Neo Planta June 2019 (1)

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Microorganisms for you

Structure & Chemical composition of Lithosphere and soil profile Medicinal Plants of the Month

Research Methodology— Methods for Assessing Antioxidant capacity

Facts: Inventions and Discoveries related to Plant Science.

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Bifidobacterium thermophilum It is a relatively oxygen tolerant bacterium that has been isolated from bovine rumen, sewage and from piglet, calf and baby feces. The peptidoglycan isolated from B.thermophilum has been reported to protect against E.coli infections and improve cytotoxic activity of mice lymphocyts. The strains can grow under low oxygen, at pH as low as 4.0 and temperature upto 47ÂşC.

Bifidobacterium longum It is a gram positive, rod shaped bacteria exhibiting catalase negative activity and is found in the gastrointestinal tract of humans. It is a microaerotolerant anaerobe and considered to be one of the earliest colonizers of gastrointestinal tract of infants. It is considered to be a part of gut flora and the lactic acid it produces helps to prevent the growth ofpathogenic organisms. It is non pathogenic and is often added to food products.

It has high tolerance for gastric acid and bile. It is an amazing probiotic that boosts immunity. Its health benefits are prevention of diarrhoea in antibiotic treated patients, reducing cholesterol levels, alleviating lactose intolerance symptoms, stimulating immune system and preventing cancer. In the field of Biotechnology, B.longum has genes that can synthesize about 19 different amino acids from ammonia and other key biosynthestic precursors (PEP, oxaloacetate, oxoglutarate and fumarate) supplied by its limited Kreb’s cycle that lacks fumarase, oxoglutarate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase.

Brachybacterium alimentarium

MICRO ORGANISMS FOR YOU

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It is a gram positive, facultatively anaerobic, non motile yellow pigmented bacterium. The cells are coccoid during the stationary phase and irregular rods during the exponential phase. It was first isolated from the surface of Beaufort and gruyere cheeses in 1978. The optimum temperature for growth is 20-37ÂşC and the optimum pH is 7.3.

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Boletus ladius It is an edible pored mushroom found in Europe and North America where it grows in coniferous or mixed woods on the ground or on decaying tree stumps. The fruit bodies have a chestnut to dark brown cap, which is almost spherical in young species. The cap margin is acute and cap surface velvety when yung and slightly sticky when wet or old. The cuticle of the cap is difficult to separate from the flesh underneath. The pores on the undersurface of the cap are initially cream to pale yellow in colour but becomes greenish yellow or olive with aging. They strain dull blue to bluish grey when brusied or cut and are easily removed from the flush. The pores are initially circular becoming more angular with age.

The flush is mostly whitish or yellowish in some places,underneath the cap cuticle it is brownish pink or reddish brown. The fruit bodies contain theanine, an amino acid and glutamic acid the analogue found in green tea.

Botryococcus braunii It is a unicellular green coloured, pyramid shaped, planktonic microalgae. The colonies are held together by a lipid biofilm matrix that can be found in temperate or tropical oligotrophic lakes and estuaries and will bloom when in the presence of elevated levels of dissolved organic phosphorus. The species is notable for its ability to produce high amounts of hydrocarbons, especially oils in the form of triterpenes, that are typically around 30-40% of their dry weight. The optimum temperature for its growth is 23ยบC. It has a great potential for algaculture because of its ability to produce hydrocarbons that can be chemically converted to fuels. Upto 86% of the dry weight of B.braunii is long chain hydrocarbons. The vast majority of these hydrocarbons are botryococcus oils, botryococcenes, alkadienes and alkatrienes. The extracellular matrix is a complex three component system that all works together to produce the external hydrocarbons as well as protects each cell. The B.braunii organisms live in a community in the form of a complex biofilm matrix that is shaped like a cup that collects the hydrocarbons produced by each cell.

Brachybacterium tyrofermentans It is a gram positive, facultatively anaerobic, pale yellow pigmented bacterium. The cells are coccoid during stationary phase and irregular rods during the exponential phase. It was first isolated from the surface of Beaufort and Gruyere cheeses in 1978. The optimum temperature required for its growth is 20-37ยบC and the optimum pH is 7.3.

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DESMODIUM PULCHELLUM Benth.

Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Decoction of the bark is used to treat haemorrhage, diarrhoea, poisoning and diseases of the eyes. Flowers are used to treat biliousness Phytochemicals reported from the plant: Alkaloids, bufotein, N,N-dimethyl tryptamine, gramine, galactomannan, l-glucosyl rhamnoside of physcion, betulin, alpha amyrin, beta sitosterol.

