Identification of coral endosymbionts of Veedhalai and Mandapam coasts of Palk Bay, India using small subunit rDNA.

Coral endosymbionts act as a bio-indicator of coral ecosystem under extreme environmental conditions. The health of the coral ecosystem depends on the endosymbiont cell density of the coral hosts. Therefore, it is of interest to analyze ten coral fragments found to be under the genera Acropora, Favites, Favia, and Porites collected at various locations from Veedhalai to Mandapam, southeast coast of India during January 2019 to March 2019.

Rapid assessment of heavy metal toxicity using bioluminescent bacteria Photobacterium leiognathi strain GoMGm1.

Several commercial test kits such as Microtox, LUMIStox, ToxAlert, Aboatox, and ToxScreen have been widely used for toxicity screening. Though this time saving assays offer excellent sensitivity, cost-effectiveness, and accuracy, these commercial assays are limited in terms of real-time monitoring in Indian coastal environment due to warmer temperatures. This necessitates the need to develop a rapid and accurate assay that can be effectively employed for real time monitoring with respect to heavy metals in the Indian coastal waters.

RAPD markers for screening shoot gall maker ( Swinhoe) tolerant genotypes of amla ( L.).

Linn. is the most important medicinally useful tree crop in Asian Subcontinent and is severely infested by Swinhoe, known as shoot gall maker (SGM). This pest tunnels the shoots of seedlings and actively growing branches of trees and develops gall, leading to stunted growth, unusual branching and death of actively growing shoots.