Neo planta, July 2019 (1)

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Microorganisms for you

Materials balance approach

Medicinal Plants of the Month

Research Methodology— Electrochemical Techniques for determining Antioxidant capacity

Facts: Inventions and Discoveries related to plant Science.

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Candida The word candida is derived from the latin word Candidus meaning “glowing white” and is also referred to as smooth and glistering.

Deinococcus radiodurans It is a radiation resistant extremophile bacterium that is genetically engineered for the bioremediation of solvents and heavy metals. An engineered strain of D.radiodurans has been shown to degrade ionic mercury and toluene in radioactive mixed environments.

Candida tropicalis

MICRO ORGANISMS FOR YOU

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C.tropicalis is a species of yeast. The cells are round or oval.

Asexual reproduction takes place by the budding of the tips or walls of hyphae. Sabouraud’s medium containing peptone sugar and corn meal agar is the commonly used medium for the growth of C.tropicalis. The preferable temperature for growth is 25-35º C. The colonies are white and smooth with a fringed border. C. tropicalis is considered as an osmotolerant yeast (osmotolerant species are those that are able to survive in high salt concentration and able to develop fungal persistence in saline environment). This species is found in food such as Sauerkraut, molasses miso and fruit.

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Dechloromonas aromatica It is a rod shaped bacterium which can oxidize aromatics including benzoate, chlorobenzoate and toluene, coupling the reaction with the reduction of oxygen, chlorate or nitrate. It is the only organism capable of oxidizing benzene anaerobically. Due to the high occurrence of benzene contamination, especially in ground and surface water, D.aromatica is especially useful for insitu bioremediation of benzene.

Candida rugosa It is a eukaryotic spherical shaped unicellular microfungi. The colony is white to cream in colour and the cells look spherical but actually wrinkled. The preferable temperature for growth is 20-30º C. Macronutrient sources like carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and high water concentrations are required for its growth. The species is industrially important because it helps prevent the formation of bitter chocolate. The cocoa seeds have high sugar content than the yeasts favour. The yeast ferments the sugars to ethyl alcohol and hydrolyses the pectin that covers the seeds. The final product would be bitter if this process doesn’t take place.

Caudovirales The members of this order of viruses have been shown to effectively control or eliminate Salmonella in waste water. These viruses are bacteriophages that attack Salmonella and destroy colonies of the pathogens.

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BUTEA MONOSPERMA (Lam)Taub Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Bark– astringent, stypic, anthelmintic; flower– astringent, diuretic, emmenagogue; leaves– antibacterial; stem bark– antifungal. The juice or powder of roots, leaves, petioles, flowers, seeds and exudates are used to treat fever, diarrhea, intrinsic hemorrhage, worms, colic, cough, filarial, eye disease and as contraceptive and rejuvenative.

Medicinal plants of the Month

Phytochemicals reported from the plant: Flavonoids, glucosides– butin,butrin, isobutrin, palastrin, coreopsin, monospermoside, sulphurein, chalcone.

Facts

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Nierenberg synthesized mRNA.

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BUTEA FRONDOSA Roxb.Et.Kozn Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Flowers and leaves are diuretic, aphrodisiac, astringent and increases the flow of blood in pelvic region.

Facts 

Jacob and Monod demonstrated gene action through operon hypothesis.

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Rouelle in 1773 discovered urea from urine.

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K.W.Scheele in 1779 prepared glycerol from olive oil.

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Friedrich Wohler in 1828 synthesized urea from ammonium cyanate.

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Dubrunfaut in 1847 found the degradation of starch to maltose by diastase.

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Friedrich Miescher in 1869 discovered nucleic acid.

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F.W.Kuchne in 1877 coined the term enzyme.

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ALHAGI PSEUDALHAGI (Bieb)Desv Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Gastroprotective, diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, laxative, ant diarrheal and anti septic, used to treat glandular tumors, nasal polyps and ailments related to ducts. The herb is used to treat rheumatism and haemorrhoids.

Phytochemicals reported from the plant: Kaempferol, chrysoexiol, isorhamnetin, pratensein, calycosin, formonoetin, ononin, isorhamnetin, quercetin, rutin, L-triacontanol, hordenine, N-methylmescaline, salsolidine, choline, betaine, favaneol, lupeol, melezitose, alhagitin, alhagidin, formonoetin, taxarixetin, isoquercitrin, salicylic acid, vanillic acid, beta sitosterol, daucosterol.

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ALYSICARPUS MONILIFER (L.)DC Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Used to treat stomach ache, skin disease. Leaves are used to cure fever and jaundice.

Phytochemicals reported from the plant: Alkaloids, glycosides, carbohydrates, phytosterols, fixed oils and saponins.

Facts 

Bertrand in 1897 found coenzyme.

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Edward Buchner and Hans Buchner in 1897 discovered cell free fermentation.

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Emil Fischer in 1898 proposed the lock and Key mechanism of enzyme action.

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Materials balance approach

Mass balance approach: This approach is used to determine the presence, fate and transport of contaminants in the environment. The approach provides a technique to describe environment as it is today and after remedial actions. It also provides a rational ad fundamental basis for asking specific questions and for obtaining specific information, which is needed for determining fate and transport of contaminants to select and evaluate remedial measures and to monitor treatment effectiveness.

The mass balance approach depend on the conservation of mass. Mass can neither be created nor destroyed, but can be transformed. Thus the approach is that a chemical entering a specific environment must be transformed, held in or transported out of the environment.

The amount of a chemical leaving any environment or area must be exactly balanced by the amount that enters minus net accumulation within the process. The mass balance can be expressed by a simple equation.

Change in mass in a volume = mass entering a volume– mass leaving a volume.

Steps involved in determining materials balance of contamination in an environment are: Where is contamination, in what form does it exist and in what concentration?

