nan Kamaluddin

Isolation, characterization and structural studies of amorpha - 4, 11-diene synthase (ADS(3963)) from Artemisia annua L.

: With the escalating prevalence of malaria in recent years, artemisinin demand has placed considerable stress on its production worldwide. At present, the relative low-yield of artemisinin (0.01-1.1 %) in the source plant (Artemisia annua L. plant) has imposed a serious limitation in commercializing the drug. Amorpha-4, 11-diene synthase (ADS) has been reported a key enzyme in enhancing the artemisinin level in Artemisia annua L. An understanding of the structural and functional correlations of Amorpha-4, 11-diene synthase (ADS) may therefore, help in the molecular up-regulation of the enzyme. In this context, an in silico approach was used to study the ADS₃₉₆₃ (3963 bp) gene cloned by us, from high artemisinin (0.7-0.9% dry wt basis) yielding strain of A. annua L. The full-length putative gene of ADS₃₉₆₃ was found to encode a protein consisting of 533 amino acid residues with conserved aspartate rich domain. The isoelectric point (pI) and molecular weight of the protein were 5.25 and 62.2 kDa, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis of ADS genes from various species revealed evolutionary conservation. Homology modeling method was used for prediction of the 3D structure of ADS₃₉₆₃ protein and Autodock 4.0 version was used to study the ligand binding. The predicted 3D model and docking studies may further be used in characterizing the protein in wet laboratory.

Inheritance of grain filling duration in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em thell)

To understand the genetic control of grain filling duration (GFD), i.e., the number of days from anthesis to physiological maturity, we studied the F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 generations of six spring wheat crosses from nine varieties/genotypes. Generation mean analysis for gene effects indicated that one or more types of epistasis were significant in all crosses. In each pairing, the F1 and F2 means were either intermediate or closer to the mean of the parent having the longer GFD. Our narrow-sense heritability estimate was reasonably high, at 47.67 (based on diallel analysis). This demonstrated that progress could be made from the selection in these crosses for either long or short GFD. The two early varieties that had identical maturity durations differed in their GFD values, indicating that maturity dates are not good criteria when choosing parents for modifying GFD. To utilize favorable additive × additive effects during this selection, we suggest that a single seed descent (SSD) or bulk popula-tion approach be adopted. In comparison, dominance effects would prove quite useful in hybrid wheat breeding programs.

Methods in Transgenic Technology

Genetic engineering had turned into a basic instrument reproducing of yields. In the course of the most recent decade, a significant advancement has been made in new and efficient transformation strategies in plants. In spite of an assortment of accessible DNA delivery techniques, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation remains a prevalently utilized methodology. Specifically, advance in Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of grains and other recalcitrant dicot species has been very noteworthy. Meanwhile, other transgenic-empowering advancements have developed, including gateway-based method, generation of marker-free transgenics, gene targeting, and chromosomal engineering. Despite the fact that alteration of some plant species or elite germplasm remains a challenge, further headway in transformation innovation is expected on the grounds that the components of overseeing the recovery and transformation procedures are currently better comprehended and are as a rule innovatively connected to outlining enhanced transformation techniques or to growing new empowering advancements.

Morphological Diversity and Yellow Rust Resistance in Bread Wheat Germplasm Lines

© Society for Advancement of Wheat and Barley Research Abstract Genetic divesity was studied for ten quantitative traits using D2 statistics in a set of twenty-six wheat germplasm lines studied. The study grouped the genotypes into three clusters. Cluster I comprised of maximum genotypes (16) followed by clustered II (9) and cluster III (1). The mean intra and inter cluster distance (√D2) values revealed that cluster I has the high intra cluster distance value of 16.22 followed by cluster II (16.21). The inter cluster distance D2 value was highest between cluster II and III (41.20) followed by cluster I and cluster II (30.00). This indicates that the genotypes included in cluster II and III have wide genetic diversity and could be used in hybridization programme aimed at direct selection for the traits or improvement of genotypes through exploitation of heterosis. Traits like 1000 grain weight, Plant height and grain yield had more contribution towards genetic divergence, hence these traits are major determinants of genetic diversity in the present set of genotypes. The fourteen germplasm lines have shown higher levels of resistance to prevalent races of yellow rust at adult plant stage during disease screening experiments seperately conducted in two growing seasons of years 2015 and 2016. The yellow rust resistant genotypes identified in the study could further be tested for their effectiveness over space and time..

Molecular Markers and Marker-Assisted Selection in Crop Plants

Molecular markers have revolutionized the plant biotechnology and genetic studies because of their versatility. These markers include biochemical constituents like secondary metabolites and macromolecules, viz., proteins and deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA). The secondary metabolites are specific to particular plants species that produce them; therefore, the technique has a restricted application. Also, these are influenced by the environmental factors and/or management practices. The molecular markers based on the DNA polymorphism, however, are more suitable and ubiquitous to most of the plant species. These are stable and could not be influenced by environmental factors and/or management practices. Among the other applications of DNA markers, the most promising for plant breeding is marker-assisted selection (MAS). The application requires the markers to be linked with genes of economic significance, cost-effective, and applicable to large number of samples as well as a wide range of crosses in a breeding program. In this chapter, we review the literature about molecular markers, their advantages, disadvantages, and the applications of these markers in marker-assisted selection (MAS) in crop plants.

Metabolic Engineering of Secondary Plant Metabolism

Metabolic engineering is a modulation of metabolic pathway(s) of the host either to increase the concentration of existing compounds or to produce a novel compound. It began with the engineering of microorganisms, and the concept has been extrapolated to plants opening newer promising perspectives. The high-value secondary metabolites such as drugs (e.g. paclitaxel, artemisinin and vincristine), dye and pigments, flavour and fragrances and food additives are the main target. Cloning and expression of gene(s) in host plant allow partial/complete reconstitution of biosynthetic pathways.

Plant Biotechnology: Principles and Applications

Chapter 1. Historical Perspective and Basics Principles of Plant Tissue Culture (Anwar Shahzad) -- Chapter 2. Plant Tissue Culture: Applications in Plant Improvement and Conservation (Anwar Shahzad) -- Chapter 3. Plant Genetic Resources: Their Conservation and Utility for Plant Improvement (Tapan Kumar Mondal) -- Chapter 4. Methods in Transgenic Technology (Malik Z. Abdin) -- Chapter 5. Plant Promoters - Characterization and Applications in Transgenic Technology (R Srinivasan) -- Chapter 6. Metabolic Engineering of Secondary Plant Metabolism (Malik Z. Abdin) -- Chapter 7. Plastome Engineering: Basics Principles and Applications (Shashi Kumar) -- Chapter 8. Genetic Engineering to improve biotic stress tolerance in plants (Praveen Kumar Verma) -- Chapter 9. Developing stress tolerant plants by manipulating components involved in oxidative stress (Shweta Sharma) -- Chapter 10. Plant Adaptation in Mountain Ecosystem (Sanjay Kumar) -- Chapter 11. Drought-associated micro RNAs in Plants: Characterization and Functions (Z. Abdin) -- Chapter 12. Molecular Markers and Marker Assisted Selection in Crop Plants (M.A. Kamaluddin) -- Chapter 13. Plant-Based Edible Vaccines: Issues and Advantages (M.Z. Abdin) -- Chapter 14. Biosafety, Bioethics and IPR issues in Plant Biotechnology (Usha kiran).