Are plants with anti-cancer activity resistant to crown gall? : A test of hypothesis

The Crown gall tumour assay (CGTA) is one of several bench top bioassays recommended for the rapid screening of plants with anti-cancer activity. The rationale for the use of the bioassay is that the tumorogenic mechanism initiated in plant tissues by _Agrobacterium tumefaciens_ is in many ways similar to that of animals. Several plant species with anti-cancer activity have already been discovered using this bioassay. However till date no explicit test of an association between anti-cancer activity of plants and their resistance to crown gall formation has been demonstrated. Demonstration of an association could have exploratory potential when searching for plants with anti-cancer activity. In this paper, we determined whether or not a statistically significant association between crown gall resistance and anti-cancer activity exists in plants found in existing published data sets. Our results indicate that plants with anti-cancer activity have a higher proportion of their species resistant to crown gall formation compared to a random selection of plants. We discuss the implications of our results especially when prospecting for newer sources of anti-cancer activity in plants

In pursuit of a universal barcode of plants: peril of followers?

In May 2007, during the early days of the DNA bar coding project in India, we published an article, ‘DNA barcoding: an exercise in futility or utility’1. As the title reflects, we were literally at crossroads, caught between the cross-fire of traditional taxonomists (we think it is disrespectful to call them traditional; they are as much modern as are archaeologists and molecular biologists) and molecular systematists and not knowing which way to go forward. After a reasonable amount of brain-storming that took us through well-trodden criticisms of the DNA barcoding initiative, we concluded that while debates can go on, the tool itself can be effectively used in complementing conventional taxonomic studies and in securing Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) for important taxa. We also felt at that time that it would be important for the country to develop skills and infrastructure to undertake barcoding of at least some of the important taxa, both for conservation and commerce

COSCO: container orchestration using co-simulation and gradient based optimization for fog computing environments

Intelligent task placement and management of tasks in large-scale fog platforms is challenging due to the highly volatile nature of modern workload applications and sensitive user requirements of low energy consumption and response time. Container orchestration platforms have emerged to alleviate this problem with prior art either using heuristics to quickly reach scheduling decisions or AI driven methods like reinforcement learning and evolutionary approaches to adapt to dynamic scenarios. The former often fail to quickly adapt in highly dynamic environments, whereas the latter have run-times that are slow enough to negatively impact response time. Therefore, there is a need for scheduling policies that are both reactive to work efficiently in volatile environments and have low scheduling overheads. To achieve this, we propose a Gradient Based Optimization Strategy using Back-propagation of gradients with respect to Input (GOBI). Further, we leverage the accuracy of predictive digital-twin models and simulation capabilities by developing a Coupled Simulation and Container Orchestration Framework (COSCO). Using this, we create a hybrid simulation driven decision approach, GOBI*, to optimize Quality of Service (QoS) parameters. Co-simulation and the back-propagation approaches allow these methods to adapt quickly in volatile environments. Experiments conducted using real-world data on fog applications using the GOBI and GOBI* methods, show a significant improvement in terms of energy consumption, response time, Service Level Objective and scheduling time by up to 15, 40, 4, and 82 percent respectively when compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms

Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for Phyllanthus emblica Linn., important nontimber forest product species

Phyllanthus emblica and P. indofischeri, commonly known as the Indian gooseberry, are important nontimber forest product (NTFP) species widely distributed across the Indian subcontinent. The fruits of these species are rich in vitamin C and are used in the preparation of a number of herbal medicines for treating a wide range of disorders. Due to the increased demand, they have been harvested extensively and form a major source of income for the forest-dwelling communities living in southern India. There are limited studies to understand the impact of harvesting on the genetic structure of these species. In this study, 15 polymorphic microsatellite markers have been developed for P. emblica and were characterized by screening 20 individuals each of P.emblica and P. indofischeri. The number of alleles per locus ranged 2–9 for P. emblica and 2–11 for P. indofischeri. The observed and expected heterozygosity of P. emblica ranged 0–1 and 0.401–0.825, respectively. Similarly, the observed and expected heterozygosity of P. indofischeri ranged 0.5–1 and 0.366–0.842, respectively. Cross-amplification of the designed primers was assessed with seven related Phyllanthus species. The microsatellite markers developed can be used for studying the population genetic structure, gene flow and genetic diversity of P. emblica and P. indofischeri

Are mini DNA-barcodes sufficiently informative to resolve species identities? An in silico analysis using Phyllanthus

DNA barcodes using certain regions of the genomic DNA have become a popular diagnostic tool to assign species specific signatures. In plants, a number of chloroplast DNA regions such as psbA-trnH of size 400 bp have been shown to successfully discriminate members of various taxa. However, the technique is not always successful, as in the case of museum specimens or samples used in raw drug trade, where the DNA is often degraded. In this context, recent studies have suggested the use of shorter stretches of the region, called mini-barcodes, to resolve species identity. The minibarcodes are relativelymore stable and easily recovered from the degraded DNA. In this study, an attempt has been made to compare the effectiveness of mini-barcodes over full-length DNA barcodes in differentiating 16 species of Phyllanthus (Phyllanthaceae) used in the raw drug trade. Using an in silico approach, mini-barcodes of varying lengths (50–200 bp) of the region psbA-trnH were generated and evaluated for their ability to resolve the 16 Phyllanthus species in comparison to the full-length DNA barcode of size 398 bp. Results have been discussed in the light of the overall utility of mini-barcodes in resolving the species identities

