Euphorbia royleana, a botanical pesticide affects ultimobranchial gland of the catfish Heteropneustes fossilis

Heteropneustes fossilis were subjected to high and low doses of the latex of Euphorbia royleana for short-term and long-term exposures, respectively. The blood was analyzed for plasma calcium levels, and the ultimobranchial glands fixed and examined. Serum calcium levels declined after 48 h following short-term exposure, and this decrease continued until the end of the experiment. The ultimobranchial cells exhibited a decrease in the cytoplasmic staining response after 96 h following treatment, and the nuclear volumes slightly decreased. Chronically exposed fish also exhibited a decline in serum calcium levels, but much later, on day 7, again progressively declining until the close of the experiment. Up to day 14 following treatment there was no change in histological structure of the ultimobranchial glands, but then there was a decrease in nuclear volume and the cytoplasm displayed a weak staining response. There was some vacuolization and degeneration.Keywords: Botanicals, calcitonin, calcium, teleos

Molecular Interpretation of ACTH-β-Endorphin Coaggregation: Relevance to Secretory Granule Biogenesis

Peptide/protein hormones could be stored as non-toxic amyloid-like structures in pituitary secretory granules. ACTH and β-endorphin are two of the important peptide hormones that get co-stored in the pituitary secretory granules. Here, we study molecular interactions between ACTH and β-endorphin and their colocalization in the form of amyloid aggregates. Although ACTH is known to be a part of ACTH-β-endorphin aggregate, ACTH alone cannot aggregate into amyloid under various plausible conditions. Using all atom molecular dynamics simulation we investigate the early molecular interaction events in the ACTH-β-endorphin system, β-endorphin-only system and ACTH-only system. We find that β-endorphin and ACTH formed an interacting unit, whereas negligible interactions were observed between ACTH molecules in ACTH-only system. Our data suggest that ACTH is not only involved in interaction with β-endorphin but also enhances the stability of mixed oligomers of the entire system

Intermediate structural state in Bi1−xPrxFeO3 ceramics at the rhombohedral–orthorhombic phase boundary

Crystal structure of the Bi1−xPrxFeO3 ceramics of the compositions corresponding to the threshold concentrations separating the polar rhombohedral (R3c) and anti-polar orthorhombic (Pbam) phases has been investigated with X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry measurements performed in a broad temperature range. The structural study specifies the peculiarities of the temperature-driven transition into the non-polar orthorhombic (Pnma) phase depending on the structural state of the compounds at room temperature. The crystal structure analysis reveals the revival of the anti-polar orthorhombic phase upon the temperature-induced transition, thus assuming that it can be considered as the bridge phase between the polar rhombohedral and the non-polar orthorhombic phases.publishe

Prolactin cells of a teleost, Heteropneustes fossilis, intoxicated with Metacid-50

The fish Heteropneustes fossilis were subjected to 5.28 mg/L (80% of 96 h LC50) and 1.32 mg/L (20% of 96 h LC50) solution of Metacid-50 (active ingredient methyl-parathion) for short-term (96 h) and long-term (28 days), respectively. H. fossilis exposed for short-term (96 h) to sublethal concentration of Metacid-50 exhibited a marked decrease in plasma calcium level. In short-term experiment, no change was noticed throughout the experiment in the histological structure and nuclear volume of prolactin cells of Metacid-50 treated fish. The chronical exposure of fish for long-term to Metacid-50-provoked hypocalcaemia. Up to 14 days there was no histological change in the prolactin cells of Metacid-50-exposed fish. After 21 days these cells exhibited slight degranulation. However, the nuclear volume remained unchanged. The prolactin cellsexhibited further degranulation and the nuclear volume recorded an increase following 28 days Metacid-50 exposure. At some places, vacuolization and cytolysis were also observed. Keywords: Prolactin cells, Organophosphate, catfish, plasma calcium, Metacid-50; methyl-parathion. Int. J. Biol. Chem. Sci. Vol. 2 (3) 2008: pp. 339-34

