De novo genome assembly and annotation of gall-forming medicinal plant Pistacia chinensis subsp. integerrima (J. L. Stewart ex Brandis) Rech. f.

Pistacia chinensis subsp. integerrima is one of the medicinal plants, well known for gall formation and popularly used in Ayurveda to treat various systemic diseases such as chronic disorders, respiratory problems, etc. P. integerrima genome characterization will aid in the study of Pistacia genes and pathways involved in therapeutic application. To understand the biological characteristics of this plant and to gain the genetic insight into the biosynthesis of its natural compounds, the whole genome of P. integerrima and its leaf transcriptome was sequenced using Illumina sequencing technology. The sequenced genome was functionally annotated, and gene prediction was performed with integrated genome annotation workflow. The pathway analysis was carried out using KEGG database. We obtained a draft genome assembly of 462 Mb with N50 16,145 bp. A total of 39,452 genes were found, and 18,492 of these contained RNA or protein evidence. We characterized the genes involved in biosynthetic pathways of different plant secondary metabolites such as flavonoids and terpenoids. Also, we identified miR397 and miR828 family noncoding RNA; which mainly targets the laccase (LCA) and MYB protein functioning respectively. Phylogeneic analysis showed that P. integerrima is genetically more closer to P. vera. In this study, we attempt to explore the whole genome information of P. integerrima which will provide a genomic insight in the future for omics studies as well as serves as valuable resource for the molecular characterization of medicinal compounds.

Role of protein rich maternal diet in infantile colic.

Infantile colic in exclusively breastfed infant is very common. The mother in this situation gets panickyand under stress. This is very common emergency in paediatric hospital. Infantile colic is characterised by paroxysms of uncontrollable crying in an otherwise healthy and well fed infants younger than three months of age, more specifically infantile colic is defined as cry exceeding 180 minutes per 24 hours on 3 days in the week in first 3 months of life. The incidence of infantile colic is 5 to 19% in different studies. The mothers' description of this condition is that the breastfed baby who has been apparently alright in the day, frowns, his face becomes red, draws up his legs, screams, continues to cry for about 2 to 20 minutes and then attack ends suddenly. Episodes of cry are usually clustered in the late evening and early morning hours, which may cause significant disruption of family interactions. To find out the any supportive cause for infantile colic pertaining to maternal diet, we have conducted a study, where 110 crying infants were examined who happened to attend paediatric department over a period of one year. In this study it was found that more infants (50%) were in the age group >2-3 months, then >1-2 months (39.09%). Most of the patients happened to attend in casualty hours (5PM-9 AM) than in OPD hours (9 AM - 5 PM). Most cases (30.9%) took pulses in last 48 hours, followed by buffalo milk (20%). Most mothers (n=34) took pulses in diet in last 48 hours. It can be concluded that protein rich diet in one of the factor causing infantile colic.