Mitigation of growth retardation effect of plant defense activator,acibenzolar-<Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>-methyl,in amaranthus plants by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria

Four rhizobacterial strains and acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM), a chemical activator, which suppressed foliar blight of amaranthus (Amaranthus tricolor L.) caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kühn were evaluated for their effect on plant growth. The experiments were performed both under sterile and non-sterile soil conditions, in the presence or absence of the pathogen. In all cases, plants treated with ASM showed significant reduction in growth, as determined by shoot length, and shoot and root dry weight when compared to other treatments. The growth retardation effect of ASM was more profound with respect to shoot length. Reduction in shoot length was least when plants were treated with a combination of the chemical activator and Pseudomonas putida 89B61 under non-sterile soil conditions in the absence of the pathogen. Both under sterile and non-sterile soil conditions, in the presence of the pathogen, reduction in shoot length due to application of ASM was diminished significantly when plants were treated with rhizobacterial strain Pseudomonas fluorescens PN026R. Combined use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and ASM was found to be beneficial as the growth retardation effect of the plant defense activator was reduced by the growth-promoting ability of the rhizobacteria.     

Complete chloroplast genome of the medicinal plant Evolvulus alsinoides: comparative analysis,identification of mutational hotspots and evolutionary dynamics with species of Solanales

Evolvulus alsinoides, belonging to the family Convolvulaceae, is an important medicinal plant widely used as a nootropic in the Indian traditional medicine system. In the genus Evolvulus, no research on the chloroplast genome has been published. Hence, the present study focuses on annotation, characterization, identification of mutational hotspots, and phylogenetic analysis in the complete chloroplast genome (cp) of E. alsinoides. Genome comparison and evolutionary dynamics were performed with the species of Solanales. The cp genome has 114 genes (80 protein-coding genes, 30 transfer RNA, and 4 ribosomal RNA genes) that were unique with total genome size of 157,015 bp. The cp genome possesses 69 RNA editing sites and 44 simple sequence repeats (SSRs). Predicted SSRs were randomly selected and validated experimentally. Six divergent hotspots such as trnQ-UUG, trnF-GAA, psaI, clpP, ndhF, and ycf1 were discovered from the cp genome. These microsatellites and divergent hot spot sequences of the Taxa ‘Evolvulus’ could be employed as molecular markers for species identification and genetic divergence investigations. The LSC area was found to be more conserved than the SSC and IR region in genome comparison. The IR contraction and expansion studies show that nine genes rpl2, rpl23, ycf1, ycf2, ycf1, ndhF, ndhA, matK, and psbK were present in the IR-LSC and IR-SSC boundaries of the cp genome. Fifty-four protein-coding genes in the cp genome were under negative selection pressure, indicating that they were well conserved and were undergoing purifying selection. The phylogenetic analysis reveals that E. alsinoides is closely related to the genus Cressa with some divergence from the genus Ipomoea. This is the first time the chloroplast genome of the genus Evolvulus has been published. The findings of the present study and chloroplast genome data could be a valuable resource for future studies in population genetics, genetic diversity, and evolutionary relationship of the family Convolvulaceae.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-021-01051-w.     

Cytokine Network in Scrub Typhus: High Levels of Interleukin-8 Are Associated with Disease Severity and Mortality

Background

Scrub typhus, caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, is endemic in the Asia-Pacific region. Mortality is high if untreated, and even with treatment as high as 10–20%, further knowledge of the immune response during scrub typhus is needed. The current study was aimed at comparing plasma levels of a variety of inflammatory mediators in scrub typhus patients and controls in South India in order to map the broader cytokine profile and their relation to disease severity and clinical outcome.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We examined plasma levels of several cytokines in scrub typhus patients (n = 129) compared to healthy controls (n = 31) and infectious disease controls (n = 31), both in the acute phase and after recovery, by multiplex technology and enzyme immunoassays. Scrub typhus patients were characterized by marked changes in the cytokine network during the acute phase, differing not only from healthy controls but also from infectious disease controls. While most of the inflammatory markers were raised in scrub typhus, platelet-derived mediators such as RANTES were markedly decreased, probably reflecting enhanced platelet activation. Some of the inflammatory markers, including various chemokines (e.g., interleukin-8, monocyte chemoattractant peptide-1 and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β) and downstream markers of inflammation (e.g., C-reactive protein and pentraxin-3), were also associated with disease severity and mortality during follow-up, with a particular strong association with interleukin-8.

Conclusions/Significance

Our findings suggest that scrub typhus is characterized by a certain cytokine profile that includes dysregulated levels of a wide range of mediators, and that this enhanced inflammation could contribute to disease severity and clinical outcome.     

