Spectroscopic evaluation of sesame and mustard oils treated with Murchana method.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in traditional medicinal practices such as Ayurveda, which emphasizes the use of natural ingredients for various therapeutic purposes. Vegetable oils are an integral part of our diet and have several applications in the cosmetics and healthcare industries. These oils have also been prescribed in ancient Ayurveda texts to treat various health problems. Ayurveda prescribes a processing technique called 'Murchana' to improve the therapeutic nature of the oils. Spectroscopic techniques have been used for quality assessment in many fields. High sensitivity and a low detection rate make spectroscopy a formidable analytical technique. This study focusses on the spectroscopic analysis of sesame and mustard oils prepared using the ayurvedic processing method 'Murchana'. Spectroscopic analysis techniques including UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy were employed to study the oils. Origin software was used to plot graphs of the spectra. The results indicated that the murchana process may reduce the components of the oil responsible for its oxidation, thereby increasing the shelf life of the oils. However, further investigations, including other spectroscopy and chromatography techniques, will prove beneficial in ascertaining the effects of the murchana process on vegetable oils. The study's findings also suggest that spectroscopic techniques can be used to supplement chemical techniques to investigate the characteristics of vegetable oils.

Stacking herbicide detoxification and resistant genes improves glyphosate tolerance and reduces phytotoxicity in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Glyphosate residues retained in the growing meristematic tissues or in grains of glyphosate-resistant crops affect the plants physiological functions and crop yield. Removing glyphosate residues in the plants is desirable with no penalty on crop yield and quality. We report a new combination of scientific strategy to detoxify glyphosate that reduces the residual levels and improve crop resistance. The glyphosate detoxifying enzymes Aldo-keto reductase (AKR1) and mutated glycine oxidase (mGO) with different modes of action were co-expressed with modified EPSPS, which is insensitive to glyphosate in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and rice (Oryza sativa L.). The transgenic tobacco plants expressing individual PsAKR1, mGO, CP4-EPSPS, combinations of PsAKR1:CP4EPSPS, PsAKR1:mGO, and multigene with PsAKR1: mGO: CP4EPSPS genes were developed. The bio-efficacy studies of in-vitro leaf regeneration on different concentrations of glyphosate, seedling bioassay, and spray on transgenic tobacco plants demonstrate that glyphosate detoxification with enhanced resistance. Comparative analysis of the transgenic tobacco plants reveals that double and multigene expressing transgenics had reduced accumulation of shikimic acid, glyphosate, and its primary residue AMPA, and increased levels of sarcosine were observed in all PsAKR1 expressing transgenics. The multigene expressing rice transgenics showed improved glyphosate resistance with yield maintenance. In summary, results suggest that stacking genes with two different detoxification mechanisms and insensitive EPSPS is a potential approach for developing glyphosate-resistant plants with less residual content.

Disruption in the DNA Mismatch Repair Gene MSH2 by CRISPR-Cas9 in Indica Rice Can Create Genetic Variability.

Genetic variation is crucial for crop improvement. We adopted a gene editing approach to create variations in the rice genome by targeting the mutator locus homolog 2 (MSH2), a DNA mismatch repair gene. The hypothesis is that disruption of the MSH2 gene leads to a reduced DNA mismatch repair that creates INDELs, resulting in altered phenotypes. The Indica rice (IR-64) genotype was transformed with a guide RNA targeted to the MSH2 gene using an Agrobacterium-mediated in planta method. Many plants showed integration of Cas9 and gRNA constructs in rice plants. One of the msh2 mutants showed a superior phenotype due to editing and possible INDELs in the whole genome. The stable integration of the transgene and its flanking sequence analysis confirms no disruption of any gene, and the observed phenotype is due to the mutations in the MSH2 gene. Few transgenic plants showed disruption of genes due to T-DNA integration that led to altered phenotypes. The plants with altered phenotypes having more tiller number, early flowering, and robust growth with a high biomass were identified. These genetically reprogrammed rice plants could be a potential resource to create more segregating population or act as donor lines to stabilize the important agronomic traits that may help in a speed breeding process.

Correction: Photoactive, antimicrobial CeO2 decorated AlOOH/PEI hybrid nanocomposite: a multifunctional catalytic-sorbent for lignin and organic dye.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/C6RA07836B.].

