National Academy Science Letters最新文献

Invasive alien plant species pose a serious threat to plant diversity worldwide, including in India. Many alien plant species have invaded various habitats in the past, making them difficult to control and manage. An interesting plant was collected during a recent floral exploration excursion to the Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand. This plant was later identified as Hypoestes phyllostachya Baker, commonly known as the Polka Dot Plant. This invasive alien plant species was previously reported from the state of Kerala as a new record for India and later reported from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. A critical review of the literature shows that this is a new record for North India. This paper deals with the taxonomic treatment of Hypoestes phyllostachya Baker and its potential threats to native plants in Rajaji National Park and in North India across different habitats.

Many papers are being published in many different journals on modeling of Covid-19 data. The vast majority of these papers contributes much to how to handle the epidemic. On the other hand, there have been papers misusing Covid-19 data, for example, simply for mathematical/statistical innovation. In this note, we discuss one such paper where modeling of two data sets of Covid-19 were considered. We show that the data sets can be modeled better by simpler distributions, including the one-parameter exponential distribution. The better fits were shown by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, its p-value, probability plots and other goodness-of-fit criteria.

The signal peptide sequence of Salmonella OsmY and OmpA proteins as well as beta-lactamase (Bla) was synthesized and cloned into the Nco I/Nde I site of plasmid pET28a-EGFP, resulting in the construction of plasmid pET28a-OsmY-EGFP, pET28a-OmpA-EGFP, and pET28a-Bla-EGFP, respectively. Followed by transfermation into the wild-type Salmonella strain TT-1, the signal peptide fused EGFP were expressed in the presence of 0.5% isopropyl β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). The localization of EGFP in Salmonella was determined by periplasmic protein quantification, fluorescence microscopy and the measurement of fluorescence intensity. The signal peptide of OsmY, OmpA or Bla not only direct EGFP to the periplasm of Salmonella but also kept its activity. Amongest the three peptides, the signal peptide of OsmY was the most efficient, resulting in the highest level of EGFP in the periplasmic space of Salmonella. In the present study, we assessed the efficacy of the signal peptide of OsmY, OmpA or Bla in directing the EGFP to the periplasm of Salmonella. We suggested that the Sec pathway of Salmonella is capable of exporting heterologous proteins in an active form, and the signal peptide of OsmY could deliver EGFP to the periplasm of Salmonella effectively.

Bacterial wilt caused by Rolstonia solanacearum is one of the devastating soil-borne disease that leads to death of numerous crops worldwide. In this study bacterial wilt of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) those are cultivated in Sikkim, India was identified based on the wilting symptoms of plants and ooze test. Pathogen was isolated following incubated stem segments of the wilted plants on the Casmino acid, Peptone, Glucose Agar (CPGA) medium. Morphological, biochemical and microscopic observations confirmed the isolates as R. solanacearum, race 1, biovar -3, and phylotypes I (Asiaticum). Molecular identification by using the R. solanacearum species-specific (RSSS) primers (759R and 760F) consisting small subunit region of rRNA gene with 282 bp amplicon confirmed the pathogen as R. solanacearum. The 16S rRNA sequence data was subjected to BLASTn in the NCBI database showed 98% similarity to R. solanacearum with accession number OM044161, and OM666560. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of the occurrence of R. solanacearum pathogen causing bacterial wilt in brinjal cultivated in organic Sikkim.

Bistorta coriacea (Sam.) Yonek. & H.Ohashi (Polygonaceae) is collected and reported first time as a new distributional record from Uttarakhand to the angiospermic flora of India. We provided detailed taxonomic description, ecological notes, and photo-plate along with location map for easy identification in the field.

This communication highlights the ecological, medicinal, and socio-economical significance of the Hippophae rhamnoides subsp. turkestanica Rousi, commonly known as seabuckthorn, advocating its potential for commercial propagation in the cold desert of Ladakh. The plant is a multipurpose taxon with several health-promoting medicinal and nutritional properties, and ecological and economical values which makes it a plant of interest for researchers, farmers, and pharmaceutical industries. Seabuckthorn has ecological distribution in various regions of Indian subcontinent including Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, with profound abundance in the Union Territory of Ladakh. Nevertheless, despite being a potential economical herb with immense adaptation to the cold desert environment of Ladakh, seabuckthorn has been given meager attention by the local populace to propagate and commercially use for health and economy. Therefore, this article highlights the potentialities and opportunities to commercially propagate seabuckthorn through mega-plantation projects for the sustainable ecological and economic development of Ladakh and other Trans-Himalayan regions.

