Circumscription of Fulbrightiella gen. nov. and Sherwoodiella gen. nov., Two Novel Genera in the Calotrichaceae (Nostocales,Cyanobacteria)

Three novel strains in Calotrichaceae from tropical habitats were isolated and characterized with regard to their morphology, phylogenetic placement, and secondary structures of conserved domains in the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer (ITS). The strains fell into two clades formerly identified as Calothrix from freshwater and brackish habitats. Based on both morphology and ecology, they differed from the type species of Calothrix, C. confervicola, which is marine, has wide trichomes with short cells, and narrows abruptly to a hyaline hair. The first clade grouped species with heteropolar filaments widened at the base and narrowed gradually toward the apex but not ending in a hair, with basal heterocytes that are formed in series as the apically placed heterocytes senesce; this clade is being named Fulbrightiella gen. nov., with two named species, F. bharadwajae sp. nov. and F. oahuensis sp. nov. The second clade was comprised of a single species with isopolar trichomes that are untapering as hormogonia, but which widen midfilament and taper toward both ends following growth. These trichomes develop pairs of heterocyte mid-filament, causing fragmentation into heteropolar trichomes with basal heterocytes and ends that taper, but not to a hair. This clade consists of a single species at present, Sherwoodiella mauiensis. With this action, four clades in the Calotrichaceae have been named: Macrochaete, Dulcicalothrix, Fulbrightiella, and Sherwoodiella. Calothrix sensu stricto is truly marine, morphologically distinct, and unsequenced; finding and sequencing the generitype for Calothrix remains as the most important and unfinished task in the revision of the Calotrichaceae.     

Speed Breeding Opportunities and Challenges for Crop Improvement

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Crop improvement in light of the rapidly changing climate and the increasing human population continues to be one of the primary concerns for researchers across...     

Chemodiversity and α-Glucosidase Activity of Eucalyptus Species from Northwestern Himalaya,India

The aim of current work was to determine essential oils (EOs) composition from three Eucalyptus species, including E. citriodora, E. camaldulensis and E. globulus and assess their α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. The EOs were collected using the hydrodistillation technique and characterized by GC/MS, GC-FID and NMR. The isolated EOs from leaves parts of Eucalyptus species varied from 0.56 to 1.0 % on fresh weight basis. The content of the EOs was distinct according to the species. The most abundant metabolites were identified as citronellal (0–83.0 %), 1,8-cineole (0.2–44.8 %), spathulenol (0.4–16.1 %) α-pinene (0.4–15.9 %), p-cymene (3.7–11.9 %), citronellol (0–8.6 %), β-eudesmol (5.3–8.6 %) and β-pinene (0–7.1 %). The EOs obtained from targeted samples exhibited strong α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. These results are encouraging and underline that the EOs of Eucalyptus species may be a promising alternative source of natural antidiabetic.     

Facile Synthesis of Benzimidazoles via Oxidative Cyclization of Acyclic Monoterpene Aldehyde with Diamines: Studies on Antimicrobial and in Vivo Evaluation of Zebrafish

Citral ( 1a ), a bioactive component of Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass) could be isolated and semi-synthetic analogs synthesized with improved therapeutic properties. Herein we first report describes citral ( 1a ) as a primary material for the synthesis of benzimidazole derivatives between various o-phenylenediamines ( 2a – l ) in the presence of Diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA) as a commercially available environmentally benign base, ethanol as a green solvent and the yield of all benzimidazole derivatives ( 3a – l ) was between 68–76 %; The semi-synthetically prepared benzimidazole derivatives ( 3a – l ) were assessed for their anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. The benzimidazole compounds ( 3a – b , and 3g – j ) exhibit good anti-microbial activity. In addition, in silico study was carried out to determine the specific binding affinity of the diamine halogen substituted benzimidazole derivatives to the specific target proteins. In silico analysis revealed a high correlation between docking results and experimental results. Finally, benzimidazole demonstrated significant antibacterial and antifungal activity. Zebrafish embryos were subjected to In vivo toxicological test found that all of the benzimidazole compounds ( 3a – l ) were non-toxic and had low embryotoxicity after 96 h, with an LC₅₀ of 36.425 μg, which could facilitate the design of novel antimicrobial agents using a cost-effective method.     

Variability of milk fat globule membrane protein gene between cattle and riverine buffalo.

A study on butyrophilin (BTN) gene was conducted to detect variability at nucleotide level between cattle and buffalo. Hae III PCR-RFLP was carried out in crossbred cattle and it revealed polymorphism at this locus. Three genotypes namely, AA, BB and AB and two alleles were observed with frequencies 0.78, 0.17, 0.04 and 0.87, 0.13, respectively. The sequences of different cattle, buffalo and sheep breeds have been reported in the EMBL gene bank with accession numbers: AY491468 to AY491475. The nucleotides, which have been substituted from allele A to B, were found to be C to G (71st nucleotide), C to T (86th nucleotide), A to T (217th nucleotide), G to A (258th nucleotide), A to C (371st nucleotide) and C to T (377th nucleotide). The nucleotide substitution at 71st, 86th and 377th position of the fragment were expected to be a silent mutation where as nucleotide changes at 217th, 258th and 371st positions were expected to be substituted by lysine with arginine, valine with isoleucine and leucine with proline in allele B. The differences of nucleotides and amino acids between cattle, buffalo and sheep breeds have been revealed and on the basis of nucleotide as well as protein variability the phylogenetic diagram have been developed indicating closeness between cattle and buffalo.