A review on metabolomics for quality improvement of fruit crops

The field of metabolomics is gaining ground in plant biology, and its potential uses in agricultural biotechnology are expanding. Metabolomics is the study of metabolites, which are extremely small molecules. The phenotype correlates more strongly with the metabolomic profile than with the genomic, transcriptomic, or proteomic profiles. Plant metabolic profiling is another application of metabolomics that has been used to identify previously uncharacterized genes and their roles. The use of metabolomics to evaluate mutants and transgenic plants, track fruit development, determine quality, detect disease resistance, determine abiotic stress tolerance, etc., has become increasingly important. Metabolomics has also been applied to plant studies, which have become increasingly important in efforts to improve fruit quality. We first assess the profound influence metabolomics has had over the past decade, then provide an introduction to the field, its current contribution, and the hope it holds for enhancing fruit production

Hypothalamo-neurosecretory system of the female sea bass, Lates calcarifer (Bloch), with special reference to gonadal maturation

Hypothalamus of Lates calcarifer (Family : Centropomidae) consists mainly of nucleus preopticus (NPO), nucleus lateralis tuberis (NLT) and their axonal tracts. NPO is a paired structure situated on either side of the third ventricle slightly above the optic chiasma. It is a highly vascularised structure and cytoarchitecturally divisible into dorsal pars magnocellularis (PMC) comprising larger neurons and ventral pars parvocellularis (PPC) with smaller neurosecretory cells. In the hypothalamus the NLT cells were found distributed uniformly in the infundibular floor adjacent to the pituitary stalk. Prominent phloxine-positive neurosecretory material (NSM) was encountered in PPC of matured female. Though neurosecretory cells of both NPO and NLT were positive to aldehyde fuchsin (AF), acid and chrome-alum-hematoxylin-phloxine (CAHP), cellular differentiation was more marked in the latter. Both NPO and NLT contributed beaded axons to form the neurohypophysial tract. Herring bodies (HB) of varying sizes were encountered in the anterior neurohypophysis (ANH). Neurosecretory cells of both NPO and NLT exhibited fluctuations in their secretory activity in response to the gonadal maturation

Horticultural Classification of Citrus Cultivars

Globally, citrus fruits are grown over an area of 11.42 million ha with 179.0 million tons production. China with 82.7 m tons production is the major producer of citrus fruits followed by Brazil (18.14 m tons) and India (10.53 m tons) (FAOSTAT, 2019). All commercially used scion and rootstock cultivars belong to the genus Citrus, except kumquats, Fortunella spp., and Poncirus trifoliata, which are used as rootstock only all over the world. Worldwide citrus cultivars divided into four, reasonably-well-defined horticultural groups: the Sweet oranges, the mandarins, the grapefruits and the pummelos and the common acid members. The true or ‘biological’ citrus, including species of Citrus (C. reticulata, C. maxima and C. medica), share certain characteristics, however, these are clearly differentiated according to the morpho- taxonomic traits. Hundreds of different citrus cultivars are available. Many varieties were chance finds from natural populations, and not the product of intentional breeding efforts. Other varieties in common use have originated from planned citrus hybridization and breeding efforts from worldwide. Most of the readers will be well acquainted with the cultivated types of Citrus scion and rootstocks. This chapter provides ripening season information for worldwide, farmers/gardeners have had success with citrus in many different regions of world where tropical/subtropical climatic conditions occur

Experimental investigation of tensile properties and microstructure of TIG welded dissimilar joints of Al6061/Al5083 Aluminium alloy

262-270The welding of aluminium alloys especially in dissimilar combination is challenging owing to numerous problems. The present study focuses to optimize processes parameters for dissimilar welding of 6 mm thick dissimilar Al-6061 and Al-5083, using Tungsten Inert Gas welding as well as to investigate the influence of the process parameters on tensile properties and microstructure of developed welds. A single V-butt joint configuration (bevel angle 60 ̊ and root gap 2 mm) of plates was used for welding. Three levels of input parameters viz. voltage, current and welding speed were selected for performing experiments as per L9 orthogonal array. The hardness and tensile strength were taken as output parameters or performance characteristic in the study. The optimum parameter settings for highest heat affected zone hardness and ultimate tensile strength of dissimilar welds have been suggested by using S/N ratio. The result predicted by optimization has an error of 2-3%. Finally, the effects of voltage, current and welding speed on m icro structure, hardness and tensile strength of welds have been investigated. Welding speed and current were the most influencing process parameter for controlling the hardness of HAZ and tensile strength of the welds

Identification of novel resistant sources for ascochyta blight (Ascochyta rabiei) in chickpea

