Detection of milk adulteration using coffee ring effect and convolutional neural network.

A low-cost and effective method is reported to identify water and synthetic milk adulteration of cow's milk using coffee ring patterns. The cow's milk samples were diluted with tap water (TW), distilled water (DW) and mineral water (MW) and drop cast onto glass slides to observe coffee ring patterns. The area of the ring, total particle area and average particle diameter were extracted from these patterns. For each ring, the ratio of total particle area versus total ring area was calculated. The area ratio, regardless of water adulterants, follows an exponential model with respect to average particle diameter. Unlike TW, the ratio for DW and MW adulterated milk are clustered and classified together with respect to the particle diameter. These results were independent of dilution level and are used for adulterant classification. The ring of milk adulterated using synthetic milk gave multiple concentric rings, flower-like structures, and oil globules throughout the dilution level. An Alexnet model was used to classify water and synthetic milk adulterants in authentic milk. The trained model could achieve 96.7% and 95.8% accuracy for binary and tertiary classification respectively. These results enable us to distinguish synthetic milk from pure milk and segregate DW and MW with respect to TW adulterated milk.

Role of calcium nutrition in plant Physiology: Advances in research and insights into acidic soil conditions - A comprehensive review.

Plant mineral nutrition has immense significance for crop productivity and human well-being. Soil acidity plays a major role in determining the nutrient availability that influences plant growth. The importance of calcium (Ca) in biological processes, such as signaling, metabolism, and cell growth, underlines its critical role in plant growth and development. This review focuses on soil acidification, a gradual process resulting from cation leaching, fertilizer utilization, and drainage issues. Soil acidification significantly hampers global crop production by modifying nutrient accessibility. In acidic soils, essential nutrients, such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and Ca become less accessible, establishing a correlation between soil pH and plant nutrition. Cutting-edge Ca nutrition technologies, including nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and genome sequencing, offer the potential to deliver Ca and reduce the reliance on conventional soluble fertilizers. These fertilizers not only contribute to environmental contamination but also impose economic burdens on farmers. Nanotechnology can enhance nutrient uptake, and Ca nanoparticles improve nutrient absorption and release. Genetic engineering enables the cultivation of acid-tolerant crop varieties by manipulating Ca-related genes. High-throughput technologies such as next-generation sequencing and microarrays aid in identifying the microbial structures, functions, and biosynthetic pathways involved in managing plant nutritional stress. The ultimate goal is to shed light on the importance of Ca, problems associated with soil acidity, and potential of emerging technologies to enhance crop production while minimizing the environmental impact and economic burden on farmers.

Refining shape and size of silver nanoparticles using ion irradiation for enhanced and homogeneous SERS activity.

We present green synthesis of silver nanoparticles in water using unirradiated and Ag 15 + ion irradiated phytoextracts of Bergenia Ciliata leaf, Eupatorium adenophorum leaf, Rhododendron arboreum leaf and flower. The use of different plant extracts and their subsequent ion irradiation allow for successful refinement of nanoparticle size and morphology. Due to changes in reducing and capping agents the nanoparticle surface functionalization also varies which not only controls the morphology but also allows for surface oxidation and aggregation processes. In this work, we have synthesized silver nanoparticles which exhibit sizes in the range from 13 to 24 nm and having shapes like spherical, quasispherical, trigonal, hexagonal, cylindrical, dendritic assemblies, and porous nanoparticles. Owing to changes in the size and shape of the nanoparticles, their direct bandgap (2.05 eV - 2.48 eV) and local surface plasmon resonance (420 nm - 490 nm) could also be tuned. These nanoparticles are examined as SERS substrates, where their enhancement factors, limit of detection for methylene blue, and SERS substrate homogeneity have been tested. It has been observed the nanoparticles synthesized using unirradiated plant extracts present an enhancement factor of 10 6 with a limit of detection 10 - 8 M. Whereas nanoparticles with refined morphology and shapes upon irradiation present high enhancement factors of >10 7 and detection limit down to 10 - 9 M. In addition, uniformity in Raman spectra over the SERS substrates has been obtained for selected Ag NPs substrates synthesized using irradiated extracts with minimum relative standard deviation in enhancement factor < 12%.

A computational strategy for systematic virtual screening of plasmodium falciparum heme detoxification protein inhibitors from the Drugbank database.

