Moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia L.), a drought resistant legume, possesses high nutritional value. Cadmium (Cd) is a nonessential and the most toxic heavy metal in plants. The present study was to test the hypothesis of whether moth bean being a drought resistant legume can withstand the cadmium stress. Ten-day-old moth bean seedlings were subjected to cadmium stress and investigated for a period of 15 days every 3-day intervals. Cadmium quantification in moth bean tissues suggests root accumulation and translocation to aerial parts in a concentration dependent manner. Results of physiological and biochemical studies revealed that cadmium has affected the growth parameters like shoot and root lengths and tissue dry weights. Significant alternations in relative water content and cell membrane stability were observed in stressed seedlings. Similarly superoxide radical, lipoxygenase activity, membrane lipid peroxidation products, protein carbonyls, and reduced glutathione and nonprotein thiols were found increased in stressed seedlings compared to controls. However, hydrogen peroxide and ascorbic acid levels were not altered significantly in both stressed and control seedlings. Cadmium translocation ability from roots to aerial parts and elevated levels of nonenzymatic antioxidants in stressed seedlings suggest the cadmium stress withstanding ability of moth bean.

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Introduction and Aim: Plants are the most accessible and convenient source of lectins. Artocarpus altilis is a Moraceae plant utilized for its latex. The anti-proliferative, nematicidal, and insecticidal effects of this plant latex are unknown. The current study evaluates the antiproliferative, nematicidal, and insecticidal activity of pure AaLL on Triple Negative Breast Cancer cells, Meloidogyne incognita, and Spodoptera frugiperda, respectively.   Materials and Methods: To assess AaLL's antiproliferative activity against MDA-MB-231, MTT and wound healing experiments were performed. Using juvenile mortality and feeding assays, the in vitro nematicidal and insecticidal activity against Meloidogyne incognita and Spodoptera frugiperda were evaluated.   Results: The MTT experiment demonstrated that 5.4µg/ml AaLL effectively inhibited MDA-MB-231 growth by 50% compared to the control. Even at 40µg/ml, AaLL had no cytotoxic effects on NIH3T3 fibroblast cells. AaLL significantly reduced cell migration, with the wound area remaining at 41.95 percent as opposed to 4.57 percent in the control group. In vitro results on J2s exposed to AaLL for 72 hours demonstrated a death rate of 52% at a concentration of 30µg/ml. After 24 hours of incubation with 400µg/ml lectin, the insecticidal tests reveal that AaLL considerably reduces the weight of larvae. After 48 hours, a lectin concentration of 0.04% caused 69.44% larval death.   Conclusion: This is the first report demonstrating the latex lectin from Artocarpus altilis's anti-proliferation, anti-migration, nematicidal, and insecticidal properties. Further research will be done on the signaling pathways and mechanism of action linked to these features.

Introduction and Aim: Owing to its medicinal properties, in the current investigation, crude extracts and liquid fractions of stem bark of Rhus mysorensis (RM) were screened for phytochemical composition and in vitro antiproliferative activity.   Materials and Methods: Phytoconstituents in extracts were examined using standard qualitative tests. TFC and TPC of the extracts were measured using the aluminum chloride and the Folin-Ciocalteau methods respectively.  In vitro antiproliferative activity of obtained five crude extracts (RMHE, RMPE, RMCE, RMME and RMAE) and three liquid fractions (RMLH, RMLC and RMLM) were determined in MDA-MB-231 cells by MTT assay.   Results: Different types of phytoconstituents were detected in crude extracts. The total phenolic contents of RMME (295.92 ± 0.32 mg Gallic acid/g extract) while total flavonoids contents of RMHE (75.0 ± 4.33mg Catechin / g of extract) were found significantly higher as compared to other solvent extracts. RMME exhibited the highest antiproliferative activity on MDA-MB-231 cells followed by RMCE and RMHE with IC50 values of 79.60 ±1.05, 86.81±1.11 and 121.45 ± 6.03?g/mL respectively.  RMPE and RMAE did not show significant growth inhibition. Unlike other crude extracts, RMME did not inhibit the growth of L6 cells even at higher concentration (320?g/mL). Among the solvent fractions, RMLM demonstrated potent antiproliferative activity in MDA-MB-231 (IC50, 60.85±1.59?g/mL) cells while RMLH and RMLC showed comparatively lesser growth inhibitory effect with IC50 values of 111.3 ± 0.35 and 124.1 ± 2.74?g/mL respectively.   Conclusion: The extracts of Rhus mysorensis were shown to contain a remarkable amount of different bioactive compounds, thus confirming their involvement in several biological activities.   RMLM selectively inhibit the proliferation of TNBC (triple negative breast cancer) cells hence it can be used as a source for isolation and characterization of novel anticancer compounds.