Where is the contamination going under the influence of natural geochemical processes?

Based on the answers to questions 1 & 2 

How can the contamination be destroyed

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What environmental phases should be monitored through time to assess the fate and

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transport of the contamination and effectiveness of treatment under both natural and remedial processes.

Answers to questions 1 & 2 can be obtained from 3 categories: Direct data from administrative records regarding the types and quantity of contamination as well as where it entered the environment.

Direct data from chemical requirements Indirect data from modeling and simulations of natural processes.

A determination of the accuracy of the mass balance approach is indicated by a good agreement between direct and indirect measurements suggesting that the control volume was well bounded and the processes acting within the volume were well defined.

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Facts 

Takamine, Aldrich and Abel in 1903 isolated the first hormone, epinephrine.

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Kendell in 1912 isolated thyroxine.

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David Keitin in 1925 coined the term cytochrome.

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James B.Summer first crystallized the enzyme urease.

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Hisaw in 1926 discovered hormone relaxin.

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Jansen and Donath in 1926 isolated the first vitamin thiamine from rice polish.

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Albert Szent Gyorgyi in 1928 isolated Vitamin C, Ascorbic acid.

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Lohmann et al in 1929 discovered riboflavin.

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Stanley in 1935 isolated the first crystallized TMV.

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Shreider and Hoogehron in 1948 proposed centrifugation.

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Facts 

Kornberg in 1955 discovered DNA polymerase.

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Jacob and Monod in 1961 proposed Operon hypothesis.

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Copp in 1961 discovered calcitonin.

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Cairns in 1963 discovered circular DNA in bacterium.

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Stein, Morrie and Anfinsen in 1972 structure of ribonuclease enzyme.

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Oparin wrote about a continuous existence of lifeless Earth that emerged from the incandescent gas of solar composition about 5000 million years ago.

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The term covalent bond was proposed by Lewis in 1966.

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The term pH was introduced by Sorensen in 1909.

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Stephan Hale in 1727 first proposed the occurrence of transpiration in plants. He is called the father of Plant Physiology.

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Facts 

Joseph Priestley in 1772 found out that oxygen is released during photosynthesis in algae and green plants.

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Ingen Houze in 1779 discovered that during respiration carbon dioxide is released by plants both in day and night time.

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Jean Senebier in 1782, reported that an exposure of green plants to sunlight carbon dioxide is absorbed and oxygen is released.

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Nicholas de Saussure in 1804 discovered that water plays an important role in Photosynthesis.

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Pelletier and Caventou in 1818 identified chlorophyll as the green pigments of plant tissue.

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Robert Brown in 1828 discovered the movement of colloidal particles in solution.

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Hartig in 1837 reported that sugars synthesized by photosynthesis are carried to different plant organs through phloem.

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Electrochemical Techniques for Determining Antioxidant Capacity.

Amperometric Method: This method involves the measurement of the intensity of the current that flows between a working electrode and reference electrode, at a fixed (applied) value of potential.

The current is generated by the oxidation/ reduction of an electroactive analyte. The value of the potential is maintained at a set value with respect to the reference electrode.

The

amperometric

determination

of

the

antioxidant activity was based on the reduction of 2,2diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH.) at the glassy carbon electrode. All the experiments were performed in a three Research

electrode electrochemical cell at 140 mV versus Hg.Cl2 /

methodology

3M KCl using ethanolic solution (40%) and 0.033 M KCl in 0.033M phosphate buffer, pH =7.4.

Biamperometric method: It is based on the measurement of the current flowing between two identical working electrodes polarized at a small potential difference and immersed in a solution containing

a

reversible

redox

couple.

Indirect

amperometric measurement relies on the reaction of the

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analyte with the indicating redox couple, its selectivity depending o the specificity of the reaction involving the oxidized or reduced form of the redox pair and the analyte.

Fe3+/Fe2+, I2/I-, Fe (CN)63- / Fe (CN) 64- are redox couples commonly used in biamperometric measurements. A common redox pair chosen in bi amperometric studies was DPPH./DPPH. Antioxidants react with DPPH generating reduced DPPH the intensity of the resulted current being proportional to the residual concentration of DPPH after its reaction with the analyte (antioxidant). Two identical point or glassy carbon electrodes were used where the reduction of the DPPH radical and the oxidants of DPPH take place as follows: Electrode 1 → DPPH + e- →DPPH Electrode 2 →DPPH →DPPH. +eThe reduction of DPPH at electode 1 gives rise to a cathodic current, while the oxidation of DPPH at electrode 2 generates an anodic current. In biamperometry, the controlled parameter is the potential difference between the two identical working electrodes. The potential values of the two electrodes are not controlled with respect t a reference electrode. The biamperometric detector response is linear with respect to that constituent of the redox couple which is present in lower concentration.

Working conditions were chosen for DPPH (oxidized form) concentration smaller than DPPH concentration. Each antioxidant addition in a solution containing the redox couple DPPH./DPPH decreases the concentration of the oxidized (radical) form and increases the concentration of the reduced form , thus generating a current proportional to the concentration of the

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antioxidant. In the case of the proposed method, the cathodic current is limited by the lower concentration of antioxidant. In the case of the proposed method, the cathodic current is limited by the lower concentration of DPPH (radical form) in the indicating mixture.

Another redox couple used in biamperometric antioxidant capacity assay is ABTS+/ ABTS. The ABTS cation radical was enzymatically produced by peroxidase in a tubular flow theough reactor. The performance of the bioreactor was tested at different concentration of immobilized enzyme, ABTS and hydrogen peroxide. Interdigitated array microelectrodes were used as electrochemical sensors for the biamperometric determination.

The results of the antioxidant activity were determined using Trolox as the standard.

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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.