Bases immediate upstream of the TATAAT box of the sigma 70 promoter of Escherichia coli significantly influence the activity of a model promoter by altering the bending angle of DNA.

Different workers have found different bases of the spacer of the sigma 70 promoter of Escherichia coli to be important, depending on the base sequence of the two hexameric boxes of the naturally occurring promoter they were working on. Besides, there was no clue as to why particular bases worked better than others in particular positions. This necessitated a fresh look at the spacer region of a model promoter comprising all the consensus promoter elements.

Suramin, penciclovir, and anidulafungin exhibit potential in the treatment of COVID-19 via binding to nsp12 of SARS-CoV-2.

COVID-19, for which no confirmed therapeutic agents are available, has claimed over 48,14,000 lives globally. A feasible and quicker method to resolve this problem may be 'drug repositioning'. We investigated selected FDA and WHO-EML approved drugs based on their previously promising potential as antivirals, antibacterials or antifungals.

Azotobacters as biofertilizer.

Azotobacters have been used as biofertilizer since more than a century. Azotobacters fix nitrogen aerobically, elaborate plant hormones, solubilize phosphates and also suppress phytopathogens or reduce their deleterious effect. Application of wild type Azotobacters results in better yield of cereals like corn, wheat, oat, barley, rice, pearl millet and sorghum, of oil seeds like mustard and sunflower, of vegetable crops like tomato, eggplant, carrot, chillies, onion, potato, beans and sugar beet, of fruits like mango and sugar cane, of fiber crops like jute and cotton and of tree like oak.