Not Available

Not AvailableSurveys on wheat stem rust were conducted in major wheat-growing areas of the Indian subcontinent during 2009–2015 to determine the virulence phenotypes and simple sequence repeat (SSR) genotype diversity of Puccinia graminis Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks. E. Henn (Pgt). Rust-infected stems or leaves of wheat were collected and inoculated on a susceptible wheat cultivar. Indian stem rust differential lines were used to designate Pgt pathotypes in these samples. About 80% of the samples analyzed during the study were from central and southern India. Twelve pathotypes of P. graminis f. sp. tritici were designated in 574 samples analyzed during the study. The severity and incidence of stem rust were maximum during 2013–2014 followed by 2012–2013. Pathotypes 40A and 11 designated in 36.8% and 32.6% of the samples, respectively, were the most predominant. The stem rust resistance genes Sr7a, Sr26, Sr27, Sr31, Sr32, Sr33, Sr39, Sr40, Sr43, SrTmp, and SrTt3 were found to confer resistance to all the pathotypes identified duing the study period. These genes in combination with other slow rusting genes could be used in stem rust resistance breeding programme for the Indian subcontinent. The analysis of SSR marker-based, genotypic and virulence-based phenotypic data revealed a high degree of variability in the Pgt population. The information generated here promises to be a useful guide for orienting rust resistance breeding programme and gene deployment for guarding South Asian wheat from the stem rust menace.Not Availabl

Nanodentistry: A Paradigm Shift-from Fiction to Reality

Nanodentistry is an emerging field with significant potential to yield new generation of technologically advanced clinical tools and devices for oral healthcare. Nanoscale topology and quantitative biomechanical or biophysical analysis of dental surfaces are of significant interest. In particular, using Atomic force microscopy techniques—diseases such as dental caries, tooth hypersensitivity, and oral cancer can be quantified based on morphological, biophysical and biochemical nanoscale properties of tooth surface itself and dental materials or oral fluids such as saliva. An outlook on future “nanodentistry” developments such as saliva exosomes based diagnostics, designing biocompatible, antimicrobial dental implants and personalized dental healthcare is presented. This article examines current applications of nanotechnology alongside proposed applications in the future and aims to demonstrate that, as well as a good deal of science fiction, there is some tangible science fact emerging from this novel multidisciplinary science

New tools to screen wild peanut species for aflatoxin accumulation and genetic fingerprinting

Abstract Background Aflatoxin contamination in peanut seeds is still a serious problem for the industry and human health. No stable aflatoxin resistant cultivars have yet been produced, and given the narrow genetic background of cultivated peanuts, wild species became an important source of genetic diversity. Wild peanut seeds, however, are not abundant, thus, an effective method of screening for aflatoxin accumulation using minimal seeds is highly desirable. In addition, keeping record of genetic fingerprinting of each accession would be very useful for breeding programs and for the identification of accessions within germplasm collections. Results In this study, we report a method of screening for aflatoxin accumulation that is applicable to the small-size seeds of wild peanuts, increases the reliability by testing seed viability, and records the genetic fingerprinting of the samples. Aflatoxin levels observed among 20 wild peanut species varied from zero to 19000 ng.g-1 and 155 ng.g-1 of aflatoxin B1 and B2, respectively. We report the screening of 373 molecular markers, including 288 novel SSRs, tested on 20 wild peanut species. Multivariate analysis by Neighbor-Joining, Principal Component Analysis and 3D-Principal Coordinate Analysis using 134 (36 %) transferable markers, in general grouped the samples according to their reported genomes. The best 88 markers, those with high fluorescence, good scorability and transferability, are reported with BLAST results. High quality markers (total 98) that discriminated genomes are reported. A high quality marker with UPIC score 16 (16 out of 20 species discriminated) had significant hits on BLAST2GO to a pentatricopeptide-repeat protein, another marker with score 5 had hits on UDP-D-apiose synthase, and a third one with score 12 had BLASTn hits on La-RP 1B protein. Together, these three markers discriminated all 20 species tested. Conclusions This study provides a reliable method to screen wild species of peanut for aflatoxin resistance using minimal seeds. In addition we report 288 new SSRs for peanut, and a cost-effective combination of markers sufficient to discriminate all 20 species tested. These tools can be used for the systematic search of aflatoxin resistant germplasm keeping record of the genetic fingerprinting of the accessions tested for breeding purpose