Purification and characterisation of a carboxylesterase from the latex ofSynadenium grantii Hook, ‘f’

The latex ofSynadenium grantii was found to contain esterolytic activity. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic study coupled with substrate and inhibitor specificity studies revealed the presence of multiple forms of carboxylesterases and cholinesterases in the latex. One of the carboxylesterases of the latex was purified by acetone fractionation, carboxymethyl-Sephadex chromatography and Sepharose-6B gel filtration. The homogeneity of the enzyme was established by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, isoelectric focussing and sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme consists of a single polypeptide chain with a molecular weight of 14,000. The amino acid analysis of the purified enzyme revealed that it contained a greater number of neutral and acidic, compared to basic amino acid residues. The isoelectric pH of the enzyme was found to be 4.0. The enzyme was a glycoprotein as revealed by periodic acid Schiff-staining technique. Studies with different organophosphate and carbamate inhibitors showed that this enzyme was sensitive to organophosphates. The product inhibition studies with this enzyme showed linear competitive inhibition with acetate and linear non-competitive inhibition with 1-naphthol

Purification and characterization of acetylcholinesterase isozymes from the latex of Synadenium grantii Hook, 'f'

Three acetylcholinesterase isoenzymes were purified from S. grantii latex by a combination of acetone fractionation, CM-​Sephadex C-​50 chromatog., Sephadex G-​200 gel filtration, and PE-​Cellulose chromatog. The homogeneity of the isoenzymes was established by PAGE and isoelectrofocusing. The pI values were 5.0, 5.2, and 5.4. The mol. wt. of each enzyme was estd. to be 70,​000 by a gel-​filtration method. SDS-​PAGE indicated that each enzyme consisted of 2 subunits of mol. wt. ∼35,​000. These enzymes were glycoproteins and were more sensitive towards carbamate inhibitors compared to organophosphates. They exhibited substrate inhibition and showed identical substrate specificity and inhibitor sensitivity. The rate consts. for different inhibitors were calcd. These 3 enzymes were considered to be charge isoenzymic forms of the latex acetylcholinesterase

Dravya—as an organic agent for the management of seed-borne fungi of sorghum and its role in the induction of defense enzymes

A commercially developed cytokinin and seaweed extract formulation “Dravya” was used at 0.3 concentration for soaking of sorghum seeds for 12h to test its effect on germination, vigour index, chlorophyll content and defense enzyme activity against seed mycoflora of sorghum. Among the treatments, Dravya (0.3) with Dithane M-45 (0.1) and GLSTIN (0.1) or separately or in combination resulted is maximum percentage of seed germination, seedling vigour and reduced the incidence of seed mycoflora besides defense enzymes enhancement was noticed. In this study, Dravya was used for seed soaking, foliar spray, separately as well as in combination with GLSTIN and Mancozeb M-45 to test its efficacy in the enhancement of seedling vigour, chlorophyll content and defence enzyme activities. Hence, it is inferred that Dravya is a good growth promoter and improves natural resistance to disease in sorghum

Antimicrobial, antioxidant and in vitro anti-inflammatory activity and phytochemical screening of Crotalaria pallida Aiton

The antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, lipoxygenase, xanthine oxidase (XO), acetylcholinesterase activities and phenolic contents of different solvent extracts (ethanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform, petroleum ether and water) of Crotalaria pallida were evaluated using in vitro standard methods. These solvent extracts were most potent inhibiting all isolates with different zones of inhibition. The maximum inhibition of bacteria and fungi was observed from ethanol extract. The minimum microbial concentration (MMC) of the active extract was observed from ethanol, petroleum ether and ethyl acetate ranged from 0.3 to 3.2 mg/ml for the sensitive bacteria. In case of fungi, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the active extracts ranged from 0.6 to 4.0 mg/ml. These data suggest that the C. pallida extracts analyzed are potential antimicrobial candidates with a broad range of activity. Phytochemical analysis was conducted to all the solvent extracts to their constituents. The level of total phenol, alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, phenols, steroids and tannins from ethanol, ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts were higher. The antioxidant activities of different solvent extracts of C. pallida were determined by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferrous reducing antioxidant property (FRAP) methods. Ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) were used as standard for antioxidant activity. The ethanol, ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts possessed strong scavenging activity in both DPPH and FRAP methods. The ethanol, ethyl acetate and petroleum ether had showed free radical inhibition of 88, 72 and 73 and 3617.89 +/- 0.03, 2189.33 +/- 0.03 and 1133.26 +/- 0.01, respectively. The in vitro anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated using albumin denaturation, membrane stabilization and proteinase inhibitory activities using all the solvent extracts. The ethanol, ethyl acetate and petroleum ether showed activity by inhibiting the heat induced albumin denaturation and red blood cells membrane stabilization with 83.17, 71.33 and 58.14 and 68.21, 61.44 and 60.72 g/ml, respectively. The proteinase activity was significantly inhibited by the ethanol (82.53), ethyl acetate 74.31) and petroleum ether (62.92) g/ml. Aspirin was used as standard drug for the study of anti-inflammatory activity. In addition, the ethanol, ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts showed anti-lipoxygenase activity and they also exhibited a moderate xanthine oxidase and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity

Correlation of Weather Variables on Emergence of a Virus Disease Bud Necrosis Disease of Greengram Incited by Soybean Yellow Mottle Mosaic Virus at Raichur, Karnataka

Greengram [(Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] is the important pulse crop after chickpea and pigeonpea cultivated in India which is called as “Queen of pulses”, the crop is proned to be infected by many fungal and bacterial diseases. In recent years emergence of a virus disease bud necrosis of greengram was noticed in Raichur and the incidence of disease gradually increased in greengram growing areas of Karnataka. Incidence of bud necrosis disease of greengram and correlation with weather factors was studied during Kharif 2021 at research plot and MARS, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka. The study reveals that, on all four dates of sowing (25th June, 1st July, 9th July and 23rd July 2021), disease was initiated at 25 DAS and highest disease incidence was observed at 75 DAS. The peak activity of thrips was noticed during August month. The weather variables viz., maximum temperature was more than 32 °C, minimum temperature was more than 22°C, rainfall was less than 19 mm/day, morning relative humidity was less than 91 per cent, evening relative humidity more than 44 per cent, evaporation 4.3 mm/day and sunshine hours less than 6 hr/day was favorable for bud necrosis disease in four dates of sowing. Whereas, morning relative humidity, evening relative humidity and age of the crops were having positive relationship with progress of bud necrosis on all four dates of sowing. Thrips and rainfall showed  a positive correlation with disease incidence in all dates of sowing except the fourth date of sowing

First report of Fusarium oxysporum causing Fusarium wilt on Thuja orientalis in India

Fusarium oxysporum was recorded for the first time on Thuja orientalis trees in the Mysore University campus during 2006--07. Thuja trees are important because of their antifungal and antibacterial properties. The fungus was isolated from the wilted plant parts and subsequent reinoculation of the same to healthy plants confirmed the pathogen as the causal organism