Neo Planta, February 2019 (2)

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F E B R U A R Y

Microorganisms for you

Ecosystemand Pathways in Ecosystem Medicinal Plants of the Month

Research Methodology— Ethnobotanical Studies

Facts: Inventions and Discoveries in Plant Science

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Aspergillus acidus This fungus is employed in the fermentation of tea.

Aspergillus awamori It is a root knot nematode trapping fungus noted in the rhizosphere soil of tomato plant. The conical heads are white to black brown and loosely globose. Conidiospores arise from the foot cell of basal mycelium and are straight, hyaline to pale brown., not constricted below the vesicles. The vesicles are hemispherical to elongate. The conidia are globose to subglobose, rough, grey brown and are arranged in the form of parallel chains. It is used as a biocontrol agent against Meloidogyne. It is used in the manufacturing of Awamori and it can produce citric acid. It has the ability to convert starch to sugar.

Aspergillus japonicus

MICRO ORGANISMS FOR YOU

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The colonies are wrinkled, conical heads radiate, brown in colour, mycelium white, reverse uncoloured; stipes hyaline to pale brown, smooth; vesicles subglobose to globose. Aspergilla uniseriate, phialides covering half to the entire surface of the vesicle conidia are spherical, subspherical or ellipsoidal, spinose, echinulate. The preferred temperature for growth is between 25 and 30ยบC and the optimum pH required is 6.6. It produces extracellular enzyme tannase. The enzyme is produced constitutively on simple and complex sugar substrates but actively is doubled in the presence of tannic acid as sole carbon source. EasH from this fungus is a recently discovered enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the natural product cycloclavine.

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Aspergillus clavatus It has been isolated from soil and animal manure. John Baptiste Henri Jseph Desmazeires, a French mycologist first described this fungus scientifically in 1834. It undergoes rapid growth resulting in the formation of a velvety and fairly dense felt that is observed to be bluish grey green in colour. When young, the emerging conidial heads are large and clavate. The conidia bearing conidiophores are generally coarse, smooth walled, uncoloured, hyaline and can grow very long. The vesicles are elongated club shaped, clavate and bear phialides over their entire surface contributing to the densely packed structure. The sterigmata are usually found to be uniseriate, numerous and crowded. The conidia are elliptical, smooth and possess thick wall. The preferred temperature for growth is 24ยบ-26ยบC. The favourable carbon sources are dextrin, starch, glycogen and especially fructose. Lipid synthesis occur to certain extent whereas degradation of cellulose and usnic acid are complete. It produces riboflavin, ribonuclease,acid phosphodiesterase and acid phosphatase in liquid culture. It has the ability to oxidize tryptamine to IAA. It can absorb and collect hydrocarbon from fossil fuel, incorporate metaphosphate and synthesize ethylene, clavatol and kojic acid. It is also responsible for the production of mycotoxins patulin and sterigmatocystin. It has extremely high capacity for alcohol fermentation. It has been garnered from soil under burnt steppe vegetation, desert soils, the rhizosphere of banana, groundnuts and wheat. Its presence is also detected in the ripe compost of municipal waste. Nitrogen and NPK fertilizers play a significant role in the stimulation process. It commonly occurs in the decomposing material. Their ability to resist strongly alkaline condition allows them to act as decomposition catalysts in situations where other fungi usually donot function. The production of an antibiotic compound clavatin was first noted by Weisner in 1942. Later the antibiotic was renamed as Clavacin. It is also referred to as patulin. Clavacin was noted to be valuable in the treatment of common cold, applies a fungistatic or fungicidal effect on certain dermatophytes. It also produces cytochalasin E, cytochalasin K, Tryptoquivaine, Nortryptoquivalone, Nortryptoquivaline, Deoxytryptoquivaline, Deoxynortryptoquivaline, tryptoquivaline and tryptoquivaline N.

