Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is consistently recognized as a threat to living organisms, especially for human beings. For proper working of cellular signaling, functioning, and survival, a strict ...and balanced level of ROS is necessary. Superoxide dismutase (SOD); a group of metalloenzymes provides an important antioxidant defense mechanism, required to preserve the level of ROS in the body. The enzyme reveals the therapeutic potential against various diseases due to a deficiency in the ROS level. The review illustrates the numerous clinical aspects of SOD in various physiological and pathological conditions such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative diseases, etc., with the mechanism of action. Despite limitations, the SOD enzyme has proved as a powerful tool against diseases, and various forms of conjugates and mimetics have been developed and reported to make it more efficient. Extensive studies need in this direction for use of natural SOD-based therapeutics for the prevention and cure of diseases.
Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase (PTP) superfamily is a key enzyme involved in the regulation of growth-related cell signaling cascades, such as the RAS/MAPK pathway, that directly affect cancer cell ...growth and metastasis. Several studies have indicated that the drug resistance observed in several late-stage tumors might also be affected by the levels of PTP in the cell. Hence, these phosphatases have been in the limelight for the past few decades as potential drug targets and several promising drug candidates have been developed, even though none of these drugs have reached the market yet. In this review, we explore the potential of PTP as a viable anti-cancer drug target by studying PTPs, their regulation of several key cancer cell signaling pathways, and how their levels affect various types of cancer. Furthermore, we present the current scenario of PTP as a molecular target and the various challenges faced in the development of PTP-targeting anti-cancer drugs.
Management of pod borer,
in pigeonpea (
L.), an important legume crop, has been a pertinent endeavor globally. As with other crops, wild relatives of pigeonpea are bestowed with various resistance ...traits that include the ability to deter the
Understanding the molecular basis of pod borer resistance could provide useful leads for the management of this notorious herbivore. Earlier studies by our group in deciphering the resistance response to herbivory through multiomics approaches in the pigeonpea wild relative,
divulged the involvement of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, speculating an active chemical response of the wild relative to herbivory. The present study is a deeper understanding of the chemical basis of pod borer (
) resistance in,
with focus on the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. To substantiate, quantification of transcripts in
-challenged
(8 h, 24 h, 48 h, 96 h) showed dynamic upregulation (up to 11-fold) of pivotal pathway genes such as chalcone synthase, dihydroflavonol-4-reductase, flavonoid-3'5'-hydroxylase, flavonol synthase, leucoanthocyanidin reductase, and anthocyanidin synthase. Targeted LC-MS analyses demonstrated a concomitant increase (up to 4-fold) in naringenin, kaempferol, quercetin, delphinidin, cyanidin, epigallocatechin, and epicatechin-3-gallate. Interestingly,
diet overlaid with the over-produced flavonoids (100 ppm) showed deleterious effects on growth leading to a prolonged larval period demonstrating noteworthy coherence between over-accumulation of pathway transcripts/metabolites. The study depicts novel evidence for the directed metabolic reprogramming of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway in the wild relative to pod borer; plant metabolic potential is worth exploiting for pest management.
Pod borer Helicoverpa armigera, a polyphagus herbivorous pest, tremendously incurs crop damage in economically important crops. This necessitates the identification and utility of novel genes for the ...control of the herbivore. The present study deals with the characterization of a flavonoid 3′5′ hydroxylase_2 (F3′5′H_2) from a pigeonpea wild relative Cajanus platycarpus, possessing a robust chemical resistance response to H. armigera. Though F3′5′H_2 displayed a dynamic expression pattern in both C. platycarpus (Cp) and the cultivated pigeonpea, Cajanus cajan (Cc) during continued herbivory, CpF3′5′H_2 showed a 4.6-fold increase vis a vis 3-fold in CcF3′5′H_2. Despite similar gene copy numbers in the two Cajanus spp., interesting genic and promoter sequence changes highlighted the stress responsiveness of CpF3′5′H_2. The relevance of CpF3′5′H_2 in H. armigera resistance was further validated in CpF3′5′H_2-overexpressed transgenic tobacco based on reduced leaf damage and increased larval mortality through an in vitro bioassay. As exciting maiden clues, CpF3′5′H_2 deterred herbivory in transgenic tobacco by increasing total flavonoids, polyphenols and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging capacity. To the best of our knowledge, this is a maiden attempt ascertaining the role of F3′5′H_2 gene in the management of H. armigera. These interesting leads suggest the potential of this pivotal branch-point gene in biotic stress management programs.
Importance of biocatalytic reactions and biotransformations mediated by fungal enzymes has increased tremendously in various industries. Endoglucanase obtained from Trichoderma viride has been ...utilized for bioconversion of agrowastes; wheat straw (WS) and corn stover (CS) as biomass into citric acid and single cell protein (SCP) as value-added products. The enzyme was purified to apparent homogeneity with Mr:44.67 kDa; purification-fold, yield, specific activity to be 19.5-, 29.2%, and 150.4 Units.mg−1, respectively, with thermostability up to 70 °C. The enzyme showed a novel N-terminal peptide and its computational analysis revealed a conserved ‘SG’ amino acid sequence alike microbial cellulases. The experimental results have shown the potential of endoglucanase for the conversion of agrowastes; wheat straw (WS) and corn stover (CS) into citric acid, maximum yield (KgM−3) found in submerged (WS:50;CS:45) fermentation process. Single-cell protein (SCP) production in WS (68 KgM−3) hydrolysate was superior to both CS hydrolysate (60 KgM−3) and YEPD (standard medium) (58 KgM−3).
