Response of gastrointestinal melatonin,antioxidants, and digestive enzymes to altered feeding conditions in carp (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Catla catla</Emphasis>)

The purpose of present study was to ascertain whether the response of gastrointestinal (gut) melatonin to altered feeding conditions was related to the levels of different antioxidants and digestive enzymes in the same gut tissues of a sub-tropical carp (Catla catla). Accordingly, the fish were subjected to food deprivation for 4 or 8 days and separately to re-feeding for 4 or 8 or 12 days after deprivation of food for 8 days, and their gut tissue homogenates were used to measure the levels of melatonin, both enzymatic [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione S-transferase (GST)] and non-enzymatic [reduced glutathione (GSH)] antioxidants, as well as different digestive enzymes (α-amylase, cellulase, protease, and lipase). Notably, the gut levels of melatonin, SOD, CAT, GPx, and GST underwent gradual increase with the progress of food deprivation, but a sudden fall after restoration of food supply for 4 days and a rise thereafter. Conversely, the activity of all the digestive enzymes significantly decreased after deprivation of food, but started increasing when food supply was reinforced. Gut melatonin concentrations by showing a positive correlation with the titers of different antioxidants (in both food-deprived and re-fed fish groups) and a negative (in food-deprived fish) or a positive (in re-fed fish) correlation with the activity of each digestive enzyme underlined possible physiological interplay between them. Collectively, our findings lend support to the hypothesis that gut melatonin response to altered feeding conditions in carp might be associated with the oxidative status as well as the digestive functions of the gastrointestinal tissues itself.     

The effect of plant growth regulators and natural supplements on in vitro propagation of Pogostemon cablin Benth.

The effect of plant growth regulators and natural supplements on the morphogenetic response of Pogostemon cablin Benth. was investigated. Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with 0.5 mg L^?1 benzyl-6-adenine and 0.5 mg L^?1 kinetin was effective in inducing multiple shoots (63.20 ± 0.15) with an average shoot length of 5.27 ± 0.15 cm and biomass of 5.20 ± 0.10 g shoot^?1. Among the natural supplements, 10% coconut water supplemented to MS media showed a better response in all the morphological parameters studied. The use of 10% tomato extract, 20% banana extract, 10% carrot extract, and 10% papaya extract in MS medium have efficiently increased multiple shoots, shoot length, and fresh weight of the shoots. The natural supplements also effectively increased the chlorophyll content, total protein, and total carbohydrate content in the plant. The frequency of rooting (93%) was highest when shoots were implanted on 1/2 strength MS media with 100 mg L^?1 activated charcoal. The in vitro rooted plants were successfully acclimatized and established in soil. Also, RAPD analysis showed no variation suggesting true-to-type nature of the micropropagated plants. Hence, this protocol can effectively reduce the cost of in vitro multiplication of plants.     

Wildlife (Boselaphus tragocamelus)-small ruminant (goat and sheep) interface in the transmission of 'Bison type' genotype of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in India

Information on Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) genotypes infecting different animal species in India is limited. Presence of MAP was investigated in free ranging antelopes (locally known as Nilgai/blue bulls/Boselaphus tragocamelus) using direct microscopy, culture, IS900 PCR and IS1311 PCR-REA. IS900 elements of MAP from Nilgai and previously isolated from goats were sequenced and compared to establish inter-species transmission between free ranging Nilgai and closed farm herds and flocks of goats and sheep sharing common grazing and water resources. Fecal samples were collected from two geographical regions (Mathura and Kanpur Dehat districts) separated by 300km, in North India. Of the 42 fecal samples cultured, MAP colonies were recovered from 23.8% samples (Nilgai). Of the 10 positive fecal samples, two were in 'Super shedder' (>1000cfu/g) category and rest were moderate (<10-100cfu/g) shedders. None of the Nilgai from Kanpur Dehat was positive in culture. The 229bp fragment targeting specific IS900 sequence was amplified from template DNA isolated from all the positive MAP cultures of Nilgai. Using IS1311 PCR-REA, MAP colonies were genotyped as 'Bison type'. Goatherds and a sheep flock located at Central Institute for Research on Goats (CIRG), shared 303.52ha of land (Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh) with Nilgai and were endemic for MAP infection. MAP strains isolated from goats and sheep have been genotyped as 'Bison type'. Nucleotide sequence of the insertion elements (900) from MAP 'Bison type' strain (S5) of goat origin and MAP (B42) from Nilgai showed difference of 2 (1%) base pairs at the 11th and 12th position (Genbank accession number EU130943). Study is first report on sharing (inter-species transmission) of a new 'Bison type' genotype of MAP between free ranging wildlife (Nilgai population) and domestic animals (farm goatherds and sheep flocks) in India.     