Aspergillus sojae It is a fungus having conidia with echinulate surface. It is used to make the fermentation of soy sauce, miso, mirin and other lacto fermented condiments like tsukemono. Soysauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with A.sojae along with water and salt. The proteases secreted by A.sojae play an important role in producing the distinctive taste of soysauce by hydrolyzing soybean proteins.

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PISUM SATIVUM L. Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Peas– edible and used in cuisine of various countries.

Phytochemicals reported from the plant: High in fibre, protein, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, iron, zinc, lutein.

Karl Ereky coined the term Medicinal

Facts

plants of the Month

Biotechnology in 1917.

Antony Van Leeuwenhoek designed microscope.

Schele and J. Priestley (1772– 1774) confirmed the identity of oxygen gas in air.

Charles B. Astier gave the concept that air is the carrier of all kinds of germs.

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PSOPHOCARPUS TETRAGONOLOBUS (L.)D.C. Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Pods– eaten unripe as a crunchy vegetable or cooked. Root tubers are eaten raw or cooked. Tubers are high in protein and nutrient contents. Flowers and leaves also have high protein content.

Phytochemicals reported from the plant: Protein, fat, minerals, vitamins, essential amino acids.

Facts

Louis Pasteur in 1857 reported lactic acid fermentation from sugar.

Pasteur proposed that high percentage of microbial population is killed by heating the juice at 62.8ºC. The process is called pasteurization.

Robert Koch in 1881 gave a method for establishing relationship of a pathogen with the disease and is called Koch’s postulates or pathogenicity test using which he proved anthrax disease is caused by Bacillus anthracis.

Edward Buchner in 1897 demonstrated enzymatically mediated fermentation reactions.

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PTEROCARPUS INDICUS Willd Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: A red gum like resin from the bark is used for tumors and to fight cancers, especially of the moth. Leaves used to treat boils, prickly heat and ulcers. In Caroline islands, finely powdered leaves are applied to the ruptured vagina. Plant used as a remedy for bladder ailments, headache, stones and flower is used as a honey source. Leaf infusion is used as shampoo. Leaves are good for waxing and polishing brass and copper. It is used as a source of kino or resin.

Phytochemicals reported from the plant: Resin

Facts

Baltimore successfully transferred human grwth hormone gene into rabbit in 1976.

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SESBANIA CANNABINA(Retz.)Poir Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Antibiotic, anthelmintic, anti tumors and contraceptive properties.

Facts In 1993, first genetically engineered tomatoes of Flavr Savr were sold in market.

In 1996, the first clone lamb ‘Dolly’ was born by the efforts of scientists of Scotland.

In the first decade of 20th century a Russian Scientist, N.I. Vavilov was the first to realize the need of conservation of plant genetic resources. Later in 1920 he established the first genetic resource centre (GRC) of the world at Leningard.

Mathew, Meselson and Frank W. Stahlin in 1958 experimentally proved that DNA replicates by semiconservative mechanism.

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Ecosystem and

Pathways in Ecosystem An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjugation with non living components of the environment. Thus ecosystem is a system of biotic and abiotic components. These biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem are linked by various nutrient cycles and energy flows.

A British Ecologist Arthur Tansley used the term “Ecosystem� for the first time in 1935. He used the concept to denote the importance of transfer of materials between organisms and their environment.

Ecosystems are controlled by internal and external factors. External factors (state factors) like temperature, climate control the overall structure of an ecosystem but are not influenced by the ecosystem. Whereas the internal factors (resources) not only control the ecosystem but are also controlled by them.

Thus ecosystem is the complex of living organisms, their physical environment and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space.

All the ecosystems are contained within the ecosphere which includes the entire physical Earth (Geosphere) and all the living components (Biosphere).

The fundamental source of energy in all the ecosystems is the radiant energy from Sun. the energy is utilized by autotrophic organisms (plants) in photosynthesis and convert light energy into chemical energy (carbon dioxide to carbohydrates in plant cells). The autotrophs use this as energy to produce more complex compounds like proteins, lipids, starches. These autotrophs are generally termed as producers in the ecosystem.

