Effects of Neem Seed Derivatives on Brown Planthopper Symbiotes

Populations of intracellular symbiotes declined significantly in brachypterous females of the brown planthopper,Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), which were stressed during nymphal development by caging them on IR20 rice plants treated with 3% neem oil, 5% neem seed kernel aqueous extract, or 10% neem cake aqueous extract. In addition, nymphs grew poorly and symbiote populations in prospective females declined, when reared on rice plants grown in soil treated with neem cake; this indicates systemic action of bioac-tive neem constituents. Addition of custard-apple oil to neem oil did not enhance the inhibitory effects. The effects of neem derivatives on the symbiotes may be either host-mediated — possibly through disturbed neuroendocrine homeostasis, or direct — leading to perturbations of host-symbiote equilibrium.     

Studies on effects of certain quinones: III. Photosynthetic 14CO2 incorporation by Rhodospirillum rubrum

Substituted naphthoquinones, 2,3,-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone, and 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone produced marked changes in the pattern of ¹⁴C-distribution during ¹⁴CO₂-fixation by photosynthetic bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum. The most obvious change in the labeling pattern during photoautotrophic ¹⁴CO₂-fixation was a several-fold increase in 3-phosphoglyceric acid accompanied with a decrease in the amount of glutamate. In photoheterotrophic cells, quinones caused an appreciable increase in ¹⁴C-glycolic acid and concomitant decrease, although not proportional, in the amount of ¹⁴C-sugar phosphate. The level of ¹⁴C-incorporated in poly-β-hydroxybutyrate and ether-extractable lipids was considerably decreased in photoautotrophic and photoheterotrophic cells treated with quinones. The ability of quinones to interfere with the synthesis of NADH and ATP, and their ability to interact with sulfhydryl enzymes and coenzymes appears to be responsible for the changes observed.     

Characterisation of caecum and crop microbiota of Indian indigenous chicken targeting multiple hypervariable regions within 16S rRNA gene

1. A comparative analysis of caecum and crop microbiota of chick, grower and adult stages of Indian indigenous chickens was conducted to investigate the role of the microbiota of the gastrointestinal tract, which play an important role in host performance, health and immunity.

2. High-throughput Illumina sequencing was performed for V3, V4 and V4-V6 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. M5RNA and M5NR databases under MG-RAST were used for metagenomic datasets annotation.

3. In the crop, Firmicutes (~78%) and Proteobacteria (~16%) were the predominant phyla whereas in the caecum, Firmicutes (~50%), Bacteroidetes (~29%) and Actinobacteria (~10%) were predominant. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index suggested that sample richness and diversity increased as the chicken aged.

4. For the first time, the presence of Lactobacillus species such as L. frumenti, L. antri, L. mucosae in the chicken crop along with Kineococcus radiotolerans, Desulfohalobium retbaense and L. jensenii in the caecum are reported. Many of these bacterial species have been found to be involved in immune response modulation and disease prevention in pigs and humans. The gut microbiome of the indigenous chicken was enriched with microbes having probiotic potential which might be essential for their adaptability.

     

Incorporation of Maize Gluten in Supplementary Feed and its Impact on Growth and Flesh Quality of Some Carps

Maize gluten (a byproduct from the starch industry) was used at four different levels (5, 10, 15 and 20% w/w) replacing the fish meal, a component of supplementary diet, under a semi-intensive culture system. The impact of different diets on the physico-chemical parameters of water, growth and flesh quality of catla, Catla catla; rohu, Labeo rohita; and mrigal, Cirrhina mrigala was studied. Growth in terms of body weight gain was highest when fed a diet having 5% maize gluten (replacing fish meal at 25% level) for all the fish species. However, incorporation of maize gluten at higher levels led to decline in growth, since maize gluten is deficient in essential amino acids like methionine, lysine and threonine, etc. The flesh quality in terms of total protein, total lipid, total sugar, moisture and total ash was also determined at the termination of the experiment to see whether there was any significant variation with the incorporation of maize gluten or not.     

