-plain film showed an elongated granular structure. For 250 ppb Cl2 exposure, the CoPc-etched film showed a response of ∼105%, which is ∼5 times higher than the CoPc-plain film (20%). In addition, it can detect Cl2 down to 100 ppb concentration; this low detection limit is superior to CoPc-plain film (250 ppb). The improved gas sensing property of CoPc-etched film is ascribed to the presence of more interaction sites for gas adsorption, which is confirmed by charge transport, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Kelvin probe measurement. This novel approach of improving the sensitivity and low detection limit paves a new way for the application of surface etching in the gas sensing field of organic semiconductors