Studies on Ant-plant Interaction in a Tropical Mangroves: In Particular Rhizophora Mucronata and Avicennia Marina from Pondicherry Region, South India

A short term field study was undertaken to understand ant-plant interaction in Rhizophora mucronata and Avicennia marina of Pondicherry mangroves. Our study revealed that both tree species Rhizophora mucronata and Avicennia marina of Pondicherry mangroves harbor rich and abundant ant fauna. A total of 10 species were recorded belonging to subfamilies Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Dolichoderinae and Pseudomyrmecinae during one season i.e. post monsoon. The abundance of ants was high in Avicennia marina with 9 species of ants and in compared with Rhizophora mucronata with only 7 species. Ants which were only found in Avicennia marina are Oecophylla smaragdina, Polyrchachis simplex, Camponotus sp. The foods for these ants are available as insects’ eggs, scale insects and carcasses of herbivorous insects. The nesting behavior of these ants is also documented. The mutualistic ant-mangrove plants interaction is quite obvious from the field observations and is recorded with relevant photographs from the study area

Biosynthesis of Gold Nanoparticle using Cell-free Extract of Clinical Isolates Staphylococcus Aureus and Escherichia Coli

Present study reports on biological synthesis of gold nanoparticles using cell free extract of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The cold extract is allowed to react with both 1mM and 10 mM solutions of HAuCl4 which showed a colour change from yellow to dark cherry red after 1 hr. Gold nanoparticle formation is confirmed with UV-Visible spectrophotometer at 547nm.The 10mM concentration is found to be better for synthesis of more NPs using E. coli. XRD pattern exhibited 2θ values38.18o, 44.39o, 64.58o, 77.55o of 2θ value, corresponding to Bragg’s diffraction at 111, 200, 220 and 311 plane of lattice structure closely matching with the standard values given in ICDD reference file. SEM analysis revealed morphological characteristics of nanoparticles of different sizes ranging from 70 to 200 nm. Thus, the present study throws new light on the suitability of E. coli as an alternative for conventional methods of chemical synthesis of gold nanoparticles. &nbsp

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Screening of potential human pathogens from the ghost crab, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Ocypode platytarsis</i> (<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">H. Milne Edwards, 1852) and evaluation of antibiotic resistance</span></span>

244-248<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt" lang="EN-GB">Bacteria associated with hemolymph, gut and muscle of Ocypode platytarsis were investigated using three different agar media such as seawater yeast extract peptone agar, zobell marine agar and nutrient agar. Among them, sea water yeast extract peptone agar provided an excellent growth opportunity to the bacteria and showed higher counts. A total 117 bacterial<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt" lang="EN-GB"> isolates were obtained from 40 ghost crabs representing totally 9 bacterial species, comprising of the Gram-positive coccus, Gram-negative bacilli, Gram-positive rod and Gram-negative rod. Micrococcus was the dominant genus found in all parts of ghost crab, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">O. platytarsis. Further, the antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin and gentamycin showed excellent susceptibility against all the bacterial species, whereas the bacterial strain isolated from the crab are resistant to amoxicillin, nalidixic acid and oxacillin. Results indicate that the bacteria associated with O.<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt" lang="EN-GB"> platytarsis<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt" lang="EN-GB"> are considered as potential human pathogens and some of the isolates were resistant to antibiotics. </span