Influence of Exogenous Glycinebetaine on Hot Pepper under Water Stress

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of exogenous application of glycinebetaine (GB) on physiological response in hot-pepper (Capsicum annuum L. vs. Arka Lohit and Pusa Jwala) under water stress. Glycinebetaine was applied to seeds as well as plants through foliar applications. Water stress affected considerably the morphophysiological parameters in both the cultivars. However, in glycinebetaine (GB) treated plants, plant height, leaf area (LA), flower and fruit number and total dry matter (TDM) were greater compared to the untreated stress plants (T4) under water stress. Glycinebetaine application enhanced the photosynthesis (PN) in water deficit experiencing plants, mostly due to a greater stomatal conductance (gs) and carboxylation efficiency of CO2 assimilation. In both the cultivars after 12 day of stress, the PN decreased from 10.1 to 1.0-1.3 μ mol m-2 s-1 in untreated stressed plants (T4), while in the treated stressed plants PNhad reduced to 2.0 - 3.0 μ mol m-2 s-1 (T1 - T3). The application of GB increased the WUE in both the cultivars. The better WUE in treated plants of hot-pepper under stress was attributed to the improved PN. The higher per plant yield in the GB applied plants under stress in both the cultivars associated with higher PNrate, gs and WUE in treated plants. Though there was an increase in PN rate, WUE and plant yield in the treated plants (T1 - T3), the better results were found in the plants (T2) where seeds were treated and foliar application was given at the time of imposing stress

Synthesis and Characterization of Sr2CeO4 Phosphor Doped with Erbium

The present paper reports the Photoluminescence (PL) of the Sr2CeO4 phosphor, singly doped with Erbium rare-earth ion with different concentrations (0.01, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 1%).The phosphor samples were synthesized using the standard solid state reaction technique. The effect of Er dopant on the structural, morphological, and Photoluminescent properties of the samples are studied with X-ray diffraction (XRD), PL and SEM analysis. The PL emission of undoped Sr2CeO4 phosphor was observed at 470 nm with high intensity followed by the primary Er emissions with good intensity at 525, 530, 549, 557 and 565 nm

Belladamadugu Village at a Glance

The Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) Project of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has chosen 42 villages as part of the project. These villages – 18 in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of peninsular India, 12 in the Humid Tropics of East India and 12 in Bangladesh – were selected based on certain relevant characteristics to track rural poverty in household and village economies in the region, to provide the most efficient way to understand the farming systems in rural areas, and to identify the socioeconomic constraints faced by the farming community. In the SAT region, 18 villages spread across 9 districts in 5 states were identified for the study. Of these, 6 were chosen way back in 1975 under the erstwhile Village Level Studies (VLS) project of the Economics Program of ICRISAT, while 12 new villages were included in the expanded VDSA project during 2009. Belladamadugu is one of these 12 new villages

Avoiding Drug Resistance by Substrate Envelope-Guided Design: Toward Potent and Robust HCV NS3/4A Protease Inhibitors

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects millions of people worldwide, causing chronic liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver transplant. In the last several years, the advent of direct-acting antivirals, including NS3/4A protease inhibitors (PIs), has remarkably improved treatment outcomes of HCV-infected patients. However, selection of resistance-associated substitutions and polymorphisms among genotypes can lead to drug resistance and in some cases treatment failure. A proactive strategy to combat resistance is to constrain PIs within evolutionarily conserved regions in the protease active site. Designing PIs using the substrate envelope is a rational strategy to decrease the susceptibility to resistance by using the constraints of substrate recognition. We successfully designed two series of HCV NS3/4A PIs to leverage unexploited areas in the substrate envelope to improve potency, specifically against resistance-associated substitutions at D168. Our design strategy achieved better resistance profiles over both the FDA-approved NS3/4A PI grazoprevir and the parent compound against the clinically relevant D168A substitution. Crystallographic structural analysis and inhibition assays confirmed that optimally filling the substrate envelope is critical to improve inhibitor potency while avoiding resistance. Specifically, inhibitors that enhanced hydrophobic packing in the S4 pocket and avoided an energetically frustrated pocket performed the best. Thus, the HCV substrate envelope proved to be a powerful tool to design robust PIs, offering a strategy that can be translated to other targets for rational design of inhibitors with improved potency and resistance profiles.IMPORTANCE Despite significant progress, hepatitis C virus (HCV) continues to be a major health problem with millions of people infected worldwide and thousands dying annually due to resulting complications. Recent antiviral combinations can achieve \u3e 95% cure, but late diagnosis, low access to treatment, and treatment failure due to drug resistance continue to be roadblocks against eradication of the virus. We report the rational design of two series of HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitors with improved resistance profiles by exploiting evolutionarily constrained regions of the active site using the substrate envelope model. Optimally filling the S4 pocket is critical to avoid resistance and improve potency. Our results provide drug design strategies to avoid resistance that are applicable to other quickly evolving viral drug targets

Chickpea Baseline and Early Adoption Surveys in South Asia Insights from TL-II (Phase-I) Project: Synthesis Report 2013

Chickpea is one of the most important pulse crops in India. Its area reached a peak at the beginning of the green revolution in the country, but rapid strides in wheat productivity have encouraged farmers in north-western India to substitute wheat for chickpea, causing a fall in its area and production. Nevertheless, the crop soon found a new home in the central and southern states of the country. It was a big challenge for the chickpea scientists in India’s national program and at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to breed short duration but high yielding varieties and develop a package of practices suitable to the warmer growing conditions. Very soon, the crop recovered area as well as production on the back of rising productivity. For ICRISAT, the generous support received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) was an excellent opportunity to work with its research and development partners in India to accelerate the productivity growth by following the strategy of Farmer Preferred Varietal Selection (FPVS). This approach shortens the time needed to popularize the new varieties by exposing them to farmers and by backing up the varieties preferred by the farmers through intensive seed production efforts. This report documents the rapid strides made in taking the new varieties to the farmers by the FPVS process, and producing and supplying the seeds of varieties preferred by them during 2007-10