Medicinal plants of the Month

Facts 

Daniel Nathans, Hamilton O.Smith and Werner Arber in 1978 were awarded Nobel prize for their discovery

of

restriction

enzymes

and

application to problem of molecular biology.

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DESMODIUM GANGETICUM (L)DC Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Root is antipyretic, diuretic, astringent, anticatarrhal, anthelmintic, laxative, nervine tonic, carminative, mildly purgative, stomachic, emmenagogue, diuretic. Leaves– galactogogue. Used to treat irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, dysentery, used in post natal care, chronic fever, cough, biliousness, vomiting. Bark is used to treat diarrhea and hemorrhage.

Phytochemicals reported from the plant: Pterocarpanoids-gangetin, gangetinin, desmodin and several alkaloids, indole 3-alkylamines.

Facts 

Peter Dennis Mitchell in 1978 got Nobel prize in chemistry for his work in bioenergetics which concerns the chemical processes responsible for the energy supply in living cells.

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DERRIS SCANDENS (Roxb)Benth Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Stem is used in traditional medicine for myalagia (muscle pain), osteoarthritis.

Facts 

W. Bateson in 1905 coined the term Genetics.

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W. Harvey speculated that all animals arise from eggs and that semen only plays a vitalizing role.

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R. de. Graaf observed that the progeny would have characteristics of father as well as mother and therefore suggested that both the parents should contribute to heredity.

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Egg was discovered by Von Baer in 1828.

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DERRIS INDICA (LAM)Benth Family : Fabaceae Medicinal properties: Used to treat skin diseases, eczema, scabies, leprosy, ulcers, tumor, piles, enlargement of spleen, vaginal and urinary discharges. Juice of root is used to close fistulous sores and foul ulcers. Flowers are used to treat diabetes.

Powder of seeds is used to cure whooping and irritating coughs in children. Seed oil is used to treat cutaneous infections, herpes and scabies.

Phytochemicals reported from the plant: Flavonoids, flavones, furanoflavonoids, chromenoflavones, chromenochalcones, ccoumarones, flavones glucosides, sterols, triterpenes, phenylalanine dipeptide.

Facts 

A. W. Leeuwenhoek observed sperms of several animals in 1677 and also suggested their association with eggs

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Structure and composition of lithosphere & soil profile Structure of Lithosphere: Lithosphere is also termed as continental crust. Lithosphere is divided into three regions: crust, mantle and core. Crust consists mostly of granite rocks. Mantle consists of continental crust and oceanic crust. The density of mantle is 2.8—3.0 g/cm3 and average thickness of 30 km.

The core is made up of silica rich iron and magnesium. It is the inner layer and contains 83% of the total volume and 68% of the total mass of the Earth. It extends from 30 Km– 2900 Km with an average density of 2.7g/cm3.

Chemical composition of Lithosphere: E. Seuss divided Lithosphere into 3 layers based on the chemical composition. They are, Metamorphic rocks: (Greek– change form) is formed by applying great pressure and temperature to existing rock converting it into a new distinct type of rock. Igneous, sedimentary and even other metamorphic rocks.

Sedimentary rocks are formed by the lithification (cementing, compacting and hardening) of existing rock or the bones, shells and pieces of formerly living things. Rocks are weathered and eroded into tiny particles which are then transported and deposited along with other pieces of rock called sediments. About three quarters of the continent is sedimentary.

Igneous rocks: Formed from the molten liquid material that lie below the Earth’s crust. They are formed from magma that cools beneath the earth’s surface or from lava that cools upon the earth’s surface.

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Soil profile: R Horizon: Unconsolidated rock or solid bedrock is found in this horizon.

C Horizon: Consists of rocks and little organic material.

B horizon: also called subsoil and contains mineral deposits that have settled down from upper layers.

A horizon: also called top soil, where seeds germinate and plants’ roots thrive and is composed of sand and silt.

O horizon: This is the top layer of the soil, composed primarily of organic material such as litter of leaves and plants, insets and microorganisms.

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Facts 

N. Grew in 1682 for the first time reported the

reproductive parts of plants. 

R. Camerrarius in 1694 described sexual reproduction in plants for the first time.

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In 1717 T. Fairchild produced a hybrid having characteristics of both parents. This hybrid was called Fairchild’s sweet William or as Fairchild’s mule.

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Earliest writings on the subject of heredity are those of Hippocrates (400BC) and Aristotle (350 BC)

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In 1679, J. Swammerdam studied development of insects and suggested that development of an organism is a simple enlargement of a minute but performed individual called homunculus and could be present in the sperm or in the ovum.