Antimalarial drug resistance poses one of the greatest threats to malaria treatment, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Heme Detoxification Protein (HDP) is among the essential hemoglobinases of P. falciparum (Pf), a vital molecular target for the treatment of malaria. In this study, we utilized the virtual screening workflow tool of the Schrodinger suite to find the best hits for the PfHDP from the DrugBank library. A total of 14,942 compounds were identified against the PfHDP. The top compounds with the highest docking scores and least energy scores were subjected to molecular simulations for 500 nanosecond to check the stability of the protein-drug complexes. The top three DrugBank compounds were found to be stable over 500 ns, namely DB09298 (silibinin), DB07426 (1-Hydroxy-2-(1,1':3',1''-Terphenyl-3-Yloxy) Ethane-1,1-Diyl] Bis (Phosphonic Acid), and DB07410 [(2-(3-Dibenzofuran-4-yl-Phenyl)-1-Hydroxy-1-Phosphono-Ethyl]-Phosphonic Acid). Overall analysis suggests that the top three compounds, DB09298, DB07426, and DB07410, have good stability for 500 ns. Their scaffolds can be used to design and develop new analogs of the target HDP protein. Silibinin, the anti-cancer drug, was found to be highly stable for the entire simulation period as compared to the other compounds. DB07426 shows its therapeutic effect on bones, especially in the treatment of osteoporosis, and DB07410 has anti-tumor, antibacterial, anti-oxidative, and anti-viral activities. All three compounds can be considered for repurposing as antimalarial drugs to evaluate the binding capacity or inhibition potential of these compounds. Further in-vivo and in-vitro analysis against the PfHDP protein should be conducted.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Marine diatom algae cultivation in simulated dairy wastewater and biomass valorization.

Liquid byproducts and organic wastes generated from dairy processing units contribute as the largest source of industrial food wastewater. Though bacteria-mediated treatment strategies are largely implemented, a more effective and innovative management system is needed of the hour. Thus, the current study involves the cultivation of centric diatoms, Chaetoceros gracilis, and Thalassiosira weissflogii in simulated dairy wastewater (SDWW) formulated using varying amounts of milk powder with artificial seawater f/2 media (ASW). The results revealed that cell density and biomass productivity were highest in the 2.5% SDWW treatment cultures of both the strains, the maximum being in C. gracilis (7.5 × 106 cells mL - 1; 21.1 mg L-1 day-1). Conversely, the total carotenoid, chrysolaminarin, and phenol content were negatively impacted by SDWW. However, a considerable enhancement in the total lipid content was reported in the 2.5% SDWW culture of both species. Furthermore, the fatty acid profiling revealed that though the total polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content was highest in the control setups, the total mono polyunsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content was higher in the 5% SDWW setups (30.66% in C. gracilis and 33.21% in T. weissflogii). In addition to it, in the cultures utilizing energy from external carbon sources provided by SDWW, the biodiesel produced was also enhanced owing to the heightened cetane number. Thus, the current study evidently highlights the organic carbon acquisition potential of marine diatoms with the scope of providing sustainable biorefinery.

An insight to the recent advancements in detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis using biosensors: A systematic review.

Since ancient times, Tuberculosis (TB) has been a severe invasive illness that has been prevalent for thousands of years and is also known as "consumption" or phthisis. TB is the most common chronic lung bacterial illness in the world, killing over 2 million people each year, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). As per the reports of WHO, in spite of technology advancements, the average rate of decline in global TB infections from 2000-2018 was only 1.6% per year, and the worldwide reduction in TB deaths was only 11%. In addition, COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling TB with fewer diagnosed cases. The majority of undiagnosed patients of TB are found in low- and middle-income countries where the GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay and sputum smear microscopy have been approved by the WHO as reference procedures for quickly detecting TB. Biosensors, like other cutting-edge technologies, have piqued researchers' interest since they offer a quick and accurate way to identify MTB. Modern integrated technologies allow for the rapid, low-cost, and highly precise detection of analytes in extremely little amounts of sample by biosensors. Here in this review, we outlined the severity of tuberculosis (TB) and the most recent developments in the biosensors sector, as well as their various kinds and benefits for TB detection. The review also emphasizes how widespread TB is and how it needs accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.

