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Variation of Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase
and Phenol Content in Two Species
of Casuarina During Salicylic Acid Signaling
-- Suvega Thangavelu, Vellingiri Hemalatha, Radha Veluthakkal and Modhumita Ghosh
Plants, being sessile, are often exploited as a source of food and shelter by a wide range of organisms,
including microbes and animals. Plants, unlike animals, do not have a circulatory immune system to combat biotic
stress. However, plants have a more generalized defense strategy comprising either preformed or inducible mechanisms
to resist pathogen invasion. The role of salicylic acid in the induction of defense response and the involvement
of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), a key enzyme in the phenyl propanoid pathway during pathogenesis is
well-documented. In the present study, two species of Casuarina—C. equisetifolia and C. junghuhniana—were analyzed for their differential expression of PAL and phenol during acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) stress. The rooted cuttings of
both species were incubated in ASA containing media and the PAL and phenol content in the root and needle tissues
of both species were estimated for 24 h. A substantial increase in PAL activity and phenol content was observed in
both species during signaling; however, in C.
junghuhniana, both PAL and phenol content were found to sustain at
higher levels even after 24 h, while in C.
equisetifolia, the levels of both PAL and phenol decreased by 16 h of treatment.
The results indicate that the higher level of biotic stress tolerance in C. junghuhniana in comparison to C. equisetifolia may be attributed to the sustenance of high level of phenol and PAL in tissues during stress conditions.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Micropropagation of Tinospora cordifolia: A Prioritized Medicinal Plant Species
of Commercial Importance of NE India
-- P J Handique and S S Choudhury
Tinospora cordifolia is an important and commercially exploited medicinal plant species found in natural habitats
of NE India. In an experiment of micropropagation of this species, the formation of multiple shoots in high
frequency was achieved in nodal explants culture. MS basal medium was used throughout the experiments with
different combinations and concentrations of BAP, Kinetin and IAA. Combination of BAP (8.88
mM) and Kinetin (18.59 mM) in MS medium gave a maximum average of 14.9 shoots per explants. Individual shoots from about
seven-weeks-old multiple shoot cultures were separated and implanted in half strength MS medium supplemented with IBA
for rooting. Root initiation was noticed after 5-6 days and it became profuse after 10 weeks. The rooted plantlets
were transferred to half strength liquid MS medium without any hormone for 15 days. Thereafter, they were
transferred to pots containing sterilized mixture of soil and vermicompost (2:1) and then established in field. The
survival percentage of rooted plants on soil was found to be 85%. The protocol standardized through this study
demonstrated the possibility of developing an efficient in vitro propagation system for successful mass propagation of Tinospora cordifolia. The results were interpreted and supported with necessary statistical analysis, figures and photographs.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Efficient Genotype Physiology, Growth, Photosynthesis,
Photosynthetic Pigments, Essential Monoterpene
Oil(s) Yield and Oil Quality of Ocimum sanctum
-- A Misra, S Dwivedi, A K Srivastava, D K Tewari, A Khan and R Kumar
Basil (Ocimum sanctum L.) is an important monoterpene essential oil(s) bearing crop, with the main essential
oil constituents being eugenol and linalool. Genotypic and environmental factors play an important role in the
growth and physiology of this plant. Genotypic variations have been observed among the six variants with the
indigenous one as a control. An efficient genotype OSP-6 of O. sanctum was found to be with higher photosynthetic
pigments (1.81 mg g_1 f.wt.) and 6.94 mg
g_1 (CO2 ) m_2 sec_1 carbon assimilation rate. Maximum essential oil(s) was reported
in 4KR (NM) genotype with 1.5% oil formation, whereas 30.44% of the total oil was found in OSP-6 genotype.
