Seed longevity is an important trait in the context of germplasm conservation and economics of seed production. The identification of populations with high level of genetic variability for seed ...longevity and associated traits will become a valuable resource for superior alleles for seed longevity. In this study, Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS)-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) approach, simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers and agro-morphological traits have been explored to investigate the diversity and population structure of assembled 96 genotypes. The GBS technique performed on 96 genotypes of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) resulted in 37,897 SNPs on sequences aligned to the reference genome sequence. The average genome coverage was 6.81X with a mapping rate of 99.56% covering the entire genome. Totally, 29,955 high quality SNPs were identified after stringent filtering and most of them were detected in non-coding regions. The 96 genotypes were phenotyped for eight quantitative and ten qualitative traits by growing in field by following augmented design. The STRUCTURE (Bayesian-model based algorithm), UPGMA (Un-weighed Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean) and principal component analysis (PCA) approaches using SSR, SNP as well as quantitative and qualitative traits revealed population structure and diversity in assembled population. The Bayesian-model based STRUCTURE using SNP markers could effectively identify clusters with higher seed longevity associated with seed coat colour and size which were subsequently validated by UPGMA and PCA based on SSR and agro-morphological traits. The results of STRUCTURE, PCA and UPGMA cluster analysis showed high degree of similarity and provided complementary data that helped to identify genotypes with higher longevity. Six black colour genotypes, viz., Local black soybean, Kalitur, ACC Nos. 39, 109, 101 and 37 showed higher seed longevity during accelerated ageing. Higher coefficient of variability observed for plant height, number of pods per plant, seed yield per plant, 100 seed weight and seed longevity confirms the diversity in assembled population and its suitability for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping.
Solid-state transformers (SSTs) are a promising solution photovoltaic (PV), wind, traction, data center, battery energy storage system (BESS), and fast charging electric vehicle (EV) applications. ...The traditional SSTs are typically three-stage, i.e., hard-switching cascaded multilevel rectifiers and inverters with dual active bridge (DAB) converters, which leads to bulky passives, low efficiency, and high electromagnetic interference (EMI). This article proposes a new soft-switching solid-state transformer (S4T). The S4T has full-range zero-voltage switching (ZVS), electrolytic capacitor-less dc link, and controlled dv/dt, which reduces EMI. The S4T comprises two reverse-blocking current-source inverter (CSI) bridges, auxiliary branches for ZVS, and transformer magnetizing inductor as a reduced dc link with 60% ripple. Compared with the prior S4T, an effective change on the leakage inductance diode is made to reduce the number of the devices on the main power path by 20% for significant conduction loss saving and retain the same functionality of damping the resonance between the leakage and resonant capacitors and recycling trapped leakage energy. The conduction loss saving is crucial, being the dominating loss mechanism in SSTs. Importantly, the proposed single-stage SST not only holds the potential for high power density and high efficiency but also has full functionality, e.g., multiport dc loads integration, voltage regulation, and reactive power compensation, unlike the traditional single-stage matrix SST. The S4T can achieve single-stage isolated bidirectional dc-dc, ac-dc, dc-ac, or ac-ac conversion. It can also be configured input-series output-parallel (ISOP) in a modular way for medium-voltage (MV) grids. Hence, the S4T is a promising candidate for the SST. The full functionality, e.g., voltage buck-boost, multiport, etc., and the universality of the S4T for the dc-dc, dc-ac, and ac-ac conversion are verified through the simulations and experiments of two-port and three-port MV prototypes based on 3.3 kV SiC mosfets in dc-dc, dc-ac, and ac-ac modes at 2 kV.
Seed birth to death Kumar, S. P. Jeevan; Prasad, S. Rajendra; Banerjee, Rintu ...
Annals of botany,
09/2015, Volume:
116, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered to be detrimental to seed viability. However, recent studies have demonstrated that ROS have key roles in seed germination particularly in the release of ...seed dormancy and embryogenesis, as well as in protection from pathogens.
