Relative efficiency of rock phosphate and superphosphate for cowpea (Vigna sinensis Savi) fodder

Summary Cowpea responded well to phosphorus and P application increased green-fodder production and P uptake. With respect to green-fodder production, the rock phosphate was found to be 50–55% as effective as superphosphate. Phosphorus when applied at 50 kg P₂O₅/ha as superphosphate or rock phosphate almost doubled the P uptake by the summer-season crop of cowpea as compared to no phosphorus control. The residual effect did not differ significantly on succeeding rainy-season crop of cowpea. Application of starter N increased the total green-fodder yield of two crops by 38 q/ha. re]19750710     

Distinct functions of maternal and somatic Pat1 protein paralogs

We previously identified Xenopus Pat1a (P100) as a member of the maternal CPEB RNP complex, whose components resemble those of P-(rocessing) bodies, and which is implicated in translational control in Xenopus oocytes. Database searches have identified Pat1a proteins in other vertebrates, as well as paralogous Pat1b proteins. Here we characterize Pat1 proteins, which have no readily discernable sequence features, in Xenopus oocytes, eggs, and early embryos and in human tissue culture cells. xPat1a and 1b have essentially mutually exclusive expression patterns in oogenesis and embryogenesis. xPat1a is degraded during meiotic maturation, via PEST-like regions, while xPat1b mRNA is translationally activated at GVBD by cytoplasmic polyadenylation. Pat1 proteins bind RNA in vitro, via a central domain, with a preference for G-rich sequences, including the NRAS 5′ UTR G-quadruplex-forming sequence. When tethered to reporter mRNA, both Pat proteins repress translation in oocytes. Indeed, both epitope-tagged proteins interact with the same components of the CPEB RNP complex, including CPEB, Xp54, eIF4E1b, Rap55B, and ePAB. However, examining endogenous protein interactions, we find that in oocytes only xPat1a is a bona fide component of the CPEB RNP, and that xPat1b resides in a separate large complex. In tissue culture cells, hPat1b localizes to P-bodies, while mPat1a-GFP is either found weakly in P-bodies or disperses P-bodies in a dominant-negative fashion. Altogether we conclude that Pat1a and Pat1b proteins have distinct functions, mediated in separate complexes. Pat1a is a translational repressor in oocytes in a CPEB-containing complex, and Pat1b is a component of P-bodies in somatic cells.     

Plasmon-Assisted Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell with TiO2 as Anti-Reflective Coating

Plasmonics - The present study focuses on the employment of TiO2 (titanium dioxide) film as an anti-reflective coating (ARC) on thin crystalline silicon (Si)-based solar cells along with the...     

Biotic elicitors enhance diosgenin production in Helicteres isora L. suspension cultures via up-regulation of CAS and HMGR genes

In an attempt to find an alternative and potent source of diosgenin, a steroidal saponin in great demand for its pharmaceutical importance, Helicteres isora suspension cultures were explored for diosgenin extraction. The effect of biotic elicitors on the biosynthesis of diosgenin, in suspension cultures of H. isora was studied. Bacterial as well as fungal elicitors such as Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus niger were applied at varying concentrations to investigate their effects on diosgenin content. The HPLC based quantification of the treated samples proved that amongst the biotic elicitors, E. coli (1.5%) proved best with a 9.1-fold increase in diosgenin content over respective control cultures. Further, the scaling-up of the suspension culture to shake-flask and ultimately to bioreactor level were carried out for production of diosgenin. During all the scaling-up stages, diosgenin yield obtained was in the range between 7.91 and 8.64 mg l−1, where diosgenin content was increased with volume of the medium. The quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed biotic elicitors induced the expression levels of regulatory genes in diosgenin biosynthetic pathway, the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) and cycloartenol synthase (CAS), which can be positively correlated with elicited diosgenin contents in those cultures. The study holds significance as H. isora represents a cleaner and easy source of diosgenin where unlike other traditional sources, it is not admixed with other steroidal saponins, and the scaled-up levels of diosgenin achieved herein have the potential to be explored commercially.     

Molecular profiling in relation to drought tolerance in advance breeding lines of rice using microsatellite markers

Using agro-morphological characters and microsatellite markers, advance breeding lines of rice were discriminated for their ability to tolerate drought stress at reproductive stage. Experimental materials consisting of 17 advance breeding lines and a check were evaluated in randomized block design with three replications under irrigated condition and drought condition created under rainout shelter during three consecutive years. An analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the ten agro-morphological characters evaluated under both the conditions across the years. Principal component analysis showed the relative importance of root length, number of tillers per plant, number of grains per panicle, harvest index and grain yield per plant among agro-morphological characters and stress tolerance level, stress susceptibility index, stress tolerance index and drought tolerance efficiency among drought tolerance indices as the important classification variables. Relative mean performance in respect of grain yield as well as drought tolerance indices reflected remarkably greater degree of drought tolerance in 11 advance breeding lines and the check, discriminating them from remaining entries under evaluation. Utilizing a panel of 32 microsatellite primers, selective amplification of targeted genomic regions revealed that the primers RM 72, RM 163, RM 212, RM 225, RM 231, RM 302, RM 327, RM 518, RM 521, RM 555, RM 1349, RM 3549 and RM 5443 were highly informative with greater gene diversity and discrimination ability. Hierarchical cluster analysis based on molecular profiles discriminated the entries into five genotypic groups and drought tolerant entries were accommodated into three distinct groups with remarkably greater efficiency (85.7%). Principal coordinate analysis based two dimensional plots of microsatellites dependent genetic profiles displayed a very close correspondence with the genotypic clustering pattern revealed from a perusal of dendrogram. Sequential exclusion of primers in cluster analysis led to identification of RM 212, RM 231, RM 324, RM 431, RM 521, RM 3549 and RM 6374 as the most useful primers for discrimination of drought tolerant and susceptible lines of rice. Molecular profiling based on these markers can be utilized as efficient tools for discrimination and identification of drought tolerant lines.