The maximum peroxidase activity was obtained in OSP-6 genotype with maximum production of biomolecule
eugenol. An oxido-reducible reaction of peroxidase and high bands of peroxidase isoenzymes were found in this
OSP-6 genotype for the formation of monoterpene essential oil(s) and possibly the major constituents of eugenol
through high photosynthates.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
In Vitro Regeneration and Conservation
of Kaempferia galanga
-- P E Rajasekharan, S R Ambika and S Ganeshan
Protocols were optimized for in vitro regeneration and conservation of Kaempferia galanga. Young sprouting rhizome buds were taken as explants, which were established in MS basal medium supplemented with 0.54
mM Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) and 8.87 mM Benzylamino purine (BA) induced multiple shoots. Shoot and root formation
was simultaneous. The micropropagated plants were successfully established extra vitrum in earthen pots with more than 90% survival. The vitroplants were subjected to low temperature storage treatments at 10
°C and 15 °C for optimizing in
vitro conservation protocols. Experiments carried out under Reduced Culture Conditions (RCC) of light,
temperature and media showed that vitroplants retained the capacity to re-grow after storage for a duration of six
months without intervening subculture.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Germination Pattern of Tapioca (Manihot
esculenta) Genotypes [CO(TP)4, CO2] by Salt (NaCl) Stress Induction
-- Deepa R and Suriyavathana M
The tapioca stacklings (Manihot
esculenta) were treated with increasing concentration
(8-24%) of NaCl and Hoagland's solution which were salinated for a period of six weeks. Salinity induced stress to
the tapioca genotypes [CO(TP)4 and CO2] showed altered growth pattern. Both CO2 and CO(TP)4 withstood the
maximum salt stress induction (24%) with drastic phenotypic changes, which emphasize that CO2 genotype was found to be
a superior variety at 24% salt concentration, with maximum salinity withstanding capacity .
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Montmorillonite: A Puissant Catalyst
for Prebiotic Formation of RNA-Like Oligomers
-- Komal Desai, Dhara Patel, Deepmala Lawani and Vijay Kothari
During chemical evolution, minerals might have played the role of catalyst in the formation of bio-oligomers
by adsorbing monomers on their surfaces and thereby providing an environment to react with each other. RNA
world hypothesis suggests RNA to be the ancestral genetic material which might have led to the emergence of cellular
life. Much research has been done on the potential of montmorillonite (a phyllosilicate mineral) as a catalyst for
oligomer formation because it is formed by weathering of volcanic ash, which was present in abundance on early Earth.
RNA-like oligomers having chain length of 30-50 mers have been synthesized in the presence of montmorillonite.
Generation of RNAs with chain length greater than 40 mers would have been sufficient enough for initiation of first life on Earth.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Principal Component Analysis
in Brassica juncea L. Czern and Coss
-- Sharad Pandey, M K Tripathi and Rahul Kumar
Oilseeds are an important group of crop plants both for humans and
livestock. The Brassica group of oilseed
crops, commonly known as rapeseed-mustard, are the second largest oilseed crop, next to groundnut, in terms of the
area and production in India. Indian mustard accounts for nearly 90% of the area grown for rapeseed-mustard in
the country. The available germplasm can serve as the most valuable natural resource in providing donor parents
having desirable attributes for engineering varieties with high yield potential. In the present study, 98 germplasm of
mustard along with two checks (Kranti and Varuna) were sown in simple lattice design. Data were recorded for 13
different quantitative characters. The principal component analysis was performed using the standard procedure. The
first principal component had high eigen root of 3.31, followed by 2.12, 1.32, 1.07, 1.02, 0.82, 0.73, 0.65, 0.56,
0.47, 0.42, 0.31 and 0.21 from second to
13th principal component. The eigen root of the first principal
component accounted for 25.47% of the total variation present in the original data followed by second, third, fourth, fifth
and sixth principal components which accounted for 16.29, 10.17, 8.21, 7.82, and 6.29% respectively. The percentage
of variations explained by 7th to
13th principal components were 5.61, 5.02, 4.33, 3.21, 2.34 and 0.63. The
cumulative percent of variation explained by the first 11 principal components which were used for clustering purpose
was 96.03%. In the present study, days to flowering initiation, siliqua on main shoot, seeds per siliqua, length of
siliqua, seed yield per plant, number of secondary branches per plant and 1000-seed weight proved to be the most
important variables since they had high positive and negative eigen values for different principal components.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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