Response of varying combined nutrients on biomass and biochemical composition of marine diatoms Chaetoceros gracilis and Thalassiosira weissflogii.

Marine diatoms have high adaptability and are known to accumulate lipids under nutrient stress conditions. The present study involves determining the effect of varying macro and micronutrients on growth kinetics and metabolite production of oleaginous marine diatoms, Thalassiosira weissflogii and Chaetoceros gracilis. The results highlighted that C. gracilis and T. weissflogii showed maximum biomass yield of 0.86 ± 0.06 g/L and 0.76 ± 0.01 g/L in the 2f and f supplemented medium respectively. A 2.5-fold increase in cellular lipid content was recorded in the 2f culture setup of both strains ranging from 20 % to 26.7 % (w/w). The study also reveals that high eutrophic nutrient media (f, 2f and 4f) triggered biomass productivity as well as total protein and carbohydrate content in both strains. Thus, providing a reproducible insight of trophic flexibility of diatoms, concomitant with the increment in multiple commercially valuable products.

Study of the polysaccharide production by the microalgae C-1509 Nannochloris sp. Naumann.

Biologically active compounds, including polysaccharides isolated from microalgae, have various properties. Although Nannochloropsis spp. have the potential to produce secondary metabolites important for biotechnology, only a small part of the research on these microalgae has focused on their ability to produce polysaccharide fractions. This study aims to evaluate the physicochemical growth factors of Nannochloropsis spp. microalgae, which ensure the maximum accumulation of polysaccharides, as well as to optimize the parameters of polysaccharide extraction. The optimal nutrient medium composition was selected to maximize biomass and polysaccharide accumulation. The significance of selecting the extraction module and extraction temperature regime, as well as the cultivation conditions (temperature and active acidity value) is emphasized. Important chemical components of polysaccharides responsible for their biological activity were identified.

Sustainable mixotrophic microalgae refinery of astaxanthin and lipid from Chlorella zofingiensis.

Microalgal astaxanthin possesses numerous bioactivities and has several health applications. The current research focuses on designing and optimizing the two-stage mixotrophic bioprocess by Chlorella zofingiensis for astaxanthin production. Gradual increase in light intensity (4-8k-lux) and 3x micronutrient concentration were the key parameters for maximizing biomass yield of 2.5 g/L during 15 days of stage I. Furthermore, stress conditions (excessive CO2, light, salinity, etc.) enhanced astaxanthin yield at stage II. 20k lux light, 3x nutrients, and 5% CO2 were the best ranges for maximum astaxanthin production. Maximum biomass yield and astaxanthin content were 3.3 g/L and 16.7 mg/g, respectively, after 29 days of bioprocess. Astaxanthin biosynthesis was also affected by salinity, but less than other parameters. Astaxanthin bioprocess resulted in enhanced lipid yields of 35-37%, which could be used for biodiesel. This study shows promising scale-up potential with attractive sustainability features of Chlorella zofingiensis model for commercial astaxanthin-lipid biorefinery.

Dual metal ion (Fe3+ and As3+) sensing and cell bioimaging using fluorescent carbon quantum dots synthesised from Cynodon dactylon.

In this study, water dispersible fluorescent carbon quantum dot (CQD) has been synthesised, having an average size of 8.6 ± 0.4 nm using Cynodon dactylon (CD) following microwave assisted green synthetic one-step method. As-prepared CQD fluoresces strongly at 444 nm having a quantum yield of 1% in water when excited at 350 nm. This fluorescence of CQD is sensitive toward As3+ and Fe3+ metal ions. These CQD are utilized for dual metal ion fluorescence sensing; turn-on fluorescence sensing for As3+ and turn-off fluorescence sensing for Fe3+ ions. Limit of detection for As3+ and Fe3+ ions has been found to be 19 nM and 0.10 µM respectively, which is the lowest value reported for As3+ without any functionalization. The adsorption kinetics of As3+ and Fe3+ ions on CQD have been examined using pseudo-first-order-kinetic model revealing that physical adsorption is dominant over chemical processes in this work. For 0.41 g/L and 1.90 g/L dose of CQD, the equilibrium adsorption capacity was found to be 1.57 × 10-6 mg/g, 2.91 × 10-7 mg/g, and 1.01 × 10-5 mg/g, 1.69 × 10-6 mg/g respectively for As3+ and Fe3+ ions. Despite having low quantum yield in water, as-prepared CQD showed low cytotoxicity and good tolerance against photodegradation of biological cells at concentrations lower than 62.5 µg/mL and when the cells are illuminated up to 12 h. Owing to this, the synthesised CQD have been utilized as fluorescent probes for in itro cell imaging.

