The Growing Popularity and Development of Assam's Tea Industry

Natural resources abound in Assam, the north-eastern state with the highest level of economic prosperity. Numerous enterprises focused on agriculture, mining, and forestry are present there. Assam's tea business is the largest agricultural sector, accounting for a significant portion of the state's GDP and having a significant impact on both the local and national economies. Assam's tea industry was established in the 1830s after the state fell under British control. Over the course of the 120 years that the British governed Assam, there were more than 1,000 tea gardens. About 55% of India's entire tea output comes from Assam alone. When it comes to tea-growing countries throughout the world, our tea used to be something to be proud of. Assam tea has an international reputation and is in high demand in the global tea industry because of its distinctive flavour. In this essay, an effort has been made to emphasise the different obstacles the Assamese tea sector has to overcome, as well as its growth potential and the government's initiatives to promote development

Differential mode of attack on membrane phospholipids by an acidic phospholipase A2 (RVVA-PLA2-I) from Daboia russelli venom

AbstractAn acidic phospholipase A2 (RVVA-PLA2-I) purified from Daboia russelli venom demonstrated dose-dependent catalytic, mitochondrial and erythrocyte membrane damaging activities. RVVA-PLA2-I was non‐lethal to mice at the tested dose, however, it affected the different organs of mice particularly the liver and cardiac tissues as deduced from the enzymatic activities measured in mice serum after injection of this PLA2 enzyme. RVVA-PLA2-I preferentially hydrolyzed phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine) of erythrocyte membrane compared to the liver mitochondrial membrane. Interestingly, RVVA-PLA2-I failed to hydrolyze membrane phospholipids of HT-29 (colon adenocarcinoma) cells, which contain an abundance of phosphatidylcholine in its outer membrane, within 24h of incubation. The gas-chromatographic (GC) analysis of saturated/unsaturated fatty acids' release patterns from intact mitochondrial and erythrocyte membranes after the addition of RVVA-PLA2-I showed a distinctly different result. The results are certainly a reflection of differences in the outer membrane phospholipid composition of tested membranes owing to which they are hydrolyzed by the venom PLA2s to a different extent. The chemical modification of essential amino acids present in the active site, neutralization study with polyvalent antivenom and heat-inactivation of RVVA-PLA2-I suggested the correlation between catalytic and membrane damaging activities of this PLA2 enzyme. Our study advocates that the presence of a large number of PLA2-sensitive phospholipid domains/composition, rather than only the phosphatidylcholine (PC) content of that particular membrane may determine the extent of membrane damage by a particular venom PLA2 enzyme