Let (omega (G)) be the number of components of graph G. For (tgeqslant 0) we call G t-tough if (tcdot omega (G-X)leqslant |X|), for every (Xsubseteq V(G)) with (omega (G-X)geqslant 2). (1-)tough graphs are also called Hamiltonian graphs. The eccentric connectivity index of a connected graph G denoted by (xi ^c(G)), is defined as (xi ^c(G) = sum _{v in V(G)} epsilon ({v}) d(v)). The eccentric distance sum of a connected graph G is denoted by (xi ^d(G)), is defined as (xi ^d(G) = sum _{v in V(G)} epsilon (v) D(v)). The connective eccentricity index of a connected graph G denoted as (xi ^{ce}(G)), is defined as (xi ^{ce}(G) = sum _{v in V(G)} frac{d(v)}{epsilon (v)}), where (epsilon (v)) is the eccentricity of the vertex v, D(v) is the sum of the distance from to all other vertices, and d(v) is the degree of vertex v. Finding sufficient conditions for a graph to possess certain properties is a meaningful and important problem. In this article, we give sufficient conditions for t-toughness graphs in terms of the eccentric connectivity index, eccentric distance sum, and connective eccentricity index.

The ‘2023 International Union of Forestry Research Organizations-Division 5 Conference’ was held at the Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns (Queensland, Australia), from June 4–8, 2023. Approximately, ~ 140 delegates representing more than ~ 35 institutions all over the globe (26 countries) participated in the conference. The conference was divided into four plenary sessions, 27 parallel technical sessions, the International Academy of Wood Science Academy Lecture, an elevator pitch session, and a poster session, including various themes of the conference beside the inaugural and valedictory sessions. In total, ~ 25 invited lectures by scientists and professors, and ~ 110 lectures by delegates and research scholars were delivered. The conference theme was based on global wood usage, quality maintenance, quantification of genetic resources, non-timber forest products and their utilization, durability, conservation, and management of timber across the world.

Six taxa of lichens under order Arthoniales namely Arthonia stellaris, Arthonia varia var. stenographella, Dirina immersa, Lecanographa lyncea, Leprantha cinereopruinosa and Paralecanographa grumulosa are reported as new distributional records to India. Leprantha and Paralecanographa are also new genera record for India. A comprehensive key for all Indian species across the genera covered in this paper is also provided.

Gloriosa superba L. tuber, a source of colchicine, is widely used in Ayurveda for treatment of various diseases. Survey of the medicinal plant, having desired metabolite content, from natural forests is crucial for production of quality planting material. Quality assessment of the natural populations are important to control the quality, authencity and purity of the medicinal plants. The present study aimed to assess the quality and quantity of colchicine in the sixteen natural populations of Telangana G. superba (TGS) tubers. All the tubers qualified the physicochemical properties viz. Total Ash (2.4 to 4.8%), Acid Insoluble Ash (0.12 to 0.54%), Foreign Matter (0.10 to 0.46%), Water Soluble Extractive (15.16 to 22.91%) and Alcohol Soluble Extractive (6.08 to 22.13%) as per Ayurveda Pharmacopeia of India which proved the authenticity and quality of the tubers for use in various formulations. A dveloped HPLC method has been validated for linearity, limit of quantification, limit of detection, accuracy, precision and robustness for quantification of colchicine in tuber which revealed that the colchicine content significantly (P ˂ 0.05)varied from 0.03 to 0.55% in tubers on dry weight basis. Significant correlations (P ˂ 0.05) have also been found between physicochemical and colchicine content of the screened populations. Out of sixteen populations of TGS, three natural populations (TGS14, TGS04 and TGS08) are found promising, based on rich colchicine content, for future conservation as well as commercial cultivation programme.