Studies on Manganese(II), lron(II), Cobalt(II) & (III), Nickel(II), Copper(II) & Zinc(II) Complexes of Ethoxythiocarboxyl Hydrazide

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Management of Rhizome Rot Disease of Ginger (Zingiber officinale rose L.)

Ginger (Zingiber officinale rose L.) is an important spice crop belonging to family Zingiberaceae. Rhizome rot of ginger, caused by Pythium aphanidermatum (Edson) Fitz, is a major constraint for the production of healthy rhizome, sometimes causing total failure of crop. Chemical control of this pathogen is not economical because of high cost of chemicals, breake down of resistance, environmental pollution, deleterious effect to non target beneficial soil micro-organism and ultimately the choice of the consumer for a organic product. Thus the treatment with plant products (Boerhaavia diffusa root extract) may offer a practical and economical alternative for eco-friendly management of this disease. Rhizomes dipped overnight in the suspension of 10.00 per cent crude root extract  followed by 3 foliar sprays of the same proved quite effective in the management of the disease. Results indicated a gradual decrease in disease incidence with the corresponding increase in number of sprays and rhizome treatment with B. diffusa root extract.Key words: Ginger, Pythium aphanidermatum, rot of gingerA. K. Pandey et al. Management of Rhizome Rot Disease of Ginger (Zingiber officinale rose L.). J Phytol 2/9 (2010) 18-20

Field dependent nilpotent symmetry for gauge theories

We construct the field dependent mixed BRST (combination of BRST and anti-BRST) transformations for pure gauge theories. These are shown to be an exact nilpotent symmetry of both the effective action as well as the generating functional for certain choices of the field dependent parameters. We show that the Jacobian contributions for path integral measure in the definition of generating functional arising from BRST and anti-BRST part compensate each other. The field dependent mixed BRST transformations are also considered in field/antifield formulation to show that the solutions of quantum master equation remain invariant under these. Our results are supported by several explicit examples.Comment: 25 pages, No figures, Revte

The model for self-dual chiral bosons as a Hodge theory

We consider (1+1) dimensional theory for a single self-dual chiral boson as classical model for gauge theory. Using Batalin-Fradkin-Vilkovisky (BFV) technique the nilpotent BRST and anti BRST symmetry transformations for this theory have been studied. In this model other forms of nilpotent symmetry transformations like co-BRST and anti co-BRST which leave the gauge-fixing part of the action invariant, are also explored. We show that the nilpotent charges for these symmetry transformations satisfy the algebra of de Rham cohomological operators in differential geometry. The Hodge decomposition theorem on compact manifold is also studied in the context of conserved charges.Comment: 19 pages, No figures, Revtex, Final version to appear in EPJ

Microbial cycling of isoprene, the most abundantly produced biological volatile organic compound on Earth

Isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene), the most abundantly produced biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) on Earth, is highly reactive and can have diverse and often detrimental atmospheric effects, which impact on climate and health. Most isoprene is produced by terrestrial plants, but (micro)algal production is important in aquatic environments, and the relative bacterial contribution remains unknown. Soils are a sink for isoprene, and bacteria that can use isoprene as a carbon and energy source have been cultivated and also identified using cultivation-independent methods from soils, leaves and coastal/marine environments. Bacteria belonging to the Actinobacteria are most frequently isolated and identified, and Proteobacteria have also been shown to degrade isoprene. In the freshwater-sediment isolate, Rhodococcus strain AD45, initial oxidation of isoprene to 1,2-epoxy-isoprene is catalyzed by a multicomponent isoprene monooxygenase encoded by the genes isoABCDEF. The resultant epoxide is converted to a glutathione conjugate by a glutathione S-transferase encoded by isoI, and further degraded by enzymes encoded by isoGHJ. Genome sequence analysis of actinobacterial isolates belonging to the genera Rhodococcus, Mycobacterium and Gordonia has revealed that isoABCDEF and isoGHIJ are linked in an operon, either on a plasmid or the chromosome. In Rhodococcus strain AD45 both isoprene and epoxy-isoprene induce a high level of transcription of 22 contiguous genes, including isoABCDEF and isoGHIJ. Sequence analysis of the isoA gene, encoding the large subunit of the oxygenase component of isoprene monooxygenase, from isolates has facilitated the development of PCR primers that are proving valuable in investigating the ecology of uncultivated isoprene-degrading bacteria

WISDOM-II: Screening against multiple targets implicated in malaria using computational grid infrastructures