Neuroprotective effect of Clerodendrum serratum Linn. leaves extract against acute restraint stress-induced depressive-like behavioral symptoms in adult mice.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to study the effect of ethanol extract of Clerodendrum serratum (EECS) Linn. on acute restraint stress (ARS)-induced depressive-like behavior and biochemical alterations in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions of EECS were analytically characterized for the flavonoid components, apigenin (API) and luteolin (LUT) by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Behavioral tests, namely, forced-swim test and tail-suspension test were performed for assessing antidepressant-like effect and anxiolytic activity in mice. Oxidative stress parameters and biochemical alterations in mice brain tissue were also performed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Expression of data was done as mean ± standard error of mean. The normally distributed data were subjected to two-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett's test. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The study showed that flavonoids, API and LUT were present in ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions of EECS, which significantly reversed ARS-induced depressive-like behavior without affecting locomotion. EECS also attenuated oxidative damage caused by ARS. The level of norepinephrine and 5-hydroxytryptamine was also significantly restored by pretreatment with EECS for 7 days. CONCLUSION: EECS significantly alleviated ARS-induced depressive-like behavior without affecting locomotion.

Aldo-keto reductase-1 (AKR1) protect cellular enzymes from salt stress by detoxifying reactive cytotoxic compounds.

Cytotoxic compounds like reactive carbonyl compounds such as methylglyoxal (MG), melandialdehyde (MDA), besides the ROS accumulate significantly at higher levels under salinity stress conditions and affect lipids and proteins that inhibit plant growth and productivity. The detoxification of these cytotoxic compounds by overexpression of NADPH-dependent Aldo-ketoreductase (AKR1) enzyme enhances the salinity stress tolerance in tobacco. The PsAKR1 overexpression plants showed higher survival and chlorophyll content and reduced MDA, H2O2, and MG levels under NaCl stress. The transgenic plants showed reduced levels of Na+ levels in both root and shoot due to reduced reactive carbonyl compounds (RCCs) and showed enhanced membrane stability resulted in higher root growth and biomass. The increased levels of antioxidant glutathione and enhanced activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) suggest AKR1 could protect these enzymes from the RCC induced protein carbonylation by detoxification process. The transgenics also showed higher activity of delta 1-pyrroline-5- carboxylate synthase (P5CS) enzyme resulted in increasedproline levels to maintain osmotic homeostasis. The results demonstrates that the AKR1 protects proteins or enzymes that are involved in scavenging of cytotoxic compounds by detoxifying RCCs generated under salinity stress.

Aldo-keto reductase enzymes detoxify glyphosate and improve herbicide resistance in plants.

In recent years, concerns about the use of glyphosate-resistant crops have increased because of glyphosate residual levels in plants and development of herbicide-resistant weeds. In spite of identifying glyphosate-detoxifying genes from microorganisms, the plant mechanism to detoxify glyphosate has not been studied. We characterized an aldo-keto reductase gene from Pseudomonas (PsAKR1) and rice (OsAKR1) and showed, by docking studies, both PsAKR1 and OsAKR1 can efficiently bind to glyphosate. Silencing AKR1 homologues in rice and Nicotiana benthamiana or mutation of AKR1 in yeast and Arabidopsis showed increased sensitivity to glyphosate. External application of AKR proteins rescued glyphosate-mediated cucumber seedling growth inhibition. Regeneration of tobacco transgenic lines expressing PsAKR1 or OsAKRI on glyphosate suggests that AKR can be used as selectable marker to develop transgenic crops. PsAKR1- or OsAKRI-expressing tobacco and rice transgenic plants showed improved tolerance to glyphosate with reduced accumulation of shikimic acid without affecting the normal photosynthetic rates. These results suggested that AKR1 when overexpressed detoxifies glyphosate in planta.

Overexpression of EcbHLH57 Transcription Factor from Eleusine coracana L. in Tobacco Confers Tolerance to Salt, Oxidative and Drought Stress.

Basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors constitute one of the largest families in plants and are known to be involved in various developmental processes and stress tolerance. We report the characterization of a stress responsive bHLH transcription factor from stress adapted species finger millet which is homologous to OsbHLH57 and designated as EcbHLH57. The full length sequence of EcbHLH57 consisted of 256 amino acids with a conserved bHLH domain followed by leucine repeats. In finger millet, EcbHLH57 transcripts were induced by ABA, NaCl, PEG, methyl viologen (MV) treatments and drought stress. Overexpression of EcbHLH57 in tobacco significantly increased the tolerance to salinity and drought stress with improved root growth. Transgenic plants showed higher photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance under drought stress that resulted in higher biomass. Under long-term salinity stress, the transgenic plants accumulated higher seed weight/pod and pod number. The transgenic plants were also tolerant to oxidative stress and showed less accumulation of H202 and MDA levels. The overexpression of EcbHLH57 enhanced the expression of stress responsive genes such as LEA14, rd29A, rd29B, SOD, APX, ADH1, HSP70 and also PP2C and hence improved tolerance to diverse stresses.

Parotid lymphoepithelial cysts in human immunodeficiency virus: a review.