Differential responses of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) — Rhizobium combinations to saline soil conditions

Summary Chickpea cultivars (Cicer arietinum L.) and their symbiosis with specific strains of Rhizobium spp. were examined under salt stress. The growth of rhizobia declined with NaCl concentrations increasing from 0.01 to 2% (w : v). Two Rhizobium spp. strains (F-75 and KG 31) tolerated 1.5% NaCl. Of the 10 chickpea cultivars examined, only three (Pusa 312, Pusa 212, and Pusa 240) germinated at 1.5% NaCl. The chickpea — Rhizobium spp. symbiosis was examined in the field, with soil varying in salinity from electrical conductivity (EC) 4.5 to EC 5.2 dSm^-1, to identify combinations giving satisfactory yields. Significant interactions between strains and cultivars caused differential yields of nodules, dry matter, and grain. Four chickpea — Rhizobium spp. combinations, Pusa 240 and F-75 (660 kg ha^-1), Pusa 240 and IC 76 (440 kg ha^-1), Pusa 240 and KG 31 (390 kg ha^-1), and Pusa 312 and KG 31 (380 kg ha^-1), produced significantly higher grain yields in saline soil.     

Papaya yellow leaf curl virus: A newly identified begomovirus infecting Carica papaya L. from the Indian Subcontinent

India is one of the world’s largest producers of papaya. Viruses, mainly begomoviruses and potyviruses, cause a significant loss in papaya production. The study described here has identified a new species of begomovirus and a new species of betasatellite infecting Carica papaya in India. The sequences of the begomovirus and betasatellite show 90.03% nucleotide sequence identity to an isolate of Radish leaf curl virus and 92.25% identity to an isolate of Tomato leaf curl betasatellite, respectively. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of begomovirus sequence of isolate DP2 (KX353622) showed distant relationships with previously characterised begomoviruses. Recombination analysis proposed six recombination breakpoints in begomovirus genome with other geographical begomovirus isolates.     

Barriers to Open Government Data (OGD) initiative in Tanzania: Stakeholders’ perspectives

Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives are picking up across the globe with their emphasis upon the tenets of transparency, collaboration, and participation. While much of the research has remained confined at unraveling the theoretical and conceptual dimensions of OGD, empirical investigations are visibly lacking, especially in the African context. Using a qualitative research methodology, we analyze the responses received from relevant stakeholders—representatives from public and private sector—regarding their views about the OGD initiative in Tanzania. Our findings show that the OGD initiative in Tanzania is in an emerging stage and there are barriers (organizational, social, legal, and technical) toward instituting a robust OGD initiative in the country. Further, we find that there is inertia among the government departments in terms of publishing data sets. Our findings provide a sounding board for further research on the sustainability of OGD initiatives in Tanzania and the other African countries, by and large.     

Pigeonpea improvement: An amalgam of breeding and genomic research

In the past five decades, constant research has been directed towards yield improvement in pigeonpea resulting in the deployment of several commercially acceptable cultivars in India. Though, the genesis of hybrid technology, the biggest breakthrough, enigma of stagnant productivity still remains unsolved. To sort this productivity disparity, genomic research along with conventional breeding was successfully initiated at ICRISAT. It endowed ample genomic resource providing insight in the pigeonpea genome combating production constraints in a precise and speedy manner. The availability of the draft genome sequence with a large‐scale marker resource, oriented the research towards trait mapping for flowering time, determinacy, fertility restoration, yield attributing traits and photo‐insensitivity. Defined core and mini‐core collection, still eased the pigeonpea breeding being accessible for existing genetic diversity and developing stress resistance. Modern genomic tools like next‐generation sequencing, genome‐wide selection helping in the appraisal of selection efficiency is leading towards next‐generation breeding, an awaited milestone in pigeonpea genetic enhancement. This paper emphasizes the ongoing genetic improvement in pigeonpea with an amalgam of conventional breeding as well as genomic research.     

Segmentation of 3D images of plant tissues at multiple scales using the level set method

Background

Developmental biology has made great strides in recent years towards the quantification of cellular properties during development. This requires tissues to be imaged and segmented to generate computerised versions that can be easily analysed. In this context, one of the principal technical challenges remains the faithful detection of cellular contours, principally due to variations in image intensity throughout the tissue. Watershed segmentation methods are especially vulnerable to these variations, generating multiple errors due notably to the incorrect detection of the outer surface of the tissue.

Results

We use the level set method (LSM) to improve the accuracy of the watershed segmentation in different ways. First, we detect the outer surface of the tissue, reducing the impact of low and variable contrast at the surface during imaging. Second, we demonstrate a new edge function for a level set, based on second order derivatives of the image, to segment individual cells. Finally, we also show that the LSM can be used to segment nuclei within the tissue.

Conclusion

The watershed segmentation of the outer cell layer is demonstrably improved when coupled with the LSM-based surface detection step. The tool can also be used to improve watershed segmentation at cell-scale, as well as to segment nuclei within a tissue. The improved segmentation increases the quality of analysis, and the surface detected by our algorithm may be used to calculate local curvature or adapted for other uses, such as mathematical simulations.