Tomato suffers a huge loss every year because of early blight disease. This study focuses on efficient inhibition of Alternaria solani, the causative agent of early blight disease in tomato in vitro ...and in vivo. Foliar spray of 5 μg/mL of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles in A. solani infected plants resulted in significant increase of 32.58% in fresh weight and 23.52% in total chlorophyll content of tomato as compared to A. solani infected plants. A decrease of 48.57, 30, 39.59 and 28.57% was observed in fungal spore count, lipid peroxidation, proline content and superoxide dismutase respectively in infected tomato plants after treatment with synthesized silver nanoparticles as compared to A. solani infected plants. No significant variation in terms of soil pH, cultured population, carbon source utilization pattern and soil enzymes including dehydrogenase, urease, protenase and β-glucosidase was observed after foliar spray of nanoparticles. It was revealed that direct killing of pathogens, increased photosynthetic efficiencies, increased plant resistance and decrease in stress parameters and stress enzymes are the mechanisms employed by plants and nanoparticles simultaneously to combat the biotic stress. Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles bear the potential to revolutionize plant disease management, though the molecular aspects of increased resistance must be looked upon.
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•Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles efficiently ameliorated biotic stress on plants.•Foliar application of nanoparticles increased disease resistant in plants.•Nanoparticles increased antioxidant and chlorophyll content of plants and decreased stress markers.
Recently, there has been considerable interest in the functions of gut microbiota in broiler chickens in relation to their use as feed additives. However, the gut-microbiota of chickens reared at ...different altitudes are not well documented for their potential role in adapting to prevailing conditions and functional changes. In this context, the present study investigates the functional diversity of gut-microbes in high-altitude (HACh) and low-altitude adapted chickens (LACh), assessing their substrate utilization profile through Biolog Ecoplates technology. This will help in the identification of potential microbes or their synthesized metabolites, which could be beneficial for the host or industrial applications. Results revealed that among the 31 different types of studied substrates, only polymers, carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, and amine-based substrates utilization varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the chickens reared at two different altitudes where gut-microbes of LACh utilized a broad range of substrates than the HACh. Further, diversity indices (Shannon and MacIntosh) analysis in LACh samples showed significant (p < 0.05) higher richness and evenness of microbes as compared to the HACh samples. However, no significant difference was observed in the Simpson diversity index in gut microbes of lowversus high-altitude chickens. In addition, the Principal Component Analysis elucidated variation in substrate preferences of gut-microbes, where 13 and 8 carbon substrates were found to constitute PC1 and PC2, respectively, where γ-aminobutyric acid, D-glucosaminic acid, i-erythritol and tween 40 were the most relevant substrates that had a major effect on PC1, however, alpha-ketobutyric acid and glycyl-L-glutamic acid affected PC2. Hence, this study concludes that the gut-microbes of high and low-altitudes adapted chickens use different carbon substrates so that they could play a vital role in the health and immunity of an animal host based on their geographical location. Consequently, this study substantiates the difference in the substrate utilization and functional diversity of the microbial flora in chickens reared at high and low altitudes due to altitudinal changes.
Biosynthesis of nanoparticles has gained great attention in making the process cost-effective and eco-friendly, but there are limited reports which describe the interdependency of physical parameters ...for tailoring the dimension and geometry of nanoparticles during biological synthesis. In the present study, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) of various shapes and sizes were obtained by modulating different physical parameters using Trichoderma viride filtrate. The particles were characterized on the basis of visual observation, dynamic light scattering, UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X ray diffraction. While the size varied from 2-500 nm, the shapes obtained were nanospheres, nanotriangles, nanopentagons, nanohexagons, and nanosheets. Changing the parameters such as pH, temperature, time, substrate, and culture filtrate concentration influenced the size and geometry of nanoparticles. Catalytic activity of the biosynthesized GNP was evaluated by UV-visible spectroscopy and confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis for the conversion of 4-nitrophenol into 4-aminophenol which was strongly influenced by their structure and dimension. Common practices for biodegradation are traditional, expensive, require large amount of raw material, and time taking. Controlling shapes and sizes of nanoparticles could revolutionize the process of biodegradation that can remove all the hurdles in current scenario.
Toxic metal(loid) contamination of soil and sediment poses long term risk to soil and human health through plant-human or plant-animal-human food chain pathways. Iron plaque (IP) formation is ...frequent in aquatic and wetland plant species and is responsible for the sequestration of various metal(loids). The presence of IP may act as a buffer or barrier and may thus enhance or reduce the uptake of potentially phytotoxic metals and metalloids by plants. If IP acts as a barrier, then low IP producing macrophytes/aquatic plants may be better accumulators of toxic metals and may find use in constructed wetlands for remediation of pollutants, while high IP forming edible plant species could be safer for human consumption. Conversely, if IP acts as a buffer for mineral nutrients and toxic elements then those cultivars may be rich in nutrients, but may also cause toxicity. However, an ecotoxicological risk is also inevitable if IP rich macrophyte roots containing heavy metals are consumed by herbivores. In this review, we summarize the current understanding about the role of IP in metal and metalloid sequestration, uptake, and transport. Furthermore, we will address the role of root IP in Oryza sativa for arsenic (As) sequestration leading to lower grain As translocation, reducing the risk of human exposure.