Glutaredoxin-1 Overexpression Enhances Neovascularization and Diminishes Ventricular Remodeling in Chronic Myocardial Infarction

Oxidative stress plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of cardiac failure, including the modulation of neovascularization following myocardial infarction (MI). Redox molecules thioredoxin (Trx) and glutaredoxin (Grx) superfamilies actively maintain intracellular thiol-redox homeostasis by scavenging reactive oxygen species. Among these two superfamilies, the pro-angiogenic function of Trx-1 has been reported in chronic MI model whereas similar role of Grx-1 remains uncertain. The present study attempts to establish the role of Grx-1 in neovascularization and ventricular remodeling following MI. Wild-type (WT) and Grx-1 transgenic (Grx-1Tg/+) mice were randomized into wild-type sham (WTS), Grx-1Tg/+ Sham (Grx-1Tg/+S), WTMI, Grx-1Tg/+MI. MI was induced by permanent occlusion of the LAD coronary artery. Sham groups underwent identical time-matched surgical procedures without LAD ligation. Significant increase in arteriolar density was observed 7 days (d) after surgical intervention in the Grx-1Tg/+MI group as compared to the WTMI animals. Further, improvement in myocardial functional parameters 30 d after MI was observed including decreased LVIDs, LVIDd, increased ejection fraction and, fractional shortening was also observed in the Grx-1Tg/+MI group as compared to the WTMI animals. Moreover, attenuation of oxidative stress and apoptotic cardiomyocytes was observed in the Grx-1Tg/+MI group as compared to the WTMI animals. Increased expression of p-Akt, VEGF, Ang-1, Bcl-2, survivin and DNA binding activity of NF-κB were observed in the Grx-1Tg/+MI group when compared to WTMI animals as revealed by Western blot analysis and Gel-shift analysis, respectively. These results are the first to demonstrate that Grx-1 induces angiogenesis and diminishes ventricular remodeling apparently through neovascularization mediated by Akt, VEGF, Ang-1 and NF-κB as well as Bcl-2 and survivin-mediated anti-apoptotic pathway in the infarcted myocardium

Identification of several small main-effect QTLs and a large number of epistatic QTLs for drought tolerance related traits in groundnut (Arachishypogaea L.)

Cultivated groundnut or peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), an allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 40), is a self pollinated and widely grown crop in the semi-arid regions of the world. Improvement of drought tolerance is an important area of research for groundnut breeding programmes. Therefore, for the identification of candidate QTLs for drought tolerance, a comprehensive and refined genetic map containing 191 SSR loci based on a single mapping population (TAG 24 × ICGV 86031), segregating for drought and surrogate traits was developed. Genotyping data and phenotyping data collected for more than ten drought related traits in 2–3 seasons were analyzed in detail for identification of main effect QTLs (M-QTLs) and epistatic QTLs (E-QTLs) using QTL Cartographer, QTLNetwork and Genotype Matrix Mapping (GMM) programmes. A total of 105 M-QTLs with 3.48–33.36% phenotypic variation explained (PVE) were identified using QTL Cartographer, while only 65 M-QTLs with 1.3–15.01% PVE were identified using QTLNetwork. A total of 53 M-QTLs were such which were identified using both programmes. On the other hand, GMM identified 186 (8.54–44.72% PVE) and 63 (7.11–21.13% PVE), three and two loci interactions, whereas only 8 E-QTL interactions with 1.7–8.34% PVE were identified through QTLNetwork. Interestingly a number of co-localized QTLs controlling 2–9 traits were also identified. The identification of few major, many minor M-QTLs and QTL × QTL interactions during the present study confirmed the complex and quantitative nature of drought tolerance in groundnut. This study suggests deployment of modern approaches like marker-assisted recurrent selection or genomic selection instead of marker-assisted backcrossing approach for breeding for drought tolerance in groundnut

Therapeutic impact of cytoreductive surgery and irradiation of posterior fossa ependymoma in the molecular era: a retrospective multicohort analysis

PURPOSE: Posterior fossa ependymoma comprises two distinct molecular variants termed EPN_PFA and EPN_PFB that have a distinct biology and natural history. The therapeutic value of cytoreductive surgery and radiation therapy for posterior fossa ependymoma after accounting for molecular subgroup is not known. METHODS: Four independent nonoverlapping retrospective cohorts of posterior fossa ependymomas (n = 820) were profiled using genome-wide methylation arrays. Risk stratification models were designed based on known clinical and newly described molecular biomarkers identified by multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses. RESULTS: Molecular subgroup is a powerful independent predictor of outcome even when accounting for age or treatment regimen. Incompletely resected EPN_PFA ependymomas have a dismal prognosis, with a 5-year progression-free survival ranging from 26.1% to 56.8% across all four cohorts. Although first-line (adjuvant) radiation is clearly beneficial for completely resected EPN_PFA, a substantial proportion of patients with EPN_PFB can be cured with surgery alone, and patients with relapsed EPN_PFB can often be treated successfully with delayed external-beam irradiation. CONCLUSION: The most impactful biomarker for posterior fossa ependymoma is molecular subgroup affiliation, independent of other demographic or treatment variables. However, both EPN_PFA and EPN_PFB still benefit from increased extent of resection, with the survival rates being particularly poor for subtotally resected EPN_PFA, even with adjuvant radiation therapy. Patients with EPN_PFB who undergo gross total resection are at lower risk for relapse and should be considered for inclusion in a randomized clinical trial of observation alone with radiation reserved for those who experience recurrence