Assessment of genetic homogeneity of in-vitro propagated apple root stock MM 104 using ISSR and SCoT primers.

Apple is an important fruit crop that is always in demand due to its commercial and nutraceutical value. Also, the requirement for quality planting material for this fruit crop for new plantations is increasing continuously. In-vitro propagation is an alternative approach, which may help to produce genetically identical high grade planting material. In this study, for the first time, an efficient and reproducible propagation protocol has been established for apple root stock MM 104 via axillary bud. Culturing axillary buds on Murashige and Skoog apple rootstock (MM 104) resulted in better in-vitro propagation. (MS) basal medium supplemented with 3.0% (w/v) sucrose and 0.8% (w/v) agar. The axillary buds were established in MS basal medium with BA (5.0 µM), NAA (1.0 µM) and further used to establish invitro propagation protocol. Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs), BA (1.0 µM) in combination with NAA (1.0 µM) was found most efficient for shoot multiplication (100%) and produced 9.8 shoots/explants with an average shoot length of (2.4 ± cm). All the shoots produced roots in 0.1 µM IBA with a 5-day dark period. Acclimatization of in-vitro raised plantlets was obtained with vermiculite: perlite: sand: soil (2:2:1:1) resulting in 76% survival under field conditions. The study showed that the use of axillary bud is efficient for multiple-shoot production of apple rootstock (MM 104). This is the first comprehensive report on in-vitro growth of apple root stock MM 104 with an assessment of genetic stability using DNA fingerprinting profiles based on Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) and Start Codon Targeted (SCoT). The genetic stability of in-vitro-produced plants, as determined by SCoT and ISSR primers, demonstrated genetic closeness to the mother plant.

Recent Updates on Viral Oncogenesis: Available Preventive and Therapeutic Entities.

Human viral oncogenesis is a complex phenomenon and a major contributor to the global cancer burden. Several recent findings revealed cellular and molecular pathways that promote the development and initiation of malignancy when viruses cause an infection. Even, antiviral treatment has become an approach to eliminate the viral infections and prevent the activation of oncogenesis. Therefore, for a better understanding, the molecular pathogenesis of various oncogenic viruses like, hepatitis virus, human immunodeficiency viral (HIV), human papillomavirus (HPV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), could be explored, especially, to expand many potent antivirals that may escalate the apoptosis of infected malignant cells while sparing normal and healthy ones. Moreover, contemporary therapies, such as engineered antibodies antiviral agents targeting signaling pathways and cell biomarkers, could inhibit viral oncogenesis. This review elaborates the recent advancements in both natural and synthetic antivirals to control viral oncogenesis. The study also highlights the challenges and future perspectives of using antivirals in viral oncogenesis.

Microbiological Evaluation of Herbal Extracts against Candida albicans in Early Childhood Caries Patients: An In Vitro Study.

Purpose: The current literature proposes a probable role of Candida albicans (C. albicans) in its etiopathogenesis in early childhood caries (ECC). This study aimed to isolate C. albicans species in children with and without ECC and compare the antifungal efficacy of neem, miswak, cinnamon, clove, stevia, and ketoconazole. This study also aimed to assess and compare salivary pH in children with and without ECC. Materials and methods: A total of 60 children were included in the study, who were divided into two groups-group I (children with ECC) and group II (children without ECC). Plaque samples were collected and streaked on Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA). C. albicans isolates were evaluated, and their susceptibility to herbal agents was tested and compared. Saliva samples were collected, and salivary pH was tested and compared. Results: The presence of C. albicans was significantly higher in group I (76.7%) as compared to group II (23.3%). The mean zone of inhibition for neem was 4.9 mm, whereas, for miswak, it was 4.5 mm; for cinnamon, 9.3 mm; for clove, 3.8 mm; for stevia, 10.9 mm; and for ketoconazole it was 21.09 mm. The mean salivary pH for group I was 6.7, and that for group II was 7.3. Conclusion: Candida albicans (C. albicans) carriage in children with ECC was significantly higher than in children without ECC. All herbal agents showed significant antifungal activity, with stevia showing the highest activity. The average salivary pH of children without ECC was slightly higher than that of children with ECC. How to cite this article: Siddaiah SB, Sinha S, BR A. Microbiological Evaluation of Herbal Extracts against Candida albicans in Early Childhood Caries Patients: An In Vitro Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2024;17(1):26-30.

A concise review on waste biomass valorization through thermochemical conversion.