This review considers the functions of ROS in seed physiology. ROS are present in all cells and at all phases of the seed life cycle. ROS accumulation is important in breaking seed dormancy, and stimulating seed germination and protection from pathogens. However, excessive ROS accumulation can be detrimental. Therefore, knowledge of the mechanisms by which ROS influence seed physiology will provide insights that may not only allow the development of seed quality markers but also help us understand how dormancy can be broken in several recalcitrant species.
Reactive oxygen species have a dual role in seed physiology. Understanding the relative importance of beneficial and detrimental effects of ROS provides great scope for the improvement and maintenance of seed vigour and quality, factors that may ultimately increase crop yields.
Cancer often develops multidrug resistance (MDR) when cancer cells become resistant to numerous structurally and functionally different chemotherapeutic agents. MDR is considered one of the principal ...reasons for the failure of many forms of clinical chemotherapy. Several factors are involved in the development of MDR including increased expression of efflux transporters, the tumor microenvironment, changes in molecular targets and the activity of cancer stem cells. Recently, researchers have designed and developed a number of small molecule inhibitors and derivatives of natural compounds to overcome various mechanisms of clinical MDR. Unfortunately, most of the chemosensitizing approaches have failed in clinical trials due to non-specific interactions and adverse side effects at pharmacologically effective concentrations. Nanomedicine approaches provide an efficient drug delivery platform to overcome the limitations of conventional chemotherapy and improve therapeutic effectiveness. Multifunctional nanomaterials have been found to facilitate drug delivery by improving bioavailability and pharmacokinetics, enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs to overcome MDR. In this review article, we discuss the major factors contributing to MDR and the limitations of existing chemotherapy- and nanocarrier-based drug delivery systems to overcome clinical MDR mechanisms. We critically review recent nanotechnology-based approaches to combat tumor heterogeneity, drug efflux mechanisms, DNA repair and apoptotic machineries to overcome clinical MDR. Recent successful therapies of this nature include liposomal nanoformulations, cRGDY-PEG-Cy5.5-Carbon dots and Cds/ZnS core-shell quantum dots that have been employed for the effective treatment of various cancer sub-types including small cell lung, head and neck and breast cancers.
Molecules with curved architecture can exhibit unique optoelectronic properties due to the concave‐convex π‐surface. However, synthesizing negatively curved saddle‐shaped aromatic systems has been ...challenging due to the internal structural strain. Herein, we report the facile synthesis of two polyhexagonal molecular systems, 1 and 2, with saddle shape geometry by judiciously varying the aromatic moiety, avoiding the harsh synthetic methods as that of heptagonal aromatic saddle systems. The unique geometry preferences of B, N, and S furnish suitable curvature to the molecules, featuring saddle shape. The saddle geometry also enables them to interact with fullerene C60, and the supramolecular interactions of fullerene C60 with 1 and 2 modify their optoelectronic properties. Crystal structure analysis reveals that 1, with a small π‐surface, forms a double columnar array of fullerenes in the solid state. In contrast, 2 with a large π‐surface produces a supramolecular capsule entrapping two discrete fullerenes. The intermolecular interactions between B, N, S, and the aryl‐π surface of the host and C60 guest are the stabilizing factors for creating these supramolecular structures. Comprehensive computational, optical, and Raman spectroscopic studies establish the charge transfer interactions between B−N doped heterocycle host and fullerene C60 guest.
The combined effect of sulphur‐induced curvature and unification of aryl groups through borylation furnishes a potential saddle‐shaped architecture to the polyaromatics 1 and 2 without introducing any heptagon. Heterocycle 1, with smaller concave‐convex molecular surfaces, forms a superstructure with double columnar fullerenes C60 in the solid state.
Wnt signaling has been linked with P-glycoprotein (P-gp) overexpression and which was mainly mediated by β-catenin nuclear translocation. Flavonoids have already been reported as modulators of the ...Wnt/β-catenin pathway and hence they may serve as promising agents in the reversal of P-gp mediated cancer multi drug resistance (MDR).
