Isolation and screening of potential actinobacteria for rapid composting of rice straw

Rice straw is produced as a by-product from rice cultivation, which is composed largely of lignocellulosic materials amenable to general biodegradation. Lignocellulolytic actinobacteria can be used as a potential agent for rapid composting of bulky rice straw. Twenty-five actinobacteria isolates were isolated from various in situ and in vitro rice straw compost sources. Isolates A2, A4, A7, A9 and A24 were selected through enzymatic degradation of starch, cellulose and lignin followed by the screening for their adaptability on rice straw powder amended media. The best adapted isolate (A7) was identified as Micromonospora carbonacea. It was able to degrade cellulose, hemicelluloses and carbon significantly (P ≤ 0.05) over the control. C/N ratio was reduced to 18.1 from an initial value of 29.3 in 6 weeks of composting thus having the potential to be used in large scale composting of rice straw.     

Book reviews

Environmental Biology of Fishes -     

THE EVOLUTION OF GENETIC CORRELATIONS: AN ANALYSIS OF PATTERNS

The genetic correlation is a central parameter of quantitative genetics, providing a measure of the rate at which traits respond to indirect selection (i.e., selection that does not act upon the traits under study, but some other trait with which they have genes in common). In this paper, I review the pattern of variation among four combinations of traits: life history × life history (L × L), morphological × morphological (M × M), life history × morphological (L × M), and behavioral × behavioral (B × B). A few other combinations were investigated, but insufficient data were obtained for separate analysis. A total of 1798 correlations, distributed over 51 different animal and plant species, were analyzed. The analysis was conducted at two levels: first by dividing the data set solely by trait combination, and second by blocking the data by trait combination and species. Because selection will tend to fix alleles that show positive correlations with fitness traits faster than those that are negative and because the latter are expected to arise more frequently by mutation, correlations between life-history traits are predicted to be more often negative than those between morphological traits. This prediction was supported, with the ranking in decreasing proportion of negative correlations being: L × L > L × M > B × B > M × M. The mean magnitude of the genetic correlation shows little variation among morphological and life-history combinations, and the distribution of values is remarkably flat. However, the estimated standard errors and the coefficient of variation (SE/r_G) are large, making it difficult to separate biological factors influencing the pattern of dispersion from experimental error. Analysis of the phenotypic and genetic correlations suggest that for the combinations M × M and L × M, but not L × L or B × B, the phenotypic correlation is an adequate estimate of the genetic correlation.     

Polygalacturonase activity and variation in ripening of papaya fruit with tissue depth and heat treatment

Effects of tissue position (viz. outer vs inner mesocarp) and heat treatment (48°C, 20 min) on variations in polygalacturonase (EC 3.2.1.15 and EC 3.2.1.67) activity and ripening of fruits of Carica papaya L. cv. Backcross Solo were investigated. Polygalacturonase activity increased during ripening concomitantly with an increase in tissue softness and soluble polyuronide level. Throughout ripening, inner mesocarp tissue was softer and contained higher polygalacturonase activity than outer mesocarp tissue. Titratable acidity as well as ß-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23) activity also increased during ripening; however, unlike polygalacturonase, their level or activity was lower in inner than in outer mesocarp. Ascorbic acid could partially account for the increase in titratable acidity during ripening but contributed very little to the differences in titratable acid levels between outer and inner mesocarp. Heat treatment had no effect on either fruit softness or titratable acidity, but it markedly reduced the increase in ascorbic acid and polygalacturonase activity during ripening. Ripening, as reflected by changes in tissue softness and polygalacturonase activity, progressed outwardly from the interior towards the exterior of the fruit. The effect of heat treatment in suppressing polygalacturonase activity was relatively greater in inner than in outer mesocarp, suggesting that sensitivity of the enzyme to heat treatment may vary with stage of ripeness of the tissue.     

Effects of changes in discharge level on temperature and oxygen regimes in a new reservoir and downstream

Temperature and oxygen regimes were monitored weekly in a four-year old reservoir and downstream for ten weeks during the summer (May 15 to July 30, 1979), and monthly in the fall and winter. During the summer discharge levels were changed from top to bottom in the eighth week, back to top in the ninth, all at 0.71 m³/s (= 25 cfs), and returned to the bottom in the tenth, but at 1.14 m³/s (= 40 cfs). Changing the discharge level had little or no impact on the thermal regime within the lake or downstream at 1.14 m³/s and only a moderate impact on water in the lake near the dam at 0.71 m³/s bottom discharge by generating double thermoclines. Oxygen depletion rates were greatest near the surface of the lake, mainly due to temperature effects, but increased greatly at the 3 m depth, the level of the top discharge port, when discharge was changed from bottom to top. Discharge of anoxic waters through the bottom of the dam caused a drop in oxygen content immediately downstream but oxygen content returned to inflow values within 1 km downstream of the dam.     

Endogenous lectins from cultured cells. Isolation and characterization of carbohydrate-binding proteins from 3T3 fibroblasts

Extracts of cultured 3T3 fibroblasts, obtained by homogenization and Triton X-100 solubilization, were fractionated on Sepharose columns covalently derivatized with asialofetuin. Three distinct carbohydrate-binding proteins (CBPs) were purified from the material bound to the affinity column: CBP35 (Mr = 35,000), CBP16 (Mr = 16,000), and CBP13.5 (Mr = 13,500). These CBPs were similar in several key properties. (a) They showed agglutination activity when assayed with rabbit erythrocytes; (b) they all appear to specifically recognize galactose-containing glycoconjugates; (c) they have low isoelectric points, pI 4.5-4.7; (d) their binding activities are rapidly lost in the absence of beta-mercaptoethanol; (e) the CBPs do not interact with each other, and the fractionated proteins can bind to asialofetuin independent of associated polypeptides; and (f) none of the proteins tend to self-associate to form oligomers of identical subunits. Comparisons of these and other properties of the CBPs suggest that CBP16 and CBP13.5 may be the murine counterparts of lactose-specific lectins previously identified in electric eel and in several bovine and avian tissues. In contrast, it appears that CBP35 represents a newly identified protein capable of binding to galactose-containing carbohydrates.     

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) protoplasts: isolation, culture and microcallus formation

Procedures are deseribed for the efficient isolation of protoplasts from a variety of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) tissues. Various factors including donor source, composition of enzyme mixture and culture medium affected the yield and viability of the protoplasts Polyembryogenic cultures of oil palm were the most suitable starting material in terms of yield, viability and metabolic competence. Pectolyase Y-23 in association with cellulase and hemicellulase was required for the efficient release of protoplasts from the oil palm tissues. Limited cell division to form microcallus was observed at very low frequency (<0.01%) when glutathione and catalase were incorporated in the culture medium.Abbreviations 2,4-d dichlorophenoxyacetic acid - DTT dithiothreitol - MES 2[N-morpholino] ethanesulphonic acid - NAA 1-naphthalene acetic acid - PVP polyvinylpyrrolidone