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K.W. Wolff proposed that neither egg nor sperm had a structure like homunculus sperm had a structure like homunculus but that the gametes contained undifferentiated living substances capable of forming the undifferentiated living substance capable of forming the organized body after fertilization. Such an idea was called the theory of epigenesist.

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Facts 

According to J.B. Lamarck, characters which are acquired during the life time of an individual are inherited. This concept is called Lamarckism or Theory of Inheritance of Acquired characters.

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Charles Darwin suggested that every part of body produced very small invisible bodies called gemmules or pangenes which are transported through the blood stream to the sex organs and are assembled there into gametes.

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Knight in 1799 and Goss in 1824 had conducted experiments on Pea (Pisum sativum) much before Mendel, but failed to formulate the laws of inheritance, only because they could not give a mathematical expression for their result.

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A. Weismann demonstrated that pangenesis could not be verified.

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Weismann proposed his own germplasm theory to account for heredity. According to this theory, the body of an individual can be divided in 2 types of tissues, germplasm and somatoplasm.

Somatoplasm was not able to enter sex cells. The germplasm was meant for reproductive purpose only.

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Facts 

Landsteiner and Levine in 1927 divided human population into 3 groups on the basis of reaction with anti M serum and anti N serum produced in rabbits.

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J. Hammerling, a German Botanist, demonstrated in 1934 that the nucleus determines the characters of the cell and ultimately the characters of the individuals.

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E. Strasburger in 1875 discovered thread like structures that appeared during cell division. These thread like structures were called chromosomes.

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In 1912 Vejdovsky used the term chromonema to represent a coiled filament along the length of the chromosome.

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In 1931, G.A. Levitzky, a Russian scientist suggested that in flowering plants there is a predominant trend towards karyotype asymmetry.

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In 1930s and 1940s Emil Heitz et al studied the heterochromatic and euchromatic regions which appearing on staining of chromosome with stains like acetocarmine or feulgen.

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Methods for Assessing Antioxidant capacit Fluorimetry: Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation of different wavelength. In most cases, emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation. Fluorescence emission occurs when an orbital electron of a molecule relaxes to its ground state, by emitting a photon of light after being excited to a higher

quantum

state

by

some

type

of

energy.

Fluorescence assay has been used to antioxidant content determination.

Research

The fluorescence spectroscopy has been applied for the

methodology

determination of phenolic compounds in oils. A method based on fluorescence is proposed to quantify the butyl hydroxyl anisole (BHA) and tert– butyl hydro quinone (TBHQ) antioxidant concentration in biodiesel produced from sunflower and soybean oils. Fluorescence and excitation spectra of the solution were recorded at room temperature using a spectrofluorimeter. The emission spectra were obtained under excitation at about 310nm

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and fluorescence in the 320-800nm range was evaluated.

Biodiesel

samples without BHA and TBHQ showed fluorescence band around 330nm. It was verified that the fluorescence intensity around 330nm increases linearly as function of antioxidant concentration with correlation coefficient of about 1 regardless of the oil source and antioxidants. Fluorimetric methods of ascorbic acid determination are based on dehydro ascorbic acid reaction with O-phenylene diamine.

This technique requires a strict control of pH as the fluorescence intensity depends strongly on the pH value.

A fluorescence method was developed to examine how membrane sterol lateral organization affects the potency of antioxidants. This information was used to evaluate possible adverse effects of lipid soluble antioxidants, which was reported in recent clinical studies.

In the presence of an antioxidant, the lag time produced during free radical induced sterol oxidation in lipid vesicles reflects the potency of the antioxidants. The obtained data sugges that while ascorbyl palmitate is a more efficient antioxidant than its water soluble counter part as judged by the lag time, it can easily perturb sterol lateral organizationmby insertion into membrane bilayers which could impose detrimental effects on cells.

Another fluorescence assay measured the rate and extent of sterol oxidation in lipid bilayers. Dehydro ergosterol (DHE), a fluorescent cholesterol

analog, is used as a probe and at the same time as a

membrane component. The assay can also be performed on bilayers having a mixture of sterols including DHE and non fluorescent sterols

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Such as cholesterol and ergosterol. The fluorescence intensity of DHE decreases on oxidation, so the rate and extent of free radical or enzyme induced sterol oxidation can be measured as a function of temperature and membrane composition. In agreement with the sterol regular distribution model, it is found that both free radical and enzyme induced sterol oxidation vary with membrane sterol content in a well defined alternating manner.

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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.