Browsing by Author "Prashant Swapnil"

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A review on phytotoxicity and defense mechanism of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on plants
(Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2023) Sumit Kumar; Prahlad Masurkar; Bana Sravani; Dipanjali Bag; Kamal Ravi Sharma; Prashant Singh; Tulasi Korra; Mukesh Meena; Prashant Swapnil; Vishnu D. Rajput; Tatiana Minkina
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are noteworthy used nanomaterials in a wide array of fields, particularly in the agricultural sector. Plants play a multifarious role in the ecosystem and provide a source of food for mankind. The responsibility of the scientific community is to recognize the deleterious impact of AgNPs (1–100 nm in size) on critical crop growth and development of plants, which is required for the assessment of environmental threats to plant, human, and animal health. The continued use of AgNPs in agriculture areas may have negative effects on plant biochemical and physiological responses. The current context focused mainly on AgNPs uptake, transport, and accumulation on crop plants and summarizes different levels of phytotoxicity of AgNPs on plant functions and focused on mechanisms of phytotoxicity employed by AgNPs. Moreover, some tolerance mechanisms and various survival strategies developed by plants under AgNPs toxicity are discussed. This background provides comprehensive information necessary to facilitate profound understanding of the toxic impacts of AgNPs on crop plants. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
Advantageous features of plant growth-promoting microorganisms to improve plant growth in difficult conditions
(Elsevier, 2023) Mukesh Meena; Garima Yadav; Priyankaraj Sonigra; Adhishree Nagda; Tushar Mehta; Prashant Swapnil; Avinash Marwal; Andleeb Zehra
Microbes play a fundamental role in plant growth and development. The valuable microbes, also known as plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) belong to different groups such as fungi, bacteria, and archaea which are connected with plants in rhizospheric, epiphytic, and endophytic forms. These microorganisms display a group of function to promote plant growth such as phytohormone (auxin and gibberellin) production enhancement, siderophore production, micronutrient solubilization (P, K, Fe, and Zn), N2 fixation, antibiotic production, etc. Apart from growth promotion, PGPMs also confer stress and disease tolerance to plants for controlled agricultural production in harsh environmental conditions. PGPMs have the capability to induce systemic resistance (ISR) in crops against pathogen attack. To date, a huge number of microbial species have been documented for their plant growth-promoting ability. Generally, crops fail to provide adequate concentration of micronutrients in the human diet and cause micronutrient malnutrition and severe health complications. Considering all these points, PGPMs are utilized as biofertilizers to increase vigor and the nutrient value of crop plants at varied habitats. The present chapter is intended to focus the ability of PGPMs to perk up the plant growth in difficult conditions. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Alternaria toxins: Potential virulence factors and genes related to pathogenesis
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2017) Mukesh Meena; Sanjay K. Gupta; Prashant Swapnil; Andleeb Zehra; Manish K. Dubey; Ram S. Upadhyay
Alternaria is an important fungus to study due to their different life style from saprophytes to endophytes and a very successful fungal pathogen that causes diseases to a number of economically important crops. Alternaria species have been well-characterized for the production of different host-specific toxins (HSTs) and non-host specific toxins (nHSTs) which depend upon their physiological and morphological stages. The pathogenicity of Alternaria species depends on host susceptibility or resistance as well as quantitative production of HSTs and nHSTs. These toxins are chemically low molecular weight secondary metabolites (SMs). The effects of toxins are mainly on different parts of cells like mitochondria, chloroplast, plasma membrane, Golgi complex, nucleus, etc. Alternaria species produce several nHSTs such as brefeldin A, tenuazonic acid, tentoxin, and zinniol. HSTs that act in very low concentrations affect only certain plant varieties or genotype and play a role in determining the host range of specificity of plant pathogens. The commonly known HSTs are AAL-, AK-, AM-, AF-, ACR-, and ACTtoxins which are named by their host specificity and these toxins are classified into different family groups. The HSTs are differentiated on the basis of bio-statistical and other molecular analyses. All these toxins have different mode of action, biochemical reactions and signaling mechanisms to cause diseases. Different species of Alternaria produced toxins which reveal its biochemical and genetic effects on itself as well as on its host cells tissues. The genes responsible for the production of HSTs are found on the conditionally dispensable chromosomes (CDCs) which have been well characterized. Different bio-statistical methods like basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) data analysis used for the annotation of gene prediction, pathogenicity-related genes may provide surprising knowledge in present and future. © 2017 Meena, Gupta, Swapnil, Zehra, Dubey and Upadhyay.
