Aeropalynological study in Rohtak city, Haryana, India: a 2-year survey

An aeropalynological survey was conducted at two different sites in Rohtak city, Haryana, at a height of 1.8 m, three times a day, for two consecutive years (July 2007–June 2009). A total of 31 pollen types were identified to the lowest taxonomical level whenever possible. The major contributor to the pollen load was Cannabis sativa (28.9 %) followed by Poaceae (20.65 %), Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae (10.56 %), Parthenium hysterophorus (6.80 %), Morus alba (6.15 %), Artemisia sp. (4.03 %), Cyperus sp. (3.20 %) and Eucalyptus sp. (3.07 %). Two major pollen seasons were recognized, that is, July–October and March–April, although pollen was recorded in varying concentrations all along the year. Spatial variations were also observed, with higher pollen loads at the site surrounded by dense vegetation. The study will provide preliminary but useful data to local allergologists for effective diagnosis and treatment of respiratory allergic ailments.     

Variability in intra-specific and monosporous isolates of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Volvariella volvacea</Emphasis> based on enzyme activity,ITS and RAPD

Two parents and 15 monosporous isolates were morphologically characterized and were found to vary in their growth characteristics on malt extract agar medium. The isolates also varied in enzymes activity profile with respect to exoglucanase, endoglucanase, xylanase, laccase and polyphenol oxidase. Further in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region of 5.8S rDNA, an amplicon of same length (720 bp) was amplified from two parents and all the monosporous isolates, which revealed that all belong to the same species. The combined phylogenetic analysis of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles obtained with five decamer primers (operon kit B) series primers also revealed intra-specific variation of 60% with in the two parent strains and their single spore isolates (SSIs). However, the variations between the parent strains and their SSIs were lesser and it was 50 and 32% in parent strains, OE-210 and OE-12, respectively. Based upon phylogenetic analysis, the isolates of parent strain, OE-210 formed 7 distinct phylogenetic clades, while of strain OE-12 formed 4 clades. The study elucidates that isolates showing variations in morphological growth characteristics and enzymes activity also showed variations in their RAPD profiles, revealed through phylogenetic analysis of RAPD profiles. It is also evident from the study that morphological characterization along with enzymes activity assay of strains is essential before their use in yield evaluation trials with final authentication from molecular analysis.     

Genetic Diversity and Structure of Two Prominent Zebu Cattle Breeds Adapted to the Arid Region of India Inferred from Microsatellite Polymorphism

This study aims to assess the genetic diversity and population structure of two major zebu dairy breeds (Tharparkar and Rathi) adapted to the arid region of Rajasthan state of India. Various variability estimates indicate the existence of sufficient within-breed genetic diversity. Mean estimates of F-statistics are significantly different from zero: F _IS = 0.112 ± 0.029, F _IT = 0.169 ± 0.033, F _ST = 0.065 ± 0.017. The overall positive value of F _IS (0.112) and an F _IT value (0.169) that is more than the F _ST (0.065) indicate departure from random mating. The drift-based estimates reflect a moderate yet significant level of breed differentiation between the Tharparkar and Rathi breeds. The evaluation of an exact test, showing that allele frequencies across all the loci differed significantly, supports the population differentiation. This is paralleled by the outcome of neighbor-joining clustering based on allele-sharing distance measures. The allocation of a high percentage of individuals (95.7%) to their population of origin and correspondence analysis further substantiates the existence of a cohesive genetic structure in both the breeds.     

Evaluation of Genetic Differentiation in Bos indicus Cattle Breeds from Marathwada Region of India Using Microsatellite Polymorphism

Elucidation of genetic variability and genetic relationship among breeds has direct relevance with the issues of sustainable use of domestic animal genetic resources. In the present study, genetic polymorphism was evaluated using 22 microsatellite loci in unrelated samples of Red Kandhari and Deoni cattle breeds inhabiting the same geographical area of Marathwada region in Maharashtra state (western India). This work was mainly aimed at assessing the current genetic diversity to understand whether the two zebu populations in question are genetically differentiated. A total of 164 alleles were detected with an average of 5.82 and 5.86 alleles per locus (MNA) in Red Kandhari and Deoni breeds, respectively. The estimated mean observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity were 0.47 and 0.64 in Red Kandhari vs. 0.57 and 0.69 in Deoni cattle, respectively, demonstrating considerable level of genetic variation in both the populations. Mean estimates of F statistics were: F (FIT) = 0.315±0.035, f(FIS) = 0.231±0.031, θ(FST) = 0.110±0.022, with both the breeds exhibiting significant deficit of heterozygotes (FIS = 0.179 in Deoni; 0.278 in Red Kandhari). The multilocus FST values implied that 11.0% of the total genetic variation corresponds to breed and were statistically greater than zero for the two populations, suggesting population division. The evaluation of exact test also indicated that allele frequencies across all the loci differed significantly (P < 0.001) between two zebu breeds, further supporting population differentiation. Different genetic distance measures showed considerable levels of distances between the two cattle breeds (0.318 = Nei's standard DS; 0.250 = Nei's DA; 0.416 = Cavalli-Sforza and Edwards's DC; 0.164 = Reynold's, and 2.64 = Delta mu square (dμ)2. Bayesian statistical approach to assign each individual to the population also supported considerable differentiation between the two cattle breeds, possibly reflecting the limited gene flow between the two Marthwada cattle populations. The existence of cohesive breeding structure of both the breeds was further substantiated by allele-sharing distance measures (DAS) among individual animals. The results of this study thus revealed that the two Bos indicus breeds sharing the common breeding tracts are genetically differentiated enough as separate breeds.     

