Challenges of biodiversity conservation through ecotourism

Conference paper presented at the 1st African Conference on Sustainable Tourism in Strathmore University, Kenya.Over the past few decades ecotourism has emerged as one of India's fastest growing industries, thanks to its rich biological and cultural diversity and heritage. Historically, the increase of nature based and ecotourism is largely a result of the increase in awareness of the plight of the planet's diminishing biological diversity and a reaction against mass tourism and its demonstrative lack of care of conservation issues. In India integration of biodiversity conservation and tourism development has emerged as an important national objective, with strong support by government, industry and the community. Ecotourism has a potentially vital role to play in conservation by generating economic incentives for nature conservation, and a stimulus for an environmental ethic that goes beyond ecotourism. However, the central challenge of ecotourism is to develop and manage the tourism in a way which conserves its natural resource and built heritage base, and minimizes any negative environmental, societal, and cultural impacts. The greening of tourism is essential for the ecological and sociological advancement and sustainability of the industry. The applicability of tourism as a tool for biodiversity conservation and improving economic status of indigenous communities in India is discussed here

Production of Cold-Active Bacterial Lipases through Semisolid State Fermentation Using Oil Cakes

Production of cold active lipase by semisolid state fermentation involves the use of agroindustrial residues. In the present study, semisolid state fermentation was carried out for the production of cold active lipase using Micrococcus roseus, isolated from soil samples of Gangotri glaciers, Western Himalayas. Among various substrate tested, groundnut oil cake (GOC) favored maximal yield of lipases at 15 ± 1°C within 48 h. Supplementation of glucose 1% (w/v) as additional carbon source and ammonium nitrate 2% (w/v) as additional nitrogen source enhanced production of lipase. Addition of triglycerides 0.5% (v/v) tends to repress the lipase production. Further mixed preparation of groundnut oil cake (GOC) along with mustard oil cake (MOC) in the ratio of 1 : 1, and its optimization resulted in improved production of cold active lipase. The enzyme exhibited maximum activity at 10–15°C and was stable at temperatures lower than 30°C. The lipase exhibited optimum activity at pH 8 and showed more than 60% stability at pH 9. Semisolid state fermentation process by utilizing agroindustrial wastes will direct to large-scale commercialization of lipase catalyzed process in cost-effective systems

Enhanced intracellular translocation and cytokine profiling of gold nanoparticles conjugated with human papilloma virus based (HPV-R9) cell-penetrating peptide in cancer cells

515-521Functionalized gold nanoparticles are emerging as a promising nanocarrier for targeted delivery of therapeutic molecules. The present study describes synthesis, characterization and intracellular delivery of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with L1 protein of human papilloma virus peptide (HPV) derived cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) conjugated with R9. HPV-R9 cell penetrating peptide conjugated with AuNPs (fAuNPs) was characterized using UV-visible and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering and zeta potential. The cellular uptake of fAuNPs was studied in Vero cells using fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. The fAuNPs displayed reversible low intracellular aggregation, ~20% cytotoxicity but high efficiency and stability in Vero cells. The cytokines study by real-time PCR was performed in 4T1 cells of the IL-4, IL-12 and IFN-ᵞ, found to be upregulated in comparison to control. The functionalized gold nanoparticles cell penetrating peptide show good intracellular transport to thecellular destinations.Results of this study demonstrate that cell penetrating peptide can be used along with gold nanoparticles for therapeutics application, particularly cancer

Synergistic Effect of Azotobacter nigricans and Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Fertilizer on Agronomic and Yieldtraits of Maize (Zea mays L.)

Peer reviewe

Extracellular lipases from anaerobic microorganisms of Antarctic

293-294Anaerobic microorganisms of Antarctic were investigated for production of extracellular lipases. Of 137 anaerobic strains studied, 49 (35.7%) strains showed lipolytic activity. Amongst the strains studied, 64 were psychrophiles (29 strict, 35 facultative) and 73 psychrotrophs (31 strict, 42 facultative). Of lipase producing psychrophiles, 9 (31.0%) were strict and 11 (31.4%) facultative anaerobes, whereas amongst lipase producing psychrotrophs, 13 (41.9%) were strict and 16 (38.0%) facultative anaerobes

Comparative Study Between Different Types of Media used for the Isolation of Uropathogens with Special Reference to E.coli

Escherichia coli is the greatest cause of primary urinary tract infections. The present study aimed Urinary tract infection in female with special reference Escherichia coli and its antibiotic susceptibility pattern. A total of 100 urine samples were collected from different hospitals of Allahabad. The samples were cultured on Cystein lysine electrolytes deficiency media, MacConkey’s agar, Nutrient agar and Hicrome UTI agar media. Based on the results it was found that different media had different properties and Hicrome UTI agar was the best and convenient media for the isolation of Escherichia coli and other uropathogens. Further it was also observed that Escherichia coli was the most common organism for UTI in female

Molecular dynamics simulation analysis of conessine against multi drug resistant Serratia marcescens

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) is an immediate precursor of polyamine biosynthesis in Serratia marcescens and a potential target for inhibition of its growth. We predicted the 3D structural conformation of ODC enzyme and validated it using MDS in our previous study. In this current study, the potential inhibitors of ODC were obtained by virtual screening of potential inhibitors from ZINC database and studied in depth for their different binding pose. Among the ten virtually screened inhibitors, Conessine exhibited the best binding with ODC and its inhibition property was studied further by MDS studies. The natural compound conessine is isolated from plant Holarrhena antidysenterica and it is studied against ODC of Serratia marcenses for its inhibitory potentials. This revealed unforeseen twisted position in root mean square fluctuation (RMSF) and ODC modelled conformation that influenced ligand binding. Both predicted model and ligand bound model were compared and found to be stable with Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) of approximately 7 nm and 0.25 nm to that of crystallographic structure over simulation time of 55 ns and 70 ns respectively. This work paves the way for future development of new drugs against nosocomial diseases caused by Serratia marcescens