Application of Stabilized Cefixime-AgNPs-GO Thin Films as Corrosion Inhibitors for Mild Steel Alloy

In this work, the corrosion inhibition of mild steel at ambient conditions by an antibiotic in a solution that contains silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and graphene oxide (GO) was studied. GO and AGNPs were prepared by one-step simple and ecofriendly method and characterized by different techniques. Different concentrations of the inhibitor were prepared and their inhibition efficiency in acidic media was investigated. The adsorption characteristics of the inhibitor were studied and it was found that the antibiotic (Cefixime) alone and with GO combined with AgNPs inhibit the corrosion of mild steel by being adsorbed on the surface of mild steel by a physical adsorption mechanism. The adsorption of Cefixime and GO with AgNPs on the mild steel surface was found to be spontaneous. Incorporating AgNPs and GO with Cefixime showed an additional inhibition efficiency when compared with using only Cefixime. This indicates the strong inhibition efficiency offered by incorporating the antibiotic with AgNPs and GO

Assessment of genetic diversity of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) germplasm by RAPD markers

Assessment of genetic diversity in a crop species is prerequisite to its improvement. The use of germplasm with distinct DNA profiles helps to generate genetically diversified breeding populations. The present study was carried out to investigate the genetic diversity in brinjal or eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Fifteen brinjal germplasm and three decamer primers were used for random polymorphic DNA assay. A total of 17 fragments were obtained, out of which 12 (70.59%) were polymorphic. Each primer generated 4 to 8 amplified fragments with an average of 5.67 fragments per primer. The highest genetic distance (0.8873) and the lowest genetic identity (0.4118) were observed in Laffa (Elongated) versus Jessore L and Dharola combinations. The lowest genetic distance (0.1525) was observed in several cultivars. The unweighted pair-group method of arithmetic means (UPGMA) dendrogram was constructed from genetic distance and all brinjal cultivars were grouped into five clusters. The genetic diversity of brinjal cultivars reported in this study will be useful when planning future crosses amongst these cultivars

In silico comparison of genomic regions containing genes coding for enzymes and transcription factors for the phenylpropanoid pathway in Phaseolus vulgaris L. and Glycine max L. Merr

Legumes contain a variety of phytochemicals derived from the phenylpropanoid pathway that have important effects on human health as well as seed coat color, plant disease resistance and nodulation. However, the information about the genes involved in this important pathway is fragmentary in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The objectives of this research were to isolate genes that function in and control the phenylpropanoid pathway in common bean, determine their genomic locations in silico in common bean and soybean, and analyze sequences of the 4CL gene family in two common bean genotypes. Sequences of phenylpropanoid pathway genes available for common bean or other plant species were aligned, and the conserved regions were used to design sequence-specific primers. The PCR products were cloned and sequenced and the gene sequences along with common bean gene-based (g) markers were BLASTed against the Glycine max v.1.0 genome and the P. vulgaris v.1.0 (Andean) early release genome. In addition, gene sequences were BLASTed against the OAC Rex (Mesoamerican) genome sequence assembly. In total, fragments of 46 structural and regulatory phenylpropanoid pathway genes were characterized in this way and placed in silico on common bean and soybean sequence maps. The maps contain over 250 common bean g and SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers and identify the positions of more than 60 additional phenylpropanoid pathway gene sequences, plus the putative locations of seed coat color genes. The majority of cloned phenylpropanoid pathway gene sequences were mapped to one location in the common bean genome but had two positions in soybean. The comparison of the genomic maps confirmed previous studies, which show that common bean and soybean share genomic regions, including those containing phenylpropanoid pathway gene sequences, with conserved synteny. Indels identified in the comparison of Andean and Mesoamerican common bean 4CL gene sequences might be used to develop inter-pool phenylpropanoid pathway gene-based markers. We anticipate that the information obtained by this study will simplify and accelerate selections of common bean with specific phenylpropanoid pathway alleles to increase the contents of beneficial phenylpropanoids in common bean and other legumes

Assessment of genetic diversity of brinjal ( Solanum melongena

Assessment of genetic diversity in a crop species is prerequisite to its improvement. The use of germplasm with distinct DNA profiles helps to generate genetically diversified breeding populations. The present study was carried out to investigate the genetic diversity in brinjal or eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Fifteen brinjal germplasm and three decamer primers were used for random polymorphic DNA assay. A total of 17 fragments were obtained, out of which 12 (70.59%) were polymorphic. Each primer generated 4 to 8 amplified fragments with an average of 5.67 fragments per primer. The highest genetic distance (0.8873) and the lowest genetic identity (0.4118) were observed in Laffa (Elongated) versus Jessore L and Dharola combinations. The lowest genetic distance (0.1525) was observed in several cultivars. The unweighted pair-group method of arithmetic means (UPGMA) dendrogram was constructed from genetic distance and all brinjal cultivars were grouped into five clusters. The genetic diversity of brinjal cultivars reported in this study will be useful when planning future crosses amongst these cultivars