Development and comparison of ELISA and PCR methods for the early detection of Ganoderma disease of coconut

Abstract

Molecular diagnosis, chemo-diagnosis and physiological parameter have been applied for detecting the Ganoderma disease of coconut. Polyclonal antibodies (PAbs) raised against mycelial protein of Ganoderma, specific mycelial protein (62 kDa) of Ganoderma isolates and basidiocarp protein of Ganoderma were used for detection. All the PAbs could detect Ganoderma in diseased coconut root tissues in early stage of the disease before symptom expression by indirect – ELISA at the antiserum dilution of 1:1000 for mycelial protein, 1:700 for specific protein and 1:3000 for basidiocarp protein. Low cross reactions were observed with saprophytic fungi occurring in coconut roots and also with other basidiomycetous fungi. For polymerase chain reaction tests, the primer was generated from the internal transcribed spacer region one (ITS 1) of rDNA of Ganoderma, which produced a PCR product of 167 bp in size. Utility of this method was confirmed at the field level.     

Biological control of onion leaf blight disease by bulb and foliar application of powder formulation of antagonist mixture

Abstract

Three antagonists: Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf1), Bacillus subtilis and Trichoderma viride, were tested alone and in combination for suppression of onion leaf blight (Alternaria palandui) disease under glasshouse and field conditions. The average mean of disease reduction was 24.81% for single strains and 42.44% for mixtures. In addition to disease suppression, treatment with a mixture of antagonists promoted plant growth in terms of increased plant height and ultimately bulb yield. Though seed treatment of either single strain or strain mixtures alone could reduce the disease, subsequent application to root, leaves or soil further reduced the disease and enhanced the plant growth. The mixture consisting of Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf1 plus Bacillus subtilis plus Trichoderma viride was the most effective in reducing the disease and in promoting plant growth and bulb yield in greenhouse and field tests.     

Regulation of Telomerase Alternative Splicing: A Target for Chemotherapy

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Highlights? Alternative splicing is a new target for telomerase inhibition/activation ? Elements deep within introns regulate human telomerase splicing ? These intronic elements contain both unusual short repeats and direct repeats ? A direct-repeat oligonucleotide modifies splicing of endogenous telomerase     

Defining the identity of mouse embryonic dermal fibroblasts

Embryonic dermal fibroblasts in the skin have the exceptional ability to initiate hair follicle morphogenesis and contribute to scarless wound healing. Activation of the Wnt signaling pathway is critical for dermal fibroblast fate selection and hair follicle induction. In humans, mutations in Wnt pathway components and target genes lead to congenital focal dermal hypoplasias with diminished hair. The gene expression signature of embryonic dermal fibroblasts during differentiation and its dependence on Wnt signaling is unknown. Here we applied Shannon entropy analysis to identify the gene expression signature of mouse embryonic dermal fibroblasts. We used available human DNase‐seq and histone modification ChiP‐seq data on various cell‐types to demonstrate that genes in the fibroblast cell identity signature can be epigenetically repressed in other cell‐types. We found a subset of the signature genes whose expression is dependent on Wnt/β‐catenin activity in vivo. With our approach, we have defined and validated a statistically derived gene expression signature that may mediate dermal fibroblast identity and function in development and disease. genesis 54:415–430, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ectonucleoside Triphosphate Diphosphohydrolase-3 Antibody Targets Adult Human Pancreatic β Cells for In Vitro and In Vivo Analysis

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Chemical sensing of DNT by engineered olfactory yeast strain

With the increasing threat of environmental toxicants including biological and chemical warfare agents, fabricating innovative biomimetic systems to detect these harmful agents is critically important. With the broad objective of developing such a biosensor, here we report the construction of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain containing the primary components of the mammalian olfactory signaling pathway. In this engineered yeast strain, WIF-1alpha, olfactory receptor signaling is coupled to green fluorescent protein expression. Using this 'olfactory yeast', we screened for olfactory receptors that could report the presence of the odorant 2,4-dinitrotoluene, an explosive residue mimic. With this approach, we have identified the novel rat olfactory receptor Olfr226, which is closely related to the mouse olfactory receptors Olfr2 and MOR226-1, as a 2,4-dinitrotoluene-responsive receptor.