Antagonistic assessment of Trichoderma spp. by producing volatile and non-volatile compounds against different fungal pathogens
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2017) Mukesh Meena; Prashant Swapnil; Andleeb Zehra; Manish Kumar Dubey; R.S. Upadhyay
Trichoderma spp. are well-known biological agents that have significant antagonistic activity against several plant pathogenic fungi. In the present study, Trichoderma spp. were tested in vitro for their antagonistic activity against different spp. of Fusarium and Alternaria viz. Alternaria alternata, A. brassicae, A. solani, Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani using dual plate assay and by the production of volatile and non-volatile compounds. The results obtained revealed that Trichoderma harzianum and T. viride effectively inhibited the growth and spore production of different spp. of Fusarium and Alternaria. The highest growth inhibition was found in A. alternata 62.50% and 60.00% by non-volatile compounds of T. harzianum and T. viride, respectively. Similarly, the volatile compounds inhibit the maximum growth of A. alternata 40.00% and 35.00% by T. harzianum and T. viride, respectively. Volatile and non-volatile compounds of Trichoderma spp. were analysed by GC-MS technique and the properties of distinguished compounds showed antifungal, antimicrobial and antibiotic activities. Volatile compounds of T. harzianum and T. viride showed highest percent abundance for glacial acetic acid (45.32%) and propyl-benzene (41.75%), respectively. In case of non-volatile compounds, T. harzianum and T. viride showed D-Glucose, 6-O-α-D-galactopyranosyl- (38.45%) and 17-Octadecynoic acid (36.23%), respectively. The results of present study confirmed that T. harzianum can be used as a promising biological control agent against Alternaria and Fusarium spp. that cause diseases in various vegetables and crops. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Beneficial microbes for disease suppression and plant growth promotion
(Springer Singapore, 2017) Mukesh Meena; Prashant Swapnil; Andleeb Zehra; Mohd Aamir; Manish Kumar Dubey; Jyoti Goutam; R.S. Upadhyay
Plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) constitute the microbes that are intricately associated with the plant system and may consist of rhizospheric bacteria, fungi, mycorrhiza, endophytic fungi, actinomycetes, or those having the mutualistic relationship or nonsymbiotic relationship with plants. One of the most remarkable features of these microbes is the adoption of certain ecological niches or may be occupied with multiple niches at a time in the soil ecosystem that makes way for other species to establish the mutual interactions (physical or biochemical) with other microbes (bipartite) or with plants (tripartite). The plant growth promotion by these microbes involves common mechanisms such as nitrogen fixation, siderophore production, phytohormone production, solubilization of mineral phosphates and secretion of novel secondary metabolites having positive effect on plant health. Some beneficial fungi have been found to promote plant growth through increased photosynthetic rate with improved mineral use efficiency and nutrient uptake, as inoculating these microbes with plants lead into increased chlorophyll content and biomass. These indigenous microbes have been also reported to counteract the different abiotic and biotic stress conditions. The mutual interaction observed between beneficial fungi and pathogenic microbes has been investigated at microscopic level which involves certain physical changes such as coiling of beneficial hyphae around the pathogenic hyphae and some cellular changes such as dissolution of host cytoplasm or secretion of antimicrobial compounds or lytic enzymes in the nearby localities that check the growth and reproduction of pathogenic species. The comprehensive knowledge of the functional mechanism of plant growth promotion by these microbes will help to develop strategies against damages covered by various abiotic and biotic stress conditions, and therefore will help in increasing the agricultural production at a global scale. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017. All rights are reserved.
