Research Journal of Biotechnology
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The experiment was conducted to assess the available genetic variability amongst Indian Basmati rice and identify co-dominant and reproducible robust simple sequence repeat markers for drought resistance and their utilization in marker assisted selection for developing drought resistant / tolerant aromatic rice cultivars in various parts of India as well as in world. DNA was isolated from fresh and young leaf tissues of 35 cultivars of basmati rice using the CTAB procedure of Doyle and Doyle with slightly modifications. The DNA was further quantified by spectrophotometer at 260 nm and 280 nm. The quality and quantity of DNA were checked by agarose gel electrophoresis. Out of 60 SSR markers, 18 were found to be polymorphic and the rest 42 primers were monomorphic. One of the main purposes of SSR markers in genomic study is the characterization of genetic resources to help gene bank management. The informative (18) SSR markers were capable to discriminate the entire cultivars of basmati rice used in this research work. A total of 52 alleles at 18 loci could be scored. The allelic richness per locus diversified from 2 to 5 with an average of 2.89 alleles per locus. The amplitude of Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) value is 0.066 (RM 1068) to 0.730 (RM 1059) with an average of 0.505. The Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.79 to 0.95. Polymorphic finding content showed a positive correlation (r =0.69) with number of alleles at the SSR locus. However it is recommended that SSR markers can be efficiently utilized for this purpose. The maximum similarity coefficient was observed between Jeerakasab and Kalanamak with a coefficient value of 95% and the minimum similarity was found between Jeerakasab and Pusa basmati-1 with a coefficient value of 79%.

Arthritis literally refers “joint inflammation”, it is a condition where one or more joints are inflamed. More than 100 different types of Arthritis were identified, most common types are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. The present study mainly focuses on the development of the novel phytochemical inhibitors against rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis using an integrative cheminformatics drug discovery platform. In this study, we identified potential 405 phytochemical drug candidates, screened against eight selected targets of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis using molecular docking tool AutoDock. Three phytochemicals Withanolide, Diosgenin and bamyrin exhibited promising binding towards multiple drug targets selected for this study. When comparing with the binding between reference drugs, withanolide showed highest activity against Interleukin-23, Matrix metalloproteinase-3 and Interleukin 8 with binding energies -11.6, -9.4 and -8.3 kcal/mol respectively. Diosgenin also exhibited best activity against three targets that were Interleukin-23, JNK alpha and MMP-3 with -11.3, -10.4, -9.5 kcal/mol binding energies respectively. This study may be important contributing factor to develop new therapeutic drugs for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Thrombomodulin (TM) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) are the major factors that are responsible for lung cancer. Hence, the identification of novel compounds inhibiting TM and MMPs is the challenging task for the scientists. Even though synthetic drugs were developed, their toxicity and offtarget limit their usage. The current study aims to investigate the molecular simulations for bacterial derived stearic acid to estimate the in silico anticancer activity against TM and MMPs protein as target compounds and the findings were correlated with the standard drug vorinostat. Using Lamarckian genetic algorithm, the TM and MMPs were energy minimized and docked with stearic acid and vorinostat using auto dock 4.2 and visualized in PyMol software. Protein and ligand binding analysis revealed that stearic acid interacts with the amino acids of MMPs residues of PHE83, SER212, ALA213 and ASN214. It interacts with the TMs with two amino acid residues i.e. CYS407 and GLU408. Hence, compared to vorinostat, stearic acid shows a higher binding affinity towards MMPs and slightly lower affinity towards TM proteinase. We conclude that the computational analysis of ligand binding interaction of stearic acid suggests that it could be a potential inhibitor of matrix metallo proteinase and is effective against thrombomodulin and can be considered as an anticancer agent by in vivo studies.

The main objective of this study is to investigate the cytotoxic potential of chloroform extract of medicinal plant Anisomeles malabarica. Successive solvent extraction of Anisomeles malabarica in chloroform was done. The extracts were tested against normal cell lines (Vero) human lung cancer cell lines (A-549) using the thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide test (MTT) assay. The results of the present investigation revealed that the chloroform extract of Anisomeles malabarica shown anti-lung cancer activity. The evaluation of the toxicity of medicinal plants and their herbal preparations is essential to determine the applicability of the samples as pharmacological drugs. Further studies are necessary for more extensive pharmacological and toxicological evaluations.

Ever since ancient times, medicinal plants served as a great source of herbal formulations which can confer human civilization with preferential quality of life. Among them, some plants secured their position in mythologies, also highlighting Anthocephalus cadamba, a religious medicinal plant, belonging to the family Rubiaceae, mostly cultivated in tropical regions. Conventional medicinal system of India provides evidences regarding folk medicinal uses for the treatment of various ailments like inflammation, skin diseases, uterine complaints, blood disease and diarrhea etc. Phytochemical investigations revealed the presence of some biologically active compounds like flavonoids, alkaloids, coumarins, terpenoids, diterpenoids, triterpenes, glycosides, sterols, amides and fatty acids and these compounds were found to be accountable for various pharmacological activities such as antimicrobial, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anticancerous, antidibetic, hypolipidemic, antihepatotoxic, antidiarrhoel, diuretic, laxative, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, wound healing etc.

