Investigating In Vitro and In Vivo Anti-Tumor Activity of Curvularia-Based Platinum Nanoparticles.

The use of platinum (Pt)-based anticancer drugs, although widespread in clinical practice, is severely limited due to toxic side-effects. One of the strategies for making Pt-based chemotherapy more effective is the synthesis and use of Pt nanoparticles (PtNPs). However, increasing evidence suggestD that nanoplatinum also pose potential risk to human health.

Phytohormone Priming of Tomato Plants Evoke Differential Behavior in During Infection, With Salicylate Priming Imparting Greater Tolerance Than Jasmonate.

In the field of phytohormone defense, the general perception is that salicylate (SA)-mediated defense is induced against biotrophic pathogens while jasmonate (JA)-mediated defense functions against necrotrophic pathogens. Our goals were to observe the behavior of the necrotrophic pathogen in the vicinity, on the surface, and within the host tissue after priming the host with SA or JA, and to see if priming with these phytohormones would affect the host defense differently upon infection. It was observed for the first time, that could not only distinguish between JA versus SA-primed tomato plants from a distance, but surprisingly avoided SA-primed plants more than JA-primed plants.

Scavenging Properties of Plant-Derived Natural Biomolecule Para-Coumaric Acid in the Prevention of Oxidative Stress-Induced Diseases.

Para-coumaric acid (p-CA) is a plant derived secondary metabolite belonging to the phenolic compounds. It is widely distributed in the plant kingdom and found mainly in fruits, vegetables, and cereals. Various in vivo and in vitro studies have revealed its scavenging and antioxidative properties in the reduction of oxidative stress and inflammatory reactions.

Evaluating the antimicrobial, apoptotic, and cancer cell gene delivery properties of protein-capped gold nanoparticles synthesized from the edible mycorrhizal fungus Tricholoma crassum.

Biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles of distinct geometric shapes with highly functional protein coats without additional capping steps is rarely reported. This study describes green synthesis of protein-coated gold nanoparticles for the first time from the edible, mycorrhizal fungus Tricholoma crassum (Berk.) Sacc.

Biotrophy-necrotrophy switch in pathogen evoke differential response in resistant and susceptible sesame involving multiple signaling pathways at different phases.

Infection stages of charcoal rot fungus Macrophomina phaseolina in sesame revealed for the first time a transition from biotrophy via BNS (biotrophy-to-necrotrophy switch) to necrotrophy as confirmed by transcriptional studies. Microscopy using normal and GFP-expressing pathogen showed typical constricted thick intercellular bitrophic hyphae which gave rise to thin intracellular necrotrophic hyphae during BNS and this stage was delayed in a resistant host. Results also show that as the pathogen switched its strategy of infection, the host tailored its defense strategy to meet the changing situation.

Overexpression of a New Osmotin-Like Protein Gene () Confers Tolerance against Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in Sesame.

Osmotin-like proteins (OLPs), of PR-5 family, mediate defense against abiotic, and biotic stresses in plants. Overexpression in sesame of an OLP gene (), enhanced tolerance against drought, salinity, oxidative stress, and the charcoal rot pathogen. SindOLP was expressed in all parts and localized to the cytosol.

Mechanism of regulation of tomato TRN1 gene expression in late infection with tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV).

Tomato leaf curl disease caused by geminiviruses is manifested by curling and puckering of leaves and thickening of veins, resembling developmental defects. This is probably due to the long-term altered regulation of expression of development related gene(s). Our results show that in the infected leaves the transcript level of TORNADO1 (SlTRN1), a gene important for cell expansion and vein formation, increased significantly.

Cloning, characterization, and bacterial over-expression of an osmotin-like protein gene from Solanum nigrum L. with antifungal activity against three necrotrophic fungi.

A new osmotin-like protein gene from Solanum nigrum L. var indica (SindOLP) was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The full-length intron-less gene is 744 bp, encoding a mature protein of 247 amino acids with a molecular mass of 26 kDa.

Green synthesis of protein capped silver nanoparticles from phytopathogenic fungus Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid with antimicrobial properties against multidrug-resistant bacteria.

In recent years, green synthesis of nanoparticles, i.e., synthesizing nanoparticles using biological sources like bacteria, algae, fungus, or plant extracts have attracted much attention due to its environment-friendly and economic aspects.

A new high-frequency Agrobacterium-mediated transformation technique for Sesamum indicum L. using de-embryonated cotyledon as explant.

In spite of the economic importance of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) and the recent availability of its genome sequence, a high-frequency transformation protocol is still not available. The only two existing Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocols that are available have poor transformation efficiencies of less than 2%.