Biphasic ROS accumulation and programmed cell death in a cyanobacterium exposed to salinity (NaCl and Na2SO4)
(Elsevier B.V., 2017) Prashant Swapnil; Amarish Kumar Yadav; Saurabh Srivastav; Naveen K Sharma; Saripella Srikrishna; Ashwani K Rai
High salinity increases antioxidative activities in plants; however, their significance for overall plant salt tolerance remains to be established. This work provided in vivo evidence of salinity induced biphasic reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation evoking oxidative stress in the cyanobacterium Anabaena fertilissima. First, a transient increase in ROS (intense and short-lived) was observed within 5 min of salt exposure, which peaked within 15 min and reached basal level by 2 h. This was followed by a second relatively long-lived and low magnitude ROS accumulation that started at 4 h of salt stress, attained its maximal at 6 h, followed by a gradual decline but did not attain the basal level by the end of experimentation (12 h). Phase I ROS accumulation timing corresponded to the reaction of cyanobacterial cells to the salt stress, while altered photosynthetic and respiratory parameters corresponded with the phase II ROS generation. Relatively lower magnitude of ROS generation during phase II may be attributed to the rapid activation of robust antioxidative systems in cyanobacteria. Consequently, ROS generation lead to the activation of programmed cell death (PCD) undergoing various apoptotic stages such as externalization of phosphatidylserine, DNA laddering and loss of plasma membrane integrity. A. fertilissima exposed to salt in the presence of SO4¯ was relatively better equipped to deal with salt stress. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
Effect on lycopene, β-carotene, ascorbic acid and phenolic content in tomato fruits infected by Alternaria alternata and its toxins (TeA, AOH and AME)
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2017) Mukesh Meena; Andleeb Zehra; Prashant Swapnil; Manish Kumar Dubey; Chandra Bali Patel; R.S. Upadhyay
Tomato is considered as one of the most important sources of nutrients such as lycopene, β-carotene, flavonoids, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and hydroxyl-cinnamic acid derivatives. The quality and quantity of nutrients in tomato fruits were decreased during the severe infection of Alternaria alternata. The present study deals with the estimation of lycopene, β-carotene, phenolic and ascorbic acid content in tomato fruits which were infected with A. alternata and its toxins such as tenuazonic acid (TeA), alternariol (AOH) and alternariol monomethyl ether (AME). The lycopene, β-carotene, ascorbic acid and phenolic content were found lowest in pathogen-infected fruits i.e. (0.66 ± 0.03 mg/g), (0.14 ± 0.01 mg/g), (1.89 ± 0.2 mg/g) and (0.58 ± 0.05 mg/g), respectively, followed by toxins-treated samples as compared to the control. The results concluded that A. alternata mostly affects the nutritional values of tomato fruits due to the combined effect of the toxins. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Efficiency of microbial bio-agents as elicitors in plant defense mechanism under biotic stress: A review
(Elsevier Ltd, 2021) Andleeb Zehra; Namita Anant Raytekar; Mukesh Meena; Prashant Swapnil
Numerous harmful microorganisms and insect pests have the ability to cause plant infections or damage, which is mostly controlled by toxic chemical agents. These chemical compounds and their derivatives exhibit hazardous effects on habitats and human life too. Hence, there's a need to develop novel, more effective and safe bio-control agents. A variety of microbes such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi possess a great potential to fight against phytopathogens and thus can be used as bio-control agents instead of harmful chemical compounds. These naturally occurring microorganisms are applied to the plants in order to control phytopathogens. Moreover, practicing them appropriately for agriculture management can be a way towards a sustainable approach. The MBCAs follow various modes of action and act as elicitors where they induce a signal to activate plant defense mechanisms against a variety of pathogens. MBCAs control phytopathogens and help in disease suppression through the production of enzymes, antimicrobial compounds, antagonist activity involving hyper-parasitism, induced resistance, competitive inhibition, etc. Efficient recognition of pathogens and prompt defensive response are key factors of induced resistance in plants. This resistance phenomenon is pertaining to a complex cascade that involves an increased amount of defensive proteins, salicylic acid (SA), or induction of signaling pathways dependent on plant hormones. Although, there's a dearth of information about the exact mechanism of plant-induced resistance, the studies conducted at the physiological, biochemical and genetic levels. These studies tried to explain a series of plant defensive responses triggered by bio-control agents that may enhance the defensive capacity of plants. Several natural and recombinant microorganisms are commercially available as bio-control agents that mainly include strains of Bacillus, Pseudomonads and Trichoderma. However, the complete understanding of microbial bio-control agents and their interactions at cellular and molecular levels will facilitate the screening of effective and eco-friendly bio-agents, thereby increasing the scope of MBCAs. This article is a comprehensive review that highlights the importance of microbial agents as elicitors in the activation and regulation of plant defense mechanisms in response to a variety of pathogens. © 2021 The Author(s)