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite continuous efforts of the international community to reduce the impact of malaria on developing countries, no significant progress has been made in the recent years and the discovery of new drugs is more than ever needed. Out of the many proteins involved in the metabolic activities of the <it>Plasmodium </it>parasite, some are promising targets to carry out rational drug discovery.</p> <p>Motivation</p> <p>Recent years have witnessed the emergence of grids, which are highly distributed computing infrastructures particularly well fitted for embarrassingly parallel computations like docking. In 2005, a first attempt at using grids for large-scale virtual screening focused on plasmepsins and ended up in the identification of previously unknown scaffolds, which were confirmed in vitro to be active plasmepsin inhibitors. Following this success, a second deployment took place in the fall of 2006 focussing on one well known target, dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), and on a new promising one, glutathione-S-transferase.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In silico drug design, especially vHTS is a widely and well-accepted technology in lead identification and lead optimization. This approach, therefore builds, upon the progress made in computational chemistry to achieve more accurate <it>in silico </it>docking and in information technology to design and operate large scale grid infrastructures.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>On the computational side, a sustained infrastructure has been developed: docking at large scale, using different strategies in result analysis, storing of the results on the fly into MySQL databases and application of molecular dynamics refinement are MM-PBSA and MM-GBSA rescoring. The modeling results obtained are very promising. Based on the modeling results, <it>In vitro </it>results are underway for all the targets against which screening is performed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The current paper describes the rational drug discovery activity at large scale, especially molecular docking using FlexX software on computational grids in finding hits against three different targets (PfGST, PfDHFR, PvDHFR (wild type and mutant forms) implicated in malaria. Grid-enabled virtual screening approach is proposed to produce focus compound libraries for other biological targets relevant to fight the infectious diseases of the developing world.</p

Gene probing reveals the widespread distribution, diversity and abundance of isoprene-degrading bacteria in the environment

Background: Approximately 500 Tg of isoprene are emitted to the atmosphere annually, an amount similar to that of methane, and despite its significant effects on the climate, very little is known about the biological degradation of isoprene in the environment. Isolation and characterisation of isoprene degraders at the molecular level has allowed the development of probes targeting isoA encoding the α-subunit of the isoprene monooxygenase. This enzyme belongs to the soluble diiron centre monooxygenase family and catalyses the first step in the isoprene degradation pathway. The use of probes targeting key metabolic genes is a successful approach in molecular ecology to study specific groups of bacteria in complex environments. Here, we developed and tested a novel isoA PCR primer set to study the distribution, abundance, and diversity of isoprene degraders in a wide range of environments. Results: The new isoA probes specifically amplified isoA genes from taxonomically diverse isoprene-degrading bacteria including members of the genera Rhodococcus, Variovorax, and Sphingopyxis. There was no cross-reactivity with genes encoding related oxygenases from non-isoprene degraders. Sequencing of isoA amplicons from DNA extracted from environmental samples enriched with isoprene revealed that most environments tested harboured a considerable variety of isoA sequences, with poplar leaf enrichments containing more phylogenetically diverse isoA genes. Quantification by qPCR using these isoA probes revealed that isoprene degraders are widespread in the phyllosphere, terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. Specifically, soils in the vicinity of high isoprene-emitting trees contained the highest number of isoprene-degrading bacteria. Conclusion: This study provides the molecular ecology tools to broaden our knowledge of the distribution, abundance and diversity of isoprene degraders in the environment, which is a fundamental step necessary to assess the impact that microbes have in mitigating the effects of this important climate-active gas

Kinetic and molecular analyses reveal isoprene degradation potential of Methylobacterium sp.

Efforts were made to isolate and characterize bacteria capable of growing on methane and organic compounds, and to achieve the simultaneous degradation of more than one pollutant. Among the methanotrophs, species of Methylobacterium was able to catabolize a variety of hydrocarbons, including the branched-chain alkenes. Therefore, laboratory incubations experiments were carried out in batch mode to assess the potential of Methylobacterium sp. PV1 for degrading isoprene, the low-molecular-weight alkene, the most abundant non-methane volatile hydrocarbon present in the environment. Methylobacterium sp. PV1, isolated from paddy field soil, was characterized by pmoA and 16S rRNA gene sequencing and FAME analysis, and used for isoprene degradation. The kinetics of biodegradation is studied using the Michaelis-Menten model. The optimum degradation (80) with maximum average relative degradation rate was observed at 150 ppm isoprene. The degradation products were also analyzed using FTIR. © 2017 Elsevier Lt

Screening of Lentil Genotypes against Highly Aggressive Strain of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lentis

Lentil is one of the most nutritious pulse crops known as masur and grown as a rainfed crop throughout the world in winter season. It is rich in protein, starch, micronutrients and dietary fiber. In the global scenario, India ranked first in the area and second in the production with Bihar being one the major lentil growing state. The majority of the lentil crop is grown in Tal area of the state. As it is cultivated as a rainfed crop, it gets severely affected by several biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the biotic stresses, Fusaium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lentis (Fol) is one of the major fungal diseases and remarkably causing severe crop damage from vegetative to reproductive stage producing significant yield reduction. Fol isolate exhibit great variability and aggressiveness based on agro- climatic conditions. AGLF-11 isolate of Fol collected from Tal area of Bihar was found to be highly aggressive based on previous studies. For this, 50 diverse genotypes were screened against this isolate under greenhouse condition, out of which 14 genotypes showed high susceptibility, 29 genotypes showed moderate susceptibility, 5 genotypes exhibited moderately resistance and only 2 genotypes (L 7920 and DPL 58) exhibited resistance reaction