Central Tuber Crops Research Institute

About: Central Tuber Crops Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Starch & Fermentation. The organization has 475 authors who have published 587 publications receiving 10285 citations.

Carbohydrate Metabolism during Dormancy and Sprouting in Yam (Dioscorea) Tubers: Changes in Carbohydrate Constituents in Yam (Dioscorea) Tubers during Dormancy and Sprouting

Abstract: Changes in carbohydrate constituents were stuided in tubers of Dioscorea rotundata, Dioscorea alata, and Dioscorea esculenta during dormancy and sprouting for a period of 90 days. Decrease in starc...

Nanopore-based detection and characterization of yam viruses

Abstract: We here assessed the capability of the MinION sequencing approach to detect and characterize viruses infecting a water yam plant. This sequencing platform consistently revealed the presence of several plant virus species, including Dioscorea bacilliform virus, Yam mild mosaic virus and Yam chlorotic necrosis virus. A potentially novel ampelovirus was also detected by a complimentary Illumina sequencing approach. The full-length genome sequence of Yam chlorotic necrosis virus was determined using Sanger sequencing, which enabled determination of the coverage and sequencing accuracy of the MinION technology. Whereas the total mean sequencing error rate of Yam chlorotic necrosis virus-related MinION reads was 11.25%, we show that the consensus sequence obtained either by de novo assembly or after mapping the MinION reads on the virus genomic sequence was >99.8% identical with the Sanger-derived reference sequence. From the perspective of potential plant disease diagnostic applications of MinION sequencing, these degrees of sequencing accuracy demonstrate that the MinION approach can be used to both reliably detect and accurately sequence nearly full-length positive-sense single-strand polyadenylated RNA plant virus genomes.

Inhibitory effect of an extract of Curcuma zedoariae on human cervical carcinoma cells

Abstract: Herbal medicine has formed the basis of health care throughout the world since the dawn of civilization. Each plant is a unique chemical factory capable of synthesizing unlimited numbers of highly complex and unusual chemical substances whose structures could otherwise escape the imagination forever. Phytomedicines have been used as a treatment for many diseases, ranging from skin disease to cancer. Most of the anticancer drugs that we use today are derived from plants. The anticancer effect of plants is due to specific phytochemicals or the complex synergistic interactions among their various constituents. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the cytotoxic properties of an extract of the Curucuma zedoariae rhizome, a plant belonging to the family Zingeberaceae, and to determine its IC50 value. Various organic extracts were isolated using Soxhlet apparatus in order of increasing solvent polarity, namely petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, acetone, and methanol. Colorimetric [3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay (MTT assay) was done to determine the cytotoxicity against human cervical carcinoma cells (He La). Acridine orange–ethidium dromide dual staining and DNA fragmentation assays were done to detect apoptotic features. Among the various extracts studied, the petroleum ether extract was found to exhibit maximum cytotoxicity against He La cells. Our results suggest that the petroleum ether extract of the Curucuma zedoariae rhizome may have potential as an anticancer agent. Further steps have to be done to purify the compound and to elucidate the antitumor activity of the extract.

Morphology of the Pachytene Chromosomes and Meiosis in Manihot esculenta Crantz

Abstract: Detailed analyses of chromosomes at pachytene and later stages of meiosis were made in a cultivated type of cassava Pachytene chromosomes are depicted on the basis of total length, relative length, arm ratio, amount and distribution of heterochromatin and number and position of chromomeres Idiograms showing details of all the eighteen pachytene bivalents in the haploid complement are presented and based on the average values of lengths obtained by accurate measurements of the bivalents in a minimum of 15 completely analyzable nuclei, the eighteen pachytene bivalents have been arranged and numbered in order of their decreasing length as chromosome I to chromosome XVIII The haploid chromosomal complement, inter alia, has three functional nucleolar chromosomes and six chromosomal types represented in duplicate Based on the data of the pachytene karyology obtained, a segmental allopolyploid origin of the present day cultivars of cassava has been suggestedBased on cytological data, it has been suggested that meiotic abnormality is not the cause of pollen degeneration in the material studied