Evaluation of the antioxidative response of diatoms grown on emerging steroidal contaminants.

With increasing anthropic activities, a myriad of typical contaminants from industries, hospitals, and municipal discharges have been found which fail to be categorized under regulatory standards and are hence considered contaminants of "emerging concern". Since these pollutants are not removed effectively even by the conventional treatment systems, they tend to inflict potential threats to both human and aquatic life. However, microalgae-mediated remediation strategies have recently gained worldwide importance owing to their role in carbon fixation, low operational cost, and production of high-value products. In this study, centric diatom Chaetoceros neogracilis was exposed to different concentrations of estradiol (E2)-induced synthetic media ranging from 0 to 2 mg L-1, and its impact on the antioxidative system of algae was investigated. The results demonstrate that the nutrient stress caused a strong oxidative response elevating the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the 2 mg L-1 E2-treated diatom cultures. However, the specific activity of the H2O2 radical scavenging enzymes like catalase (CAT) was inhibited by the E2 treatment, while that of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) remained comparable to the control (0 mg L-1 of E2). Thus, the study reveals the scope of diatoms as potential indicators of environmental stress even under the varying concentration of a single contaminant (E2).

Microbial production of nutraceuticals: Metabolic engineering interventions in phenolic compounds, poly unsaturated fatty acids and carotenoids synthesis.

Nutraceuticals have attained substantial attention due to their health-boosting or disease-prevention characteristics. Growing awareness about the potential of nutraceuticals for the prevention and management of diseases affecting human has led to an increase in the market value of nutraceuticals in several billion dollars. Nevertheless, limitations in supply and isolation complications from plants, animals or fungi, limit the large-scale production of nutraceuticals. Microbial engineering at metabolic level has been proved as an environment friendly substitute for the chemical synthesis of nutraceuticals. Extensively used microbial systems such as E. coli and S. cerevisiae have been modified as versatile cell factories for the synthesis of diverse nutraceuticals. This review describes current interventions in metabolic engineering for synthesising some of the therapeutically important nutraceuticals (phenolic compounds, polyunsaturated fatty acids and carotenoids). We focus on the interventions in enhancing product yield through engineering at gene level or pathway level.

Reduced Graphene Oxide-Polydopamine-Gold Nanoparticles: A Ternary Nanocomposite-Based Electrochemical Genosensor for Rapid and Early Mycobacterium tuberculosis Detection.

Tuberculosis (TB) has been a devastating human illness for thousands of years. According to the WHO, around 10.4 million new cases of tuberculosis are identified every year, with 1.8 million deaths. To reduce these statistics and the mortality rate, an early and accurate TB diagnosis is essential. This study offers a highly sensitive and selective electrochemical biosensor for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) detection based on a ternary nanocomposite of reduced graphene oxide, polydopamine, and gold nanoparticles (rGO-PDA-AuNP). Avidin-biotin coupling was used to bind the MTB probe DNA onto the rGO-PDA-AuNP modified glassy carbon electrode (ssDNA/avidin/rGO-PDA-AuNP). UV-Visible, Raman, XRD, and TEM were used to evaluate the structural and morphological characteristics of rGO-PDA-AuNP. Furthermore, DNA immobilization is validated using FESEM and FT-IR techniques. The modified electrodes were electrochemically analyzed using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and the results indicate that the produced electrode can detect target DNA up to 0.1 × 10-7 mM with 2.12 × 10-3 mA µM-1 sensitivity and a response time of 5 s. The constructed genosensor displayed high sensitivity and stability, and it also provides a unique strategy for diagnosing MTB at an early stage. Furthermore, our rGO-PDA-AuNP/GCE-based electrochemical platform has broad potential for creating biosensor systems for detecting various infectious pathogens and therapeutically significant biomarkers.

Biomass valorization of agriculture wastewater grown freshwater diatom Nitzschia sp. for metabolites, antibacterial activity, and biofertilizer.