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the second largest pulse crop grown worldwide and ascochyta blight caused by Ascochyta rabiei (Pass.) Labr. is the most devastating disease of the crop in all chickpea growing areas across the continents. The pathogen A. rabiei is highly variable. The resistant sources available are not sufficient and new sources needs to be identified from time to time as resistance breakdown in existing chickpea varieties is very frequent due to fast evolution of new pathotypes of the pathogen. Therefore, this work was undertaken to evaluate the existing chickpea germplasm diversity conserved in Indian National Genebank against the disease under artificial epiphytotic conditions. An artificial standard inoculation procedure was followed for uniform spread of the pathogen. During the last five winter seasons from 2014–15 to 2018–19, a total of 1,970 accessions have been screened against the disease and promising accessions were identified and validated. Screening has resulted in identification of some promising chickpea accessions such as IC275447, IC117744, EC267301, IC248147 and EC220109 which have shown the disease resistance (disease severity score �3) in multiple seasons and locations. Promising accessions can serve as the potential donors in chickpea improvement programs. The frequency of resistant and moderately resistant type accessions was comparatively higher in accessions originated from Southwest Asian countries particularly Iran and Syria than the accessions originated from Indian sub-continent. Further large scale screening of chickpea germplasm originated from Southwest Asia may result in identifying new resistant sources for the disease

Detection of the infective Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes by RT-qPCR assay from a malaria-endemic region of Northeastern India

IntroductionThe diagnosis of infectious reservoirs in malaria (gametocytes) is necessary, especially in low-density infections and asymptomatic malaria patients. The gametocyte stage is a surrogate marker for infection of P. falciparum malaria in healthy individuals. The early detection of infectious gametocytes and treatment will strengthen our efforts in curbing transmission. The nested PCR and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) methods have been demonstrated for the diagnosis of infectious gametocyte reservoirs. In this study, RDT, blood smear microscopy, and nested-PCR were used for the detection of P. falciparum and P. vivax, and compared with RT-qPCR detection of Pfg27 gametocyte biomarker gene.MethodsIn the present cross-sectional study, 356 human blood samples were collected from endemic areas of Kokrajhar Assam (asymptomatic and symptomatic malaria patients) for malaria diagnosis.ResultsA total of 8.42%(30/356) incidence of malaria was observed. Malaria patients were observed to be both symptomatic, 80%(24/30; 13Pf+11Pv), and asymptomatic, 20%(6 (4Pf +2Pv)). More than 64%(11/17) of Pf and 92.3%(12/13) of Pv infections were observed in children and the adolescent population (age <20 years) by RDT, microscopy, nested PCR, and RT-qPCR methods. The prevalence of Pf infection was 4.77%(17/356) by RT-qPCR method. Of 16 the Pf positive samples 81.25%(13/16) were symptomatic and 18.75%(3/16) were asymptomatic. One asymptomatic individual was found positive for Pf infection by the RT-qPCR method.ConclusionThe findings from this research study revealed that the routine microscopy and RDT methods are insufficient for detecting all asymptomatic malaria and gametocyte infectious reservoirs. The early detection of infectious P. falciparum gametocytes and the treatment of patients will be helpful in preventing the transmission of malaria

Technical assistance to strengthen national agricultural research organizations’ capacity to use digital sequence information. A submission from CGIAR

CGIAR submitted this report in response to an open request from the Plant Treaty Secretary, for submissions regarding, a) contracting parties’ and stakeholders’ capacity building needs for accessing and using digital sequence information (DSI)/genomic sequence data (GSD) and b) ‘technical assistance’ and ‘actions taken’ by stakeholders (including CGIAR) ‘to reduce the existing gap on capacity regarding DSI/GSD’. The primary objective of this paper is to respond to the second part of the request by sharing information about how CGIAR Centers and Initiatives have been assisting organizations outside CGIAR to access, generate, share, analyse, and use DSI for the conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PRGFA) and for the use of PGRFA in pre-breeding and breeding. This paper does not provide an exhaustive account of all of the Centers’ relevant activities, but it does provide a general overview of the kinds of activities in which the Centers have been engaged. CGIAR very much appreciates the Governing Body’s initiative, as expressed in Resolution 16/2022, to ask the Plant Treaty Secretariat to gather and synthesize information about both demand for, and supply of, capacity strengthening related to DSI linked to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, with the overall objective of working to close the capacity gap between developed and developing countries. It is our hope that, based on the outcomes of this exercise, CGIAR will be able to further adapt and improve its own approach to capacity sharing in response to needs prioritized by the Governing Body

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

High pressure compression behaviour of bulk and nanocrystalline SnO2

The present paper reports a simple theoretical study of the pressure dependence of compressibility of bulk and the nano crystalline SnO2 of three different sizes (3, 8 & 14 nm) by using Equation of state model. The present work demonstrates the effect of size and pressure on compression and shows that the compressibility of nano-crystals depends upon size. The comparison of present results with available experimental data proves the validity of present model at bulk as well as nano scale. It is also found in this study that compressibility increases with decreasing particle size which is consistent with other available experimental and theoretical data