Rice is one of the major staple food crops in the world and an excellent model system for studying monocotyledonous plants. Diseases caused by nematodes in rice are well documented and among them, root-knot nematode (RKN), Meloidogyne graminicola, causes extensive yield decline. It is therefore necessary to identify novel sources of natural resistance to RKN in rice and to investigate the rice-RKN interaction in detail to understand the basal plant defence mechanisms and nematode manipulation of the host physiology. To this end, six different cultivars of rice were initially screened for RKN infection and development; Pusa 1121 and Vandana were found to be most susceptible and resistant to RKN infection, respectively. In order to investigate the role of major hormoneregulated plant defence pathways in compatible/incompatible rice-RKN interaction, some wellidentified marker genes involved in salicylate/jasmonate/ethylene pathway were evaluated for their differential expression through qRT-PCR. In general, our study shows a remarkable discrepancy in the expression pattern of those genes between compatible and incompatible rice-RKN interaction. As most information on the molecular interplay between plants and nematodes were generated on dicotyledonous plants, the current study will strengthen our basic understanding of plant-nematode interaction in the monocot crops, which will aid in defining future strategies for best plant health measures.Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) have proved to be one of the most difficult to manage and stubborn pest of agricultural crops. PPNs display a wide variety of interactions with their hosts. Most advanced of them are sedentary endoparasites, which induce a specialized feeding cell in the host tissue. These feeding structures are believed to serve as the singular nutrient source for the nematode development and reproduction. A plethora of nematode effector proteins have been identified which interact with the several plant proteins to initiate and maintain the feeding cell and usurps innate host defence 1,2 .Being one of the major staple food crop, and a promising model monocotyledonous plant, rice (Oryza sativa L.) has garnered considerable attention from the nematologists studying the physiological and molecular interaction between rice and PPNs. Root-knot nematode (RKN), Meloidogyne graminicola is emerging as a serious bottleneck in rice-wheat cropping system of Indo-Gangetic plains and is causing substantial yield losses in all the rice growing belts of South-east Asia. The infective second-stage juvenile (J2) penetrates the rice root behind the root tip zone, traverses the vascular tissue and induces a typical feeding cell, known as the giant cell (GC). Cells surrounding the GC are hypertrophied to render the formation of macroscopic hook-like galls on the root system 3-5 .To date, almost all grown O. sativa cultivars tested are known to be susceptible to RKN infection, while the non-cultivated African relatives, O. glaberrima and O. longistaminata are reported to be resista...

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Four novel copper(II) complexes of the composition [CuLX] where L = 2,6-bis(benzimidazole-2yl)pyridine, X = dipyridophenazine (L1), 1,10-phenanthroline (L2), hydroxyproline (L3) and 2,6-pyridine dicarboxylic acid (L4) were synthesized and characterized by using elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV–vis, ESI-MS, molar conductance and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The complexes [CuLL1](NO3)2 [1], [CuLL2](NO3)2 [2], [CuLL3](NO3) [3] and [CuLL4] (NO3) [4] are stable at room temperature. In DMSO the complexes [1] and [2] are 1:2 electrolytes, [3] and [4] are 1:1 electrolytes. Based on elemental and spectral studies five coordinated geometry is assigned to all the four complexes. The interaction of four copper ion complexes with calf thymus DNA were carried out by UV-vis titrations, fluorescence spectroscopy, thermal melting and viscosity measurements .The binding constant (K(b)) of the above four metal complexes were determined as 5.43 × 10(4) M(-1), 2.56 × 10(4) M(-1), 1.21 × 10(4) M(-1) and 1.57 × 10(4) M(-1) respectively. Quenching studies of the four complexes indicates that these complexes strongly bind to DNA, out of all complex 1 is binding more strongly. Viscosity measurements indicate the binding mode of complexes with CT DNA by intercalation through groove. Thermal melting studies also support intercalative binding. The nuclease activity of the above metal complexes shows that 1, 2 and 3 complexes cleave DNA through redox chemistry.