Thermodynamic properties and structural stability of thorium dioxide

Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we have systematically investigated the thermodynamic properties and structural stabilities of thorium dioxide (ThO$_2$). Based on the calculated phonon dispersion curves, we calculate the thermal expansion coefficient, bulk modulus, and heat capacities at different temperatures for ThO$_2$ under the quasi-harmonic approximation. All the results are in good agreement with corresponding experiments proving the validity of our methods. Our theoretical studies can help people more clearly understand the thermodynamic behaviors of ThO$_2$ at different temperatures. In addition, we have also studied possible defect formations and diffusion behaviors of helium in ThO$_2$, to discuss its structural stability. It is found that in intrinsic ThO$_2$ without any Fermi energy shifts, the interstitial Th$_i^{4+}$ defect other than oxygen or thorium vacancies, interstitial oxygen, and any kinds of Frenkel pairs, is most probable to form with an energy release of 1.74 eV. However, after upshifting the Fermi energy, the formation of the other defects also becomes possible. For helium diffusion, we find that only through the thorium vacancy can it happen with the small energy barrier of 0.52 eV. Otherwise, helium atoms can hardly incorporate or diffuse in ThO$_2$. Our results indicate that people should prevent upshifts of the Fermi energy of ThO$_2$ to avoid the formation of thorium vacancies and so as to prevent helium caused damages.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

A manifesto for future generation cloud computing: research directions for the next decade

The Cloud computing paradigm has revolutionised the computer science horizon during the past decade and has enabled the emergence of computing as the fifth utility. It has captured significant attention of academia, industries, and government bodies. Now, it has emerged as the backbone of modern economy by offering subscription-based services anytime, anywhere following a pay-as-you-go model. This has instigated (1) shorter establishment times for start-ups, (2) creation of scalable global enterprise applications, (3) better cost-to-value associativity for scientific and high performance computing applications, and (4) different invocation/execution models for pervasive and ubiquitous applications. The recent technological developments and paradigms such as serverless computing, software-defined networking, Internet of Things, and processing at network edge are creating new opportunities for Cloud computing. However, they are also posing several new challenges and creating the need for new approaches and research strategies, as well as the re-evaluation of the models that were developed to address issues such as scalability, elasticity, reliability, security, sustainability, and application models. The proposed manifesto addresses them by identifying the major open challenges in Cloud computing, emerging trends, and impact areas. It then offers research directions for the next decade, thus helping in the realisation of Future Generation Cloud Computing

Choosing and Using a Plant DNA Barcode

The main aim of DNA barcoding is to establish a shared community resource of DNA sequences that can be used for organismal identification and taxonomic clarification. This approach was successfully pioneered in animals using a portion of the cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) mitochondrial gene. In plants, establishing a standardized DNA barcoding system has been more challenging. In this paper, we review the process of selecting and refining a plant barcode; evaluate the factors which influence the discriminatory power of the approach; describe some early applications of plant barcoding and summarise major emerging projects; and outline tool development that will be necessary for plant DNA barcoding to advance

Modeling the impact of climate change on wild Piper nigrum (Black Pepper) in Western Ghats, India using ecological niche models

The center of diversity of Piper nigrum L. (Black Pepper), one of the highly valued spice crops is reported to be from India. Black pepper is naturally distributed in India in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot and is the only known existing source of its wild germplasm in the world. We used ecological niche models to predict the potential distribution of wild P. nigrum in the present and two future climate change scenarios viz (A1B) and (A2A) for the year 2080. Three topographic and nine uncorrelated bioclim variables were used to develop the niche models. The environmental variables influencing the distribution of wild P. nigrum across different climate change scenarios were identified. We also assessed the direction and magnitude of the niche centroid shift and the change in niche breadth to estimate the impact of projected climate change on the distribution of P. nigrum. The study shows a niche centroid shift in the future climate scenarios. Both the projected future climate scenarios predicted a reduction in the habitat of P. nigrum in Southern Western Ghats, which harbors many wild accessions of P. nigrum. Our results highlight the impact of future climate change on P. nigrum and provide useful information for designing sound germplasm conservation strategies for P. nigrum

Thermal conductivity of rare earth-uranium ternary oxides of the type RE<SUB>6</SUB>UO<SUB>12</SUB>

The knowledge of thermophysical properties of the rare earth uranium ternary oxides of the type RE6UO12 (RE=La, Gd and Dy) is essential to understand the fuel performance during reactor operation and for modeling fuel behavior. Literature on the high temperature properties of this compound is not available and there is no report at all on the thermal conductivity of these compounds. Hence a study of thermal conductivity of this compound has been taken up. The compounds were synthesized by a solution combustion method using metal nitrates and urea. Thermal diffusivity of these compounds was measured by the laser flash method in the temperature range 673-1373 K. The specific heat data was computed using Neumann-Kopp's law. Thermal conductivity was calculated using the measured thermal diffusivity value, density and specific heat data for different temperatures. The temperature dependence of thermal conductivity and the implication of structural aspects of these compounds on the data are discussed here