Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and biochar improves drought tolerance in chickpea

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation and biochar amendment has been reported to improve growth of several crop plants however their role in stress amelioration individually as well as in combination has not been worked out. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the application of AMF and biochar on the performance of chickpea under drought stress. The treatments included the individual as well as combined treatment of AMF and biochar to drought stressed and normal chickpea plants. Plants inoculation improved growth in terms of shoot and root length, leaf area and number of branches which was observed to show a steep decline due to drought stress. Drought declined the AMF colonization potential though biochar amendment ameliorated the negative effects of drought significantly by improving the spore population, number of mycelium, vesicle and arbuscules and the percentage of colonization as well. Increased chlorophyll synthesis in biochar and AMF treated plants was obvious, which lead to significant enhancement in the net photosynthetic efficiency. Drought stress also declined the relative water content (RWC) and membrane stability index (MSI), while treatment of biochar and AMF either individually or in combination mitigated the deleterious effects to considerable extent and caused a significant enhancement in RWC and MSI under normal conditions. Amendments with biochar and AMF inoculation increased the nitrogen fixation attributes including the number and weight of nodules, leghemoglobin content and activity of nitrate reductase enzyme leading to greater uptake and assimilation of nitrogen in them when compared to drought stressed plants. Drought stressed chickpea plants exhibited considerable reduction in uptake of nitrogen and phosphorous which was ameliorated by biochar and AMF treatments. It could be suggested that increase in growth and physiological attributes in chickpea due to biochar amendments and AMF inoculation under drought stress were plausibly due to their involvement in nitrogen and phosphorous uptake, chlorophyll synthesis and photosynthesis.     

Raloxifene-encapsulated hyaluronic acid-decorated chitosan nanoparticles selectively induce apoptosis in lung cancer cells

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are leading causes of cancer mortality and morbidity around the world. Despite the recent advances in their diagnosis and therapy, their prognosis remains poor owing to the development of drug resistance and metastasis. Raloxifene (RX), a drug first used in the treatment of osteoporosis, was recently approved for NSCLC and HCC prevention. Unfortunately, many of the therapies that use RX are likely to become ineffective due to drug resistance. Herein, we developed a novel delivery strategy by utilizing hyaluronic acid (HA) and chitosan (CS) complexation to increase the half-life and activity of RX. Consequently, we explored the pro-apoptotic and cytotoxic effects of RX-HA-CS nanoparticles (NPs) against NSCLC (A549) and HCC (HepG2 and Huh-7) cell lines. The highest entrapment efficiency (EE%) was noted in RX-HA-CS NPs (92%) compared to RX-HA NPs (87.5%) and RX-CS NPs (68%). In addition, RX-HA-CS NPs induced the highest cytotoxicity against A549 cells compared to other platforms. The significant suppression of A549 cell viability was achieved via glucose uptake reduction resulting in diminished bioenergetics of cancer cells and activation of apoptosis via nitric oxide level elevation. This study is the first to assess the efficacy of RX in its HA-CS nano-formulation against lung and liver cancer cells and demonstrated its selective cytotoxic and apoptotic potential against human lung A549 cancer cell line. These findings demonstrate a promising drug delivery system to help mitigate drug resistance in lung cancer.     

Circadian changes in Drosophila motor terminals

In Drosophila melanogaster, as in most other higher organisms, a circadian clock controls the rhythmic distribution of rest/sleep and locomotor activity. Here we report that the morphology of Drosophila flight neuromuscular terminals changes between day and night, with a rhythm in synaptic bouton size that continues in constant darkness, but is abolished during aging. Furthermore, arrhythmic mutations in the clock genes timeless and period also disrupt this circadian rhythm. Finally, these clock mutants also have an opposing effect on the nonrhythmic phenotype of neuronal branching, with tim mutants showing a dramatic hyperbranching morphology and per mutants having fewer branches than wild-type flies. These unexpected results reveal further circadian as well as nonclock related pleiotropic effects for these classic behavioral mutants.     

Long-Range Surface Plasmon Resonance–Based Sensitivity Study on D-shaped Ag-MgF2-Coated Models with Analyte Variations

In this report, a novel D-shaped long-range surface plasmon resonance (LRSPR) fiber base sensor has been introduced. The demonstration of proposed sensor involves two D-shaped silver-coated models to study the sensitivity responses. The entire study with the constructed models is based on a single-mode fiber. The models are multilayered consisting of metal, dielectric, and analyte as separate layers. Silver (Ag) and magnesium fluoride (MgF2) strips are used as metal and dielectric layers respectively. The constituency of analyte as an interface excellently standardized the models for sensitivity detection. In this report, a large range of analyte refractive indices (RI) which varies from 1.33 to 1.38 is appraised for the proposed models to characterize the sensitivity. The entire context is encompassed by the wavelength region from 450 to 850 nm with an interval of 20 nm. Sensitivities in this report are measured based on the analyte position from the core and metal for both models. For each of the two models, the analyte is placed as the top layer. RIs of the applied metal (Ag) are measured using the Drude-Lorentz formula. The simulated sensitivities for model-1 and model-2 vary from 6.3?×?10³ nm/RIU to 8.7?×?10³ nm/RIU.

     

Hexose monophosphate shunt,the role of its metabolites and associated disorders: A review

The hexose monophosphate (HMP) shunt acts as an essential component of cellular metabolism in maintaining carbon homeostasis. The HMP shunt comprises two phases viz. oxidative and nonoxidative, which provide different intermediates for the synthesis of biomolecules like nucleotides, DNA, RNA, amino acids, and so forth; reducing molecules for anabolism and detoxifying the reactive oxygen species during oxidative stress. The HMP shunt is significantly important in the liver, adipose tissue, erythrocytes, adrenal glands, lactating mammary glands and testes. We have researched the articles related to the HMP pathway, its metabolites and disorders related to its metabolic abnormalities. The literature for this paper was taken typically from a personal database, the Cochrane database of systemic reviews, PubMed publications, biochemistry textbooks, and electronic journals uptil date on the hexose monophosphate shunt. The HMP shunt is a tightly controlled metabolic pathway, which is also interconnected with other metabolic pathways in the body like glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and glucuronic acid depending upon the metabolic needs of the body and depending upon the biochemical demand. The HMP shunt plays a significant role in NADPH₂ formation and in pentose sugars that are biosynthetic precursors of nucleic acids and amino acids. Cells can be protected from highly reactive oxygen species by NADPH ₂. Deficiency in the hexose monophosphate pathway is linked to numerous disorders. Furthermore, it was also reported that this metabolic pathway could act as a therapeutic target to treat different types of cancers, so treatments at the molecular level could be planned by limiting the synthesis of biomolecules required for proliferating cells provided by the HMP shunt, hence, more experiments still could be carried out to find additional discoveries.     

Physiological effects and biochemical properties of a serum protein that produces positive inotropic and chronotropic effects on isolated guinea pig atria

Isolated left and right guinea pig atria were used as a bioassay for the detection of an endogenous cardioactive substance in bovine serum. Serum, buffer exchanged to Krebs-Henseleit solution, produced positive inotropic and chronotropic effects on the isolated guinea pig atria. The cardiotonic effects were unaffected by the combined presence of propranolol and methysergide (both 10(-6)M) and were also dissimilar in time course from other known cardiotons such as catecholamines and cardiac glycosides. Following ultrafiltration (using XM100A Amicon membranes), activity was found solely in the retentate fractions and was therefore probably due to a large molecular weight (> 100 kDa) substance or a small molecule bound to a large protein. The cardioactive factor (CF) in the whole serum was heat labile, sensitive to acidification, exposure to potassium bromide and equilibration to physiological buffers of a low ionic strength. Isolation by conventional protein purification techniques was unsuccessful due to the labile nature of the active molecule(s) when exposed to non-physiological experimental conditions. Physical and biochemical properties of the CF which may help avoid inactivation are discussed for future experiments aimed at elucidating the nature and identity of the cardiotonic principle.     

Effect of bis(acetato)tetrakis(imidazole) copper(II) in delaying the onset and reducing the mortality rate of strychnine- and thiosemicarbazide—Induced convulsions

The anticonvulsant activity of bis(acetato)tetrakis(imidazole) copper(II), Cu(OAc)₂(Im)₄, was studied in normal mice using chemical convulsions induced by strychnine, thiosemicarbazide, picrotoxin, and pentelenetetrazol. Intraperitoneal administration of Cu(OAc) ₂(Im)₄, 50 mg/kg body mass, has delayed the onset of strychnine (3 mg/kg)-induced convulsion by 204% (p≤0.005) and thiosemicarbazide (20 mg/kg)-induced convulsant by 61% (p≤0.005). The changes in the onset of picrotoxin-(6 mg/kg) and pentelenetetrazol (50 mg/kg)-induced convulsions were not significant. The same dosage of the copper compound was effective in delaying the lethal time and reducing the mortality rate of treated animals. The anticonvulsant activity of Cu(OAc) ₂(Im)₄ complex against strychnine was not related to its constituents because the inorganic form of copper such as copper chloride, copper acetate, and the parent imidazole has no anticonvulsant activity. Other copper(II) complexes like copper(II)aspirinate and bis(acetato)bis(2-methyl imidazole) copper(II) were less effective.     

Novel factor Xa inhibitors based on a benzoic acid scaffold and incorporating a neutral P1 ligand

A series of novel, highly potent, achiral factor Xa inhibitors based on a benzoic acid scaffold and containing a chlorophenethyl moiety directed towards the protease S1 pocket is described. A number of structural features, such as the requirements of the P1, P4 and ester-binding pocket ligands were explored with respect to inhibition of factor Xa. Compound 46 was found to be the most potent compound in a series of antithrombotic secondary assays.     

Using flowering times and leaf numbers to model the phases of photoperiod sensitivity in Antirrhinum majus L

A model has been developed that can be used to determine the phases of sensitivity to photoperiod for seedlings subjected to reciprocal transfers at regular intervals between long (LD) and short day (SD) conditions. The novel feature of this approach is that it enables the simultaneous analysis of the time to flower and number of leaves below the inflorescence. A range of antirrhinum cultivars were grown, all of which were shown to be quantitative long-day plants. Seedlings were effectively insensitive to photoperiod when very young (juvenile). However, after the end of the juvenile phase, SD delayed flowering and increased the number of leaves below the inflorescence. Plants transferred from LD to SD showed a sudden hastening of flowering and a decrease in leaf number once sufficient LD had been received for flower commitment. Photoperiod had little effect on the rate of flower development. The analysis clearly identified major cultivar differences in the length of the juvenile phase and the photoperiod-sensitive inductive phase in both LD and SD.