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A Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming, small spherical bacterium, strain S31T, was isolated from skin surface (external ear lobe) of a healthy human subject and characterized using a polyphasic approach. On the basis of 1507 bp 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison, S31T showed highest (92.8 %, AY119686) sequence similarity with Macrococcus brunensis CCUG 47200T followed by Macrococcus caseolyticus DSM 20597T (92.7 % AP009484) and formed a separate clade with 65 % bootstrap support. The DNA G+C content was found to be 34 mol%. Anteiso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0 are the predominant fatty acids in fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profile of strain S31T. It contained A3α type peptidoglycan with l-Lys-Gly3-l-Ala peptide. Comparative study of morphological and physiological traits indicated that S31T has phenetically diverged from its closest relatives. On the basis of morphological, chemotaxonomic and genotypic data, S31T showed marked distinctions from its closest relatives of the family Staphylococcaceae and is proposed to represent a novel genus Auricoccus with Auricoccus indicus as type species of the genus. S31T (CCUG 69858T=KCTC 33611T=MCC 3027T) is the type strain of the species.

A series of transition metal complexes of Co(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), Fe(III) and VO(IV) have been synthesized involving the Schiff base, 2,3-dimethyl-1-phenyl-4-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxy benzylideneamino)-pyrazol-5-one(L), obtained by condensation of 4-aminoantipyrine with 3-methoxy salicylaldehyde. Structural features were obtained from their FT-IR, UV-vis, NMR, ESI Mass, elemental analysis, magnetic moments, molar conductivity and thermal analysis studies. The Schiff base acts as a monovalent bidentate ligand, coordinating through the azomethine nitrogen and phenolic oxygen atom. Based on elemental and spectral studies six coordinated geometry is assigned to Co(II), Ni(II), Fe(III) and VO(IV) complexes and four coordinated geometry is assigned to Zn(II) complex. The interaction of metal complexes with Calf thymus DNA were carried out by UV-VIS titrations, fluorescence spectroscopy and viscosity measurements. The binding constants (K(b)) of the complexes were determined as 5 × 10(5) M(-1) for Co(II) complex, 1.33 × 10(4) M(-1) for Ni(II) complex, 3.33 × 10(5) M(-1) for Zn(II) complex, 1.25 × 10(5) M(-1) for Fe(III) complex and 8 × 10(5) M(-1) for VO(IV) complex. Quenching studies of the complexes indicate that these complexes strongly bind to DNA. Viscosity measurements indicate the binding mode of complexes with CT DNA by intercalation through groove. The ligand and it's metal complexes were screened for their antimicrobial activity against bacteria. The results showed the metal complexes to be biologically active, while the ligand to be inactive.

Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) is one of the major staple food crops of the world. The productivity of rice is considerably affected by the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne graminicola . Modern nematode management strategies targeting the physiological processes have established the potency of use of neuromotor genes for their management. Here, we explored the utility of two FMRFamide like peptide coding genes, Mg-flp-1 and Mg-flp-12 of M. graminicola for its management through host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) using Agrobacterium- mediated transformation of rice. The presence and integration of hairpin RNA (hpRNA) constructs in transgenic lines were confirmed by PCR, qRT-PCR, and Southern and Northern hybridization. Transgenic plants were evaluated against M. graminicola , where phenotypic effect of HIGS was pronounced with reduction in galling by 20–48% in the transgenic plants. This also led to significant decrease in total number of endoparasites by 31–50% for Mg-flp - 1 and 34–51% for Mg-flp-12 transgenics. Likewise, number of egg masses per plant and eggs per egg mass also declined significantly in the transgenics, ultimately affecting the multiplication factor, when compared to the wild type plants. This study establishes the effectiveness of the two M. graminicola flp genes for its management and also for gene pyramiding.