Enhancing the Nutritional Quality of Major Food Crops Through Conventional and Genomics-Assisted Breeding.

Nutritional stress is making over two billion world population malnourished. Either our commercially cultivated varieties of cereals, pulses, and oilseed crops are deficient in essential nutrients or the soils in which these crops grow are becoming devoid of minerals. Unfortunately, our major food crops are poor sources of micronutrients required for normal human growth. To overcome the problem of nutritional deficiency, greater emphasis should be laid on the identification of genes/quantitative trait loci (QTLs) pertaining to essential nutrients and their successful deployment in elite breeding lines through marker-assisted breeding. The manuscript deals with information on identified QTLs for protein content, vitamins, macronutrients, micro-nutrients, minerals, oil content, and essential amino acids in major food crops. These QTLs can be utilized in the development of nutrient-rich crop varieties. Genome editing technologies that can rapidly modify genomes in a precise way and will directly enrich the nutritional status of elite varieties could hold a bright future to address the challenge of malnutrition.

Sn-MOF@CNT nanocomposite: An efficient electrochemical sensor for detection of hydrogen peroxide.

A novel approach for the assembly of Sn-based metal organic framework (Sn-MOF) via solvothermal method and its composite (Sn-MOF@CNT) with electroactive material, carbon nanotubes (CNT) by sonochemical means, is described that is useful for hydrogen peroxide sensing; large surface area and pore volume of Sn-MOF were exploited where in the crystallinity of the Sn-MOF was preserved upon inclusion of CNT over its surface. The surface morphology and structural analysis of Sn-MOF and its composite form, Sn-MOF@CNT, were determined analytically through Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The developed Sn-MOF@CNT sensor was expansively used to determine and optimize the effect of scan rate, concentration and detection limits including the EDX and SEM analysis of used Sn-MOF@CNT nanocomposite's post hydrogen peroxide sensing. The electrochemical sensing with Sn-MOF@CNT revealed a lower limit of detection ~4.7 × 10-3 µM with wide linear range between 0.2 µM and 2.5 mM. This study has explored a new strategy for the deposition of CNT over Sn-MOF via a simple sonochemical methodology for successful electrochemical detection of H2O2, an approach that can be imitated for other applications.

Wheat starch, gum arabic and chitosan biopolymer treatment of wool fabric for improved shrink resistance finishing.

The major concerns of today's textile wet processing are large use of chemicals and toxic effluents. Eco-friendly sustainable ways of textile processing which are safe to health and environment are receiving much attention. Wool fabric suffers from irreversible shrinkage during washing. In this study, sustainable biopolymers have been utilized to impart shrink resistance finish to wool fabric without affecting the original properties of the fabric. The wool fabric was coated with gum arabic, chitosan, and wheat starch biopolymers. The presence of biopolymers on the wool fabrics was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). The tensile, bending, friction, color strength, yellowness index and whiteness index was measured along with shrink resistance of wool fabric before and after the biopolymer treatment. The biopolymer treatment significantly reduced the area shrinkage (<4%) of wool fabric. The biopolymer coating could be a viable and sustainable alternative to conventional treatments for developing shrink-resistant wool fabric with no adverse effect on fabric properties.

Large-scale stage-specific regulation of gene expression during host-pathogen interactions in CSP44 bread wheat carrying APR gene Lr48.

Genome-wide transcriptome analysis was undertaken in a leaf-rust resistant bread wheat line CSP44 (selected from Australian cv. Condor) carrying the adult plant resistance (APR) gene Lr48. Two pre-adult plant (P-AP) susceptible stages (S48 and S96) and two adult plant (AP) resistant stages (R48 and R96) were used for RNA-seq. At the susceptible P-AP stage (during S48 to S96), expression increased in 2062 genes, and declined in 130 genes; 1775 of 2062 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) also exhibited high expression during early incompatible stage R48. Comparison of S96 with R96 showed that the expression of 80 genes was enhanced and that of 208 genes declined at the AP stage. At the resistant AP stage (during R48 to R96), expression of mere 25 genes increased and that of 126 genes declined. Apparently, the resistance during late adult stage (R96) is caused by regulation of the expression of relatively fewer genes, although at pre-adult stage (S48 to S96), expression of large number of genes increased; expression of majority of these genes kept on increasing during adult stage at R48 also. These and other results of the present study suggest that APR may mimic some kind of systemic acquired resistance (SAR). The host-specific DEGs belonged to 10 different classes including genes involved in defence, transport, epigenetics, photosynthesis, genes encoding some transcription factors etc. The pathogen (Puccinia triticina) specific DEGs (including three genes encoding known biotrophic effectors) seem to help the pathogen in infection/growth through large-scale stage-specific enhanced expression of host's genes. A putative candidate gene for Lr48 containing protein kinase domain (its ortholog in rice encoding OsWAK8) was also identified.

