Romij Uddin

Influence of Light on the Free Amino Acid Content and γ-Aminobutyric Acid Synthesis in Brassica juncea Seedlings

Glutamate decarboxylase (GAD; EC 4.1.1.15) is an important enzyme in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) biosynthesis. Here we report the influence of light on amino acid accumulation and investigate the molecular mechanism by which light influences GABA biosynthesis at the seedling stage of two mustard (Brassica juncea) cultivars (green-leaf and purple-leaf). Gene expression profiles of four GAD-encoding genes (GAD1, GAD2, GAD4a, and GAD4b) and their impact on GABA biosynthesis were analyzed. Light exerted an obvious influence on amino acid accumulation in mustard seedlings. GAD gene expression was also significantly regulated by light/dark or dark treatment, which differentially regulated GABA biosynthesis in B. juncea seedlings. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed that the seeds of purple cultivars contain a higher amount of free amino acids and GABA than do the seeds of green cultivars. After seed germination, however, the accumulation of free amino acids peaked in dark-treated seedlings on day 9 in both cultivars, whereas GABA synthesis peaked at 9 days under light conditions. This study may provide a foundation for understanding the effect of light on amino acids, particularly GABA biosynthesis in Brassica plants.

Effects of Auxins on Sorgoleone Accumulation and Genes for Sorgoleone Biosynthesis in Sorghum Roots

Sorgoleone is a major component of the hydrophobic root exudate of Sorghum bicolor and is of particular interest to plant chemical ecology as well as agriculture. Sorgoleone was evaluated in this study to observe the expression levels of genes involved in its biosynthesis in response to auxins. Sorgoleone content varied widely according to the duration of application and the concentrations of the auxins. When the application time was increased, the sorgoleone content increased accordingly for all concentrations of IBA (1, 3, and 5 mg/L) and at 1 mg/L for both IAA and NAA. In this study, five different sorgoleone biosynthetic genes were observed, namely DES2, DES3, ARS1, ARS2, and OMT3, which are upregulated in response to IAA, IBA, and NAA. Transcript accumulation was apparent for all genes, but particularly for DES2, which increased up to 475-fold and 180-fold following 72 h exposure to NAA and IBA, respectively, compared to no treatment.

Rooting behavior of rice cultivars under different planting methods

An experiment was carried out at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh in Old Brahmaputra Alluvial Flood Plain (AEZ-9) during December 2005 to May 2006 to examine the root growth of different rice cultivars under various establishment methods. This experiment comprised two sets of treatment (i) three methods of planting viz., dry direct seeding, wet direct seeding and transplanting, and (ii) six rice cultivars, two inbreds viz., BRRI Dhan 28 and BRRI Dhan 29, two hybrids, viz., Aalok 6201 and Sonarbangla 1 and two local improved cultivar viz., Habigonj IV and Habigonj VIII. Cultivars had more remarkable effect on different root parameters i.e. number of roots, root length, root length density, root biomass, root weight ratio and root shoot ratio of hybrid, inbred and local improved rice cultivars than method of planting. BRRI Dhan 28 performed the best for most of the parameters. At harvest, BRRI Dhan 29 showed the best rooting behavior among the cultivars. For both stages hybrid rice cultivars showed intermediate and local improved cultivars performed lower in rooting behavior. Direct seeding method performed better than transplanting method for most of the root parameters but wet direct seeding and dry direct seeding methods were identical. Interaction effect between method of planting and cultivar in most of the root parameters were insignificant. But, BRRI Dhan 28 and BRRI Dhan 29 under wet direct seeding method and Sonarbanngla 1 under transplanting method showed the best rooting performance among the other combinations.

An efficient protocol for shoot organogenesis and plant regeneration of Polygonum multiflorum

Lactobacillus species are a predominant member of vaginal microflora and play a crucial role in prevention of a number of urogenital diseases. To increase antimicrobial potential of vaginal lactobacilli, Colicin E2 possessing specific activity against uropathogenic Escherichia (E.) coli was over-expressed in vaginal probiotic lactobacillus(L.) acidophilus. Recombinant L. acidophilus expressing Colicin E2 showed much higher inhibitory activity against uropathogenic E. coli than wild type in vitro. Efficacy of probiotic L. acidophilus expressing colicin E2 protein required for further in vivo evaluation. The present study in consistent with similar studies demonstrated that the production of colicin by vaginal probiotics may increase the preventive effects of lactobacilli against urinary tract infections.

Herbicidal Activities and Crop Injury of Hairy Vetch Residues

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth inhibition of weeds and selectivity of crop species by hairy vetch residues. The growth of all the weed species was suppressed greater than 90% at the ratio 60:40 of hairy vetch residues and no weeds were emerged at 90:10 mixture in the greenhouse. It was noticed that broadleaf weed species were more suppressed compared to grass weed species. Growth of weeds was significantly reduced and the inhibition percent was increased with increasing application depths of hairy vetch mixture both in vinylhouse and in field conditions. Among the different application depths of hairy vetch mixture, 0.75 cm depth of application tended to inhibit more, but statistically no significant difference was observed between 0.5 cm and 0.75 cm application depth. The growth of weed species such as Galium spurium, Chenopodium album, Plantago asiatica, and Rumex japonicus was greatly suppressed in the vinylhouse and the growth of G. spurium, R. japonicus and Amaranthus retroflexus was suppressed significantly in the field condition. The growth inhibition of all the above mentioned sensitive weed species was approximately 80% at the application depth of 0.5 cm. Crop growth was not hampered by using the residues of hairy vetch. This study demonstrated that rotation crop residues of hairy vetch contained high allelopathic potential to different weed species without hampering the growth of crop species.

Seed Germination and Seedling Emergence of Indian jointvetch (Aeschynomene indica L.) in Different Conditions

Several experiments were conducted in growth chambers and a greenhouse to determine the influence of various environmental factors on seed germination and seedling emergence of Indian jointvetch. Fully matured seeds of Indian jointvetch germinated only 42%. The germination percent increased as the storage temperature increased with time. More than 90% seeds germinated when the seeds were kept at 40℃ for seven months, but germination was 58.9 and 55.1% when kept at 25 and 4℃, respectively. Non-dormant seeds of Indian jointvetch germinated 91.1 and 92.4% at 30 and 30/25℃, respectively. Germination percent increased with increasing both prethermal temperature and time. The prethermal temperature of 90℃ for 40 minutes was the best for maximum germination (94.5%). Germination and growth of Indian jointvetch tended to decrease slightly until -0.3 MPa osmotic potential (water stress induction) and then declined drastically and the seeds did not germinate at below -0.5 MPa osmotic potential. Indian jointvetch seems to grow well in moist and flooding conditions since emergence and growth of seedling increased with increasing soil moisture content and the water level.