Control of adventitious rooting in the alpine perennial Arabia alpina

Successful adventitious root development ensures the efficient clonal propagation of alpine perennials under harsh environmental conditions, but the molecular basis of this process is not well understood. I used the alpine perennial Arabis alpina to explore natural variation of adventitious rooting and investigate the molecular basis of adventitious root development in alpine perennials. Plants of the A. alpina accessions, Pajares (Paj), Dorfertal (Dor), Totes Gebirge (Tot) and West Carpathians (Wca), and the perpetual flowering 1-1 (pep1-1) mutant were scored after growth in a long day greenhouse. The occupancy of adventitious roots on the hypocotyl, main stem, and axillary branches varied between genotypes. Especially, Wca plants produced adventitious roots on the main stem, which correlated with the higher expression of the A. alpina homolog of GH3.3. Exogenous auxin application by foliar spraying promoted adventitious root formation robustly in a genotype and age-dependent manner. I also applied auxin spray on vernalized Paj plants and scored the presence of adventitious roots on stems after plants were transferred in long day greenhouse. Adventitious roots developed from the vascular cambium cells specifically on younger internodes. High-throughput RNA sequencing revealed the differential regulation of auxin transporter genes in the internodes that produce adventitious roots compared to the ones that do not, indicating a key role for polar auxin transport during the induction of adventitious rooting after auxin spray. Auxin-responsive genes showed internode-specific transcript accumulation in response to auxin spray, which correlated with their rooting ability. In addition, transcripts of several meristem-associated genes were enhanced in the internodes that develop adventitious roots after auxin spray, indicating the establishment of root primordium during vernalization. Extended vernalization overcame the requirement to spray with synthetic auxin for the development of adventitious roots. After 21 weeks of vernalization, adventitious roots developed in young internodes and transcriptome profiling indicated the presence of initiator cells during vernalization and the involvement of auxin during the establishment of the initiator cells

Genetic Basis of Flocculation in Azospirillum brasilense.

Azospirillum brasilense is a class of rhizobacteria capable of nitrogen fixation, root colonization and hence promoting host plant growth. The bacteria posses cell interaction behaviors like clumping and flocculation that contribute the survival of the organism in nutrient limited conditions. Change in the cell surface adhesive properties allows the cells to progress from free swimming to clumping and finally flocculation. Less is known about the genetic regulation of these processes with flcA being the only transcriptional regulator known so far to directly control flocculation. Recent evidence suggesting that Che1, a chemotaxis like signal transduction pathway controls the cell behavior clumping and hence indirectly controlling flocculation, To understand the genetic regulation of clumping and flocculation in A. brasilense Sp7, the research here focuses on a subset of 27 of these transposon mutants. The objective of this research was to map the insertion by rescue cloning, characterize the mutant for growth, motility and clumping using qualitative and quantitative assays and characterize the effect of the mutations identified on flocculation. By rescue cloning we mapped the transposon insertion for nine out of the twenty-seven mutations. The insertions were mapped on glycosyltransferases, glucosyltransferase, putative TonB-dependent siderophore receptor, Acyl-CoA thioesterase and sugar phosphatase of the HAD superfamily. All these mutants were characterized for the clumping and flocculation phenotype and while some of these mutants showed severe delay in clumping and/or flocculation indicating changes in cell surface adhesive properties of the mutants compared to the wild type. Further investigations like supplementation of media with different sources of iron provided an insight into understanding the indirect effect of the PM3 mutation on the iron transport pathway. Also, the lectin-binding assay provided insightful information about the changes in the exopolysaccharide (EPS) composition during the different stages of cell aggregation. In conclusion the experiments provided good measure of information about the changes in the cell surface properties specifically with relation to proteins and EPS as an initial investigation. Future work will concentrate on screening the effects of these mutations on the expression of downstream genes and further phenotypic characterization of the selected mutants

A pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of adjunctive use of two antimicrobial topical gels in chronic gingivitis

Gingivitis is one of the most prevalent oral disease in humans. The most important etiological factor of gingivitis is dental plaque. Plaque control procedures comprises of several mechanical and chemical methods. Many studies have advocated that chemica

Menstrual Characteristics of Adolescent Athletes: A Study from West Bengal, India

The present study investigates: (i) differences in menstrual characteristics of athlete and non-athlete adolescents; (ii) relationship between menstrual characteristics, anthropometric variables, athletic status and socioeconomic status. The present study was conducted among 159 unmarried adolescents (80 athletes and 79 non-athletes) of age 15 to 19 years. The study participants belong to Bengali speaking Hindu ethnic group of Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal State of India. Data were collected on socio-demographic and menstrual characteristics using pre-tested questionnaires. Anthropometric measurements were taken following standard methods. Descriptive statistics were used to understand the differences in menstrual characteristics between athletes and non-athletes, stepwise linear regression analyses were carried out to predict age at menarche, menstrual cycle length and duration of menstrual discharge using socio-demographic and anthropometric variables as well as athletic status as independent variables. Logistic (binary) regression was carried out to assess the strength of association between menstrual characteristics (as dependent variables) and athletic status, socio-demographic and anthropometric variables, and other menstrual characteristics (independent variables). The study participants differ significantly (p≤0.05) for certain menstrual characteristics such as age at menarche, cycle length, skipped cycle, premenstrual syndrome, heavy discharge when compared for their athletic status. Certain anthropometric and socioeconomic variables were found to be significantly associated with their menstrual characteristics. The study results demonstrate that menstrual functioning among adolescents is significantly influenced by their athletic status. The findings of this study would help health care professionals to devise future health care programs for adolescents in general and athletes in particular

Menstrual Characteristics of Adolescent Athletes: A Study from West Bengal, India

The present study investigates: (i) differences in menstrual characteristics of athlete and non-athlete adolescents; (ii) relationship between menstrual characteristics, anthropometric variables, athletic status and socioeconomic status. The present study was conducted among 159 unmarried adolescents (80 athletes and 79 non-athletes) of age 15 to 19 years. The study participants belong to Bengali speaking Hindu ethnic group of Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal State of India. Data were collected on socio-demographic and menstrual characteristics using pre-tested questionnaires. Anthropometric measurements were taken following standard methods. Descriptive statistics were used to understand the differences in menstrual characteristics between athletes and non-athletes, stepwise linear regression analyses were carried out to predict age at menarche, menstrual cycle length and duration of menstrual discharge using socio-demographic and anthropometric variables as well as athletic status as independent variables. Logistic (binary) regression was carried out to assess the strength of association between menstrual characteristics (as dependent variables) and athletic status, socio-demographic and anthropometric variables, and other menstrual characteristics (independent variables). The study participants differ significantly (p≤0.05) for certain menstrual characteristics such as age at menarche, cycle length, skipped cycle, premenstrual syndrome, heavy discharge when compared for their athletic status. Certain anthropometric and socioeconomic variables were found to be significantly associated with their menstrual characteristics. The study results demonstrate that menstrual functioning among adolescents is significantly influenced by their athletic status. The findings of this study would help health care professionals to devise future health care programs for adolescents in general and athletes in particular

Computational Chemistry and Bioinformatics Research Core (CCBRC)

Department/Unit poster (BioMolecular Sciences). Corresponding author: Sushil Mishra ([email protected])https://egrove.olemiss.edu/pharm_annual_posters_2022/1012/thumbnail.jp