Due to an increase in industrialization and urbanization, massive amounts of solid waste biomass are speedily accumulating in our environment, which poses several adverse effects on habitat and human health thus becoming a matter of discussion in the environmental community. With reference to the circular economy, continuous efforts have been put forward for setting up an organised management approach in combination with an efficient treatment technique for increasing the profitable utilization of solid waste. This review aims to provide a systematic discussion on the recent thermochemical technologies employed for converting waste biomass generated from different sources into valuable products like biochar, bio-oil, heat, energy and syngas. The article further focuses on a few important aspects of thermochemical conversion of waste biomass to useful products like technical factors affecting thermochemical processes, applications of by-products of thermochemical conversion, and biological pretreatment of waste biomass. The review assists interesting recent and scientific trends for boosting up the systematic management and valorization of solid waste through low-cost, efficient, environment-friendly and sustainable technologies.

Multifactorial role of nanoparticles in alleviating environmental stresses for sustainable crop production and protection.

In the era of dire environmental fluctuations, plants undergo several stressors during their life span, which severely impact their development and overall growth in negative aspects. Abiotic stress factors, especially moisture stress i.e shortage (drought) or excess (flooding), salinity, temperature divergence (i.e. heat and cold stress), heavy metal toxicity, etc. create osmotic and ionic imbalance inside the plant cells, which ultimately lead to devastating crop yield, sometimes crop failure. Apart from the array of abiotic stresses, various biotic stress caused by pathogens, insects, and nematodes also affect production. Therefore, to combat these major challenges in order to increase production, several novel strategies have been adapted, among which the use of nanoparticles (NPs) i.e. nanotechnology is becoming an emerging tool in various facets of the current agriculture system, nowadays. This present review will elaborately depict the deployment and mechanisms of different NPs to withstand these biotic and abiotic stresses, along with a brief overview and indication of the future research works to be oriented based on the steps provided for future research in advance NPs application through the sustainable way.

Modeling novel Anti-Viral peptides (AVPs) with in-silico docking simulations against corona virus.

The havoc created by Corona virus has been dealt with using various integrative approaches adopted by laboratories through-out the world. Use of anti-viral peptides (AVPs) although new but has shown tremendous potential against many pathogens. Previously AVPs have been designed against spike protein of corona virus which is the major entry mediating molecule. Using various in-silico strategies, in this research work AVPs have been modeled against lesser studied viral proteins namely ORF7a protein, Envelope protein (E), Nucleoprotein (N), and Non-Structural protein (Nsp1 and Nsp2). The predicted AVPs have been docked against various host as well as viral proteins. The interaction of small AVPs seems capable of interfering with binding between viral protein and its host counterpart. Therefore, these AVPs can act as a deterrent against novel corona virus, which requires further validation through laboratory techniques.

De novo transcriptome profiling of cold-stressed siliques during pod filling stages in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.).

Low temperature is a major abiotic stress that impedes plant growth and development. Brassica juncea is an economically important oil seed crop and is sensitive to freezing stress during pod filling subsequently leading to abortion of seeds. To understand the cold stress mediated global perturbations in gene expression, whole transcriptome of B. juncea siliques that were exposed to sub-optimal temperature was sequenced. Manually self-pollinated siliques at different stages of development were subjected to either short (6 h) or long (12 h) durations of chilling stress followed by construction of RNA-seq libraries and deep sequencing using Illumina's NGS platform. De-novo assembly of B. juncea transcriptome resulted in 133,641 transcripts, whose combined length was 117 Mb and N50 value was 1428 bp. We identified 13,342 differentially regulated transcripts by pair-wise comparison of 18 transcriptome libraries. Hierarchical clustering along with Spearman correlation analysis identified that the differentially expressed genes segregated in two major clusters representing early (5-15 DAP) and late stages (20-30 DAP) of silique development. Further analysis led to the discovery of sub-clusters having similar patterns of gene expression. Two of the sub-clusters (one each from the early and late stages) comprised of genes that were inducible by both the durations of cold stress. Comparison of transcripts from these clusters led to identification of 283 transcripts that were commonly induced by cold stress, and were referred to as "core cold-inducible" transcripts. Additionally, we found that 689 and 100 transcripts were specifically up-regulated by cold stress in early and late stages, respectively. We further explored the expression patterns of gene families encoding for transcription factors (TFs), transcription regulators (TRs) and kinases, and found that cold stress induced protein kinases only during early silique development. We validated the digital gene expression profiles of selected transcripts by qPCR and found a high degree of concordance between the two analyses. To our knowledge this is the first report of transcriptome sequencing of cold-stressed B. juncea siliques. The data generated in this study would be a valuable resource for not only understanding the cold stress signaling pathway but also for introducing cold hardiness in B. juncea.