Jawaharlal Nehru University

About: Jawaharlal Nehru University is a education organization based out in New Delhi, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Politics. The organization has 6082 authors who have published 13455 publications receiving 245407 citations. The organization is also known as: JNU.

Microbial Diversity in Soils

Abstract: Soil microbiology emerged as a distinct branch of soil science in 1838 after the French agricultural chemist and farmer, Boussingault, showed that legumes could obtain nitrogen from air when grown in soil which was not heated. Fifty years later, a Dutch scientist, Beijerinck, isolated bacteria from nodules of legume roots. Since then, a number of investigations have been conducted in the area of soil microbiology. However, scientists are still investigating soil microbial diversity. Soil is the outer covering of the earth, which consists of loosely arranged layers of materials composed of inorganic and organic compounds in different stages of organization (Tate 1995; Kapoor et al. 2002). It is a natural medium inwhichmicrobes live,multiply and die.Microbial diversity in the soil is a critical environmental topic that concerns people from all walks of life. Interest in microbial diversity has grown rapidly in the scientific community (Wilson 1988; Franklin 1993; Benizri et al. 2002). Increasing attention is being drawn to microorganisms because the fertility of soil depends not only on its chemical composition, but also on the qualitative and quantitative nature of microorganisms inhabiting it. Maintenance of viable, diverse populations and functioning microbial communities in the soil is essential for sustainable agriculture (Beare et al. 1995; Benizri et al. 2002). Soil contains a wide range of microorganisms descried as a ‘black box’ (Paul and Clark 1989). Microorganisms are generally divided into five major taxonomic categories: algae, bacteria, fungi, protists and viruses (Prescott et al. 1996;Hurst 2002). In soil, they are closely associated with soil particles, mainly clay– organic matter complexes (Foster 1988). Often, microbes can be found as single cells or as microcolonies embedded in a matrix of polysaccha-

Oxidative environment and redox homeostasis in plants: dissecting out significant contribution of major cellular organelles

Abstract: Plant cells are often exposed to oxidative cellular environments which result in the generation of toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). In order to detoxify the harmful ROS, plants have evolved various strategies including their scavenging and antioxidant machinery. Plant cells contain many enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants which aid in removing the toxic oxygen molecules. Various antioxidant molecules localized within different cellular compartments play crucial role(s) during this process, which includes both redox-signalling and redox-homeostasis. The present review gives an overview of cellular oxidative environment, redox signalling operative within a cell and contributions of major cellular organelles towards maintaining the redox homeostasis. Additionally, the importance of various antioxidant enzymes working in an orchestrated and coordinated manner within a cell, to protect it from stress injury has been presented. We also present the state-of-the-art where transgenic approach has been used to improve stress tolerance in model and crop species by engineering one or more than one of these components of the ROS scavenging machinery.

Plasmodium falciparum uses gC1qR/HABP1/p32 as a receptor to bind to vascular endothelium and for platelet-mediated clumping

Abstract: The ability of Plasmodium falciparum–infected red blood cells (IRBCs) to bind to vascular endothelium, thus enabling sequestration in vital host organs, is an important pathogenic mechanism in malaria. Adhesion of P. falciparum IRBCs to platelets, which results in the formation of IRBC clumps, is another cytoadherence phenomenon that is associated with severe disease. Here, we have used in vitro cytoadherence assays to demonstrate, to our knowledge for the first time, that P. falciparum IRBCs use the 32-kDa human protein gC1qR/HABP1/p32 as a receptor to bind to human brain microvascular endothelial cells. In addition, we show that P. falciparum IRBCs can also bind to gC1qR/HABP1/p32 on platelets to form clumps. Our study has thus identified a novel host receptor that is used for both adhesion to vascular endothelium and platelet-mediated clumping. Given the association of adhesion to vascular endothelium and platelet-mediated clumping with severe disease, adhesion to gC1qR/HABP1/p32 by P. falciparum IRBCs may play an important role in malaria pathogenesis.