Spherical, rectangular, penta, and hexagonal silver nanoparticles of different dimensions were biosynthesized in an eco-friendly manner by biocontrol agent, Trichoderma viride by manipulating ...physical parameters, pH, temperature, and reaction time. The particles were characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy; Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy (FTIR). Shape and size dependent antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles against human pathogens was observed. Maximum inhibition was found with spherical nanoparticles (2–5 nm) showing 40, 51, 43, 53.9 and 55.8% against Shigella sonnei, Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens, Staphylococcus. aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa respectively, where as pentagonal and hexagonal nanoparticles (50–100 nm) demonstrated 32, 41, 31, 42.84 and 42.80% of inhibition as compared to control. Nanoparticles of different geometry and dimension established enhanced antagonistic activity against pathogens with all the tested antibiotics. Excellent antimicrobial efficacy was obtained with spherical nanoparticles of 2–5 nm with ampicillin and penicillin. Shape and size played major role in enhancing antimicrobial potential of silver nanoparticles, both singly and synergistically with antibiotics which can be exploited to combat the spread of multidrug resistant pathogens.
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•By varying physico-chemical conditions of the reaction, different shape and sizes of silver nanoparticles were obtained.•Physical parameters are interdependent and responsible for bioengineering of nanoparticles.•Shape and size dependent antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles against human pathogens was observed.•Spherical (2–5 nm) nanoparticles were showing maximum antimicrobial activity against all five selected human pathogens.•Spherical nanoparticles shows maximum efficacy with antibiotics against multi drug resistant bacteria Serratiamarcescens.
Endophytes can induce the defence responses and modulates physiological attributes in host plants during pathogen attacks. In the present study, 127 bacterial endophytes (BEs) were isolated from ...different parts of healthy soybean plant. Among them, two BEs (M-2 and M-4) resulted a significant antagonistic property against
Macrophomina phaseolina,
causes charcoal rot disease in soybean. The antagonistic potential was evaluated through dual culture plate assay, where M-4 expressed higher antifungal activity than M-2 against
M. phaseolina
. The M-4 produces cell wall degrading enzymes viz
.
cellulase (145.71 ± 1.34 μgmL
−1
), chitinase (0.168 ± 0.0009 unitmL
−1
) and β,1–3 endoglucanase (162.14 ± 2.5 μgmL
−1
), which helps in cell wall disintegration of pathogens. Additionally, M-4 also can produce siderophores, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) (17.03 ± 1.10 μgmL
−1
) and had a phosphate solubilization potential (19.89 ± 0.26 μgmL
−1
). Further, GC–MS profiling of M-4 has been carried out to demonstrate the production of lipophilic secondary metabolites which efficiently suppress the
M. phaseolina
defensive compounds under co-culture conditions. Bio-efficacy study of M-4 strain shown a significant reduction in disease incidence around 60 and 80% in resistant and susceptible varieties of soybean, respectively. The inoculation of M-4 potentially enhances the physiological attributes and triggers various defence responsive enzymes viz. superoxide dismutase (SOD), phenol peroxidase (PPO), peroxidase (PO) and catalase (CAT). The histopathological study also confirmed that M-4 can reduce the persistence of microsclerotia in root and shoot tissue. Conclusively, M-4 revealed as an efficient biocontrol agent that can uses multifaceted measures for charcoal rot disease management, by suppress the
M. phaseolina
infection and enhance the physiological attributes of soybean.
Graphical abstract
Endophytes are regarded with immense potentials in terms of plant growth promoting (PGP) elicitors and mimicking secondary metabolites of medicinal importance. Here in the present study, we explored
...Bacopa monnieri
plants to isolate, identify fungal endophytes with PGP elicitation potentials, and investigate secretion of secondary metabolites such as bacoside and withanolide content under in vitro conditions. Three fungal endophytes isolated (out of 40 saponin producing isolates) from leaves of
B. monnieri
were examined for in vitro biosynthesis of bacosides. On morphological, biochemical, and molecular identification (ITS gene sequencing), the isolated strains SUBL33, SUBL51, and SUBL206 were identified as
Nigrospora oryzae
(MH071153),
Alternaria alternata
(MH071155), and
Aspergillus terreus
(MH071154) respectively. Among these strains, SUBL33 produced highest quantity of Bacoside A
3
(4093 μg mL
−1
), Jujubogenin isomer of Bacopasaponin C (65,339 μg mL
−1
), and Bacopasaponin C (1325 μg mL
−1
) while Bacopaside II (13,030 μg mL
−1
) was produced by SUBL51 maximally. Moreover, these aforementioned strains also produced detectable concentration of withanolides—Withaferrin A, Withanolide A (480 μg mL
−1
), and Withanolide B (1024 μg mL
−1
) respectively. However, Withanolide A was not detected in the secondary metabolites of strain SUBL51. To best of our knowledge, the present study is first reports of
Nigrospora oryzae
as an endophyte in
B. monnieri
with potentials of biosynthesis of economically important phytomolecules under in vitro conditions.