•Bioconversion of agrowastes into citric acid and SCP utilizing novel endoglucanase.•Endoglucanase purified from T. viride has novel N-terminal aa sequence.•Industrially significant novel Endoglucanase was thermostable upto 70 °C.•Maximum yield (KgM−3) of CA obtained in submerged (WS:50; CS:45) fermentation.•SCP production (KgM−3) obtained in WSH: CSH: YEPD being 68:60:58, respectively.
Drought is one of the major constraints in wheat production and causes a huge loss at grain-filling stage. In this study we highlighted the response of different wheat genotypes under drought stress ...at the grain-filling stage. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate 72 wheat (
Triticum aestivum
L.) genotypes under two water regimes: irrigated and drought condition. Four wheat genotypes, two each of drought tolerant (IC36761A, IC128335) and drought-susceptible category (IC335732 and IC138852) were selected on the basis of agronomic traits and drought susceptibility index (DSI), to understand their morphological, biochemical and molecular basis of drought stress tolerance. Among agronomic traits, productive tillers followed by biomass had high percent reduction under drought stress, thus drought stress had a great impact. Antioxidant activity (AO), total phenolic and proline content were found to be significantly higher in IC128335 genotype. Differential expression pattern of transcription factors of ten genes revealed that transcription factor qTaWRKY2 followed by qTaDREB, qTaEXPB23 and qTaAPEX might be utilized for developing wheat varieties resistant to drought stress. Understanding the role of TFs would be helpful to decipher the molecular mechanism involved in drought stress. Identified genotypes (IC128335 and IC36761A) may be useful as parental material for future breeding program to generate new drought-tolerant varieties.
Climate change-associated environmental vagaries have amplified the incidence of pests and pathogens on plants, thus imparting the increased quest for management strategies. Plants respond to ...stresses through intricate signaling networks that regulate diverse cellular mechanisms. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are cardinal towards the maintenance of normal plant activities as well as improving stress management. Plants that exhibit a fine balance between ROS levels and its management apparently mitigate stresses better. There have been very many compendiums on signaling and management of ROS during several abiotic stresses. However, expansion of knowledge related to ROS induction and homeostasis during biotic stresses is pertinent. Hence, considering its importance, we provide insights in this review on how plants signal and manage ROS upon an oxidative burst during their interaction with pathogens and herbivores. Substantial degree of molecular changes and pivotal roles of ROS have been detected during phyto-pathogen/herbivore interactions, opening novel platforms to understand signaling/management of events under varied biotic stresses. It is interesting to know that, though plants react to biotic stresses through oxidative burst, receptors and elicitors involved in the signal transduction differ across stresses. The review provides explicit details about the specific signaling of ROS production in plants under pathogen and herbivore attack. Furthermore, we also provide an update about tackling the accumulated ROS under biotic stresses as another pivotal step. ROS signaling and homeostasis can be exploited as critical players and a fulcrum to tackle biotic stresses, thus paving the way for futuristic combinatorial stress management strategies.
Key points
•
The review is a comprehension of redox signaling and management in plants during herbivory and pathogen infection
•
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is an important factor during normal plant activities as well as in their response to stresses. Diverse modes of ROS signaling and management have been observed during both biotic stresses independently
•
Exploration of plant biology in multi-stress resistant plants like the crop wild relatives could pave the way for combinatorial management of stress for a better tomorrow
Plant growth and response to various stresses are facilitated by the
WRKY
protein family, and is recognized as one of the most extensive families of transcription factors (TFs) in the plant kingdom. ...The importance of
WRKY
in plant defense mechanism and its interaction with defense hormones are well-known in wheat, however, data on its structural and conformational features are lacking in wheat. The current study revealed that
TaWRKY2
is largely conserved at the amino acid level, but has undergone various changes over evolution, likely to achieve the diversified function. A novel motif
(WRKYGQK)
in wheat and other related species was identified. Two
WRKY
domains were found in the
TaWRKY2
protein. The protein was found to have 468 amino acid residues, non-polar and basic in nature with pI 8.56 and with more positively charged amino acids. It is highly unstable as the instability index was > 40. Out of 3 motifs,2 was having
WRKYGQK
conserved sequence. There was a significant amount of phosphorylation seen on threonine and serine residues of
TaWRKY2
. The predicted secondary structure had 4-β-strand, 7-β-turns, 2-γ-turns, and 3-beta hairpins. The homology-based analysis of
TaWRKY
domains provided adequate Ramachandran statistics and satisfied all the required energy parameters. This protein’s structural characterization will aid in understanding its molecular mode of action. These in-silico analyses provide a better knowledge of the
WRKY
TFs in wheat and other related species under environmental stress conditions, and increasing the number of these
WRKY
s would aid in the molecular breeding of tolerant wheat cultivars.
PDF
