Ecosystem degradation is a major environmental threat. Beyond conservation, restoration of degraded ecosystems is a prerequisite to reinstate their ability to provide essential services and benefits. Most of the restoration efforts focus on aboveground restoration, that is, plants, under the assumption that establishment of plant species will reestablish the faunal and microbial species. While this may be true for some cases, it is not a general rule. Reestablishment of microbial communities by dedicated efforts is also necessary for successful restoration, as cycling of essential nutrients for plant growth and decomposition of organic matter is dependent on them. The role of microbial fertilizers and efficient organisms used in agriculture needs to be explored in restoration. Testing of symbiotic interactions between potential plant growth-promoting Rhizobacteria and plants native to a degraded ecosystem can be conducted and utilized for successful establishment of plant species. However, utmost care must be taken while introducing new microbial species or non-native plant species to an area, as they can adversely affect the resident microbial community. Techniques like phospholipid fatty-acid analysis can be used for taxonomic identification of large microbial groups in non-degraded reference ecosystems before introducing microbial species into a degraded ecosystem. For use of microbes in restoration, more studies on microbe-plant interactions need to be conducted. For use of Soil Microbial Community (SMC) as indicators of restoration, their role and function in the ecology of the area need to be elucidated by employing all the available techniques.

Three types of vitellogenins (Vgs) namely vitellogenin A (VgA), vitellogenin B (VgB) and vitellogenin C (VgC) have been identified in fishes. The existence of VgA and VgB is reported in the Indian freshwater murrel Channa punctatus. Gene-specific primers were designed using available nucleotide sequences in National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), for amplification of VgA and VgB cDNA. Differential processing of Vgs is evident in many fishes. Adult male murrel expressed both the VgA and VgB genes when estradiol-17β (E(2)) is injected in vivo and Vg levels in blood quantified by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed a dose-related response in such treatments. Cultured hepatocytes on treatment with E(2), however, expressed only VgB as detected by RT-PCR, suggesting different regulatory mechanism for the VgA and VgB genes.

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In the present study, potential interaction between natural estrogens i.e., estrone (E(1)), estradiol (E(2)) and estriol (E(3)) with human estrogen receptor (hER) was seen by in silico study. Molecular docking studies were carried out using Glide and ligand docking program. The binding affinity, assessed by Glide score, indicates stronger interaction of E(3) with hER followed by E(2) and E(1). Real-time PCR analysis of vga and vgb expressions, in the liver of different groups of Channa punctatus injected with the three natural estrogens, supported the docking analysis and indicated E(3) to be the most potent estrogen in inducing vga and vgb expressions followed by E(2) and E(1). This study lays the groundwork for studying interactions of various estrogenic substances with different estrogen receptors and to assess estrogenicity of various chemicals which are being released into the environment by employing molecular docking technique.

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