Changing dynamics in daily rhythms of oxidative stress indicators in SCN and extra-SCN brain regions with aging in male Wistar rats.

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus regulates circadian timing system (CTS) by co-ordinating peripheral tissue clocks and extra-SCN oscillators in the brain. Aging disrupts the CTS, impairing physiological functions and reducing antioxidant defences, which contribute to neurodegeneration. The brain is vulnerable to oxidative damage due to its high metabolic activity, oxygen consumption, and levels of iron and lipids.

The 4Fs of cotton: genome editing of cotton for fiber, food, feed, and fuel to achieve zero hunger.

Cotton is globally known for its high-priority cellulose-rich natural fiber. In addition to providing fiber for the textile industry, it is an important source material for edible oil, livestock feed, and fuel products. Global warming and the growing population are the major challenges to the world's agriculture and the potential risks to food security.

Identification of highly conserved surface-exposed peptides of spike protein for multiepitope vaccine design against emerging omicron variants: An immunoinformatic approach.

The COVID-19 pandemic, originating in Wuhan in 2019, was caused by SARS-CoV-2, leading to significant global fatalities. Despite the development of vaccines, the virus mutates, creating variants that evade vaccine-induced immunity. To address SARS-CoV-2's evolving nature, a multiepitope vaccine was developed using immunoinformatics approach, specifically targeting the Omicron variant's spike protein.

Cross-regulation of cytoskeleton and calcium signaling at plant-pathogen interface.

During plant-pathogen interactions, cytoskeleton and calcium signaling work independently as well as in coordination with each other for developing preformed and induced defense responses. A cell wall (CW) - plasma membrane (PM) - cytoskeleton (CS) continuum is maintained by coordination of cytoskeleton and calcium signaling. The current review is focused on the current knowledge of cytoskeleton‑calcium cross-regulation during plant-pathogen interactions.

De novo transcriptome assembly of Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. (Fabaceae) under Botryodiplodia theobromae-induced dieback disease.

Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. (Shisham) is a timber-producing species of economic, cultural, and medicinal importance in the Indian subcontinent. In the past few decades, Shisham's dieback disease caused by the fungus Botryodiplodia theobromae has become an evolving issue in the subcontinent endangering its survival.

The changing landscape of agriculture: role of precision breeding in developing smart crops.

Food plants play a crucial role in human survival, providing them essential nutrients. However, traditional breeding methods have not been able to keep up with the demands of the growing population. The improvement of food plants aims to increase yield, quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Comparative transcriptomic and evolutionary analysis of FAD-like genes of Brassica species revealed their role in fatty acid biosynthesis and stress tolerance.

Background: Fatty acid desaturases (FADs) are involved in regulating plant fatty acid composition by adding double bonds to growing hydrocarbon chain. Apart from regulating fatty acid composition FADs are of great importance, and are involved in stress responsiveness, plant development, and defense mechanisms. FADs have been extensively studied in crop plants, and are broadly classed into soluble and non-soluble fatty acids.

Genomic diversity of aquaporins across genus Oryza provides a rich genetic resource for development of climate resilient rice cultivars.

Background: Plant aquaporins are critical genetic players performing multiple biological functions, especially climate resilience and water-use efficiency. Their genomic diversity across genus Oryza is yet to be explored.

Results: This study identified 369 aquaporin-encoding genes from 11 cultivated and wild rice species and further categorized these into four major subfamilies, among which small basic intrinsic proteins are speculated to be ancestral to all land plant aquaporins.

Optimization of Regeneration and -Mediated Transformation Protocols for Bi and Multilocular Varieties of .

The regeneration of the high-yielding multilocular types has not been attempted, although successful regeneration and transformation in brassica have been done. Here, we report efficient regeneration and transformation protocols for two genotypes; UAF11 and Toria. The cv UAF11 is a multilocular, non-shattering, and high-yielding genotype, while Toria is the bilocular type.

The SHERLOCK Platform: An Insight into Advances in Viral Disease Diagnosis.

Persistence and prevalence of microbial diseases (pandemics, epidemics) is the most alarming threats to the human resulting in huge health and economic losses. Rapid detection and understanding of the disease dynamics by molecular biotechnology tools allow for robust reporting, treatment and control of diseases. As per WHO, the optimal diagnostic approach should be quick, specific, sensitive, without a stringed instrument, and low cost.

Day time-restricted feeding shows differential synchronizing effects on age-related changes of serotonin metabolism in SCN and the pineal gland in male Wistar rats.

The circadian timing system is synchronized by the environmental photic and non-photic signals. Light is the major cue that entrains the master circadian oscillator located in suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). With aging condition ocular light impairs because of the age-related deficiencies in the eye as a result the clock becomes less sensitive to light.