The deterioration of water quality of river Ganga is a huge concern for Govt. of India. Apart from various pollution sources, the religious and ritualistic activities also have a good share in ...deteriorating Ganga water quality. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the changes in physico-chemical properties, microbial diversity and role of bacteriophages in controlling bacterial population of Ganga water during mass ritualistic bathing on the occasion of Maha-Kumbh in 2013. The BOD, COD, hardness, TDS and level of various ions significantly increased, while DO decreased in Ganga water during Maha-Kumbh. Ganga water was more affluent in trace elements than Yamuna and their levels further increased during Maha-Kumbh, which was correlated with decreased level of trace elements in the sediment. The bacterial diversity and evenness were increased and correlated with the number of devotees taking a dip at various events. Despite enormous increase in bacterial diversity during mass ritualistic bathing, the core bacterial species found in pre-Kumbh Ganga water were present in all the samples taken during Kumbh and post-Kumbh. In addition, the alteration in bacterial population during mass bathing was well under 2 log units which can be considered negligible. The study of bacteriophages at different bathing events revealed that Ganga was richer with the presence of bacteriophages in comparison with Yamuna against seven common bacteria found during the Maha-Kumbh. These bacteriophages have played a role in controlling bacterial growth and thus preventing putrefaction of Ganga water. Further, the abundance of trace elements in Ganga water might also be a reason for suppression of bacterial growth. Thus, the current study showed that Ganga has characteristic water quality in terms of physico-chemical property and microbial diversity that might have a role in the reported self-cleansing property of Ganga; however, the increased pollution load has surpassed its self-cleansing properties. Since water has been celebrated in all cultures, the outcome of the current study will not only be useful for the policy maker of cleaning and conservation of Ganga but also for restoration of other polluted rivers all over the world.
The occurrence of Microsatellites (SSRs) has been witnessed in most of the fungal genomes however its abundance varies across species. In the present study, we analyzed the frequency of SSRs in the ...whole genome and transcripts of two phyto-pathogenic (
and
) and compared them with two non-pathogenic (
and
)
. Higher relative abundance and relative density of SSRs were observed in the whole genome and transcript sequences of the pathogenic
when compared to the non-pathogenic. The relative abundance and density of SSRs were positively correlated with the G+C content of transcripts. Among the different classes of SSR, the percentage of tetra-nucleotide SSRs were maximum in
(36.7%) and
(35.9%) whereas
and
preferred tri-nucleotide SSRs (38.2 and 42.1%) in whole genome sequences. In transcripts, tri-nucleotide SSRs were the most abundant whereas di-nucleotide SSRs were the least favored. Motif conservation study among the transcripts revealed conservation of only 27% motif within
species. Furthermore, a similar relationship among the Ascomycetes was obtained on the basis of motif conservation and conserved genes (rDNA). To analyze the diversity present within the Indian isolates of
, primers were successfully designed for 692 motifs in
and
of which 20 were selected for diversity analysis. Among all the markers amplified, 10 markers (83.3%) were polymorphic, whereas remaining two markers (16.6%) were monomorphic.
polymorphic markers acquired in this investigation showed the utility of recently created SSR markers in the assessment of genetic diversity among various isolates of
.
Synthetic cosmetics, particularly hair dyes, are becoming increasingly popular among people of all ages and genders. 2,4,5,6-tetraaminopyrimidine sulfate (TAPS) is a key component of oxidative hair ...dyes and is used as a developer in several hair dyes. TAPS has previously been shown to absorb UVB strongly and degrade in a time-dependent manner, causing phototoxicity in human skin cells. However, the toxic effects of UVB-degraded TAPS are not explored in comparison to parent TAPS. Therefore, this research work aims to assess the toxicity of UVB-degraded TAPS than TAPS on two different test systems, that is, HaCaT (mammalian cell) and Staphylococcus aureus (a bacterial cell). Our result on HaCaT has illustrated that UVB-degraded TAPS is less toxic than parent TAPS. Additionally, UVB-exposed TAPS and parent TAPS were given to S. aureus, and the bacterial growth and their metabolic activity were assessed via CFU and phenotype microarray. The findings demonstrated that parent TAPS reduced bacterial growth via decreased metabolic activity; however, bacteria easily utilized the degraded TAPS. Thus, this study suggests that the products generated after UVB irradiation of TAPS is considered to be safer than their parent TAPS.
Graphical Abstract
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