Transgenic Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Overexpressing mtlD Gene Showed Improved Photosynthetic, Physio-Biochemical, and Yield-Parameters under Soil-Moisture Deficit Stress in Lysimeter System

Peanut, an important oilseed crop, frequently encounters drought stress (DS) during its life cycle. In this study, four previously developed mtlD transgenic (T) peanut lines were used for detailed characterization under DS, at the reproductive stage using lysimeter system under controlled greenhouse conditions. In dry-down experiments, T lines maintained better photosynthetic machinery, such as, photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and SPAD (Soil-Plant Analyses Development) values, and had lower oxidative damage, including lipid membrane peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radical accumulation than WT, when exposed to 24 days of DS. WT plants had a more negative water potential (WP; up to −3.22 MPa) than T lines did (−2.56 to −2.71 MPa) at day 24 of DS treatment. During recovery, T lines recovered easily whereas 67% of WT plants failed to recover. In T lines, the rate of photosynthesis strongly and positively correlated with the transpiration rate (r = 0.92), RWC (r = 0.90), WP (r = 0.86), and total chlorophyll content (r = 0.75), suggesting its strong correlation with water retention-related parameters. Furthermore, yield parameters such as, pod weight and harvest index of T lines were up to 2.19 and 1.38 times more than those of WT plants, respectively. Thus, the significantly better performance of mtlD T peanut lines than of WT plants under DS could be attributed to the accumulation of mannitol, which in turn helped in maintaining the osmoregulation and ROS scavenging activity of mannitol and ultimately conferred water-economizing capacity and higher yield in T lines than in WT plants

A simple and efficient protocol for high quality of DNA from Vitis quandrangularis L.

Vitis quadrangularis L., popularly known as Hadsankal in Saurashtra region, exhibits quadrangular and flat stems structure. Thepresent study was aimed to establish efficient protocol for DNA extraction and to evaluate taxonomic status of morphologicalvariants using molecular characterization method RAPD. Three protocols were tested and the final protocol was modified andoptimized for high quality DNA. Third protocol was CTAB and SDS based method, developed by adding higher concentration ofCTAB and NaCl with an aim to remove polysaccharides, and extra PVP as a phenols and polyphenols remover. It resulted intohigh quality DNA with average purity of 1.8 and yield 200g per gm stem tissue that appropriate for molecular characterization.For molecular marker analysis total 20 decamer primers of OPA series were tested and among them four primers successfullyrevealed 42.10 % polymorphism. Thus, the results adequately discriminate the morphological variants

Use of RAPD marker to confirm mutation in morphological variants on Neem tree

Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) is commercially valuable medicinal plant studied for molecular analysis. In the present study, a morphological variant of neem was observed near our department. The leaf pattern was abnormal (crimpled or curly) morphologically observed and was against normal leaves. This curly leaves containing neem tree considered as mutant against normal. It was considered as either environmental/ chemical influence or certain variation that might lead to mutation in plant genome. To confirm mutation, in this experimentation, this morphological analysis was confirmed by molecular analysis. For that, the genomic DNA was extracted from both the plants and subjected to RAPD analysis. The morphological variants were shown distinct variation in DNA pattern by selected primers. Thus, RAPD profile proves that there was mutation in plant genome. This result supports the initiative to utilize morphological variants in plant breeding applications, and DNA fingerprinting