The sustainable utilization of agricultural wastewater is a major global challenge. This study evaluated the impact of agricultural fertilizer on the biomass potential of Nitzschia sp. for metabolite production, antibacterial activity, and slow release biofertilizer. Cultivation of Nitzschia sp. in agriculture wastewater (0.5 mg ml-1) exhibited maximum cell density (12×105 cells ml-1), protein content (10.0 mg g-1), and lipid content (14.96%). Carbohydrate and phenol content increases in a dose-dependent manner with 8.27 mg g-1 and 2.05 mg g-1 at a concentration of 2 mg ml-1 respectively. There was a 2.1-fold increment in chrysolaminarin content. Both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria were susceptible to the antibacterial activity of the biomass. The effects of using diatom biomass as a biofertilizer were evaluated on the growth of periwinkle plants, which showed significant improvements in leaf development, branching at an early stage, flowering, and a marked increase in shoot length. Diatom biorefinery holds immense potential in addressing agriculture wastewater recycling and sustainable generation of high-value compounds.

A Sub-Sequence Based Approach to Protein Function Prediction via Multi-Attention Based Multi-Aspect Network.

Inferring the protein function(s) via the protein sub-sequence classification is often obstructed due to lack of knowledge about function(s) of sub-sequences in the protein sequence. In this regard, we develop a novel "multi-aspect" paradigm to perform the sub-sequence classification in an efficient way by utilizing the information of the parent sequence. The aspects are: (1) Multi-label: independent labelling of sub-sequences with more than one functions of the parent sequence, and (ii) Label-relevance: scoring the parent functions to highlight the relevance of performing a given function by the sub-sequence. The multi-aspect paradigm is used to propose the "Multi-Attention Based Multi-Aspect Network" for classifying the protein sub-sequences, where multi-attention is a novel approach to process sub-sequences at word-level. Next, the proposed Global-ProtEnc method is a sub-sequence based approach to encoding protein sequences for protein function prediction task, which is finally used to develop as ensemble methods, Global-ProtEnc-Plus. Evaluations of both the Global-ProtEnc and the Global-ProtEnc-Plus methods on the benchmark CAFA3 dataset delivered a outstanding performances. Compared to the state-of-the-art DeepGOPlus, the improvements in Fmax with the Global-ProtEnc-Plus for the biological process is +6.50 percent and cellular component is +1.90 percent.

Identification of Potential Antimalarial Drug Candidates Targeting Falcipain-2 Protein of Malaria Parasite-A Computational Strategy.

Falcipain-2 (FP-2) is one of the main haemoglobinase of P. falciparum which is an important molecular target for the treatment of malaria. In this study, we have screened alkaloids to identify potential inhibitors against FP-2 since alkaloids possess great potential as anti-malarial agents. A total of 340 alkaloids were considered for the study using a series of computational pipelines. Initially, pharmacokinetics and toxicity risk assessment parameters were applied to screen compounds. Subsequently, molecular docking algorithms were utilised to understand the binding efficiency of alkaloids against FP-2. Further, oral toxicity prediction was done using the pkCSM tool, and 3D pharmacophore features were analysed using the PharmaGist server. Finally, MD simulation was performed for Artemisinin and the top 3 drug candidates (Noscapine, Reticuline, Aclidinium) based on docking scores to understand the functional impact of the complexes, followed by a binding site interaction residues study. Overall analysis suggests that Noscapine conceded good pharmacokinetics and oral bioavailability properties. Also, it showed better binding efficiency with FP-2 when compared to Artemisinin. Interestingly, structure alignment analysis with artemisinin revealed that Noscapine, Reticuline, and Aclidinium might possess similar biological action. Molecular dynamics and free energy calculations revealed that Noscapine could be a potent antimalarial agent targeting FP-2 that can be used for the treatment of malaria and need to be studied experimentally in the future.

Integrated biorefinery development for pomegranate peel: Prospects for the production of fuel, chemicals and bioactive molecules.