Purification and Characterization of Bacteriocin Produced by Lactobacillus brevis UN Isolated from Dhulliachar: a Traditional Food Product of North East India

A bacteriocin producing strain Lactobacillus brevis UN isolated from Dulliachar—a salted pickle and identified by biochemical and molecular methods. L. brevis UN was found to produce bacteriocin with broad spectrum activity against spoilage causing/food borne pathogens viz. L. monocytogenes, C. perfringens, S. aureus, L. mesenteroides, L. plantarum and B. cereus. Bacteriocin production was optimized through classical one variable at a time method. The isolate showed maximum bacteriocin production at early stationary phase, pH 4.0, temperature 35 °C and with an inoculum size of 1.5 OD @ 10 %. Bacteriocin produced by L. brevis UN was purified to homogeneity by single step gel exclusion chromatography and was most active at pH 6.0 and 7.0, stable up to 100 °C and was proteinaceous in nature. The results of NMR revealed the presence of proline, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, leucine, isoleucine and serine in its peptide structure. PCR amplification analysis determined that bacteriocin encoded gene in L. brevis UN was plasmid bound.     

Balancing reactive oxygen species generation by rebooting gut microbiota

Reactive oxygen species (ROS; free radical form O₂^•−, superoxide radical; OH^•, hydroxyl radical; ROO^•, peroxyl; RO^•, alkoxyl and non-radical form ¹O₂, singlet oxygen; H₂O₂, hydrogen peroxide) are inevitable companions of aerobic life with crucial role in gut health. But, overwhelming production of ROS can cause serious damage to biomolecules. In this review, we have discussed several sources of ROS production that can be beneficial or dangerous to the human gut. Micro-organisms, organelles and enzymes play crucial role in ROS generation, where NOX1 is the main intestinal enzyme, which produce ROS in the intestine epithelial cells. Previous studies have reported that probiotics play significant role in gut homeostasis by checking the ROS generation, maintaining the antioxidant level, immune system and barrier protection. With current knowledge, we have critically analysed the available literature and presented the outcome in the form of bubble maps to suggest that the probiotics help in controlling the ROS-specific intestinal diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colon cancer. Finally, it has been concluded that rebooting of the gut microbiota with probiotics, postbiotics or faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can have crucial implications in the structuring of gut communities for the personalized management of the gastrointestinal (GI) diseases.     

Unsupervised organization of cervical cells using bright‐field and single‐shot digital holographic microscopy

We report results on unsupervised organization of cervical cells using microscopy of Pap‐smear samples in brightfield (3‐channel color) as well as high‐resolution quantitative phase imaging modalities. A number of morphological parameters are measured for each of the 1450 cell nuclei (from 10 woman subjects) imaged in this study. The principal component analysis (PCA) methodology applied to this data shows that the cell image clustering performance improves significantly when brightfield as well as phase information is utilized for PCA as compared to when brightfield‐only information is used. The results point to the feasibility of an image‐based tool that will be able to mark suspicious cells for further examination by the pathologist. More importantly, our results suggest that the information in quantitative phase images of cells that is typically not used in clinical practice is valuable for automated cell classification applications in general.      

Liver cytochrome P-450 system in rats with a varying susceptibility to the development of experimental alcoholism

The cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenase system of the liver was studied in laboratory noninbred male rats selected according to the intensity of their initial alcohol motivation and the dynamics of these parameters was followed up during 10-day alcoholisation. It was shown that in the animals inclined to the development of alcoholism the activity of the monooxygenase system (cytochrome P-450, B5; enzymes: aminopyrine N-demethylase, aniline p-hydroxylase, NADPH-cytochrome c-reductase) is higher than in the animals noninclined to the development of this disease. 10-day alcohol consumption in the free-choice situation between water and 15% ethanol solution did not change the parameters investigated. The only exception was NADPH-cytochrome c-reductase: its activity grew in both the groups of the animals by 40-75%.     

Microsatellite analysis of genetic population structure of zebu cattle (Bos indicus) breeds from north-western region of India

The present study aims to understand the existing genetic diversity and structure of six native cattle breeds (Rathi, Tharparkar, Nagori, Mewati, Gir, and Kankrej) adapted to the north-western arid and semi-arid region of India based on microsatellite loci. Various diversity estimates, mean number of alleles (12.84); effective number of alleles (5.02); gene diversity (0.769), and observed heterozygosity (0.667) reflected the existence of substantial within-breed diversity in all the investigated cattle breeds. Mean estimates of F-statistics: F(IT) = 0.144 ± 0.023, F(IS) = 0.071 ± 0.021, and F(ST) = 0.078 ± 0.014 were significantly different from zero (P < 0.05). The interbreed relationships indicated moderate level of breed differentiation between the six cattle breeds with least differentiation between Kankrej-Mewati pair. The phylogeny structuring further supported close grouping of Kankrej and Mewati breeds. Correspondence analysis plotted Rathi, Tharparkar, and Gir individuals into three separate areas of multivariate space; whereas, Kankrej, Mewati, and Nagori cattle showed low breed specific clustering. This reflected the existence of discrete genetic structure for Tharparkar, Rathi, and Gir, the prominent dairy breeds of the region; whereas, admixture was observed for Kankrej, Mewati, and Nagori individuals.