Is Rajyoga helpful in maintaining patient's biochemical and hematological profile during breast cancer treatment?

The present study is the case of a breast cancer patient who visited the local unit of the Brahma Kumaris (BK). Conversations with the patient revealed that the patient was being treated in the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. The treatment of the patient included the surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. The patient narrated her ability to manage the psychological stress associated with the cancer treatment. She ascribed it to the positive attitude developed by her practice of the Rajyoga meditation from last 15 years. Rajyoga involved the daily meditation and regular listening to the specified commentary recommended by BK. Patient's health remains stable during the whole treatment process as analyzed by the mammography, histopathology and PET scan. The patient was also able to maintain the total body weight, biochemical and hematological profile within normal physiological range. The present case study is an attempt to provide Rajyoga as supportive means to the maintenance of patient's biochemical and hematological profile, and overall general health during breast cancer treatment.

A study of transcriptome in leaf rust infected bread wheat involving seedling resistance gene Lr28.

Leaf rust disease causes severe yield losses in wheat throughout the world. During the present study, high-throughput RNA-Seq analysis was used to gain insights into the role of Lr28 gene in imparting seedling leaf rust resistance in wheat. Differential expression analysis was conducted using a pair of near-isogenic lines (NILs) (HD 2329 and HD 2329+Lr28) at early (0h before inoculation (hbi), 24 and 48h after inoculation (hai)) and late stages (72, 96 and 168 hai) after inoculation with a virulent pathotype of pathogen Puccinia triticina. Expression of a large number of genes was found to be affected due to the presence/absence of Lr28. Gene ontology analysis of the differentially expressed transcripts suggested enrichment of transcripts involved in carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, oxidative stress and hormone metabolism, in resistant and/or susceptible NILs. Genes encoding receptor like kinases (RLKs) (including ATP binding; serine threonine kinases) and other kinases were the most abundant class of genes, whose expression was affected. Genes involved in reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis and several genes encoding transcription factors (TFs) (most abundant being WRKY TFs) were also identified along with some ncRNAs and histone variants. Quantitative real-time PCR was also used for validation of 39 representative selected genes. In the long term, the present study should prove useful in developing leaf rust resistant wheat cultivars through molecular breeding.

Masseter muscle thickness in different skeletal morphology: an ultrasonographic study.

BACKGROUND: The thickness of the masseter muscle during relaxation and contraction states was measured by ultrasonography. Subjects were classified according to their sagittal skeletal relationships. The association between muscle thickness and facial morphology was studied. CONTEXT: Masseter muscle thickness influences the skeletal patterns. AIM: To measure and compare the thickness of the masseter muscle in individuals with skeletal class I occlusion and skeletal class II malocclusions and to correlate its relationship with craniofacial morphology. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The study was conducted in a hospital setup and was designed to study the thickness of the masseter muscle in different skeletal morphologies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy two individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 years were divided into Group I, Group IIA and Group IIB according to their skeletal relationships. Masseter muscle thickness was measured by ultrasonography. Eight linear and six angular cephalometric measurements were assessed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation analysis. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference in muscle thickness between subjects of different skeletal patterns. Significant positive correlation between masseter muscle thickness and posterior total face height, jarabak ratio, ramus height, mandibular length and significant negative correlations with mandibular plane angle, gonial angle and PP-MP angle were observed. CONCLUSION: This study indicates the strong association between the masseter muscle and skeletal morphology.