Oksidacijski stres i antioksidacijski sustav u plodovima voća Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. tijekom sazrijevanja

The present investigations were undertaken to ascertain the extent of lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress and antioxidative system during ripening of two varieties of ber fruits (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) differing in their shelf lives, viz. Umran (8–9 days) and Kaithali (4–5 days). Based on visual observations, fruits were categorized as immature green (IG), mature green (MG), turning colour (TC), ripe (R) and overripe (OR). Lipoxygenase (LOX) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) value and H2O2 content increased significantly during ripening in both varieties, obtaining 3-, 3- and 2.5-fold increase in Umran and 4-, 3.5- and 3-fold increase in Kaithali, respectively. Kaithali being short-lived variety, exhibited higher values of these parameters at almost all the stages of fruit ripening. Activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) increased during initial stages but thereafter decreased, whereas that of peroxidase (POX) decreased continuously during ripening. On the other hand, catalase (CAT) activity increased continuously as ripening progressed. In general, antioxidative enzymes exhibited comparatively higher activity in Umran. Total ascorbic acid content increased from IG to TC stage, while total glutathione increased up to MG stage and thereafter decreased in both varieties. Kaithali had higher content of ascorbate than Umran. β-Carotene and α-tocopherol also decreased as ripening progressed. However, the decrease was more pronounced in Umran as compared to Kaithali.Svrha je ovog istraživanja bila utvrditi razinu peroksidacije lipida, oksidacijski stres i antioksidacijski sustav u plodovima voća Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. pri različitom vremenu skladištenja, i to sorte Umran od 8 do 9 dana i sorte Kaithali od 4 do 5 dana. Vizualnim su pregledom plodovi svrstani u ove skupine: nezreli zeleni plodovi, sazreli zeleni plodovi, dozreli plodovi koji su promijenili boju te zreli i prezreli plodovi. Pri sazrijevanju obje sorte bitno se povećala aktivnost lipoksigenaze, i to tri puta u plodovima sorte Umran, a četiri puta u plodovima sorte Kaithali, kao i udjeli malondialdehida, koji su bili trostruko veći u obje sorte nakon zrenja. Udjel je vodikova peroksida nakon zrenja plodova bio dvostruko veći u plodovima sorte Umran i trostruko veći u plodovima sorte Kaithali. Plodovi sorte Kaithali imaju kraći rok trajanja od plodova sorte Umran, što se vidi iz većih vrijednosti ispitivanih parametara u gotovo svim fazama sazrijevanja voća. Aktivnosti superoksid dismutaze, glutation reduktaze i askorbat peroksidaze povećale su se u prvim fazama sazrijevanja plodova, ali su se nakon toga smanjile, dok se aktivnost peroksidaze kontinuirano smanjivala tijekom zrenja voća. S druge strane, aktivnost se katalaze neprestano pojačavala. Antioksidacijski su enzimi imali veću aktivnost u plodovima sorte Umran. Ukupni se udjel askorbinske kiseline povećao u dozrelim plodovima koji su promijenili boju, u usporedbi s nezrelim plodovima. Udjel je glutationa bio veći u sazrelim nego u nezrelim zelenim plodovima, a nakon toga se sazrijevanjem plodova smanjivao u obje sorte voća. Sorta Kaithali imala je veći udjel askorbata od sorte Umrani. Udjel se β-karotena i α-tokoferola smanjivao tijekom sazrijevanja plodova, što je bilo izraženije u plodovima sorte Umran nego u onima sorte Kaithali

Utjecaj metabolizma stanične stijenke na dozrijevanje plodova voća Ziziphus mauritiana

Two ber varieties differing in their shelf lives (Umran, 8 to 9 and Illaichi, 4 to 5 days) were analyzed for cell wall components, cell wall degrading enzymes and their isoenzyme profile at immature green, mature green, turning colour, ripe and overripe stages of ripening. Cellulose and pectin contents decreased during ripening in both varieties. This decrease was accompanied by a corresponding increase in pectin methylesterase, polygalacturonase and cellulase. The increase in the activity of pectin methylesterase was about 20- and 10-fold, that of polygalacturonase about 8.4- and 5.7-fold, and of cellulase 5.5- and 4.4-fold in Umran and Illaichi, respectively. The basal level of activities of all these enzymes was higher at all the stages of ripening in Illaichi variety, having short shelf life, as compared to Umran, with long shelf life. This was further confirmed by the intensity of isoenzyme bands of these enzymes. The isoenzyme profile also revealed that two isoenzymes of each, pectin methylesterase and polygalacturonase, and one of cellulase could be considered as isoenzymes responsible for the softening of cell wall during ripening and could be potential targets for manipulation to delay softening during ripening.U radu su ispitane dvije sorte voća Ziziphus mauritiana koje se razlikuju prema roku trajanja, i to sorta Umran (roka trajanja od 8 do 9 dana) i sorta Illaichi (roka trajanja od 4 do 5 dana). Analizirani su sastojci stanične stijenke, enzimi koji ju razgrađuju te njihovi izoenzimi u nezrelim zelenim, dozrelim zelenim plodovima i onima koji su promijenili boju, te u zrelim i prezrelim plodovima. Udjel se celuloze i pektina smanjivao tijekom dozrijevanja u obje sorte, što je uzrokovalo povećanje udjela pektin metilesteraze (u sorti Umran 20 puta, a u sorti Illaichi 10 puta), poligalakturonaze (8,4 i 5,7 puta) i celulaze (5,5 i 4,4 puta). U svim su fazama dozrijevanja voća osnovne aktivnosti tih enzima bile izraženije u sorti Illaichi, što potvrđuje i intenzitet njihovih izoenzimskih vrpci. Iz izoenzimskog je profila pektin metilesteraze, poligalakturonaze i celulaze vidljivo da ti enzimi razgrađuju staničnu stijenku tijekom dozrijevanja plodova, te da se njihovom inaktivacijom taj proces može usporiti

