Endogenous hormonal and enzymatic responses of Catharanthus roseus with triadimefon application under water deficits

The effect of triadimefon was investigated in a medicinal plant, Catharanthus roseus subjected to water deficit stress. The abscisic acid (ABA) level, DNA and RNA contents and activities of ATPase and protease were found varying in different parts of the plants under treatment. Drought treatment increased the ABA level more than twofold in all parts of the plants. TDM treatment to the drought stressed plants showed highest contents. In roots, stem and leaves, drought stress caused a decrease in the DNA and RNA contents when compared with control and other treatments. TDM treatment with drought increased the nucleic acid contents to the level of the control roots. The activity of ATPase and protease were increased under drought treatment and lowered due to TDM applications. This information could be useful in the field of soil water deficits reclamation efforts by using plant growth regulators.     

Differential responses in water use efficiency in two varieties of Catharanthus roseus under drought stress

Two varieties, rosea and alba, of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don. were screened for their water use efficiency under two watering regimes, viz. 60 and 100% filed capacity in the present study. Drought stress was imposed at 60% filed capacity from 30 to 70 days after sowing, while the control pots were maintained at 100% filed capacity throughout the entire growth period. Leaf area duration, cumulative water transpired, water use efficiency, net assimilation rate, mean transpiration rate, harvest index, biomass and yield under the water deficit level were measured from both stressed and well-watered control plants. Water use efficiency significantly increased in both varieties under water stress. Drought stress decreased leaf area duration, cumulative water transpired, net assimilation rate, mean transpiration rate, harvest index, and biomass yield in both varieties studied. Among the varieties, rosea variety showed the best results.     

Effects of environmental humidity on the survival and development of pine caterpillars, Dendrolimus tabulaeformis (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae)

The pine caterpillar, Dendrolimus tabulaeformis is one of the most important pests on Pinus tabulaeformis and other pine species in North China. In the present study, effects of relative humidity (RH) on the development and survival of pine caterpillars and soil moisture (SM) on their diapausing larvae were investigated. Low RH (20%) deferred the development of eggs and larvae, reduced egg hatching and larval surviving compared to 40%, 60% and 80% RH. Both low (20%) and high (100%) RH reduced egg hatching, but only 20% RH deferred the development of larvae, prolonged developmental duration and reduced the body mass and body length of larvae. The SM influenced the survival of diapausing larvae significantly. The dry treatment significantly reduced the supercooling points (SCPs), whereas increased the mortality and reduced body mass from 56.9 to 36.5 mg and body water content from 78% to 63% after 2 weeks' exposure. Therefore, higher RH is more favorable for the development of early instars and survival of diapausing larvae of the pine caterpillars.     

A conceptual review on systems biology in health and diseases: from biological networks to modern therapeutics

Human physiology is an ensemble of various biological processes spanning from intracellular molecular interactions to the whole body phenotypic response. Systems biology endures to decipher these multi-scale biological networks and bridge the link between genotype to phenotype. The structure and dynamic properties of these networks are responsible for controlling and deciding the phenotypic state of a cell. Several cells and various tissues coordinate together to generate an organ level response which further regulates the ultimate physiological state. The overall network embeds a hierarchical regulatory structure, which when unusually perturbed can lead to undesirable physiological state termed as disease. Here, we treat a disease diagnosis problem analogous to a fault diagnosis problem in engineering systems. Accordingly we review the application of engineering methodologies to address human diseases from systems biological perspective. The review highlights potential networks and modeling approaches used for analyzing human diseases. The application of such analysis is illustrated in the case of cancer and diabetes. We put forth a concept of cell-to-human framework comprising of five modules (data mining, networking, modeling, experimental and validation) for addressing human physiology and diseases based on a paradigm of system level analysis. The review overtly emphasizes on the importance of multi-scale biological networks and subsequent modeling and analysis for drug target identification and designing efficient therapies.     

Study of uranium level in groundwater of Balod district of Chhattisgarh state,India and assessment of health risk

Uranium contamination in groundwater at Balod district of Chhattisgarh state was measured by laser fluorimetric technique. Most of the samples were found under safe limit for uranium contamination as recommended by WHO and USEPA (<30 µg l^?1) except Deur Tarai village (78.93 µg l^?1).The excess lifetime carcinogenic risk and chemical risk due to ingestion of groundwater were calculated using USEPA recommendations.     

Photoactivated 2,3-distyrylindoles kill multi-drug resistant bacteria

Compounds based on the 2,3-distyrylindole scaffold were found to exhibit bactericidal properties upon irradiation with white light. At the concentration of 1?μM, the lead compound 1 completely (ca. 10⁹?CFU/mL) eradicated such Gram-positive organisms as S. aureus (MRSA, MSSA), E. faecalis (VRE), S. pyogenes and S. mutans when irradiated with white light for 2?min. At the concentration of 5?μM and in the presence of polymyxin E at non-bactericidal 1.25?μg/mL concentration, 1 also showed a 7-log to 9-log reductions in bacterial counts of such Gram-negative organisms as multi-drug resistant (MDR) A. baumannii, MDR P. aeruginosa, E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRE: KPC and NDM-1), also when irradiated with white light for 2?min. The structure-activity relationship studies revealed that unsubstituted at benzene rings 2,3-distyrylindole 2 was most potent and gave a 5-order of magnitude eradication of a MRSA strain at the concentration of 30?nM upon irradiation with white light. Initial mechanistic experiments revealed the disruption of bacterial cell membrane, but indicated that singlet oxygen production, which is commonly associated with photodynamic therapy, may not play a role in the bactericidal effects of the 2,3-distyrylindoles.     

The SbcC and SbcD homologs of the cyanobacterium <Emphasis Type="Italic">Anabaena</Emphasis> sp. strain PCC7120 (Alr3988 and All4463) contribute independently to DNA repair

The ubiquitous SbcCD exonuclease complex has been shown to perform an important role in DNA repair across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, they have remained uncharacterized in the ancient and stress-tolerant cyanobacteria. In the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120, SbcC and SbcD homologs, defined on the basis of the presence of corresponding functional domains, are annotated as hypothetical proteins, namely Alr3988 and All4463 respectively. Unlike the presence of sbcC and sbcD genes in a bicistronic operon in most organisms, these genes were distantly placed on the chromosome in Anabaena, and found to be negatively regulated by LexA. Both the genes were found to be essential in Anabaena as the individual deletion mutants were non-viable. On the other hand, the proteins could be individually overexpressed in Anabaena with no effect on normal cell physiology. However, they contributed positively to enhance the tolerance to different DNA damage-inducing stresses, such as mitomycin C and UV- and γ-radiation. This indicated that the two proteins, at least when overexpressed, could function independently and mitigate the damage caused due to the formation of DNA adducts and single- and double-strand breaks in Anabaena. This is the first report on possible independent in vivo functioning of SbcC and SbcD homologs in any bacteria, and the first effort to functionally characterize the proteins in any cyanobacteria.