Kernel elongation after cooking is an important character of fine rice and most rice consumers prefer length-wise elongation. Although improvement of aromatic rice began early in the 1970s, until now the mechanisms and genetics of kernel elongation has remained unrevealed. Kernel elongation is considered as a physical phenomenon and is influenced by several physicochemical and genetic factors, including genotypes, aging temperature, aging time, water uptake, amylose content and gelatinization temperature. Recently the complete genetic map of fine rice has been created and the gene responsible for kernel length identified; moreover, this gene is tightly linked with the cooked kernel elongation trait. Several molecular markers linked with cooked kernel elongation have been developed. These tools will be helpful for the improvement of this important trait. For the proper study of cooked kernel elongation of rice, this review paper will provide the basis and directional materials for further studies.
Drought is one of the most important phenomena which limit crops' production and yield. Crops demonstrate various morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses to tackle drought stress. Plants' vegetative and reproductive stages are intensively influenced by drought stress. Drought tolerance is a complicated trait which is controlled by polygenes and their expressions are influenced by various environmental elements. This means that breeding for this trait is so difficult and new molecular methods such as molecular markers, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping strategies, and expression patterns of genes should be applied to produce drought tolerant genotypes. In wheat, there are several genes which are responsible for drought stress tolerance and produce different types of enzymes and proteins for instance, late embryogenesis abundant (lea), responsive to abscisic acid (Rab), rubisco, helicase, proline, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and carbohydrates during drought stress. This review paper has concentrated on the study of water limitation and its effects on morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of wheat with the possible losses caused by drought stress.
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), the self-defence products of organisms, are extensively distributed in plants. They can be classified into several groups, including thionins, defensins, snakins, lipid transfer proteins, glycine-rich proteins, cyclotides and hevein-type proteins. AMPs can be extracted and isolated from different plants and plant organs such as stems, roots, seeds, flowers and leaves. They perform various physiological defensive mechanisms to eliminate viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, and so could be used as therapeutic and preservative agents. Research on AMPs has sought to obtain more detailed and reliable information regarding the selection of suitable plant sources and the use of appropriate isolation and purification techniques, as well as examining the mode of action of these peptides. Well-established AMP purification techniques currently used include salt precipitation methods, absorption-desorption, a combination of ion-exchange and reversed-phase C18 solid phase extraction, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), and the sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) method. Beyond these traditional methods, this review aims to highlight new and different approaches to the selection, characterisation, isolation, purification, mode of action and bioactivity assessment of a range of AMPs collected from plant sources. The information gathered will be helpful in the search for novel AMPs distributed in the plant kingdom, as well as providing future directions for the further investigation of AMPs for possible use on humans.
Industrial effluent containing textile dyes is regarded as a major environmental concern in the present world. Crystal Violet is one of the vital textile dyes of the triphenylmethane group; it is widely used in textile industry and known for its mutagenic and mitotic poisoning nature. Bioremediation, especially through bacteria, is becoming an emerging and important sector in effluent treatment. This study aimed to isolate and identify Crystal Violet degrading bacteria from industrial effluents with potential use in bioremediation. The decolorizing activity of the bacteria was measured using a photo electric colorimeter after aerobic incubation in different time intervals of the isolates. Environmental parameters such as pH, temperature, initial dye concentration and inoculum size were optimized using mineral salt medium containing different concentration of Crystal Violet dye. Complete decolorizing efficiency was observed in a mineral salt medium containing up to 150 mg/l of Crystal Violet dye by 10% (v/v) inoculums of Enterobacter sp. CV-S1 tested under 72 h of shaking incubation at temperature 35 °C and pH 6.5. Newly identified bacteria Enterobacter sp. CV-S1, confirmed by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing, was found as a potential bioremediation biocatalyst in the aerobic degradation/de-colorization of Crystal Violet dye. The efficiency of degrading triphenylmethane dye by this isolate, minus the supply of extra carbon or nitrogen sources in the media, highlights the significance of larger-scale treatment of textile effluent.