Earliness index deters <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pectinophora gossypiella</Emphasis> incidence on advanced cultivars of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bt</Emphasis> cotton

Pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) is recognized as an important pest of cotton and can damage flowers and bolls of both Bt and non-Bt cultivars. Cry-1Ac in Bt cultivars is considered very effective in controlling lepidopterous larvae; therefore, the present study was carried out to investigate the impact of Cry1-Ac and the earliness index on the natural incidence of P. gossypiella at the Cotton Research Institute, Faisalabad. During 2015–2016, ten cultivars were used to determine the incidence of pink bollworm infestation. The experiment was repeated for 2 years. During the next year, Cry1-Ac and earliness traits of selected cultivars were also observed to determine their impact on pink bollworm. Correlation coefficient results regarding days to first flower (r value = 0.66) as well as the earliness index (r value = ? 0.62) exhibited a strong association with pink bollworm, but Cry1-Ac had a weak association (r value = ? 0.058) with pink bollworm. The coefficient of determination (R ²) explained that variability of pink bollworm due to Cry1-Ac, the earliness index, and days to first flower was 18.0, 38.5, and 43.5%, respectively. Principal component analysis results showed that the first two PCs expressed 87% of the total variability. Clusters made on the basis of the studied parameters revealed that clusters 2 and 3 comprised the cotton cultivars possessing earliness traits compared with cluster 1. Therefore, it can be concluded that the earliness index in cotton is an important component for the sustainable management of pink bollworm infestation, the need for which is endless to evade the pink bollworm problem in the era of climate change.     

In vivo humoral and cellular reactions, and fate of injected bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila in freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Live non-opsonized and opsonized Aeromonas hydrophila were injected into juveniles of freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii to study the cells involved in phagocytosis, distribution of bacteria, cellular reactions and clearance of both forms of bacteria from the system. The bacteria were rapidly distributed to various tissues viz., gills, heart, hepatopancreas within 1h, and the tissues revealed haemocytic nodule formation after 3 h of injection. There was rapid clearance of both the forms of bacteria from the circulation. However, clearance efficiency was significantly (P < 0.05) faster in the case of opsonized bacteria at 12 h after injection. Similarly, the nodule formation, that was prominent in cardiac musculature, was rapidly eliminated from the tissues of the group injected with opsonized bacteria as compared to non-opsonized bacteria injected group, thus confirming the existence of opsonic factors in haemolymph of this prawn. In another experiment, various dose levels of bacteria were injected intramuscularly into prawns and haemolymph was collected after 1, 6, 24, 72 h and 7 days of injection to study various immune parameters. Although, no major alterations in the total and differential haemocyte counts were observed in bacteria injected prawns compared to control, there was a significant decline in phenoloxidase activity in the highest dose bacteria injected group at the earlier phase and a rise in agglutinin levels at the later phase of the experimental period in the higher dose groups.     

Acetoxy drug: protein transacetylase of buffalo liver-characterization and mass spectrometry of the acetylated protein product

The purification and characterization of the buffalo liver microsomal transacetylase (TAase) catalyzing the transfer of acetyl groups from a model acetoxy drug: 7,8-diacetoxy-4-methylcoumarin (DAMC) to GST3-3 has been described here. The enzyme was routinely assayed using DAMC and cytosolic GST as the substrates and was partially purified from microsomes of the buffalo liver. The enzyme was found to have approximate molecular of weight 65 kDa. The action of TAase and DAMC on liver cytosolic GST resulted in the formation of monoacetoxymonohydroxy-4-methylcoumarin (MAMHC) and 7,8-dihydroxy-4-methylcoumarin (DHMC), although the former was the major metabolite. The buffalo liver microsomal TAase exhibited hyperbolic kinetics and yielded K(m) (1667 microM) and V(max) (192 units) when the concentration of DAMC was varied keeping the concentration of GST constant. After having characterized the nature of the substrates and a product of the TAase-catalyzed reaction, we set out to identify the acetylated protein which is another product of the reaction. GST3-3 was used as a model protein substrate for the action of TAase using DAMC as the acetyl donor. The subunit of control and modified GST3-3 were separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and digested with trypsin. The tryptic peptides were extracted from the gel pieces and analyzed by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). The data search for calibrated and labeled mass peaks of peptides was performed on the Matrix Science Server using the search engine Mascot. The peptide maps so obtained covered 97% of the GST3-3 sequence. On comparison of MALDI peptide maps of modified and control GST, seven new peaks were recognized corresponding to the potentially acetylated peptides in peptide map. The mass value of each of them was 42 Da higher than the theoretical mass of a non-modified GST3-3 tryptic peptide, strongly suggesting acetylation. By examining the fragmentation patterns and by comparing experimental and predicted values for MS/MS daughter ions, the identity of the seven acetylated GST tryptic peptides could be confirmed by the application of LC/MS/MS. In the modified GST, N-terminal proline and six lysines (Lys(51), Lys(82), Lys(123), Lsy(181), Lys(191) and Lys(210)) were found to be acetylated. The structure of acetylated GST revealed that the lysines that underwent acetylation were peripheral in positions.     

Impaired male meiosis, morphology and distribution pattern of different cytotypes of Bupleurum lanceolatum Wall. (Apiaceae) from the Western Himalayas

Detailed male meiosis, critical morphological observations and distribution pattern of diploid as well as tetraploid cytotypes of the Western Himalayan species, Bupleurum lanceolatum have been evaluated at present. A diploid (n = 8) cytotype is reported from Kashmir, whereas, both diploid (n = 8) and tetraploid (n = 16) cytotypes are available from two districts Kangra and Sirmaur of Himachal Pradesh. Out of these, the tetraploid cytotype makes new addition for the species on a worldwide basis. As per behavior, a tetraploid cytotype is characterized by abnormal meiosis leading to high pollen sterility and size variation of the pollen grains. Morphologically, tetraploids are noted to be luxuriant in comparison to the diploids.     

Enhancement in Iron Absorption on Intake of Chemometrically Optimized Ratio of Probiotic Strain Lactobacillus plantarum 299v with Iron Supplement Pearl Millet

Biological Trace Element Research - This research article aims to establish the intake ratio of probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum 299v with iron supplement pearl millet by central composite design...     

Effect of glucocorticoids on the response of airway smooth muscle to catecholamine and resorcinol beta-agonists

The influence of hydrocortisone (11 beta, 17 alpha, 21-trihydroxy-pregn-4-ene-3,20-dione) or of methylprednisolone (6 alpha-methyl-11 beta, 17 alpha-21-trihydroxy-1,4-pregnadiene-3,20-dione) on the response of airway smooth muscle to a variety of beta-adrenergic bronchodilators was evaluated using incubated guinea pig tracheal rings, preconstricted with histamine. The adrenergic agonists chosen for this study included the nonselective beta 1- and beta 2-catecholamine, isoproterenol, the selective beta 2-catecholamine, rimiterol, and the selective beta 2-resorcinols, fenoterol and terbutaline. When the incubated rings were pretreated with 10-50 micrograms/mL of the steroids, there was a significant enhancement in smooth muscle sensitivity and reactivity to rimiterol and isoproterenol. Tracheal response to fenoterol or terbutaline, on the other hand, was not altered by the glucocorticoids. When used alone, neither steroid exerted an inotropic influence on the tracheal smooth muscle. The results of our study indicate that glucocorticoid enhancement of adrenergic bronchodilators is selective for catecholamines, and not for resorcinols.     

Fructose, 1,6-diphosphate mitigates CCl4 suppressed nitric oxide synthase activity in rats

Effect of fructose 1,6-diphosphate (FDP) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) were studied individually and in combination on rat endothelial (ET) and smooth muscle cell (SMC) nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activities in vivo, inhibition of ET and SMC NOS activity in CCl4 treated rats was reversed in FDP + CCl4 treated animals. Cellular based NOS activity was significantly increased in FDP treated group of rats when compared to non treated controls. The results suggest a significant increase in NOS in rats treated with a combination of FDP + CCl4 thus overcoming the suppression of NOS exposed to CCl4 alone.     

Biochemical association of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 and its apoptotic peptide fragments with DNA polymerase beta

We have characterized the biochemical association of two DNA damage-dependent enzymes, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) [EC 2.4.2.30] and DNA polymerase beta (pol beta) [2.7.7.7]. We reproducibly observed that pol beta is an efficient covalent target for ADP-ribose polymers under standard conditions of enzymatically catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of betaNAD+ as a substrate. The efficiency of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation increased as a function of the pol beta and betaNAD+ concentrations. To further characterize the molecular interactions between these two unique polymerases, we also subjected human recombinant PARP-1 to peptide-specific enzymatic degradation with either caspase-3 or caspase-7 in vitro. This proteolytic treatment, commonly referred to as 'a hallmark of apoptosis', generated the two physiologically relevant peptide fragments of PARP-1, e.g., a 24-kDa amino-terminus and an 89-kDa carboxy-terminal domain. Interestingly, co-incubation of the two peptide fragments of PARP-1 with full-length pol beta resulted in their domain-specific molecular association as determined by co-immunoprecipitation and reciprocal immunoblotting. Therefore, our data strongly suggest that, once PARP-1 is proteolyzed by either caspase-3 or caspase-7 during cell death, the specific association of its apoptotic fragments with DNA repair enzymes, such as pol beta, may serve a regulatory molecular role in the execution phase of apoptosis.