Reynolds Barber (chesswarm1)
Orthosulfamuron, a rice herbicide of the family pyrimidinyl sulfonylurea, causes ground water contamination for its moderate persistence and high water solubility. It may cause phytotoxicity and, thereby, affect the growth of succeeding crops. Keeping in view of the environmental safety, the interaction between orthosulfamuron and soil fungi was investigated. Ten different fungal species were found to survive in the soil containing orthosulfamuron at the level of 50 mg kg-1. However, based on the previous research reports, Aspergillus niger was selected for the degradation study on orthosulfamuron in the sterilized soil. It exhibited concentration-depended degradation rate for orthosulfamuron, where the rate decreased with the increasing concentration of the herbicide. The degradation pattern of the herbicide followed the first-order rate kinetics for each applied concentration. The structural elucidation of the five degradation products by liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopic analysis indicated that the fungal strain could degrade the herbicide through various biochemical processes. The major degradation of the herbicide took place through the hydrolytic cleavage of sulfonylurea bridge and cleavage of N (urea bridge)-C (pyrimidinyl ring) bond. The rate and degradation pattern of orthosulfamuron found in the present study strongly imply the presence of a recognition mechanism for the substrate and a consequent metabolic response system in the A. niger strain isolated from the agricultural soil.In view of increasing anthropogenic influences and global changes, quantification of carbon assimilation through photosynthesis has gained tremendous significance. Precise estimation of Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) is essential for several ecosystem models and is typically done using coarser scale satellite data. The mangrove ecosystem, which offers significant protection to the coastal environment, is one of the critical habitats from a global change point of view. Light use efficiency (LUE) was measured using diurnal in situ photosynthetic rate observations for 13 dominant mangrove species for 3 seasons at each of the three mangrove dominant test-sites situated along the east and west coast of India. Variations in photosynthetic rates among these species were studied for 3 seasons that indicated varying responses of mangrove ecosystem at each site. Among all species, Rhizophora mucronata and Sonneratia apetala indicated higher values at two of the test-sites. IRS Resourcesat-2 LISS-IV datasets were used for the estimation of GPP. Mean GPP for all the sites varied from 1.2 to 7.7 g C m-2 day-1 with maximum value of 14.4 g C m-2 day-1. Mean values of GPP varied across the sites, based on its maximum LUE values and available photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). The results provide GPP values at much better spatial resolution for a threatened habitat like mangroves that typically survive in a narrow habitat along the coasts. Honey bee venom contains various enzymes with wide medical and pharmaceutical applications. The phospholipase A2 (PLA2) has been apparently purified from the venom of Egyptian honey bee (Apis mellifera lamarckii) 8.9-fold to a very high specific activity of 6033 U/mg protein using DEAE-cellulose and Sephacryl S-300 columns. The purified bee venom PLA2 is monomeric 16 kDa protein and has isoelectric point (pI) of 5.9. selleck chemicals llc The optimal activity of bee venom PLA2 was attained at pH 8 and 45 °C. Cu Ni , Fe Ca , and Co exhibited a complete activating effect on it, while Zn , Mn , NaN , PMSF, N-Methylmaleimide, and EDTA have inhibitory effect. The purified bee venom PLA2 exhibited anti-platelet aggregation and anti-coagulation activities which makes it promising agent for developing novel anti-clot formation drugs in future. The purified bee venom PLA2 exhibited anti-platelet aggregation and ant
