Rishi Pal Mandhan

Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 December 2009-31 January 2010

This article documents the addition of 220 microsatellite marker loci to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Allanblackia floribunda, Amblyraja radiata, Bactrocera cucurbitae, Brachycaudus helichrysi, Calopogonium mucunoides, Dissodactylus primitivus, Elodea canadensis, Ephydatia fluviatilis, Galapaganus howdenae howdenae, Hoplostethus atlanticus, Ischnura elegans, Larimichthys polyactis, Opheodrys vernalis, Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, Phragmidium violaceum, Pistacia vera, and Thunnus thynnus. These loci were cross‐tested on the following species: Allanblackia gabonensis, Allanblackia stanerana, Neoceratitis cyanescens, Dacus ciliatus, Dacus demmerezi, Bactrocera zonata, Ceratitis capitata, Ceratitis rosa, Ceratits catoirii, Dacus punctatifrons, Ephydatia mülleri, Spongilla lacustris, Geodia cydonium, Axinella sp., Ischnura graellsii, Ischnura ramburii, Ischnura pumilio, Pistacia integerrima and Pistacia terebinthus.

A panel of polymorphic microsatellite markers in Himalayan monal Lophophorus impejanus developed by cross-species amplification and their applicability in other Galliformes

Isolation and development of new microsatellite markers for any species is still labour-intensive and requires substantial inputs of time, money and expertise. Therefore, cross-species microsatellite amplification can be an effective way in obtaining microsatellite loci for closely related taxa in bird species. We have reported microsatellite loci for Himalayan monal for the first time. Fifteen microsatellite markers developed for chicken were cross-amplified in Himalayan monal. All the tested 15 microsatellite markers were polymorphic, with mean (± s.e.) allelic number of 4 ± 1.51, ranging 2–7 per locus. The observed heterozygosity in the population ranged between 0.285 and 0.714, with mean (± s.e.) of 0.499 ± 0.125, indicating considerable genetic variation in this population. While 12 loci conformed to Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05), 3 loci, i.e. MCW0295, MCW0081, MCW0330 deviated from it (P < 0.05). No evidence for linkage disequilibrium was observed among pair of loci. Our study show that these 15 microsatellites loci could be employed in population genetic studies for Himalayan monal and their applicability in Jungle Bush Quail, Grey francolin and Kalij pheasant.

Lucrative pectinase production by novel strain Pseudozyma sp. SPJ with statistical optimization techniques using agro-industrial residues

Production of high titers of an alkaline, extracellular and thermo-tolerant pectinase by a newly isolated yeast Pseudozyma sp. SPJ was carried out under solid state fermentation. Citrus peel, the inexpensive agro-industrial residue used as substrate, was experienced to be unsurpassed. Response surface methodology was conducted to optimize the culture conditions for Pseudozyma sp. SPJ for hyper production of pectinase. Plackett Burman design was applied to identify the most effective culture variables. Out of nine variables studied, incubation time, moisture content and ammonium sulfate were detected as most important. A full factorial Central Composite Design was used to optimize the levels of these variables, which resulted in 17-fold increase (71.19 IU/g to 1215.66 IU/g dry substrate) in the enzyme yield. The results of analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis implies that the effect of incubation time (p < 0.000) and moisture content (p < 0.018) is more than ammonium sulfate. And also the interaction of moisture content with ammonium sulfate (p < 0.002) is more significant.

Bioprocessing of Crop Residues using Fibrolytic Enzymes and Flavobacterium bolustinum for Enriching Animal Feed

Flavobacterium bolustinum and its extracellular cellulase were tested for animal feed pretreatment. The fibrolytic enzymes, cellulase and pectinase were applied to various crop residues such as wheat straw, rice straw, corn seeds and sorghum for enriching animal feed. Different parameters like temperature, incubation time and enzyme dose had been optimized for maximum reducing sugar and protein release. The highest amount of reducing sugar obtained was 29.83 mg g -1 dry substrate and soluble protein was 27.34 mg g -1 dry substrate on single cellulase enzyme treatment at 50°C for 6 h. An increase in amount of released reducing sugar (39.5 mg g -1 dry substrate) and protein (33.88 mg g -1 dry substrate) was observed when enzyme cocktail (cellulose and pectinase) was used. Solid state fermentation using F. bolustinum had also been performed for all crop residues. It released higher amount of reducing sugar (41.36 mg g -1 ) and protein (47.21 mg g -1 ) as compared to enzymatic treatment. Different substrates resulted in appreciable weight loss by enzymatic treatment (15-35%) as well as fermentation using F. bolustinum (40%). Liquefaction of lignocellulosic rich crop residues, for better utilization of feed has never been reported earlier.