Bioconversion of eugenol into food flavouring agent vanillin

Microorganisms have the ability to chemically modify a wide variety of organic compounds by a process referred to as biological or microbial transformation, or in general, bioconversion. The microbial cells and their catalytic machinery (enzymes) accept a wide array of complex molecules as substrates, yielding products with unparallel chiral (enantio-), positional (region-) and chemical (chemo-) selectivity through various biochemical reactions. The present study was formulated on the objective of the conversion of abundantly available phytomolecules eugenol into vanillin, a compound of industrial importance, using microorganisms Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These microbes were found to be capable of converting eugenol to industrially important cost-effective products, vanillin (used as flavouring agent). The results were analyzed using thin layer and gas chromatographic techniques. Our results demonstrated that A. flavus, A. niger and P. aerouginosa were able to transform eugenol to vanillin. Our findings may provide a novel approach for the production of cost-effective vanillin using microorganisms

Solutions for a class of nonlinear Volterra integral and integro-differential equation using cyclic -contraction

We establish the existence and uniqueness of solutions for a class of nonlinear Volterra integral and integro-differential equations using fixed-point theorems for a new variant of cyclic -contractive mappings. Nontrivial examples are given to support the usability of our results

2,4-Dichloro-6-methoxy­quinoline

The title compound, C10H7Cl2NO, features a planar mol­ecule, excluding the methyl H atoms [maximum deviation = 0.0385 (1) Å]. The crystal packing is stabilized by π–π stacking inter­actions across inversion centres [centroid-to-centroid distance = 3.736 (3) Å]

Application of LANDSAT MSS data in ocean colour sensing

Landsat MSS data off Cochin Coast was analysed ond on attempt made to look in to the relationship between MSS gray values and concentration of pigment/particulate matter. MSS band 4 and 5 showed the maximum gray value range as compared to band 6 and 7. A density sliced image of band 4 was generated in the form of Q color coded image showing the gray levels corresponding to various pigment levels

Phytochemicals Induce Apoptosis By Modulation Of Nitric Oxide Signaling Pathway In Cervical Cancer Cells

OBJECTIVE: Nitric Oxide (NO) is produced by NO synthases (NOS) and is a key signaling molecule that regulates tumorigenesis, both aiding and alleviating it. Elevated NO levels are cytotoxic to cancer cells, making NOS an important target for cancer treatment. In the present study, the modulatory effects of the phytochemicals, quercetin, sulforaphane, genistein, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate on NO pathway and apoptosis were shown in HeLa cervical cancer cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry were used to assess apoptosis. A Griess assay was used to quantitatively measure NO, quantitative PCR array was used to assess the expression levels of genes involved in the NO signaling pathway, and immunocytochemistry was used to determine NOS protein expression. The functional association among the modulated genes was evaluated using network biology analysis. gene set enrichment, and KEGG pathway analysis. RESULTS: Treatment with the phytochemicals elevated NO levels in HeLa cells and modulated various genes involved in nitric oxide biosynthesis, superoxide metabolism. and oxidative stress, including NOS1, NOS2, NOS3, ALOX12, and SOD2, with a concomitant increase in NOS2 and NOS3 protein expression levels: also. the phytochemicals were found to induce apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the phytochemical-induced cell death is partially attributed to the activation of the NO pathway and upregulation of pro-oxidant ROS generators. Further experimental studies are required to explore this mechanistic association of NO signaling pathway activation and induction of apoptosis in other types of cancer

Remote sensing of ocean colour and targeting of fish schools from airborne sensors

Studying the well known pelagic school of oil sardine and mackerel in the Arabian sea of the Indian Ocean. A high productivity is reported in the oceanic waters of Cochin preceding SW monsoon. A remote sensing experiment was carried out in the oceanic waters over North of Cochin coast involving vessel-based sea truth data collection synchronous to aircraft overflights during October, November and December 1981

Oceanographic parameters and their relationship to fish catch estimation: a case study in coastal waters north of Cochin during 1981

Coastal waters in the North of Cochin was selected for the present study. This area is well known for the occurrence and abundance of fish schools of oil sardine (Sardinella Iongiceps) and mackerel (Rastrelliger Kanagurta) allowing the period after SW monsoon in the Indian Ocea

Influenza A Virus Coding Regions Exhibit Host-Specific Global Ordered RNA Structure

Influenza A is a significant public health threat, partially because of its capacity to readily exchange gene segments between different host species to form novel pandemic strains. An understanding of the fundamental factors providing species barriers between different influenza hosts would facilitate identification of strains capable of leading to pandemic outbreaks and could also inform vaccine development. Here, we describe the difference in predicted RNA secondary structure stability that exists between avian, swine and human coding regions. The results predict that global ordered RNA structure exists in influenza A segments 1, 5, 7 and 8, and that ranges of free energies for secondary structure formation differ between host strains. The predicted free energy distributions for strains from avian, swine, and human species suggest criteria for segment reassortment and strains that might be ideal candidates for viral attenuation and vaccine development

A transcriptomic snapshot of early molecular communication between Pasteuria penetrans and Meloidogyne incognita

© The Author(s). 2018Background: Southern root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid and White, 1919), Chitwood, 1949 is a key pest of agricultural crops. Pasteuria penetrans is a hyperparasitic bacterium capable of suppressing the nematode reproduction, and represents a typical coevolved pathogen-hyperparasite system. Attachment of Pasteuria endospores to the cuticle of second-stage nematode juveniles is the first and pivotal step in the bacterial infection. RNA-Seq was used to understand the early transcriptional response of the root-knot nematode at 8 h post Pasteuria endospore attachment. Results: A total of 52,485 transcripts were assembled from the high quality (HQ) reads, out of which 582 transcripts were found differentially expressed in the Pasteuria endospore encumbered J2 s, of which 229 were up-regulated and 353 were down-regulated. Pasteuria infection caused a suppression of the protein synthesis machinery of the nematode. Several of the differentially expressed transcripts were putatively involved in nematode innate immunity, signaling, stress responses, endospore attachment process and post-attachment behavioral modification of the juveniles. The expression profiles of fifteen selected transcripts were validated to be true by the qRT PCR. RNAi based silencing of transcripts coding for fructose bisphosphate aldolase and glucosyl transferase caused a reduction in endospore attachment as compared to the controls, whereas, silencing of aspartic protease and ubiquitin coding transcripts resulted in higher incidence of endospore attachment on the nematode cuticle. Conclusions: Here we provide evidence of an early transcriptional response by the nematode upon infection by Pasteuria prior to root invasion. We found that adhesion of Pasteuria endospores to the cuticle induced a down-regulated protein response in the nematode. In addition, we show that fructose bisphosphate aldolase, glucosyl transferase, aspartic protease and ubiquitin coding transcripts are involved in modulating the endospore attachment on the nematode cuticle. Our results add new and significant information to the existing knowledge on early molecular interaction between M. incognita and P. penetrans.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio