Education for all : a potentially pretty picture

The concept of Education for All is the foundation for an inclusive society but it cannot be made possible just by extending the existing idea and system of education. A paradigm shift in thinking is required. That is why, it is essential to think about the beliefs, ideologies, practices and resources in the current system of education and assess whether these are appropriate or need fundamental changes

Development and utilization of single nucleotide polymorphic markers on udp-glucosyl transferases to develop Fusarium head blight resistant wheat varieties

Non-Peer Reviewe

Raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO) biosynthesis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seeds

To increase the global acceptability of chickpea by improving its nutritional quality, seed RFO (Raffinose Family Oligosaccharides) concentration needs to be reduced without affecting their role during seed development and positive impact on human health. To achieve this objective, the key regulating step(s) of RFO biosynthesis needs to be identified. The three main objectives of the thesis were: (1) to optimize an analytical method to determine soluble sugars concentration in chickpea seeds including RFO, (2) to determine chickpea genotypes with contrasting seed RFO concentration, and (3) to optimize and validate RFO biosynthetic enzyme activity assays. These three objectives of the thesis provided basis of the fourth objective. For the first objective, a modified HPAEC-PAD (High performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detector) based gradient approach was optimized to study the concentration and composition of soluble sugars in chickpea seeds. The optimized method separated all the soluble sugars within 20 min of run time with higher accuracy, sensitivity and precision compared to previously reported methods. Therefore, the optimized method was utilized to study the natural variation in RFO concentration of 171 chickpea genotypes. Sucrose (0.60 - 3.59 g/100 g) and stachyose (0.18 − 2.38 g/100 g) were predominant among soluble sugars and RFO, respectively. Analysis of variance revealed a significant impact (P ≤ 0.001) of genotype (G), environment (E), and their interaction (G×E) on seed RFO concentration in chickpea. A significant positive correlation was observed between substrate and product concentration in RFO biosynthesis. Raffinose, stachyose and verbascose showed moderate broad sense heritability (0.25 − 0.56) suggesting the quantitative nature of the RFO trait in chickpea seeds. Desi (ICC 1163, ICC 1471, ICC 9562, ICCV 07115, ICCV 07116 and ICCV 07117) and kabuli (ICC 5270, ICC 10674, ICC 16216, ICC 16528, ICCV 3 and ICCV 91302) chickpea genotypes with high and low RFO concentrations (high RFO genotypes are underlined) were identified. RFO biosynthetic enzymes activities were optimized for substrate and protein concentration, temperature (25 °C), time (10 min for galactinol synthase and 60 min for other biosynthetic enzymes) and pH (7.0). These assays were validated at different seed developmental stages of two released varieties: CDC Vanguard and CDC Frontier. Simultaneously, RFO accumulation at different seed developmental stages was also studied. During 18 - 38 DAF (days after flowering), about a 75 % decrease in seed moisture was observed coinciding with the accumulation of RFO providing desiccation tolerance to maturing seeds. The initial substrates viz. myo-inositol and sucrose were observed throughout seed development process having maximum accumulation at 18 - 20 (0.50 – 0.57 g/100 g) and 20 - 22 (9.94 - 11.17 g/100 g) DAF that decreased afterwards supporting the biosynthesis of galactinol and raffinose, respectively. Galactinol is considered as the universal galactosyl donor, it showed the highest concentration at 30 DAF and this was later utilized for increased RFO accumulation till 36 DAF. Activity of RFO biosynthetic enzymes was observed 2 - 6 days prior to first detection of their corresponding products whereas the highest activities were determined 2 - 4 days prior to maximum accumulation of RFO. However, maximum GS (galactinol synthase) activity was observed at 36 DAF but this did not correspond to amount of galactinol accumulation in seeds. This indicated that galactinol was synthesized in higher amount even after 30 DAF but directed towards RFO biosynthesis thus could not necessarily accumulate in seeds. A galactinol independent pathway was also found operative in chickpea seeds. These results suggested that substrate concentration and GS activity might be the possible factors regulating seed RFO concentration in chickpea. The fourth objective utilized the information, material and methods from the previous three objectives. Chickpea genotypes with contrasting RFO concentration were compared for seed size and weight, germination capacity and RFO biosynthesis (accumulation and biosynthetic enzymes activities during seed development). Sucrose concentration showed a significant positive (r = 0.728, P ≤ 0.05) correlation with seed size/weight. RFO concentration was a facilitator of seed germination rather than regulating factor. Higher accumulation of myo-inositol and sucrose in high RFO genotypes during early seed developmental stages suggested that initial substrates concentrations may influence seed RFO concentration. High RFO genotypes expressed about 2 - 3 fold higher activity for all RFO biosynthetic enzymes compared to those with low RFO concentration. The enzyme activity data corresponded with the accumulation of individual RFO during chickpea seed development. In conclusion, regulating galactinol synthase activity is a potential strategy to reduce seed RFO concentration in chickpea. The present study can be extended to study RFO biosynthesis at the transcript level and the influence of RFO biosynthetic enzymes on seed size and weight, germination, RFO concentration, yield, and stress tolerance

Unsung heroes: what is it that makes them stand out?

He found time to work with each child and called them by their names and did not ever address them as 'Hey Boy or Hey Girl'. This was an important attribute which I feel contributed to his acceptance amongst the children

Ensuring dialogue and institutional alignment in the education system

Education is important, interesting but a complex process. It is complex because it is social in nature. Geographical, cultural and other diversities in a society are a major source of complexity. A second source of complexity results from the wide field of content areas and pedagogies which keep changing. Yet another area that adds to this complex process is the variety of stakeholders, for example the diversity we come across with respect to students and teachers with the kind of changes happening there in multiple dimensions. The context of public education in a large and culturally diverse country like India takes the issue and scope of complexity to an entirely different level. We can get a glimpse of it by just looking at the number of children who are being provided Mid Day Meals (MDM) in schools. This number is more than entire populations of many countries. The diversity of food habits even in one Indian state is such that preparing MDM menu itself is quite a challenging task.Collective and coordinated efforts and a continuous ‘dialogue’ are much needed for all those working in the education domain. This dialogue and mutual alignment would break the professional isolation of education functionaries and thus help individuals and institutions to support each-other and play complementary roles. ARG experiment in Uttarakhand provides a healthy beginning though the journey is very long and we find ourselves only it its first leg. We see that ‘communication and alignment is not a destination but a direction and ARG is heading towards it

From policy to practice : a story from Uttarakhand

The discourse around the dwindling state of our Public Education System is endless and is heard everywhere irrespective of the depth of the analysis. The state of education affects everyone, consequently, everyone seems to have an opinion about it. Our judgements are often superficial and we miss taking into account the complexity of our Public Education System – right from the classroom to the educational policies. At one end of the spectrum is the classroom, which is an astoundingly heterogenous space with each student bringing to it hers or his own diversity in the form of social and economic background, emotional and intellectual temperament, response to learning, and a variety of interests, abilities and limitations. If we consider the education system of the country, the complexity in terms of creating and administering a huge system of Secretariats, Directorates, Board of Examinations at the state and central levels, the constitution of the basic functional structures at the district and sub-district levels; and the ground-level engagement with local self-governments, parents, teacher communities and school management – is colossal. From the Parliament to the parent, everyone has a stake in the Public Education System at some level. The challenges of this vast system, with such complexity and scale, are often overlooked when we talk of educational reforms

Chickpea – nutritional quality and role in alleviation of global malnourishment

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) constitute a well-balanced source of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals essential to combat malnourishment in human populations. The various seed constituents show large variations in abundance between genotypes, which allow selection of lines for both calorie-rich and calorie-reduced diets. Chickpea with a high protein content combined with high digestibility is preferred in diets where food is scarce. In diets of affluent cultures, chickpeas with good vitamin, fatty acid and mineral balance combined with low digestibility would have a preference. The major challenges in chickpea improvement are development of region-specific genotypes with reduced content of anti-nutritional constituents such as the raffinose family of oligosaccharides. This improvement would encourage a wider use of chickpea-based diets around the world

Variation in important seed constituents among various chickpea genotypes

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the third most important pulse crop and an excellent source of protein in the human diet (Garg et al., 2011). However, the presence of anti-nutritional factors like the raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO) restrains its acceptability as food and feed (Olmedilla Alonso et al., 2010). Higher concentration of RFO in chickpea seeds affects human health negatively and plays an important physiological role in plants (Martinez-Villaluenga et al., 2008). Hence, there is a need to reduce RFO concentration in seeds without affecting plant growth. To achieve this objective, it is imperative to understand the biochemical mechanism and genetic basis of the RFO biosynthetic pathway. As a first step, we studied the variation in RFO concentration along with starch and protein in a germplasm collection of 152 genotypes. These genotypes were grown in the field for two consecutive years 2009 and 2010 at ICRISAT in India and in greenhouse in 2010 at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Enzymatic methods using commercial kits (Megazyme International) were used to determine starch and total RFO concentration. Protein concentration was determined by FP-528 Protein/Nitrogen Analyzer (Leco). To determine individual RFO profiles, we have developed a new high performance anion exchanged chromatography based gradient method. Results showed that lentil genotypes from greenhouse cultivation had significantly lower (1.58–4.67 mmoles/100 g-1) concentration of total RFO than that of their field grown counterparts. Stachyose was identified as a major RFO in chickpea seeds followed by raffinose and verbascose. Individual RFOs (raffinose, stachyose and verbascose) showed higher concentration in the ICRISAT 2009 set than that of the ICRiSAT 2010 and greenhouse sets. An obvious strong positive correlation was found among total RFO and individual members of the family. Starch concentration in chickpea genotypes ranged from 25.7 to 50.7% of total seed weight. ICRISAT 2009 set (29.4–50.7%) had a higher amount of starch than that in ICRISAT 2010 (25.7–44.5%) and the greenhouse set (28.2–44.4%). Starch concentration showed a positive correlation with total RFO. The chickpea seeds have 13.5–31.7% protein. Genotypes in the ICRISAT 2010 set had a higher amount of protein (17.92–31.73%) compared to the ICRISAT 2009 and greenhouse sets. A significant negative correlation was observed between protein and starch concentration. Analysis of variance revealed a significant effect (P < 0.001) of genotype, environment and genotype x environment on chickpea seed constituents. This study has revealed the RFO variation in chickpea genotypes and its correlation with other important seed constituents. These findings will be helpful in genotype screening for contrasting RFO concentration and in exploring the RFO biosynthetic pathway

Co-localization of genomic regions associated with seed morphology and composition in a desi chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) population varying in seed protein concentration

Key message Major QTL on LG 1 and 3 control seed filling and seed coat development, thereby affecting seed shape, size, color, composition and weight, key determinants of crop yield and quality. Abstract A chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) population consisting of 189 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between medium-protein ICC 995 and high-protein ICC 5912 genotypes of the desi market class was analyzed for seed properties. Seed from the parental lines and RILs was produced in four different environments for determination of seed shape (SS), 100-seed weight (100-SW), protein (PRO) and starch (STA) concentration. Polymorphic genetic markers for the population were identified by Genotyping by Sequencing and assembled into a 522.5 cM genetic map. Phenotype data from the different growth environments were analyzed by QTL mapping done by single and multi-environment analyses and in addition, single marker association mapping. The analyses identified in total 11 QTL, of which the most significant (P < 0.05) loci were located on LG 1 (q-1.1), LG 2 (q-2.1), LG 3 (q-3.2, q-3.3), LG 4 (q-4.2), and LG 5 (q-5.1). STA was mostly affected by q-1.1, which explained 19.0% of the phenotypic variance for the trait. The largest QTL effects were demonstrated by q-3.2 that explained 52.5% of the phenotypic variances for 100-SW, 44.3% for PRO, and 14.6% for SS. This locus was also highly associated with flower color (COL; 95.2% explained) and showed q-3.2 alleles from the ICC 5912 parent conferred the blue flower color and production of small, round seeds with relatively high protein concentration. Genes affecting seed filling at q-1.1 and seed coat development at q-3.2, respectively, were considered to underlie differences in seed composition and morphology in the RIL population

Calcium phosphate nanoparticles as intrinsic inorganic antimicrobials: In search of the key particle property

One of the main goals of materials science in the 21st century is the development of materials with rationally designed properties as substitutes for traditional pharmacotherapies. At the same time, there is a lack of understanding of the exact material properties that induce therapeutic effects in biological systems, which limits their rational optimization for the related medical applications. This study sets the foundation for a general approach for elucidating nanoparticle properties as determinants of antibacterial activity, with a particular focus on calcium phosphate nanoparticles. To that end, nine physicochemical effects were studied and a number of them were refuted, thus putting an end to frequently erred hypotheses in the literature. Rather than having one key particle property responsible for eliciting the antibacterial effect, a complex synergy of factors is shown to be at work, including (a) nanoscopic size; (b) elevated intracellular free calcium levels due to nanoparticle solubility; (c) diffusivity and favorable electrostatic properties of the nanoparticle surface, primarily low net charge and high charge density; and (d) the dynamics of perpetual exchange of ultrafine clusters across the particle/solution interface. On the positive side, this multifaceted mechanism is less prone to induce bacterial resistance to the therapy and can be a gateway to the sphere of personalized medicine. On a more problematic side, it implies a less intense effect compared to single-target molecular therapies and a difficulty of elucidating the exact mechanisms of action, while also making the rational design of theirs for this type of medical application a challenge