Evolution of India's nuclear policies in the context of changing security perceptions. (Second Annual Dr. Raja Ramanna Memorial Lecture). (NIAS Lecture No.L4-2007)

I wish to thank Dr.Kasturirangan and the National Institute of Advanced Studies, for giving me the honour and privilege delivering the Second Annual Dr.Raja Ramanna Memorial Lecture. This lecture series is destined to become a major intellectual event in the national calendar, providing a welcome opportunity for creative interaction on some of the key challenges of our time. It is most appropriate that this lecture series honours the memory of one of India's great scientists and thinkers of our times, Dr. Raja Ramanna. He was not only a scientist, but a musician and musicologist as well, playing the piano and authoring a sell-known work on the structure of Music and Raga and Western systems. Dr.Ramanna was one of the pioneers of India's nuclear programme since he joined TIFR in 1949 and later the Atomic Energy Programme in 1954. It was under his leadership that India demonstrated its capabilities with the PNE in Pokharan in 1974. he headed the Atomic Energy Commission as its Chairman in the critical years between 1983 to 1987. In 1988, following the completion of Dr. Ramanna's tenure as the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Mr.J.R.D. Tata invited him to be the founder Director of a nes institute in Bangalore called the National Institute of Advanced Studies, and the prestige and respect this institute enjoys today owes much to his guiding hand in those early days. It is my honour to dedicate my lecture today on the Evolution of India's Nuclear Policies, to the memory of this great son of India

India's external relations : what the Modi factor promises

The new Modi government is expected to revive the Indian economy and provide coherent and effective governance. It will also expand India’s options in its external relations, especially with its neighbourhood. PM-designate Modi will be the chief asset India needs to re-establish its credibility and clout internationally

Genetic Characterization and Population Structure of Pea (<i>Pisum sativum</i> L.) by Molecular Markers against Rust (<i>Uromyces viciae-fabae</i>) in Newly Developed Genotypes

The understanding of the genetic diversity of germplasm of any crop is necessary for genetic improvement. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a very important legume crop that provides protein and several essential vitamins, carbohydrates, and minerals. The genetic diversity and population structure of pea germplasm consisted of 115 entries of Australian accessions and 4 entries of Indian varieties used as checks with varying responses and severities of rust, which were analysed using 31 polymorphic SSR (Simple Sequence Repeats) markers. The combination of the markers revealed that 78 alleles were present at 32 loci. It was also observed that each marker had three alleles with an average PIC (Polymorphic Information Content) value of 0.272. The population structure analysis showed the genetic differentiation of the entries. The model-based population structure grouped the entries into three sub-populations of SP1, SP2, and SP3 having 37, 35, and 32 entries, respectively with 15 entries as admixtures. AMOVA (Analysis of Molecular Variance) disclosed that there was 56% variation among the individuals and 20% within the population. A mean fixation index (Fst) of 0.240 among the pea entries exhibited relatively significant variation in population. This study provides basic information to select parental lines for developing rust resistant varieties to meet the ultimate goal of sustainable agriculture

Dissecting genomic regions and underlying sheath blight resistance traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.) using a genome‐wide association study

Abstract The productivity of rice is greatly affected by the infection of the plant pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani, which causes a significant grain yield reduction globally. There exist a limited number of rice accessions that are available to develop sheath blight resistance (ShB). Our objective was to identify a good source of the ShB resistance, understand the heritability, and trait interactions, and identify the genomic regions for ShB resistance traits by genome‐wide association studies (GWAS). In the present study, a set of 330 traditional landraces and improved rice varieties were evaluated for ShB resistance and created a core panel of 192 accessions used in the GWAS. This panel provides a more considerable amount of genetic variance and found a significant phenotypic variation among the panel of rice accessions for all the agro‐morphological and disease‐resistance traits over the seasons. The infection rate of ShB and disease reaction were calculated as percent disease index (PDI) and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC). The correlation analysis showed a significant positive association between PDIs and AUPDC and a negative association between PDI and plant height, flag leaf length, and grain yield. The panel was genotyped with 133 SSR microsatellite markers, resulting in a genome coverage of 314.83 Mb, and the average distance between markers is 2.53 Mb. By employing GLM and MLM (Q + K) models, 30 marker–trait associations (MTAs) were identified with targeted traits over the seasons. Among these QTLs, eight were found to be novel and located on 2, 4, 8, 10, and 12 chromosomes, which explained the phenotypic variation ranging from 5% to 15%. With the GWAS approach, six candidate genes were identified. Os05t0566400, Os08t0155900, and Os09t0567300 were found to be associated with defense mechanisms against ShB. These findings provided insights into the novel donors of IC283139, IC 277248, Sivappuchithirai Kar, and Bowalia. The promising genomic regions on 10 of 12 chromosomes associated with ShB would be useful in developing rice varieties with durable disease resistance

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field