Iron Impregnated Activated Carbon as an Efficient Adsorbent for the Removal of Methylene Blue: Regeneration and Kinetics Studies

In this study, iron impregnated activated carbon (FeAC) was synthesized following an oxidation and iron impregnation of activated carbon (AC). Both the AC and FeAC were characterized by pH_ZPC and FTIR spectroscopy. The removal of Methylene Blue (MB) by AC and FeAC was examined under various experimental conditions. The FeAC showed up to 95% (higher than AC) MB removal in the pH range of 7–10. Although the reaction kinetics was pseudo–second order, the overall rate was controlled by a number of processes such as film diffusion, pore diffusion and intraparticle diffusion. The activation energy values for the MB uptake by AC and FeAC (21.79 and 14.82 kJ/mol, respectively) revealed a physisorption process. In the regeneration study, FeAC has shown consistently ≥ 90% MB removal even up to 10 repeated cycles. The reusable characteristic of the spent FeAC improved the practical use of activated carbon and can be a breakthrough for continuous flow system applications where it can work effectively without any significant reduction in its performance.     

Tritrophic interactions between parasitoids and cereal aphids are mediated by nitrogen fertilizer

Host plant nutritional quality can directly and indirectly affect the third trophic levels. The aphid–parasitoid relationship provides an ideal system to investigate tritrophic interactions (as the parasitoids are completely dependent for their development upon their hosts) and assess the bottom up forces operating at different concentrations of nitrogen applications. The effects of varying nitrogen fertilizer on the performance of Aphidius colemani (V.) reared on Sitobion avenae (F.) and Aphidius rhopalosiphi (D.) reared on Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) were measured. Parasitism and percent emergence of parasitoids were positively affected by nitrogen fertilizer treatments while developmental duration (egg, larval, and pupal stages) was not affected by increasing nitrogen inputs. In males and females of both parasitoid species, adult longevity increased with the increasing nitrogen fertilizer. Hind tibia length and mummy weight of both parasitoid species increased with nitrogen fertilizer concentrations, as a result of larger aphids. This study showed that nitrogen application to the soil can have important consequences for aboveground multitrophic interactions.     

The Solanum melongena COP1LIKE manipulates fruit ripening and flowering time in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

Plant Growth Regulation - The CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC (COP) 1LIKE is a regulatory protein and repressor of photomorphogenesis; which control many processes of development in plants. Here, the...     

Synthesis of naphthalimide derivatives with potential anticancer activity,their comparative ds- and G-quadruplex-DNA binding studies and related biological activities

Molecular Biology Reports - Two new cytotoxic 1,8-naphthalimide derivatives have been synthesized and characterized. Their biological activities as cytotoxicity and antimicrobial activities and...     

Risk assessment of heavy metal and metalloid toxicity through a contaminated vegetable (Cucurbita maxima) from wastewater irrigated area: A case study for a site-specific risk assessment in Jhang,Pakistan

The present research was conducted in district Jhang, Pakistan, to evaluate the concentration of metals/metalloids in soil and pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) irrigated with domestic wastewater. Data revealed that the levels of metals and metalloids in soil samples from two different sites were below the safe limits except Cd, whereas, in the vegetable, the concentrations of As, Se, Ni, Mo, Pb, Mn, and Cu were above the safe limits. The levels of 12 metals and metalloids in the soil were ranged between 0.14 to 22.76 mg/kg at site-I and 0.16 to 22.13 mg/kg at site-II. The levels of these metals in the vegetable were found 0.35 to 61.13 mg/kg at site-I and 0.31 to 53.63 mg/kg at site-II. The transfer factor at both sites was highest for As and Co. The pollution load index recorded for Se, Cu, Cd, Mo, Pb, and Co was greater than 1. The daily intake of As, Mn, and Mo was above the oral reference dose, which reflects that the intake of pumpkin is not safe for the inhabitants of the selected sites. The control measures should be taken to phytoextract heavy metals and metalloids from polluted sites so as to reduce the health risks.     

An unusual class of PITX2 mutations in Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome

BACKGROUND: Mutations in the PITX2 homeobox gene are known to contribute to Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome (ARS), an autosomal-dominant developmental disorder. Although most mutations are in the homeodomain and result in a loss of function, there is a growing subset in the C-terminal domain that has not yet been characterized. These mutations are of particular interest because the C-terminus has both inhibitory and stimulatory activities. METHODS: In this study we used a combination of in vitro DNA binding and transfection reporter assays to investigate the fundamental issue of whether C-terminal mutations result in gain or loss of function at a cellular level. RESULTS: We report a new frameshift mutation in the PITX2 allele that predicts a truncated protein lacking most of the C-terminal domain (D122FS). This newly reported mutant and another ARS C-terminal mutant (W133Stop) both have greater binding than wild-type to the bicoid element. Of interest, the mutants yielded approximately 5-fold greater activation of the prolactin promoter in CHO cells, even though the truncated proteins were expressed at lower levels than the wild-type protein. The truncated proteins also had greater than wild-type activity in 2 other cell lines, including the LS8 oral epithelial line that expresses the endogenous Pitx2 gene. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the PITX2 C-terminal domain has inhibitory activity and support the notion that ARS may also be caused by gain-of-function mutations.     

In Vitro Clonal Propogation of Coleus forskohlii via Direct Shoot Organogenesis from Selected Leaf Explants

Present study provides an easy and efficient protocol for large scale clonal propagation of Coleus forskohlii, a threatened medicinal plant of commercial importance. Basal leaf lamina excised from upper three nodes of shoot was used as explant and its size, position, orientation and season of collection were initially optimized to select the most responsive explant condition. Enhanced shoot production and proliferation has been achieved on medium containing 2 μM BA + 0.1 μM NAA wherein, a highest number of 35 shoots/explant were produced. The regenerated shoots of varied length (3–5 cm) were transferred to root induction medium comprising of IBA, NAA and IAA (1–5 μM) in half-strength MS medium to determine the most suitable shoot length for proper root induction. Rooted plantlets were acclimatized in field conditions after proper hardening. Histological analysis was also carried out to confirm the nature of origin of shoot buds from leaf explants.     

Insight from γC1 protein model for implication in cotton leaf curl disease

DNA γ is approximately half of the size of Begomovirus DNA. It encodes a γC1 gene that is conserved in position and size. Thisgene has the capacity to encode a 13 to 14 kDa protein comprising 118 amino acid residues. It has been shown earlier that γC1protein is necessary for inducing symptoms of cotton leaf curl disease. The structure for γC1 (CLCuDγ01-Pakistan) is stillunknown. Therefore, a model of γC1 (CLCuDγ01-Pakistan) was developed using DoBo and I-TASSER servers followed byvalidation by PROCHECK and VERIFY 3D servers. The developed model provides an insight in a role for this multifunctionalprotein in causing Cotton Leaf Curl Disease (CLCuD). A possible function of this protein might be the suppression of RNAsilencingin cotton plants.     

Structural analysis of the immature form of the GFP homologue DsRed

The crystal structures of DsRed have shown that it contains an unusual non-proline containing cis peptide linkage. We have shown that it is also present in the precyclized immature form of DsRed, thereby eliminating the possibility that cis/trans isomerization drives the formation of the acylimine, which is responsible for DsRed's red fluorescence. Two mechanisms have been proposed for chromophore formation in green fluorescent protein (GFP), a "reduced" and an "oxidized" mechanism. DsRed adopts a tight turn conformation, such as that found in GFP, in the immature intermediate proposed in the oxidized mechanism, but not in the one predicted by the reduced mechanism.