A 200-second quasi-periodicity after the tidal disruption of a star by a dormant black hole

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs; mass is greater than or approximately 10(5) times that of the Sun) are known to exist at the center of most galaxies with sufficient stellar mass. In the local universe, it is possible to infer their properties from the surrounding stars or gas. However, at high redshifts we require active, continuous accretion to infer the presence of the SMBHs, which often comes in the form of long-term accretion in active galactic nuclei. SMBHs can also capture and tidally disrupt stars orbiting nearby, resulting in bright flares from otherwise quiescent black holes. Here, we report on a ~200-second x-ray quasi-periodicity around a previously dormant SMBH located in the center of a galaxy at redshift z = 0.3534. This result may open the possibility of probing general relativity beyond our local universe.     

Meta-analysis of seminal traits affecting bull fertility

Tropical Animal Health and Production - The pedigree information on bulls was collected from Frozen Semen Bank (FSB). Male reproductive data on seminal characters (semen volume (SV), sperm...     

In vitro assay of plant protease inhibitors from four different sources on digestive proteases of rohu, Labeo rohita (Hamilton), fingerlings

The in vitro inhibitory effect of protease inhibitors from four seed extracts (soybean, grasspea, black gram and horse gram) on digestive proteases of rohu was assessed by enzyme inhibition assay and substrate sodium dodecyl sulphate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. High proteolytic activity was detected in the intestinal extract of rohu (Labeo rohita) fingerlings at two different pH ranges (8–8.5 and 10–11). That protein digestion occurs mainly in the alkaline condition in this fish without a stomach is evident from very high trypsin activity (0.95±0.04 benzoyl‐dl ‐arginine‐p‐nitroanilide U mg protein⁻¹) in the intestine. In case of grass pea seed, more than 50% inhibition of alkaline protease activity was recorded when the ratio of inhibitor to enzyme was 9.41 μg U⁻¹. More than 40% inhibition of protease activity was recorded in case of horse gram seed when the ratio of inhibitor to enzyme was 5.51 μg U⁻¹. Black gram at 11.0 μg U⁻¹ and soybean seed proteins at 62.75 μg U⁻¹ resulted in 50% and more than 30% inhibition of digestive protease activity in rohu fingerlings respectively. A plot of the inhibition values obtained by changing the relative concentrations of enzyme/inhibitor resulted in different dose–response curves for different protein sources. The use of substrate gel electrophoresis allowed the visualization of the aforementioned differences in inhibition. Each seed extract produced a characteristic profile of protease inhibition. It is concluded that protease inhibitors present in plant protein sources adversely affect the digestive proteases in fish and hence there is a need to eliminate/reduce the amount of such inhibitors through proper processing before incorporation into aquafeeds.     

Comparison of Activated Carbon and Physic Seed Hull for the Removal of Malachite Green Dye from Aqueous Solution

In the present work, the effectiveness of physic seed hull, PSH (Jatropha curcas L.), as an alternative low-cost adsorbent for the removal of malachite green (MG) dye from simulated wastewater has been studied. It has been observed that PSH has remarkable adsorption capacity compared to granular activated carbon. The PSH adsorbent was characterized by SEM-EDX, BET, CHNS, zeta potential, and FTIR techniques. The adsorption behaviors such as adsorption kinetics, adsorption dynamics, and adsorption isotherms of PSH for the removal of MG dye from aqueous solution were studied in detail. The kinetic data fitted well with the pseudo second-order kinetic model for MG adsorption. Langmuir isotherm was found to be the model best fitted to describe the adsorption process.     