This study details with thymol loaded on anionic copolymeric (Gum Acacia-Chitosan) nanoformulation prepared using ionic gelation to further enhance its therapeutic effectiveness. Optimized nanoparticles of 10:1 ratio (Gum Acacia:Chitosan) having entrapmentefficiency of 97% and mean hydrodynamic diameter of 172 nm (obtained using DLS) were characterized and in vitro examined for drug release effect, antioxidant potential and antibacterial activity. Zeta potential reading (-31.4 mV) confirmed optimized nanoformulation as stable and Electron-microscopy affirmed spherical morphology. FTIR analysis revealed entrapment as well as chemical-conjugation of thymol in polymer matrices. Thymol availability lasting more than 24 hours was verified in vitro by drug release experiments. Synthesized nanoformulation demonstrated superior antioxidant and antibacterial activity which may be attributable to its anionic charge, slow sustained release and synergistic effect provided by copolymers. Hence this investigation suggests control-release strategy using these copolymers for further utilization of thymol as natural therapeutic molecule by overcoming its solubility, stability and oxidation problems.

Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and anthracene are chemical compounds which form pollutant mixtures with high toxic potential, causing damage to ecosystems. The process known as biodegradation is an effective, low-cost process carried out by microbial populations that reduces the toxic effect of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and anthracene. In the present study, biodegradation was determined at different concentrations of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, anthracene and the mixture of both compounds. The resulting reduction in toxicity produced by the mixture, the compounds separately and their biodegradation intermediaries was assessed using a microbial model. The ISO 9439 system was used to assess the biodegradation effect of a microbial consortium isolated from polluted sediment on 5, 10 and 20 mg/l of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and the same concentrations of anthracene. Toxicity was determined by measuring inhibition of Bacillus cereus dehydrogenase activity produced by 0.25 ml aliquots of the linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, anthracene and the mixture of both compounds before and after they had been subjected to the biodegradation test. After 11 days, the linear alkylbenzene sulfonate -anthracene mixture was biodegraded to a greater degree than the compounds individually (3057.36 μmol CO2), but at a concentration of 20 mg/l of both compounds, a marked inhibition of biodegradation was observed. A reduction in toxicity produced by the biodegradation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and its mixture with anthracene at 5 and 10 mg/l respectively was observed.

The crop plants of the family Leguminosae are second to cereal crops of commercial importance on the basis of area harvested and total production worldwide. It is well known globally that many crops do not give good yield due to certain diseases existing in their plants. Nowadays, there is much emphasis on developing disease resistant varieties of crops and especially of commercial crops. Plants need to protect themselves against attack from viruses, microbes, invertebrates and even other plants. NBS-LRR (Nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeats) genes belong to the largest plant disease resistance gene family and are responsible for plant resistance to pathogens. Studies of the NBS-LRR gene family in plants represent an intriguing challenge and can provide knowledge on the genomic and molecular mechanisms that form the basis of gene regulation and protein function. Their evolution at the gene and genomic level can be defined through ancient and numerous gene families. In the present study, beneficial concepts for generating basic and fundamental knowledge on the NBS-LRR plant disease resistance genes are discussed with emphasis on selected legume plants of commercial importance.

A green rapid biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Catharanthus roseus leaf extract was performed. Synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Visible, Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The reduction of silver ions to AgNPs using C. roseus extract was completed within 240 mins. The formation of AgNPs was confirmed by Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) at 442 nm using UV-Vis Spectrophotometer and it is characterized by XRD, Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Scanning electron microscope (SEM). The morphological studies revealed the spherical shape of the particles with sizes ranging from 16-35 nm and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrum confirmed the presence of silver along with other elements in the plants metabolite. The extracellular AgNPs synthesis by aqueous leaf extract demonstrates ultra-fast, simple and inexpensive method comparable to other methods. The antioxidant assay of the synthesized AgNPs indicated that they have a strong antioxidant property as compared to the control. Since these compounds are also safe to use and discharged into the environment, the green AgNPs could be considered as an innovative alternative approach for biomedical and nanoscience based industries.

Bioethanol is a renewable energy source with reduced CO2 emission and a better alternate for fossil fuels. The production of bioethanol using low cost agricultural wastes such as fruits waste always remains a better solution for the present environmental and energy problems. The present study focusses on the production of bioethanol from pineapple peel wastes by simultaneous scarification and fermentation process in a completely eco-friendly manner and economical manner. The fruit wastes are rich sources of sugars and can be utilized for the production of second generation fuel. Initially, cellulase producing potent bacterial isolate was isolated from soil sample collected from fruit market (Uzhavar Santhai), R.S. Puram, Coimbatore district, Tamilnadu, India. Further, the bacterial isolate was identified by 16S rDNA sequencing and the sequence was submitted in GenBank with the accession number MW227436. The phylogenetic tree was constructed and the bacterial isolate was identified as Bacillus cereus strain JK79. Pineapple peel waste was processed, heat pretreated and was utilized for enzymatic saccharification with crude cellulase enzyme to hydrolyze cellulose into simple sugars. The enzyme hydrolyzed content was allowed to undergo fermentation simultaneously (Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation) utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce bioethanol. The yield of bioethanol was determined by potassium dichromate method. About 10.07 g/l of bioethanol was obtained by fermenting the enzymatically hydrolyzed pineapple peel waste using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The production of bioethanol was confirmed by GC-MS.