Organic matter from autotrophs reach heterotrophs either directly or indirectly through food chain (producers to consumers to decomposers). The movement of organic matter and energy

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from producer level through various consumer level makes up a food chain. In reality many food chains of the ecosystem overlap and interconnect to form the food web.

The decomposers are mostly microorganisms which convert the complex dead remains into simple organic matter. As energy moves from one trophic level (producer) to another (consumer) a part of it is lost at each trophic level. For example, only 10% of the energy incorporated in the grass enters the goat and the remaining is left undigested or lost as heat. The flow of energy through the ecosystem drives the movement of nutrients within the ecosystem. Nutrients are chemical elements and compounds needed for the functioning and growth of the living world.

Nutrients are cycled through the ecosystem between the biotic and abiotic components through cycles called biogeochemical cycles. These cycles include water cycle, carbon cycle, oxygen cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, sulfur cycle and calcium cycle.

The orderly replacement of one ecosystem by another is called ecosystem development or ecological succession. Succession occurs in two phases. The early or growth phase is characterized by ecosystems that have few species and short food chains. These ecosystems are relatively unstable but highly productive. The mature or later phase, comprise of a more complex, diversified and more stable ecosystem. The final or climax ecosystem is characterized by a great diversity of species, complex food webs and high stability.

Physico chemical and Biological factors in the environment: An environment factor, ecological factor or ecofactor is any biotic or abiotic factor .

The abiotic factors include all the physical and chemical factors of the environment.

These include temperature, pH, water, sunlight, soil, redox potential, gases, nutrients and chemicals. The biotic factors include the living organisms in the environment– producers, consumers and decomposers.

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Facts 

Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod in 1961 at Pasteur Institute, Paris put forward a hypothesis to explain the induction and repression of enzyme synthesis. They were awarded Nobwl Prize in medicine for this discovery in 1965 (Lac Operon concept).

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In 1955, Michelson chemically synthesized a dinucleotide in laboratory.

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In 1970, Har Govind Khorana and K.L. Agarwal for the first time chemically synthesized gene coding for tyrosine t RNA of yeast.

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Khorana in 1979 made the phosphodiester approach for synthesizing the oligo nucleotides of the biologically active tRNA.

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Edge et al., in 1981 incorporated the artificially synthesized gene into plasmid through biotechnological technique.

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King in 1980 has described that a good suspension consists of a high proportion of single cells than small cluster of cells.

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Facts 

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Karas and Hillen Kamp in 1988 developed Matrix

assisted layer desorption (MALDI).

In late 1980’s J.B. Fenn developed Electrospray Ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry and was awarded Nobel prize in 2002 in



chemistry.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed by Kary Mullis at cetus corporation in Emery Ville, California in 1985. He was awarded Nobel prize for chemistry in 1993.

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Williams et al., in 1990 found that two genetically distinct individuals differ as they show different polymorphism in pattern of amplified bonds.

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DNA amplification fingerprinting (DAF) was described by cactano Annoles and Gresrhoff in 1994.

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Molecular basis of restriction modification system was elucidated first by Werner Arber in 1965.

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Kornberg in 1974 identified that the enzyme DNA polymerase catalyzes the exonucleolytic degradation of DNA.

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Cohen et al., in 1973, for the first time reported cloning DNA by using plasmid as vector.

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

Facts 

In 1979, Mandell and Higa originally developed

the procedure of transformation.

In 1975, Grustein and Hogners developed the colony

hybridization technique. 

Benton and Davis in 1977 devised the plaque lifting method for screening of bacteriophages from plague forming units.

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Broome and Gilbert in 1978 purified immunoglobulin G (Ig G) and bound it to an agar plate so that the antigens released through insitu lysis of bacterial colonies can bound to the fixed antibody.

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Southern blotting technique was developed by E.M. Southern in 1975.

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Alwin et al in 1979 devised northern blotting.

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Towbin et al in 1979 developed western blotting technique to find out the newly encoded protein by a transformed cell.

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Feinberg (1983) and Vogelstein (1984) developed Random primed radiolabelling of probes.

