Transoral diode laser-assisted resection of a tongue base schwannoma.

Schwannomas are benign peripheral nerve sheath tumours with a low risk of malignant transformation. About 25%-40% are in the head and neck region with the posterior third of the tongue being a rather rare site of its growth, and a lesion at this site is understandably difficult to approach and treat. Being benign and encapsulated, surgical excision is in the mainstay of treatment.

Engineering of insecticidal hybrid gene into potato chloroplast genome exhibits promising control of Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

The potato chloroplast was transformed with codon optimized synthetic hybrid cry gene (SN19) to mitigate crop losses by Colorado potato beetle (CPB). The bombarded explants (leaves and internode) were cultured on MS medium supplemented with BAP (2.0 mg/l), NAA (0.

The tobacco chloroplast gene is essential for transcriptional gene regulation and plants photoautotrophic growth.

A tobacco chloroplast hypothetical open reading frame 4 (YCF4) has been reported as a non-essential assembly factor for photosynthesis based on an incomplete knockout of YCF4, just 93 of 184 amino acids from the N-terminus were knocked out. On the other hand, we removed the complete sequence of from tobacco chloroplasts and observed that Δ plants were unable to survive photoautotrophically as their growth was hampered in the absence of an external carbon supply, clearly showing that the YCF4 is essential for photosynthesis. Initially, the gene was introduced into the tobacco plastome replacing the complete gene through homologous recombination events.

Comprehensive Mechanism of Gene Silencing and Its Role in Plant Growth and Development.

Gene silencing is a negative feedback mechanism that regulates gene expression to define cell fate and also regulates metabolism and gene expression throughout the life of an organism. In plants, gene silencing occurs transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) and post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). TGS obscures transcription the methylation of 5' untranslated region (5'UTR), whereas PTGS causes the methylation of a coding region to result in transcript degradation.

Immunogenic profiling and designing of a novel vaccine from capsid proteins of FMDV serotype Asia-1 through reverse vaccinology.

Foot-and-mouth disease is one of the devastating transboundary animal diseases causing heavy losses to the livestock industry. Different vaccines based on the inactivated FMD virus are used against this disease, but lack of immunological memory and the need for high biocontainment are the major drawbacks of these vaccines. A novel vaccine comprising recombinant antigenic regions is effective, as they lack viruses for production.

Over-Expression of Endogenous SUGARWIN Genes Exalted Tolerance against Infection in Sugarcane.

Sugarcane being the major contributor of sugar and potential source of biofuel around the globe, occupies significant commercial importance. Red rot is the most devastating disease of sugarcane, severely affecting its quality as well as yield. Here we report the overexpression of and genes in any field crop for the first time.

Characterization and Expression Analysis of Resistance Gene Analogues in Elite Sugarcane Genotypes.

Background: Resistance Gene Analogues (RGAs) are an important source of disease resistance in crop plants and have been extensively studied for their identification, tagging and mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs). Tracking these RGAs in sugarcane can be of great help for the selection and screening of disease resistant clones.

Objective: In the present study expression of different Resistance Gene Analogues (RGAs) was assessed in indigenous elite sugarcane genotypes which include resistant, highly resistant, susceptible and highly susceptible to disease infestation.

Metabolomics: A Powerful Tool to Study the Complexity of Wheat Metabolome.

Wheat is a widely cultivated cereal, consumed by nearly 80% of the total population in the world. Although wheat is growing on 215 million hectares annually, its production is still inadequate to meet the future demand of feeding the 10 billion human population. Global food security is the biggest challenge as climate change is threatening crop production.

Transmission of Engineered Plastids in Sugarcane, a C Monocotyledonous Plant, Reveals that Sorting of Preprogrammed Progenitor Cells Produce Heteroplasmy.

We report here plastid transformation in sugarcane using biolistic transformation and embryogenesis-based regeneration approaches. Somatic embryos were developed from unfurled leaf sections, containing preprogrammed progenitor cells, to recover transformation events on antibiotic-containing regeneration medium. After developing a proficient regeneration system, the FLARE-S (fluorescent antibiotic resistance enzyme, spectinomycin and streptomycin) expression cassette that carries species-specific homologous sequence tails was used to transform plastids and track gene transmission and expression in sugarcane.

Pan-genome: A promising resource for noncoding RNA discovery in plants.

Plant genomes contain both protein-coding and noncoding sequences including transposable elements (TEs) and noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). The ncRNAs are recognized as important elements that play fundamental roles in the structural organization and function of plant genomes. Despite various hypotheses, TEs are believed to be a major precursor of ncRNAs.

Seeds as Economical Production Platform for Recombinant Proteins.

The cost-effective production of high-quality and biologically active recombinant molecules especially proteins is extremely desirable. Seed-based recombinant protein production platforms are considered as superior choice owing to lack of human/animal pathogenic organisms, lack of cold chain requirements for transportation and long-term storage, easy scalability and development of edible biopharmaceuticals in plants with objective to be used in purified or partially processed form is desirable. This review article summarizes the exceptional features of seed-based biopharming and highlights the needs of exploiting it for commercial purposes.