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Not AvailableIn the present study (2012-13& 2013-14) seven mango genotypes viz., Amrapali, Dushehari, Janardan Pasand, Neelam, Pusa Arunima, Sensation and Tommy Atkins were used for obtaining hybrid plantlets. Artificial hybridization was attempted using Amrapali as female and Dushehari, Janardan Pasand, Neelam, Pusa Arunima, Sensation and Tommy Atkins as male donor parent and the recovery of the hybrids was very low. Fourty-two microsatellite markers (SSRs) among seven mango parental genotypes were validated against mango plantlets obtained from the crosses Amrapali x Dashehari, Amrapali x Janardan Pasand, Amrapali x Neelam, Amrapali x Pusa Arunima, Amrapali x Sensation and Amrapali x Tommy Atkins. Fourty- two primer pairs were screened, 13 primer pairs (LMMA 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16 and ESTD 1, 2, 9 and 10) were found polymorphic and utilized for ascertaining hybridity of progenies obtained from seven mango parental genotypes. Out of 13 polymorphic primers, only 3 primer pairs (LMMA 11, ESTD 9 and ESTD 10) could confirm the hybridity of progenies in different cross combinations.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableIndia is considered the home of mango cultivation and is the highest contributor to the global mango production. However, India has low productivity because of the lack of understanding of the genomic complexity of regular bearing habit, fruit quality, and yield-related traits. In the present investigation, 17 critical pomological traits in mango were mapped through genome-wide association mapping using the generalized linear model (GLM) and mixed linear model (MLM) approaches. Significant phenotypic variability in the selected traits was observed in 60 mango varieties, which indicated the suitability of these varieties for association studies. Genotyping of the varieties was performed using 87 polymorphic genic-simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Population structure analysis performed using the genotyping data revealed three distinct sub-populations that corroborated with the geographical origin of the varieties. Subsequently, the association analysis performed using the GLM identified 23 genic-SSR markers associated with 13 different pomological traits. However, only five genic-SSR markers were associated with six different pomological traits in MLM approach. The A and C alleles of the MSSR 190 locus were significantly associated with fruit diameter, pulp: stone ratio and fruit weight with significant phenotypic variance, and the B allele of the MSSR 146 locus was associated with fruit length and fruit width in both the GLM and MLM approaches with a high amount of phenotypic variance. The ranges of phenotypic variation explained by the associated loci were 13.18–42.39 and 13.31–27.34% in the GLM and MLM approaches, respectively. Extensive phenotypic and genotypic characterization of mango varieties, population structure, and markers associated with critical traits provided in this study will facilitate marker-assisted improvement programs in mango.Not Availabl

Deformation twinning in zircaloy 2

Fully recrystallised zircaloy 2 samples were subjected to different degrees of uniaxial compression. Grains of high Taylor factors showed {10 (1) over bar2} deformation twins, noticeable up to 13-16% compression. Twinning strongly affected the crystallographic texture and also brought in clear differences in stored energy and residual stress between the suspected parent and product grains/orientations of twinning. At later stages of deformation, where presence of twinning was insignificant, aforementioned heterogeneity was further supplemented by heterogeneity in microstructure-clear presence of fragmenting and non-fragmenting grains. Direct observations on twin fraction, twin deviation and twin continuity had shown an apparent peak in twinning by similar to 7.5% compression, an observation explainable through a simple model of twin decay by in grain misorientation development

Defining recrystallization in pilgered Zircaloy-4: From preferred nucleation to growth inhibition

Pilgered Zircaloy-4 was subjected to recrystallization annealing at 650 degrees C: temperature sufficient for primary recrystallization but inadequate for noticeable competitive grain coarsening. Associated microstructural developments were monitored through bulk and microtexture measurements. The deformed microstructure had two, generalized, types of grains: fragmenting/deforming and non-fragmenting/non-deforming. The former had higher stored energy of cold work and defined the early recrystallization stages through preferred nucleation. Non-fragmenting grains, on the other hand, did not contribute directly to recrystallization: but provided significant growth inhibition or pinning to the recrystallized grains. A combination of these two mechanisms defined the recrystallization behavior of pilgered Zircaloy-4. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved