Characterization of Mycolytic Enzymes of Bacillus Strains and Their Bio-Protection Role Against Rhizoctonia solani in Tomato

Four antagonists bacteria namely, Bacillus megaterium MB3, B. subtilis MB14, B. subtilis MB99 and B. amyloliquefaciens MB101 were able to produce chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase and protease in different range with the presence of Rhizoctonia solani cell wall as a carbon source. Amplification of chitinase (chiA) gene of 270 bp and β-1, 3-glucanase gene of 415 bp was given supportive evidence at molecular level of antibiosis. After in vitro screening, all antagonists were tested against R. solani under greenhouse conditions. Root treatment of Bacillus strains showed superior defense during pathogen suppression in terms of chitinase, glucanase, peroxidase, poly phenol oxidase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity and total phenolic content in leaves of tomato. All these enzymes accumulated high in tomato leaves as compared to roots. Pathogenesis-related proteins and defense-related enzymes accumulation was directly correlated with plant protection and greenhouse results indicated that B. amyloliquefaciens MB101- and B. subtilis MB14-treated plants offered 69.76 and 61.51 % disease reductions, respectively, over the infected control. These results established that these organisms have the potential to act as biocontrol agents. This study could be highlighted a mutual importance of liquid formulation of antagonistic Bacillus spp. against root associated sclerotia former pathogen R. solani.     

Development of a sequence typing scheme for differentiation of Salmonella Enteritidis strains

A DNA sequence typing scheme based on the caiC and SEN0629 loci was developed for differentiation of Salmonella Enteritidis strains and validated using a diverse collection of 102 isolates representing 38 phage types from different sources, year of isolation, geographical locations and epidemiological backgrounds. caiC encodes a probable crotonobetaine/carnitine-CoA ligase, and SEN0629 is a pseudogene. Our system allowed for discrimination of 16 sequence types (STs) among the 102 isolates analysed and intraphage type differentiation. Our findings also suggested that the stability of phage typing may be adversely affected by the occurrence of phage type conversion events. During a confirmatory phage typing analysis performed by a reference laboratory, 13 of 31 S. Enteritidis strains representing nine phage types were assigned phage types that differed from the ones originally determined by the same reference laboratory. It is possible that this phenomenon passes largely unrecognized in reference laboratories performing routine phage typing analyses. Our results demonstrate that phage typing is an unstable system displaying limited reproducibility and that the two-loci sequence typing scheme is highly discriminatory, stable, truly portable and has the potential to become the new gold standard for epidemiological typing of S .?Enteritidis strains.     

Diversity and antagonistic potential of Bacillus spp. associated to the rhizosphere of tomato for the management of Rhizoctonia solani

Bacillus spp. has emerged as the most effective alternative to synthetic chemical fungicides. To get a better insight in the antagonistic potential of Bacillus strains, rhizospheric soil samples of healthy tomato plants from Indo-gangetic plain regions of India were analysed. A total of 108 Bacillus strains were obtained from preliminary screening. Potent strains identified on the basis of in vitro antagonistic and biochemical assays were subjected to diversity analysis using 16S-rDNA, BOX and ERIC-PCR. Furthermore, the four best performing antagonistic Bacillus strains under in vitro plant growth promotion and antagonistic assay were selected for pot experiment. In field study, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens MB101 and Bacillus subtilis MB14 showed drastic reduction in disease index by 55.7 and 41.74% with significant elevation in fruit yield up to 220 and 184 qha^–1, respectively. The present study was successful in selecting effective Bacillus strains by performing phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of Bacillus strains that can be used as an integral component of integrated disease management of tomato root rot and damping-off.     

Proteomic identification of E6AP as a molecular target of tamoxifen in MCF7 cells

Tamoxifen (Tam) is most widely used selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) for treatment of hormone-responsive breast cancer. Despite being regularly used in clinical therapy for breast cancer since 1971, the mechanism of Tam action remains largely unclear. In order to gain insights into Tam-mediated antibreast cancer actions, we applied 2DE and MS based proteomics approach to identify target proteins of Tam. We identified E6-associated protein, i.e. E6AP (UBE3A) among others to be regulated by Tam that otherwise is upregulated in breast tumors. We confirmed our 2DE finding by immunoblotting and further show that Tam leads to inhibition of E6AP expression presumably by promoting its autoubiquitination, which is coupled with nuclear export and subsequent proteasome-mediated degradation. Furthermore, we show that Tam- and siE6AP-mediated inhibition of E6AP leads to enhanced G0-G1 growth arrest and apoptosis, which is also evident from significant upregulation of cytochrome-c, Bax, p21, and PARP cleavage. Taken together, our data suggest that, Tam-targeted E6AP inhibition is in fact required for Tam-mediated antibreast cancer actions. Thus, E6AP may be a therapeutic target in breast cancer.     

D-M-D Plasmonic Anti-Reflector for Next-Generation Thin c-Si Solar Cell Applications

Plasmonics - In this paper, focus is on the light trapping surface in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells where thinner c-Si wafers are expected to be used by industry to reduce the cost of cell...     

Synthesis and study of optical properties of a Gd3+-doped NaYF4 phosphor for phototherapy lamp application

In recent trends, radiation falls under the narrowband ultraviolet-B region (305–315 nm) widely used in phototherapy lamp applications in the treatment of skin diseases. In this paper, we report a Gd³⁺-doped NaYF₄ luminescent material synthesized for the first time using the low-temperature co-precipitation method. It crystallized into a face-centred cubic structure, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction characterization techniques and Rietveld refinement. The photoluminescence property of the as-prepared sample shows a highly intense, sharp emission band obtained at 311 nm, which belongs to the narrowband ultraviolet-B region and corresponds to the transition of the ⁶P_7/2→⁸S_7/2 level of the Gd³⁺ ions under 272 nm excitation (⁸S_7/2 to ⁶I_J). The transitions of the Gd³⁺ ions are detected entirely with different concentrations of Gd³⁺ ions. Scanning electron microscopy analysis indicated that the average particle was 288 nm. The critical distance for energy transfer was calculated to be equal to 11.5017 Å. Dipole–dipole interaction is responsible for energy transfer, as analyzed by Dexter theory. These excellent optical characteristics, together with their highly efficient and low-cost synthesis approach, indicate that synthesized NaYF₄:Gd³⁺ phosphors have excessive potential for phototherapeutic lamp applications.     

Identification of novel genes that modify phenotypes induced by Alzheimer's beta-amyloid overexpression in Drosophila

Sustained increases in life expectancy have underscored the importance of managing diseases with a high incidence in late life, such as various neurodegenerative conditions. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common among these, and consequently significant research effort is spent on studying it. Although a lot is known about the pathology of AD and the role of beta-amyloid (Abeta) peptides, the complete network of interactions regulating Abeta metabolism and toxicity still eludes us. To address this, we have conducted genetic interaction screens using transgenic Drosophila expressing Abeta and we have identified mutations that affect Abeta metabolism and toxicity. These analyses highlight the involvement of various biochemical processes such as secretion, cholesterol homeostasis, and regulation of chromatin structure and function, among others, in mediating toxic Abeta effects. Several of the mutations that we identified have not been linked to Abeta toxicity before and thus constitute novel potential targets for AD intervention. We additionally tested these mutations for interactions with tau and expanded-polyglutamine overexpression and found a few candidate mutations that may mediate common mechanisms of neurodegeneration. Our data offer insight into the toxicity of Abeta and open new areas for further study into AD pathogenesis.