BACKGROUND: Many patients with human immunodeficiency virus present with atypical features. Early indicators of human immunodeficiency virus are scarce and hence most affected patients are diagnosed in the later stages of the disease, which is associated with poor prognosis. Salivary gland disease usually develops before acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and is sometimes the first manifestation of human immunodeficiency virus infection. Salivary gland lesions include benign lymphoepithelial cysts of the parotid gland, which are seen in 3-6 per cent of patients. Many of the reported lesions are diagnosed on routine examination. OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to highlight the association between parotid gland benign lymphoepithelial cyst and human immunodeficiency virus infection, in order to aid early diagnosis and management of the disease. CONCLUSION: Human immunodeficiency virus testing is recommended for patients with benign lymphoepithelial cysts, as this can often be the first indication of human immunodeficiency virus infection. Benign lymphoepithelial cysts are important diagnostic and prognostic indicators in human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Co-expression of AtbHLH17 and AtWRKY28 confers resistance to abiotic stress in Arabidopsis.

Stress adaptation in plants involves altered expression of many genes through complex signaling pathways. To achieve the optimum expression of downstream functional genes, we expressed AtbHLH17 (AtAIB) and AtWRKY28 TFs which are known to be upregulated under drought and oxidative stress, respectively in Arabidopsis. Multigene expression cassette with these two TFs and reporter gene GUS was developed using modified gateway cloning strategy. The GUS assay and expression analysis of transgenes in transgenic plants confirmed the integration of multigene cassette. The transgenic lines exhibited enhanced tolerance to NaCl, Mannitol and oxidative stress. Under mannitol stress condition significantly higher root growth was observed in transgenics. Growth under stress and recovery growth was substantially superior in transgenics exposed to gradual long term desiccation stress conditions. We demonstrate the expression of several downstream target genes under various stress conditions. A few genes having either WRKY or bHLH cis elements in their promoter regions showed higher transcript levels than wild type. However, the genes which did not have either of the motifs did not differ in their expression levels in stress conditions compared to wild type plants. Hence co-expressing two or more TFs may result in upregulation of many downstream target genes and substantially improve the stress tolerance of the plants.

A modified MultiSite gateway cloning strategy for consolidation of genes in plants.

The genome information is offering opportunities to manipulate genes, polygenic characters and multiple traits in plants. Although a number of approaches have been developed to manipulate traits in plants, technical hurdles make the process difficult. Gene cloning vectors that facilitate the fusion, overexpression or down regulation of genes in plant cells are being used with various degree of success. In this study, we modified gateway MultiSite cloning vectors and developed a hybrid cloning strategy which combines advantages of both traditional cloning and gateway recombination cloning. We developed Gateway entry (pGATE) vectors containing attL sites flanking multiple cloning sites and plant expression vector (pKM12GW) with specific recombination sites carrying different plant and bacterial selection markers. We constructed a plant expression vector carrying a reporter gene (GUS), two Bt cry genes in a predetermined pattern by a single round of LR recombination reaction after restriction endonuclease-mediated cloning of target genes into pGATE vectors. All the three transgenes were co-expressed in Arabidopsis as evidenced by gene expression, histochemical assay and insect bioassay. The pGATE vectors can be used as simple cloning vectors as there are rare restriction endonuclease sites inserted in the vector. The modified multisite vector system developed is ideal for stacking genes and pathway engineering in plants.

Processing fly ash stabilized hydrogen titanate nano-sheets for industrial dye-removal application.

We report a new method for the processing of fly ash (FA) stabilized hydrogen titanate nano-sheets in the form of aggregated microspheres. The industrial silica-based FA has been utilized for this purpose which has been surface-modified by coating with the anatase-titania (TiO(2)) via sol-gel. The anatase-TiO(2) coated FA particles are subjected to the hydrothermal treatment in an autoclave under high temperature and pressure conditions in a highly alkaline solution. The hydrothermal conditions cause dissolution of silica resulting in the disintegration of other constituents of FA which are adsorbed in ionic and/or oxidized form on the surface of intermediate product of the hydrothermal treatment of anatase-TiO(2), specifically the hydrogen titanate. The adsorption of FA constituents has resulted in the stabilization of hydrogen titanate in the nano-sheet morphology instead of nanotubes. The FA stabilized hydrogen titanate nano-sheets exhibit higher specific surface-area than that of the hydrogen titanate nanotubes and have been successfully utilized for the removal of an organic synthetic-dye from an aqueous solution via surface-adsorption, involving the electrostatic-attraction and ion-exchange mechanisms operating, in the dark-condition.

Hydrothermal processing of hydrogen titanate/anatase-titania nanotubes and their application as strong dye-adsorbents.