Current experimental evidence has revealed that pomegranate peel is a significant source of essential bio compounds, and many of them can be transformed into valorized products. Pomegranate peel can also be used as feedstock to produce fuels and biochemicals. We herein review this pomegranate peel conversion technology and the prospective valorized product that can be synthesized from this frequently disposed fruit waste. The review also discusses its usage as a carbon substrate to synthesize bioactive compounds like phenolics, flavonoids and its use in enzyme biosynthesis. Based on reported experimental evidence, it is apparent that pomegranate peel has a large number of applications, and therefore, the development of an integrated biorefinery concept to use pomegranate peel will aid in effectively utilizing its significant advantages. The biorefinery method displays a promising approach for efficiently using pomegranate peel; nevertheless, further studies should be needed in this area.

Production of lipids and proteins from marine diatoms under changing pH and silica.

Diatom algae are increasingly explored as an alternative sustainable source for functional biomolecules likes fucoxanthin, and eicosapentaenoic acid. But biomolecule quantity and quantity are influenced by growth conditions. So, effect of differential silica concentration (0-120 mg L-1) and medium pH (5.5-9.5) on growth and cellular biochemical composition of commercially important marine diatom species were studied. Growth rate of Thalassiosira sp., Skeletonema sp., and Chaetoceros sp., was higher with 30 mg L-1 Si at a pH of 7.5-8.5. Highest carbohydrate (153.71 mg g-1) and protein (17.34 mg g-1) content was found in Skeletonema sp. Silica concentration positively influenced chlorophyll and carotenoid content in a dose dependent manner. A medium pH of 8.5 and Si concentration between 60 and 120 mg L-1 was ideal for lipid production. The optimum concentration of Si and pH for maximum biomolecule production have been reported with further scope of utilizing these conditions in commercial scale systems.

Anharmonic phonon interactions and the Kondo effect in a FeSe/Sb2Te3/FeSe heterostructure: a proximity effect between ferromagnetic chalcogenide and di-chalcogenide.

In this report, we have introduced magnetic ordering into the nontrivial system of conventional topological insulators (TIs) by creating magnetic interfaces. In this context, antimony di-chalcogenide Sb2Te3 sandwiched between two thin layers of FeSe was prepared using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The prepared heterostructure demonstrated good crystallinity along with homogeneous morphology displaying pyramid-shaped characteristic triangular islands. To comprehend the temperature and magnetic field modulated inter-layer properties of the prepared hetero-structure, transport, magneto-transport and magnetic properties were investigated. These properties establish the signature of the Kondo effect below 15 K, which has been attributed to the antiferromagnetic spin alignment in that temperature range. At around 150 K, longitudinal and transverse resistivity shows the metal-semiconductor transition, which was further elucidated through the anharmonic decay model in vibration phonon modes using Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, a significant local spin evolution was explored at around 475 K by studying the magnetic properties of the system. The temperature dependency of the Raman modes confirmed the spin-phonon coupling initiated by local charge ordering at the proximity of the interface in the prepared hetero-structure.

Limited genetic diversity and expression profile of Plasmodium falciparum haem detoxification protein: a possible diagnostic target.

BACKGROUND: Haem detoxification protein (HDP) is a significant protein in the erythrocytic stage of the Plasmodium lifecycle. HDP could be of paramount interest as a diagnostic biomarker for accurate diagnosis of malaria. We thus explored HDP genetic variation, expression levels of HDP and immune response. METHODS: Phylogenetic analysis was carried out using Pfhdp orthologues sequences of various Plasmodium species. Blood samples were collected from patients in central India. Pfhdp gene was amplified, and sequenced by sanger DNA sequencing. B-cell epitopes were identified in PfHDP using Bepipred Linear Epitope Prediction 2.0, and median-joining network was constructed using global PfHDP sequences. Pfhdp expression levels during erythrocytic stage were assessed using real-time qPCR at 4-h intervals. An IgG immune response against synthetic PfHDP peptides was analysed using ELISA. RESULTS: Phylogenetic analysis revealed the conserved nature of Pfhdp gene. Diversity analysis revealed one non-synonymous mutation (F91L) among all isolates. Neutrality tests indicated negative selection for Pfhdp gene. HDP was expressed throughout the erythrocytic cycle, and comparatively, high expression was observed in the late trophozoite and schizont stages. High IgG response against both peptides was observed, and no polymorphism was seen in any of the seven predicted B-cell epitopes. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of the present study indicate the possibility of HDP being exploited as a diagnostic biomarker for Plasmodium falciparum malaria after proteomic validation studies.