Enzyme activities and microbial biomass in coastal soils of India

Soil salinity is a serious problem for agriculture in coastal regions, wherein salinity is temporal in nature. We studied the effect of salinity, in summer, monsoon and winter seasons, on microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and enzyme activities (EAs) of the salt-affected soils of the coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, Sundarbans, India. The average pH of soils collected from different sites, during different seasons varied from 4.8 to 7.8. The average organic C (OC) and total N (TN) content of the soils ranged between 5.2-14.1 and 0.6-1.4 g kg⁻¹, respectively. The electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECe) of soils, averaged over season, varied from 2.2 to 16.3 dSm⁻¹. The ECe of the soils increased five fold during the summer season (13.8 dSm⁻¹) than the monsoon season (2.7 dSm⁻¹). The major cation and anion detected were Na⁺ and Cl⁻, respectively. Seasonality exerted considerable effects on MBC and soil EAs, with the lowest values recorded during the summer season. The activities of β-glucosidase, urease, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase were similar during the winter and monsoon season. The dehydrogenase activity of soils was higher in monsoon than in winter. Average MBC, dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, urease, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase activities of the saline soils ranged from 125 to 346 mg kg⁻¹ oven dry soil, 6-9.9 mg triphenyl formazan (TPF) kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹, 18-53 mg p-nitro phenol (PNP) kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹, 38-86 mg urea hydrolyzed kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹, 213-584 mg PNP kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹ and 176-362 mg PNP g⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹, respectively. The same for the non-saline soils were 274-446 mg kg⁻¹ oven dry soil, 8.8-14.4 mg TPF kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹, 41-80 mg PNP kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹, 89-134 mg urea hydrolyzed kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹, 219-287 mg PNP kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹ and 407-417 mg PNP kg⁻¹ oven dry soil h⁻¹, respectively. About 48%, 82%, 48%, 63%, 40% and 48% variation in MBC, dehydrogenase activity, β-glucosidase activity, urease activity, acid phosphatase activity and alkaline phosphatase activity, respectively, could be explained by the variation in ECe of saline soils. Suppression of EAs of the coastal soils during summer due to salinity rise is of immense agronomic significance and needs suitable interventions for sustainable crop production.     

Altered telomeres in tumors with ATRX and DAXX mutations

The proteins encoded by ATRX and DAXX participate in chromatin remodeling at telomeres and other genomic sites. Because inactivating mutations of these genes are common in human pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs), we examined the telomere status of these tumors. We found that 61% of PanNETs displayed abnormal telomeres that are characteristic of a telomerase-independent telomere maintenance mechanism termed ALT (alternative lengthening of telomeres). All of the PanNETs exhibiting these abnormal telomeres had ATRX or DAXX mutations or loss of nuclear ATRX or DAXX protein. ATRX mutations also correlate with abnormal telomeres in tumors of the central nervous system. These data suggest that an alternative telomere maintenance function may operate in human tumors with alterations in the ATRX or DAXX genes.     

Role of photoperiod and melatonin in the regulation of ovarian functions in Indian carp <Emphasis Type="Italic">Catla catla</Emphasis>: basic information for future application

The major carp Catla catla is a popular freshwater edible fish and an extensively cultured species in India. However, basic information on the physiology of reproduction is lacking in this species. By virtue of its surface feeding habit, it maintains close contact with environmental light, and is a species of choice for the study of temporal organization of reproduction under natural and experimental conditions for understanding environmental and/or endocrine mechanisms that control the annual reproductive cycle. The present review covers information gathered in recent years to emphasize the temporal pattern of reproductive events and the importance of photoperiod and melatonin, a hormone of the pineal gland that links the environment with the endocrine system in the regulation of reproduction. Finally, the outcome of the research is discussed in terms of its direct and indirect applications to aquaculture of this species with a view to manipulate its breeding at a desired time of the year to meet market demand.