Development of a Fast SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISA, Based on Receptor-Binding Domain, and Its Comparative Evaluation Using Temporally Segregated Samples From RT-PCR Positive Individuals

SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection assays are crucial for gathering seroepidemiological information and monitoring the sustainability of antibody response against the virus. The SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein's receptor-binding domain (RBD) is a very specific target for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detection. Moreover, many neutralizing antibodies are mapped to this domain, linking antibody response to RBD with neutralizing potential. Detection of IgG antibodies, rather than IgM or total antibodies, against RBD is likely to play a larger role in understanding antibody-mediated protection and vaccine response. Here we describe a rapid and stable RBD-based IgG ELISA test obtained through extensive optimization of the assay components and conditions. The test showed a specificity of 99.79% (95% CI: 98.82-99.99%) in a panel of pre-pandemic samples (n = 470) from different groups, i.e., pregnancy, fever, HCV, HBV, and autoantibodies positive. Test sensitivity was evaluated using sera from SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive individuals (n = 312) and found to be 53.33% (95% CI: 37.87-68.34%), 80.47% (95% CI: 72.53-86.94%), and 88.24% (95% CI: 82.05-92.88%) in panel 1 (days 0-13), panel 2 (days 14-20) and panel 3 (days 21-27), respectively. Higher sensitivity was achieved in symptomatic individuals and reached 92.14% (95% CI: 86.38-96.01%) for panel 3. Our test, with a shorter runtime, showed higher sensitivity than parallelly tested commercial ELISAs for SARS-CoV-2-IgG, i.e., Euroimmun and Zydus, even when equivocal results in the commercial ELISAs were considered positive. None of the tests, which are using different antigens, could detect anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgGs in 10.5% RT-PCR positive individuals by the fourth week, suggesting the lack of IgG response

Whole Genome Characterization of a Few EMS-Induced Mutants of Upland Rice Variety Nagina 22 Reveals a Staggeringly High Frequency of SNPs Which Show High Phenotypic Plasticity Towards the Wild-Type

The Indian initiative, in creating mutant resources for the functional genomics in rice, has been instrumental in the development of 87,000 ethylmethanesulfonate (EMS)-induced mutants, of which 7,000 are in advanced generations. The mutants have been created in the background of Nagina 22, a popular drought- and heat-tolerant upland cultivar. As it is a pregreen revolution cultivar, as many as 573 dwarf mutants identified from this resource could be useful as an alternate source of dwarfing. A total of 541 mutants, including the macromutants and the trait-specific ones, obtained after appropriate screening, are being maintained in the mutant garden. Here, we report on the detailed characterizations of the 541 mutants based on the distinctness, uniformity, and stability (DUS) descriptors at two different locations. About 90% of the mutants were found to be similar to the wild type (WT) with high similarity index (>0.6) at both the locations. All 541 mutants were characterized for chlorophyll and epicuticular wax contents, while a subset of 84 mutants were characterized for their ionomes, namely, phosphorous, silicon, and chloride contents. Genotyping of these mutants with 54 genomewide simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers revealed 93% of the mutants to be either completely identical to WT or nearly identical with just one polymorphic locus. Whole genome resequencing (WGS) of four mutants, which have minimal differences in the SSR fingerprint pattern and DUS characters from the WT, revealed a staggeringly high number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on an average (16,453 per mutant) in the genic sequences. Of these, nearly 50% of the SNPs led to non-synonymous codons, while 30% resulted in synonymous codons. The number of insertions and deletions (InDels) varied from 898 to 2,595, with more than 80% of them being 1–2 bp long. Such a high number of SNPs could pose a serious challenge in identifying gene(s) governing the mutant phenotype by next generation sequencing-based mapping approaches such as Mutmap. From the WGS data of the WT and the mutants, we developed a genic resource of the WT with a novel analysis pipeline. The entire information about this resource along with the panicle architecture of the 493 mutants is made available in a mutant database EMSgardeN22 (http://14.139.229.201/EMSgardeN22)