Phytotoxic Activity of Tenuazonic Acid Isolated from Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler Causing Leaf Blight of Datura innoxia Mill. and its Effect on Host Metabolism

Tenuazonic acid isolated from Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler causing leaf blight of Datura innoxia Mill. showed significant phytotoxic activity when tested on monocot and dicotyledonous plants. The toxin induced chlorosis and necrosis on leaves of D. in noxia, D. stramonium, D. metel , belladonna, cowpea, wheat, rye, cabbage, cauliflower and maize at 200μg/ml and wilting of seedlings of D. innoxia at 100μg/ml concentration. It also caused complete inhibition of root and shoot elongation of germinating seeds of D. innoxia , wheat, rye, green gram and lettuce at 100μg/ml concentration. It was a nonspecific phytoxin and appeared to have significant role during pathogenesis.
Tenuazonic acid did not cause any significant change in the rate of respiration and in sugar, carbohydrate, total phenol and nitrogen contents of D. innoxia leaves. But its treatment on host plant induced 64 % reduction of chlorophyll content in leaves after 72 hours and 40 % reduction in protein content after 24 hours.     

Studies on the nature of interaction of iron(III) with alginates

The interactions between the polysaccharide alginate and iron(III) were investigated. The solution properties were studied through pH-metry, viscometry, zeta potential and particle size measurements. In the presence of alginate, iron(III) was stabilized and no precipitation was observed. Studies indicate that iron(III)-alginate system was more stable than iron(III) or alginate alone. The binding constant is of the order of 10(4) M(-1). A case for 'site binding model' for the interaction between alginate and Fe(III) has been made based on the studies using circular dichroism and zeta potential experiments. The number of binding sites per molecule of alginate has been estimated to be 66. This indicates that the alginate can bind more number of Fe(III) ions and thus provide a stable complex which can find wide industrial applications.     

A new epoxidic ganoderic acid and other phytoconstituents from Ganoderma lucidum

A new epoxidic ganoderic acid, 8α,9α-epoxy-3,7,11,15,23-pentaoxo-5α-lanosta-26-oic acid (1), together with the known compounds 3β-hydroxy-7,11,15,23-tetraoxo-5α-lanosta-8-en-26-oic acid (2), ergosta-7,22-diene-3β-yl pentadecanoate (3), ergosta-7,22-diene-3β-ol (4), β-sitosterol (5), fatty acids (6–10), fatty acid ester (11) and octadecane (12) were isolated from the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lucidum from south India. Their structures were determined by ¹H, ¹³C, ¹³C DEPT, ¹H–¹H COSY, HMBC, HSQC, NOESY NMR, FT-IR, UV–vis and FABMS spectral analysis. Compounds (1–3) exhibited good antifungal activity against Candida albicans in disc diffusion assay (100 μg/disc). Steroid ester (3) showed moderate anti-inflammatory activity (59.7% inhibition, 100 mg/kg body weight) in carrageenan-induced paw edema.     

Adventitial Delivery of Lentivirus-shRNA-ADAMTS-1 Reduces Venous Stenosis Formation in Arteriovenous Fistula

Hemodialysis vascular access can develop venous neointimal hyperplasia (VNH) causing stenosis. Recent clinical and experimental data has demonstrated that there is increased expression of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase thrombospondin motifs-1 (ADAMTS-1) at site of VNH. The experiments outlined in the present paper were designed to test the hypothesis that targeting of the adventitia of the outflow vein of murine arteriovenous fistula (AVF) using a small hairpin RNA that inhibits ADAMTS-1 expression (LV-shRNA-ADAMTS-1) at the time of fistula creation will decrease VNH. At early time points, ADAMTS-1 expression was significantly decreased associated with a reduction in vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) (LV-shRNA-ADAMTS-1 transduced vessels vs. controls). These changes in gene and protein expression resulted in favorable vascular remodeling with a significant increase in mean lumen vessel area, decrease in media/adventitia area, with a significant increase in TUNEL staining accompanied with a decrease in cellular proliferation accompanied with a reduction in CD68 staining. Collectively, these results demonstrate that ADAMTS-1 transduced vessels of the outflow vein of AVF have positive vascular remodeling.     

Mycorrhizal association of Glomus aggregatum with palmarosa enhances growth and biomass

Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii var. motia) was found to be associated with a vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungus, Glomus aggregatum. Glasshouse experiments showed that inoculation of palmarosa with G. aggregatum caused a two-fold growth and three-fold biomass production as compared to non-mycorrhizal plants. These findings indicate the potential use of VAM-fungi for improving the production of this essential oil bearing plant.CIMAP Publication No. 879.CIMAP Publication No. 879.