Field evaluation ratified by transcript and computational analyses unveils myco-protective role of SUGARWIN proteins in sugarcane.

Nine elite sugarcane genotypes (SPF-234, CPF-246, CPF-247, CPF-248, HSF-240, CP-77-400, S-2006-US-658, S-2003-US-127 and S-2006-US-633) were assessed for field level tolerance against followed by quantitative expression and computational analyses of mycoprotective proteins. Plug inoculation method was used to assess level of tolerance of aforementioned genotypes while growing in the field. Genotype S-2006-US-658 was categorized as resistant whereas genotypes CPF-246, CPF-248, HSF-240, S-2003-US-127, S-2006-US-633 and CP-77-400 were categorized as moderately resistant and genotypes SPF-234, CPF-247 as moderately susceptible.

Modern Trends in Plant Genome Editing: An Inclusive Review of the CRISPR/Cas9 Toolbox.

Increasing agricultural productivity via modern breeding strategies is of prime interest to attain global food security. An array of biotic and abiotic stressors affect productivity as well as the quality of crop plants, and it is a primary need to develop crops with improved adaptability, high productivity, and resilience against these biotic/abiotic stressors. Conventional approaches to genetic engineering involve tedious procedures.

Histopathological changes induced in liver, kidney, heart and pancreas of rabbits by prolonged oral cyanide exposure.

The aim of the present study was to determine the deleterious effects of prolonged oral cyanide insult on various organs and tissues in rabbits. For this purpose, 12 locally bred adult male rabbits were allocated into two groups of 6 viz. control and experimental.

Nasal septal abscess as a sequela of orbital cellulitis: An uncommon presentation.

Nasal septal abscess is a rather unusual condition encountered in the Otorhinolaryngology outpatient department, let alone it being a complication of orbital cellulitis! The condition usually occurs due to trauma which is significant enough to cause a septal haematoma. The haematoma then eventually results in formation of a localised abscess. Orbital cellulitis as a sequela of nasal septal abscess is an established complication but vice versa, septal abscess as a sequela of orbital cellulitis is an extremely rare presentation.

Endonasal endoscopic laser-assisted resection of septal glomangiopericytoma.

Glomangiopericytoma is a rare vascular neoplasm characterised by a pattern of prominent perivascular growth with myoid phenotype. It is categorised as a borderline low-malignancy tumour by WHO and accounts for less than 0.5% of all sinonasal tumours.

Assessing the efficacy of aqueous garlic extract, sodium nitrite and sodium thiosulfate against prolonged oral cyanide exposure in rabbits.

This study was aimed to compare the efficacy of aqueous garlic extract, sodium nitrite (SNT), sodium thiosulfate (STS) and hydroxocobalamin against oral cyanide exposure in rabbits. For this purpose, forty two adult male rabbits were divided randomly into 7 groups of 6 animals (A-G) each. Rabbits in group A were offered feed only and served as negative control, while the rabbits in group B received feed plus potassium cyanide (KCN) at 3mg/kg orally and were kept as positive control.

Seroprevalence and risk factor analysis of human leptospirosis in distinct climatic regions of Pakistan.

Leptospirosis is a worldwide emerging infectious disease of zoonotic importance and large epidemics and epizootics have been reported all over the globe. A cross survey study was conducted to estimate seroprevalence of human leptospirosis in climatically distinct regions of Pakistan and to identify the risk factors associated with the disease. Blood samples from 360 humans were collected through convenient sampling, 120 from each of three study areas.

Enzymes: Plant-based Production and their Applications.

Background: Enzymes are biocatalysts that play key roles in the production of biomolecules. Transgenic plants can be valuable cost effective resource to produce enzymes with bona fide structure. Further, plants provide inexpensive production platforms for pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.

Study of antimicrobial resistance and physiological biomarkers with special reference to Salmonellosis in diarrheic foals in Punjab, Pakistan.

Antimicrobial resistance results in selective colonization in animals. In the present study, 447 diarrheic foals (235 horse foals, 165 donkey foals and 47 mule foal) were selected from Lahore and Sahiwal districts of Punjab, Pakistan. Fresh fecal and blood samples from diarrheic foals were collected for isolation and confirmation of Salmonella Polymerase chain reaction.

Seroprevalence and risk factors of glanders in working equines - Findings of a cross-sectional study in Punjab province of Pakistan.

Glanders is an infectious and contagious bacterial disease of equines. A little is known about its seroprevalence and risk factors in working equines in countries where the disease is endemic. Also, there are no reports on prevalence of the disease in areas where there is a prior evidence of Burkholderia (B.

Risk factors associated with Mycobacterium bovis skin positivity in cattle and buffalo in Peshawar, Pakistan.

A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and associated risk factors in cattle and buffalo in Peshawar, Pakistan. Cattle and buffalo, randomly selected from all four towns of District Peshawar, were screened for bovine tuberculosis using comparative cervical intradermal tuberculin test (CCIT). For obtaining data on risk factors, sociodemographic condition, animal characteristics, and management, interviewer administered pretested questionnaire to animal owners.