Effect of Aging with Pollution on the Complex Refractive Index of Pure Submicron Clay Particles

Modelling the optical and radiative properties of atmospheric particles is governed by one of the key input parameters, i.e., the refractive index of aerosols. Availability of the region-specific refractive index data of aerosols is a major challenge for the atmospheric community. The refractive index of aerosols is a function of their physico-chemical properties. Uncertainty in the computation of the spectral refractive indices of aerosols leads to erroneous assessment of their optical and radiative properties. In the present work, the refractive indices of pure clay (kaolinite, illite) and polluted clay with anthropogenic hematite, AH (0.10 to 1.48%) submicron particles have been computed for the wavelength range of 0.38 to 1.2 µm. Anthropogenic hematite enhanced the overall absorption in the UV and visible range with maximum absorption at lower wavelengths (less than 0.55 µm)

Supply chain models with imperfect quality items when end demand is sensitive to price and marketing expenditure

This paper studies supply chain model for imperfect quality items under which unit price and unit marketing expenditure imposed by the buyer, regulates the demand of the item. It is presumed that with the accustomed supply chain model, all produced items are of good quality, coincidentally, it engrosses some percentage of defective items. Thus, inspection process becomes essential for the buyer to segregate the defective items, which are then sold at discounted price at the end of the screening process. In this paper, a supply chain model is ensued to substantiate the interaction and democracy of the participants in the supply chain, the buyer and seller, is pitched by non-cooperative and cooperative game theoretical approaches. In the non-cooperative method, the Stackelberg game approach is used in which one player behaves as a leader and another one as a follower. The co-operative game approach is based on a Pareto efficient solution concept, in which both the players work together to enhance their profit. Lastly, to demonstrate the significance of the theory of the paper, numerical examples including sensitivity analysis are presented

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Hirschsprung’s disease: Is there a relationship between mast cells and nerve fibers?

AIM: To define the topography of mast cells and their numbers in cases of Hirschsprung’s disease (HD) and non-HD, assess neural hypertrophy using imaging software and to study the relationship between mast cells and nerve fibers

Oxidative Stress and Antioxidative System in Ripening Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) Fruits

The present investigations were undertaken to ascertain the extent of lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress and antioxidative system during ripening of two varieties of ber fruits (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) differing in their shelf lives, viz. Umran (8–9 days) and Kaithali (4–5 days). Based on visual observations, fruits were categorized as immature green (IG), mature green (MG), turning colour (TC), ripe (R) and overripe (OR). Lipoxygenase (LOX) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) value and H2O2 content increased significantly during ripening in both varieties, obtaining 3-, 3- and 2.5-fold increase in Umran and 4-, 3.5- and 3-fold increase in Kaithali, respectively. Kaithali being short-lived variety, exhibited higher values of these parameters at almost all the stages of fruit ripening. Activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) increased during initial stages but thereafter decreased, whereas that of peroxidase (POX) decreased continuously during ripening. On the other hand, catalase (CAT) activity increased continuously as ripening progressed. In general, antioxidative enzymes exhibited comparatively higher activity in Umran. Total ascorbic acid content increased from IG to TC stage, while total glutathione increased up to MG stage and thereafter decreased in both varieties. Kaithali had higher content of ascorbate than Umran. β-Carotene and α-tocopherol also decreased as ripening progressed. However, the decrease was more pronounced in Umran as compared to Kaithali

Cell Wall Metabolism of Two Varieties of Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) Fruit During Ripening

Two ber varieties differing in their shelf lives (Umran, 8 to 9 and Illaichi, 4 to 5 days) were analyzed for cell wall components, cell wall degrading enzymes and their isoenzyme profile at immature green, mature green, turning colour, ripe and overripe stages of ripening. Cellulose and pectin contents decreased during ripening in both varieties. This decrease was accompanied by a corresponding increase in pectin methylesterase, polygalacturonase and cellulase. The increase in the activity of pectin methylesterase was about 20- and 10-fold, that of polygalacturonase about 8.4- and 5.7-fold, and of cellulase 5.5- and 4.4-fold in Umran and Illaichi, respectively. The basal level of activities of all these enzymes was higher at all the stages of ripening in Illaichi variety, having short shelf life, as compared to Umran, with long shelf life. This was further confirmed by the intensity of isoenzyme bands of these enzymes. The isoenzyme profile also revealed that two isoenzymes of each, pectin methylesterase and polygalacturonase, and one of cellulase could be considered as isoenzymes responsible for the softening of cell wall during ripening and could be potential targets for manipulation to delay softening during ripening