LnTeO (Ln = La, Gd, and Eu) "Anti-Glass" Phase-Assisted Lanthanum-Tellurite Transparent Glass-Ceramics: Eu Emission and Local Site Symmetry Analysis.

The presence of lanthanide-tellurite "anti-glass" nanocrystalline phases not only affects the transparency in glass-ceramics (GCs) but also influences the emission of a dopant ion. Therefore, a methodical understanding of the crystal growth mechanism and local site symmetry of doped luminescent ions when embedded into the precipitated "anti-glass" phase is crucial, which unfolds the practical applications of GCs. Here, we examined the LnTeO "anti-glass" nanocrystalline phase growth mechanism and local site symmetry of Eu ions in transparent GCs produced from 80TeO-10TiO-(5 - )LaO-5GdO-EuO glasses, where = 0, 1, 2.

A Novel Detection Refinement Technique for Accurate Identification of Burrows in Underwater Imagery.

With the evolution of the convolutional neural network (CNN), object detection in the underwater environment has gained a lot of attention. However, due to the complex nature of the underwater environment, generic CNN-based object detectors still face challenges in underwater object detection. These challenges include image blurring, texture distortion, color shift, and scale variation, which result in low precision and recall rates.

Founder transformants of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) obtained through the introduction of DS-Red, Rec, Rep and CRISPR/Cas9 expressing constructs for developing base lines of recombinase mediated gene stacking.

Cotton being the major fiber crop across the world is exposed to numerous biotic and abiotic stresses. Genetic transformation of cotton is vital to meet the world's food, feed and fiber demands. Genetic manipulation by randomly transferring the genes emanate variable gene expression.

Using Multiplexed CRISPR/Cas9 for Suppression of Cotton Leaf Curl Virus.

In recent decades, Pakistan has suffered a decline in cotton production due to several factors, including insect pests, cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD), and multiple abiotic stresses. CLCuD is a highly damaging plant disease that seriously limits cotton production in Pakistan. Recently, genome editing through CRISPR/Cas9 has revolutionized plant biology, especially to develop immunity in plants against viral diseases.

An Outlook on Global Regulatory Landscape for Genome-Edited Crops.

The revolutionary technology of CRISPR/Cas systems and their extraordinary potential to address fundamental questions in every field of biological sciences has led to their developers being awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In agriculture, CRISPR/Cas systems have accelerated the development of new crop varieties with improved traits-without the need for transgenes. However, the future of this technology depends on a clear and truly global regulatory framework being developed for these crops.

Exosome/Liposome-like Nanoparticles: New Carriers for CRISPR Genome Editing in Plants.

Rapid developments in the field of plant genome editing using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) systems necessitate more detailed consideration of the delivery of the CRISPR system into plants. Successful and safe editing of plant genomes is partly based on efficient delivery of the CRISPR system. Along with the use of plasmids and viral vectors as cargo material for genome editing, non-viral vectors have also been considered for delivery purposes.

Engineering broad-spectrum resistance to cotton leaf curl disease by CRISPR-Cas9 based multiplex editing in plants.

Advances in genome editing technologies have tremendous potential to address the limitations of classical resistance breeding. CRISPR-Cas9 based gene editing has been applied successfully in plants to tolerate virus infections. In this study, we successfully tested CRISPR-Cas9 system to counteract cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) caused by whitefly transmitted cotton leaf curl viruses (CLCuVs).

A manipulative interplay between positive and negative regulators of phytohormones: A way forward for improving drought tolerance in plants.

Among different abiotic stresses, drought stress is the leading cause of impaired plant growth and low productivity worldwide. It is therefore essential to understand the process of drought tolerance in plants and thus to enhance drought resistance. Accumulating evidence indicates that phytohormones are essential signaling molecules that regulate diverse processes of plant growth and development under drought stress.

Development of DNA barcodes for selected species by using and DNA markers.

species are very important tree species in tropical and subtropical countries of the World for their economic and medicinal benefits. Precise identification of is very important to distinguish the invasive species from rare species however, it is difficult to differentiate species based on morphological charcters. In addition, precise identification is also important for wood charcterization in the forest industry as these species are declining due to illegal logging and deforestation.

Controlling Geminiviruses before Transmission: Prospects.

Whitefly ()-transmitted Geminiviruses cause serious diseases of crop plants in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Plants, animals, and their microbial symbionts have evolved complex ways to interact with each other that impact their life cycles. Blocking virus transmission by altering the biology of vector species, such as the whitefly, can be a potential approach to manage these devastating diseases.

Induction of Combination Therapy for the Management of Hepatitis C: An Observational Study.

Background and objective Hepatitis C infection is prevalent in Pakistan. The purpose of this study was to observe the therapeutic effects of conventional interferon in combination with ribavirin among treatment-naive hepatitis C patients. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study of hepatitis C combination therapy was conducted at our institute after approval.