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Genetics of Phosphate Solubilization
-- Siddhi Patel and Shalini Rajkumar
The interaction of soil microbial population is involved in plant growth. The application of phosphate
solubilizing bacteria as biofertilizer is the best way for phosphorous replenishment. These bacteria by different
mechanisms solubilize the insoluble form of phosphorous (organic and inorganic). Buffering effect of the soil
drastically influences the growth of plant and solubilization of phosphate by phosphate solubilizing bacteria. Also,
agriculture soils are contaminated by heavy metals which affects the efficiency of phosphate solubilizing bacteria.
So, various tools of biotechnology are now being used to improve the efficiency of phosphate solubilizing
bacteria. The phosphate solubilizing genes are being cloned, characterized and expressed in rhizobacterial strains.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
In Vitro Production of Callus Biomassby Using Plant Growth Regulators and a Comparative Study of Gymnemic Acid Quantity
from Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.) R.Br.
-- Pokharkar A A and Deokule S S
Using nodal segment and leaf segment explant, callus cultures were initiated. They were grown on MS
medium containing 3% sucrose supplemented with different concentrations of growth hormones (0.10, 0.25, 0.50,
1.0, 1.50, 2.50, and 5.0 mg/L). Various growth hormones used are 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid
(2,4-D), Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA), Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). The high
biomass yielding concentration was used to observe the effect of plant growth regulators in combination. Among
the combinations used, high biomass yield was obtained in 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D + 0.5 mg/L BAP + 1.5 mg/L
IAA. Higher amount of gymnemic acid was obtained in 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D + 0.5 mg/L BAP combination. The
harvested cell biomass and genuine samples were subjected to the extraction of the active principle. The High
Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) analysis showed that the quantity of gymnemic acid is higher in
genuine samples than callus.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
A Hybrid Evolutionary Factorial Method
for Optimizing Mevastatin Production
Under Solid-State Fermentation
-- M Zaffer Ahamed, Bibhu Prasad Panda,
Saleem
Javed and Mohd. Ali
The evolutionary operation and factorial design technique was applied to study the interaction effects of
five different variable systems on mevastatin (a potent inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme-A
reductase) production by Penicillium
citrinum NCIM 768 under Solid-State Fermentation (SSF). The best combinations
of physiochemical parameters at optimal levels of 28 oC, 4.5 pH, 144 h of fermentation period, 20 g of
substrate and solid to liquid ratio of 0.4:1 resulted in mevastatin yield of 2.5 g
kg_1 of wheat bran.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Global and Local Properties of Zinc Containing
Peptide Deformylase Through Molecular Dynamics Simulation
in Vacuum and Aqueous Environment
-- Shyamal Sharma, Apurba Kanti Deb and Asim Kumar
Bothra
The protein peptide deformylase of Escherichia
coli consists of a single domain of 168 amino acid residues,
and it is a zinc containing protein. Peptide deformylase (PDF) represents a new subfamily of metalloproteases
with interesting physical and catalytic properties. The protein contains three major a-helices, three b-sheet regions, and a potentially critical 3-10 helix. Recently, it has been found that PDF may act as drug target. We have
done molecular dynamics simulation of zinc containing peptide deformylase of E. coli. The local and global motional properties like Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD), radius of gyration (Rg), etc. are computed. RMSD of
the secondary structure elements gives light towards the structural and functional properties due to local motion
of the protein. Overall studies show that the protein is not much flexible and it has no other stable conformer.
The functional ability of deformylation and restricted motional properties make this protein a good target for
drug molecules.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Antibacterial Activities of Silver
Nanoparticles Synthesized by Aspergillus fumigatus
-- N Prabhu, N Revathi, R Darsana,
M Sruthi, P Chinnaswamy and D Joseph Pushpa
Innocent
Toxic metal remediation was done by some of the microorganisms through reduction of metal ions and this
was considered an interesting research in nanofactories. The current nanotechnological study confirms that
aqueous silver nitrate ions may be reduced extracellularly using Aspergillus fumigatus to generate extremely
stable silver nanoparticles in water and these particles can be incorporated in materials and cloth, making
them sterile. A new generation of dressing incorporating antimicrobial agents like silver was developed to reduce
or prevent infections. Extracellular production of A. fumigatus strain and its bactericidal effect in cloth
against Staphylococcus aureus were studied in this work. In the silver reduction, approximately 10 g of A. fumigatus biomass was taken in a conical flask containing 100 mL of distilled water, kept for
72 h at 28 oC and then the aqueous solution components were separated by filtration. To this,
AgNo3 (10_3 M) was added and kept for several hours at 28 oC, then it was centrifuged and dried to access antibacterial
activity when silver nanoparticles were incorporated in cotton cloth. Silver nanoparticles synthesized by A. fumigatus strain incorporated in cotton cloth exhibited antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Inoculum
Production Using Ipomoea batata Hairy Roots in Bioreactor
-- R Pratap Chandran and V P Potty
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) play an active role in plant nutrition, protection against plant
pathogens and soil quality. They are obligate biotrophs as they depend on a host plant for their needs of carbohydrates.
The obligate biotrophic nature of AMF made it difficult to culture them in synthetic media. The multiplication
of AMF is possible only through the conventional pot culture technique and aeroponic culture system.
Contamination is the major disadvantage of these techniques. To overcome these difficulties and to produce axenic culture
of AMF, co-cultivation of AMF was done with spores
of Glomus microcarpum var. microcarpum and transgenic hairy roots of Ipomoea batata, which were initiated through the mediation of Agrobacterium rhizogenes ATCC 15834. Mycorrhized I. batata hairy roots were grown in a simple bioreactor constructed for this purpose.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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