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Upshall et al in 1984 have constructed a plasmid PM 159 for the secretion of human tissue plasminogen activator by Aspergillus nidulans.

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Ethnobotanical Study Methodology Ethnobotany is the study that explains the interaction between plants and humans. It mainly focus on the utility of medicinally important plants by the tribal people and documenting

their

knowledge

for

future

use

and

conservation purpose. These tribal people pass their medicinal

knowledge

orally

and practically

through

generations but do not make a note on it.

The documentation of this traditional knowledge is important because it is slowly vanishing because of extinction

of

plant

species

and

disappearance

of

traditional culture.

Research

The lack of knowledge on medicinal uses of plants and

methodology

human induced environmental changes are the major cause for the extinction of plants from the earth.

The children of the traditional communities are now drawn into the main stream society because of which a lack in the passing of traditional knowledge through generations occurs. Hence the documentation of this tribal or ethnobotanical knowledge makes it available to future generations as well as mainstream society.

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Thus documentation creates new knowledge or study. Ethnobotany (word derived from ethno– study of culture and botany– study of plants) is the scientific study of the relationship between people and plants. The scientist who is specialized in the field of ethnobotany is called ethnobotanist.

The main application of ethnobotany is to tract knowledge on medicinal plants from communities and develop new commercial products based on their prescription.

The following are the importance of Ethnobotany, 

Conserving plant species and other forms of biological diversity.

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Botanical inventories and assessments of the conservation status of species.

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Sustainability in the supply of resources from wild plants.

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Enhanced food security, nutrition and healthcare.

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Preservation and recovery of local botanical knowledge.

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Identification and development of new economic plants.

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Contribution to new drug development.

According to the convention on biological diversity (CBD), “traditional knowledge refers to the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities around the world. Such knowledge is linked to a specific place, culture or society. It is dynamic in nature. It contracts with modern or western scientific knowledge.”

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“Before giving up an effort just analyze how close you are to the result”

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Facts



Kohler and Milstein along with Neils Jerne were

awarded Nobel Prize for the production of monoclonal antibodies in 1984. 

Little in 1981, gave a detailed account of DNA analysis of structural genes.

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In 1993, Dr. A.Handyside successfully produced a genetically engineered female baby, whose parents transmitted the genetic disease (Cystic Fibrosis) in earlier four babies, who died later on.

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In 1995, at the Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), Prabhu and his co workers demonstrated the reporter mediated targeting and expression of growth hormone gene in rat liver by using a regulatable promoter.

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In 1996, Rangarajan et al demonstrated a newer approach to deliver DNA to hepatocytes by perfusion of liver with DNA lipofection complex.

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In 1984, Alec Jeffreys developed DNA fingerprinting.

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In 1920, H. Winkler coined the term genome to describe the complete set of chromosomal and extra chromosomal genes of an organism or virus.

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

Facts 

Alexis Carrel (1912) used tissue and embryo

extract as culture media.

In 1907, Ross Harrison made the first attempt to

culture animal cells and cultivated embryonic nerve cells of frog by using hanging drop method. 

In 1966, Alec Issac infected the cultured cells with virus and collected filtrate from the infected cells.

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During 1960s, Beatrice Mintz demonstrated the experiment of producing Quadriparental hybrids.

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The first mammalian clone, Dolly was developed in 1995 by Ian Wilmut et al at Scotland.

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Morgan in 1901 coined the term ‘Totipotency’ to denote the capacity of the cell to develop into an organism by regeneration.

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Henri Louis Duchamel du Monceau in 1956 pioneered the experiments on wound healing in plants through spontaneous callus formation on decorticated region of elm plants.

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Trecul in 1853, observed callus formation in a number of plants.

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Vochting in 1878 suggested the presence of polarity as a key feature that guide the development of plant fragments.

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Darani Vasudevan daraniauthor.ga

Hi readers, I am a Botanist and writer. This magazine is an outcome of the topics that interested me a lot while doing my research works. I chose this magazine as a platform for sharing many interesting facts related to plant Science and microorganisms.