The nanotubes of pure hydrogen titanate and anatase-titania have been synthesized via hydrothermal treatment of as-received anatase-titania particles. The formation mechanism of anatase-titania nanotubes via hydrothermal has been discussed in detail in view of the finger-prints produced by characterizing the intermediate and end products using various microscopic and spectroscopic techniques such as scanning electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller specific surface-area measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectroscope, diffuse reflectance, photoluminescence, thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analyses. The obtained results strongly support the rollup mechanism, involving multiple nanosheets, for the formation of anatase-titania nanotubes with the formation of different intermediate hydrothermal products having various morphologies such as sodium titanate having aggregated rectangular block-like structures, hydrogen sodium titanate and pure hydrogen titanate having highly aggregated unresolved fine-structures containing nanotubes, and finally, the pure anatase-TiO2 nanotubes. It is demonstrated that, during the hydrothermal treatment, the nanotubes of pure hydrogen titanate are formed first coinciding with the stable solution-pH during washing, indicating the completion of ion-exchange process, and a drastic increase in the specific surface-area of the hydrothermal product. The anatase-titania nanotubes are then derived from the pure hydrogen titanate nanotubes via thermal treatment. The use of pure hydrogen titanate and anatase-titania nanotubes for an organic textile dye-removal, from an aqueous solution under the dark condition, via surface-adsorption mechanism has been demonstrated. It is shown that, the specific surface-area and the surface-charge govern the maximum dye-absorption capacity of the anatase-TiO2 nanotubes under the dark condition.

N-(2,3-Dimethyl-phen-yl)benzene-sulfonamide.

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C(14)H(15)NO(2)S, the amino H atom is trans to one of the O atoms of the SO(2) group. Furthermore, the N-H bond is anti to the ortho- and meta-methyl groups of the aromatic ring. The two aromatic rings are tilted relative to each other by 64.8 (1)°. The mol-ecules form zigzag chains along the a axis via inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

4-Chloro-2-methyl-N-phenyl-benzene-sulfonamide.

There are two mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(13)H(12)ClNO(2)S, with similar conformations. The orientations of the ortho-methyl groups in the sulfonyl benzene rings are in the direction of the N-H bonds of the sulfonamide groups. In the crystal, the mol-ecules are each linked into centrosymmetric dimers through N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and packed into a layered structure diagonally in the bc plane.

2,4-Dimethyl-N-phenyl-benzene-sulfonamide.

The asymmetric unit of the crystal structure of the title compound, C(14)H(15)NO(2)S, contains two mol-ecules. The conformations of the N-C bonds in the C-SO(2)-NH-C segments of the structure have trans and gauche torsion angles with the S=O bonds. Furthermore, the torsion angles of the C-SO(2)-NH-C groups in the two mol-ecules are 46.1 (3) (glide image of mol-ecule 1) and 47.7 (3)° (mol-ecule 2). The ortho-methyl groups in the sulfonyl benzene ring are oriented away from the S=O bonds. The two benzene rings are tilted relative to each other by 67.5 (1) and 72.9 (1)° in the two mol-ecules. N-H⋯O and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds pack the mol-ecules into one-dimensional chains in different directions, resulting in a two-dimensional network.

4-Chloro-N-(2-chloro-phen-yl)-2-methyl-benzene-sulfonamide.

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C(13)H(11)Cl(2)NO(2)S, the conformations of the N-C bond in the C-SO(2)-NH-C segment are trans and gauche with respect to the S=O bonds. The C-S(O(2))-N(H)-C torsion angle is 74.8 (4)°, indicating that the mol-ecule is bent at the S atom. In the crystal structure, inversion dimers linked by pairs of N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds occur. An intramolecular N-H⋯Cl inter-action is also present.

N-(2,6-Dimethyl-phen-yl)benzene-sulfonamide.

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C(14)H(15)NO(2)S, the N-H bond is trans to one of the S=O double bonds, similar to what is observed in N-(2-methyl-phen-yl)benzene-sulfonamide and other aryl sulfonamides. The two aromatic rings enclose a dihedral angle of 44.9 (1)°. The mol-ecules are connected by inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into chains running along the a axis. An intermolecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bond is also present.

N-(2-Methyl-phen-yl)benzene-sulfonamide.

In the title compound, C(13)H(13)NO(2)S, the conformation of the N-H bond is anti to the ortho-methyl group on the aniline ring, in contrast to the syn conformation observed with respect to the ortho-chloro group in N-(2-chloro-phen-yl)benzene-sulfonamide. The dihedral angle between the two benzene rings is 61.5 (1)°. Mol-ecules are linked into chains running along the a axis by N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

N-(3-Chloro-phen-yl)benzene-sulfonamide.

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C(12)H(10)ClNO(2)S, the N-H bond is trans to one of the S=O bonds. The two aromatic rings form a dihedral angle of 65.4 (1)°, compared with a value of 49.1 (1)° in N-(2-chloro-phen-yl)-benzene-sulfonamide. The mol-ecules are connected by inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into chains running along the b axis.