In this study, we screened selected flavonoids against Wnt/β-catenin signaling molecules. The binding interaction of flavonoids (theaflavin, quercetin, rutin, epicatechin 3 gallate and tamarixetin) with GSK 3β was determined by molecular docking. Flavonoids on P-gp expression and the components of Wnt signaling in drug-resistant KBCH
8-5 cells were analyzed by western blotting and qRT-PCR. The MDR reversal potential of these selected flavonoids against P-gp mediated drug resistance was analyzed by cytotoxicity assay in KBCH
8-5 and MCF7/ADR cell lines. The chemosensitizing potential of flavonoids was further analyzed by observing cell cycle arrest in KBCH
8-5 cells.
In this study, we observed that the components of Wnt/β-catenin pathway such as Wnt and GSK 3β were activated in multidrug resistant KBCH
8-5 cell lines. All the flavonoids selected in this study significantly decreased the expression of Wnt and GSK 3β in KBCH
8-5 cells and subsequently modulates P-gp overexpression in this drug-resistant cell line. Further, we observed that these flavonoids considerably decreased the doxorubicin resistance in KBCH
8-5 and MCF7/ADR cell lines. The MDR reversal potential of flavonoids were found to be in the order of theaflavin > quercetin > rutin > epicatechin 3 gallate > tamarixetin. Moreover, we observed that flavonoids pretreatment significantly induced the doxorubicin-mediated arrest at the phase of G2/M. Further, the combinations of doxorubicin with flavonoids significantly modulate the expression of drug response genes in KBCH
8-5 cells.
The present findings illustrate that the studied flavonoids significantly enhances doxorubicin-mediated cell death through modulating P-gp expression pattern by targeting Wnt/β-catenin signaling in drug-resistant KBCH
8-5 cells.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as ideal multifunctional platforms for renewable hydrogen (H2) energy applications owing to their tunable chemical compositions and structures and high ...porosity. Their advanced component species and porous structure contribute greatly to the enhanced activity, electrical conductivity, photo response, charge‐hole separation efficiency, and structural stability of MOF materials, which are promising for practical H2 economy. In this review, we mainly introduce design strategies for the enhancement of electro‐/photochemical behaviors or adsorption performance of porous MOF materials for H2 production, storage, and utilization from compositional perspective. Following these engineering strategies, the correlation between composition and property‐structure‐performance of pristine MOFs and their composite with advanced components is illustrated. Finally, challenges and directions of future development of related MOFs and MOF composites for H2 economy are provided.
In this review article, engineering strategies are exhaustively analyzed for the enhancement of electro‐/photochemical behaviors or adsorption performance of pristine MOFs and their composites for hydrogen energy applications from compositional perspective. Furthermore, challenges and future research directions in this emerging area of MOFs and their composites for H2 economy are provided.
The increasing interest in developing potent non-toxic drugs in medicine is widening the opportunities for studying the usage of nanostructures in the treatment of various diseases. The present work ...reports a method for a facile and an eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using
fruit extract (TCE). The obtained AgNPs was characterized by using different spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The analysis of the results revealed that the as-obtained AgNPs have spherical morphology with an average diameter of 22 nm. Furthermore, the preliminary bioactivity evaluations revealed that the bio-conjugation of AgNPs, using TCE, significantly enhanced the antibacterial and anti-breast cancer potentials of the latter. The antibacterial activity of the as-prepared AgNPs showed that
was more sensitive towards the AgNPs, followed by
; while,
and
showed comparatively minimal sensitivity toward the AgNPs. The IC
values of TCE, AgNPs and TCE + AgNPs treatment of MCF-7 were found to be 17.53, 14.25 and 6.484 µg/mL, respectively. Therefore, it can be ascertained that the bio-conjugation may provide a headway with regard to the therapeutic employment of
, upon mechanistically understanding the basis of observed antibacterial and anticancer activities.