Plant Biotechnology: Promises and Challenges

Development of procedures in cell biology to regenerate plants from single cells in any desired quantity provides the prerequisite for the practical use of plant tissue culture and genetic engineering in crop improvement. Such regenerating cell cultures are used for selection of mutants and for DNA transformation experiments. DNA transfer by means of engineered Ti and Ri plasmids has become an established technique for the rapidly growing list of dicotyledonous plants. Considerable success has also been achieved in making gene transfer techniques independent of cell culture methods. These techniques have given the opportunity to create, characterise and select plant cultivars which cannot be obtained by traditional breeding methods. The exploitation of plant cell cultures for production of pharmaceuticals, natural products of commercial importance and mass propagation of high-value crops by automation, have developed into an important industry with considerable potential for future. This paper discusses the recent advances and applications of plant biotechnology in agriculture and industry and the challenges the still exist

Antidotal Efficacy of Antioxidants against Cyanide Poisoning in vitro.

Cyanide is a potent homicidal, genocidal and chemical warfare agent. Besides, its known inhibitory effects on various enzyme Systems, its other pronounced toxic effects include lipid peroxidation (LPx), particularly in the central nervous system or neuronal cells in vitro. The present study assessed the cytotoxicity of potassium cyanide (KCN) in two non-neuronal mammalian cell cultures, viz., human embryonic lung epithelium (L-132) and baby hamster kidney (BHK-21 ) cells. In addition, the cytoprotective potential of two antioxidant agents, namely, curcumin (CMN) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) against KCN (2 and 4 mM) in vitro was evaluated. In both the cell lines, KCN reduced cell viability as indicated by trypan blue dye exclusion, leakage of cytosolic lactate dehydrogenase and neutral red uptake. Protein content was unaffected in L-132 cells while cellular respiration determined by MTT assay) was impaired in both the cells. A dose-dependent glutathione mediated LPx was observed in BHK-21 cells alone. The above cytotoxic changes produced by KCN were more effectively minimised by NAC as compared to CMN. Efficacy of CMN and NAC have therapeutic implications as adjuncts to existing cyanide antidotes

Evaluation of a commercial Dengue NS1 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for early diagnosis of dengue infection

Purpose: Dengue is one of the most serious mosquito-borne viral infections affecting tropical and subtropical countries in the world. Since there is no immunoprophylactic or specific antiviral therapy available, timely and rapid diagnosis plays a vital role in patient management and implementation of control measures. This paper evaluates a commercially available NS1 antigen capture ELISA vis-a-vis SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test for early detection of dengue virus. Materials and Methods: To evaluate a commercial NS1 antigen detection kit vis-a-vis SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test, a total of 91 clinical samples were tested. Virological investigations with regard to dengue virus, viz. NS1 antigen capture ELISA (Panbio, Australia), SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test, RT-PCR and virus isolation were performed. Results: Out of 91 samples, 24 (26%) were positive by NS1 antigen capture ELISA, 15 (16%) by SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test and 11(12%) positive by RT-PCR analysis. The RT-PCR-positive samples were further subjected to virus isolation and resulted in three isolates. The results of the Panbio NS1 antigen capture ELISA, SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test, RT-PCR and virus isolation were correlated among themselves. Conclusions: The present study comprehensively established the utility of NS1 antigen ELISA in early diagnosis of dengue infection