Department of Biotechnology

About: Department of Biotechnology is a government organization based out in New Delhi, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Silver nanoparticle. The organization has 4800 authors who have published 5033 publications receiving 82022 citations.

Plants in traditional medicine with special reference to Cyperus rotundus L.: a review

Abstract: The nutgrass, Cyperus rotundus L (Family: Cyperaceae), is a colonial, perennial herb considered to have originated in India 2000 years ago and widely used in Ayurveda to treat several ailments In addition to its prehistoric uses, it is used in several systems of medicine for treating variety of diseases The synergistic actions of the Cyperus’ compounds have added advantage over that of a single constituent In the past decade, numerous studies proved analgesic, anti-allergic, anti-arthritic, anti-candida, anti-cariogenic, anti-convulsant, anti-diarrheal, anti-emetic, anti-helminthic, anti-histamine, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, anti-malarial, anti-obesity, antioxidant, anti-platelet, anti-pyretic, anti-ulcer, anti-viral, cardioprotective, cytoprotective, cytotoxic, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, ovicidal, and larvicidal, wound healing and inhibition of brain Na+ K+ ATPase activities of C rotundus and its chemical constituents However, the exact the mechanism of action is not very clear and requires further evaluation These properties strongly suggest an extensive use of C rotundus for clinical applications In this review, we attempted to provide information about the pharmacological effects of Cyperus and its proposed mechanisms of actions

Optimization of rhamnolipid production from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PBS towards application for microbial enhanced oil recovery

Abstract: The present work reveals the potential of biosurfactant producing P. aeruginosa PBS for microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR). The biosurfactant production medium and culture conditions were optimized using response surface methodology. The optimization of media components and process parameters was consecutively executed in two sets of experimental runs designed by central composite rotatable design (CCRD). The maximum biosurfactant yield was attained with 2% fresh inoculum of P. aeruginosa PBS in minimal salt medium (pH 7), possessing 2.17% sodium citrate as C-source and 0.5% yeast extract as N-source, after 48 h upon incubation at 30 °C/150 rpm. Under optimum conditions, biosurfactant yield was increased more than threefold and turned out to be 2.65 g/L as compared to 0.82 g/L under previous conditions. The biosurfactant was characterized as a glycolipid comprising of four rhamnolipid homologs (RhaRhaC10C10, RhaRhaC8C10, RhaRhaC12C10/RhaRhaC10C12, RhaC10C10) by thin layer chromatography, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry. The produced biosurfactant was highly efficient for oil recovery application showing extreme reduction in surface tension of medium (71.80 to 23.76 mN/m), immense hydrocarbons emulsification capacity (50–60%) and greater stability at wide range of temperature (4–100 °C) and pH (4–10) along with an excellent (56.18 ± 1.59%) additional oil recovery in sand-pack column lab test.

De novo Transcriptome Sequencing to Dissect Candidate Genes Associated with Pearl Millet-Downy Mildew (Sclerospora graminicola Sacc.) Interaction.

Abstract: Understanding the plant-pathogen interactions is of utmost importance to design strategies for minimizing the economic deficits caused by pathogens in crops. With an aim to identify genes underlying resistance to downy mildew, a major disease responsible for productivity loss in pearl millet, transcriptome analysis was performed in downy mildew resistant and susceptible genotypes upon infection and control on 454 Roche NGS platform. A total of ~685 Mb data was obtained with 1 575 290 raw reads. The raw reads were pre-processed into high-quality (HQ) reads making to ~82% with an average of 427 bases. The assembly was optimized using four assemblers viz. Newbler, MIRA, CLC and Trinity, out of which MIRA with a total of 14.10 Mb and 90118 transcripts proved to be the best for assembling reads. Differential expression analysis depicted 1396 and 936 and 1000 and 1591 transcripts up and down regulated in resistant inoculated/resistant control and susceptible inoculated/susceptible control respectively with a common of 3644 transcripts. The pathways for secondary metabolism, specifically the phenylpropanoid pathway was up-regulated in resistant genotype. Transcripts up-regulated as a part of defense response included classes of R genes, PR proteins, HR induced proteins and plant hormonal signaling transduction proteins. The transcripts for skp1 protein, purothionin, V type proton ATPase were found to have the highest expression in resistant genotype. Ten transcripts, selected on the basis of their involvement in defense mechanism were validated with qRT-PCR and showed positive co-relation with transcriptome data. Transcriptome analysis evoked potentials of hypersensitive response and systemic acquired resistance as possible mechanism operating in defense mechanism in pearl millet against downy mildew infection.

Effect of particle size, moisture content, and supplements on selective pretreatment of cotton stalks by Daedalea flavida and enzymatic saccharification.

Abstract: A large amount of cotton stalk waste biomass with high cellulose content are incinerated by the farmers causing air pollution. The high cellulose content of cotton stalks can be converted to fermentable sugars by fungal delignification pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass and enzymatic saccharification. The effect of particle size, moisture content, and media supplements was studied for delignification of cotton stalks by Daedalea flavida MTCC 145 (DF-2) in solid-state fermentation. The highest lignolytic enzyme activities, optimal lignin degradation 29.88 ± 0.97% (w/w) with cellulose loss 11.70 ± 1.30% (w/w), were observed in cotton stalks at particle size 5 mm with 75% moisture content after 20 days. Cellulolytic enzyme activity increased with decrease in particle size and increased moisture content. The addition of Cu2+, gallic acid, and veratryl alcohol enhanced the lignolytic enzyme production and the lignin degradation. In addition to increased laccase activity, Cu2+ inhibited the cellulolytic activity. Supplements Cu2+ at 0.5 mM/g gave the best results of lignin degradation 33.74 ± 1.17% (w/w) and highest selectivity value (SV) 3.15 after pretreatment. The glucose yield increased to 127.44 ± 4.56 mg/g from 20 day pretreated cotton stalks with Cu2+ supplements, ~threefolds higher than untreated cotton stalks. The study is important for the production of fermentable sugars from cotton stalks residues which can further be utilized in production of bioethanol and other applications.

Antivirulent Properties of Underexplored Cinnamomum tamala Essential Oil and Its Synergistic Effects with DNase against Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms - An In Vitro Study.

Abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a nosocomial pathogen colonizing patients with chronic infectious diseases and has gained resistance to all the known broad spectrum antibiotics available today. The present study showcases the antibiofilm potential of an essential oil (EO) from an underexplored Cinnamomum species namely, C. tamala, against P. aeruginosa biofilms. Furthermore, the synergistic effects of the EO along with a commercially available DNase (DNaseI) and a DNase (MBD) isolated from a marine bacterium were explored for its antibiofilm activity. The results showed that the synergized action has maximum efficacy in inhibiting young and preformed biofilms. The synergized effect of EO and DNaseI showed 70% inhibition against matured biofilms of P. aeruginosa. The EO from C. tamala also showed quorum sensing inhibitory potential as it could inhibit the swarming motility behavior of P. aeruginosa. The synergistic action of EO and DNases offers a novel alternate therapeutic strategy for combating P. aeruginosa biofilm associated infections.