Central Agricultural University

About: Central Agricultural University is a education organization based out in Imphal, Manipur, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Agriculture. The organization has 1116 authors who have published 1157 publications receiving 9217 citations.

A proteomic study of cysteine protease induced cell death in anthers of male sterile tobacco transgenic plants

Abstract: Manifestation of male sterility in plants is an important requirement for hybrid seed production. Tapetum cell layer of anther is a primary target for genetic manipulation for male sterility. In our previous report, the targeted expression of Arachis cysteine protease in tapetum led to premature degeneration of tapetal layer that resulted in complete male sterility in transgenic tobacco plants. To correlate cysteine protease mediated cell death of tapetum, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and proteomic pattern of anthers of cysteine protease induced male sterile plant were compared with the untransformed control plant. TEM study revealed the abnormal growth of tapetal cells exhibiting excessive vacuolization that synchronized with irregular exine wall formation of the microspores. In anther proteome, a total 250 protein spots were detected that were reproducible and exhibited similar distribution pattern. Further, anther proteome of male sterile plant showed the significant upregulation (≥ 1.5) of 56 protein spots. Using Mass spectroscopy (MALDI TOF/TOF), we have identified 14 protein spots that were involved in several processes such as energy metabolism, protein synthesis, plastid protein, lipid metabolism, and cell wall assembly. Upregulation of patatin-like protein-2 homolog, carboxylesterase 17 and dicer like protein-4 in male sterile anthers that have been demonstrated to induce cell death, suggesting that cysteine protease mediated premature tapetal cell death might involve the lipid peroxidation pathway in coordination with gene silencing mechanism.

Computational Approaches in Drug Discovery and Design

Abstract: Drug discovery is an expensive and complicated process. The drug must fulfill some criteria of being nontoxic, bioavailable, and potent. In the view of evermore stringent demands about efficacy, potency, and safety, the finding of the new drug-like molecule has become a complex and resource-intensive undertaking. Now, the availability of 3D structures of molecular drug targets and advances in computational approaches and bioinformatics speed up the application of molecular modeling in discovery. In this chapter, several molecular modeling strategies employed in modern drug discovery program are discussed. The concepts of structure- and ligand-based drug designing, protein modeling and visualization, molecular docking, virtual screening, molecular dynamics simulation, pharmacophore modeling, and QSAR approaches have been explained. Besides, we also provide important database resources and tools available for drug research. Finally, we present case studies conducted in our lab, showing how computational approaches can be implemented in reality for the discovery and designing of novel drugs from natural sources.

Influence of sources and levels of phosphorus on growth and yield of green gram (vigna radiata l. wilczek)

Abstract: A field experiment was carried out to study the influence of sources and levels of phosphorus on growth and yield of green gram under rainfed condition. The pooled result revealed that application of 60kg P2O5/ha through single super phosphate (SSP), diammonium phosphate (DAP) and combination of SSP+MRP (Mussoorie rock phosphate) registered significantly higher dryrnatter production, number of branches and clusters. Increase in number of pods, podlength and number of seeds per pod as well as yield were also recorded in these treatments.