Endophytic Nanotechnology: An Approach to Study Scope and Potential Applications
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2021) Mukesh Meena; Andleeb Zehra; Prashant Swapnil; Harish; Avinash Marwal; Garima Yadav; Priyankaraj Sonigra
Nanotechnology has become a very advanced and popular form of technology with huge potentials. Nanotechnology has been very well explored in the fields of electronics, automobiles, construction, medicine, and cosmetics, but the exploration of nanotecnology’s use in agriculture is still limited. Due to climate change, each year around 40% of crops face abiotic and biotic stress; with the global demand for food increasing, nanotechnology is seen as the best method to mitigate challenges in disease management in crops by reducing the use of chemical inputs such as herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides. The use of these toxic chemicals is potentially harmful to humans and the environment. Therefore, using NPs as fungicides/ bactericides or as nanofertilizers, due to their small size and high surface area with high reactivity, reduces the problems in plant disease management. There are several methods that have been used to synthesize NPs, such as physical and chemical methods. Specially, we need ecofriendly and nontoxic methods for the synthesis of NPs. Some biological organisms like plants, algae, yeast, bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi have emerged as superlative candidates for the biological synthesis of NPs (also considered as green synthesis). Among these biological methods, endophytic microorganisms have been widely used to synthesize NPs with low metallic ions, which opens a new possibility on the edge of biological nanotechnology. In this review, we will have discussed the different methods of synthesis of NPs, such as top-down, bottom-up, and green synthesis (specially including endophytic microorganisms) methods, their mechanisms, different forms of NPs, such as magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO-NPs), copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs), chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs), β-d-glucan nanoparticles (GNPs), and engineered nanoparticles (quantum dots, metalloids, nonmetals, carbon nanomaterials, dendrimers, and liposomes), and their molecular approaches in various aspects. At the molecular level, nanoparticles, such as mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) and RNA-interference molecules, can also be used as molecular tools to carry genetic material during genetic engineering of plants. In plant disease management, NPs can be used as biosensors to diagnose the disease. © Copyright © 2021 Meena, Zehra, Swapnil, Harish, Marwal, Yadav and Sonigra.
Endophytic Alcaligenes faecalis mediated redesigning of host defense itinerary against Sclerotium rolfsii through induction of phenolics and antioxidant enzymes
(Academic Press Inc., 2020) Shatrupa Ray; Prashant Swapnil; Prachi Singh; Surendra Singh; Birinchi Kumar Sarma; Harikesh Bahadur Singh
Endophytic microbes intricately modulate host defense pathways upon challenge with any form of environmental stress. In the current study, endophytic Alcaligenes faecalis treated okra plants were found to exhibit significant resistance to cell-lysis and disintegration upon infection with Sclerotium rolfsii. Apart from the morphological amendments, a systemic induction in phenolic content was observed in the endophyte treated hosts, such as that of gallic, cinnamic, synaptic, vanillic, ferulic, t-chlorogenic and gentisic acid as well as rutin, quercetin and kaempferol. Simultaneously, an upregulation of peroxidase (PO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) was observed in the endophyte treated host leaf tissues along with significant lignification at the collar regions. Though similar number of isoforms of PO and SOD were observed in the endophyte treated plants and uninoculated control yet a higher intensity of the former suggests activation of defense pathways due to endophytic colonization. Thus this study may provide a thorough comprehension of the correlation among various defense pathways occurring simultaneously in planta upon endophyte treatment which particularly protect the host from S. rolfsii infection. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.
Enhanced protection of tomato against Fusarium wilt through biopriming with Trichoderma harzianum
(Elsevier B.V., 2023) Andleeb Zehra; Mohd Aamir; Manish K. Dubey; Waquar Akhtar Ansari; Mukesh Meena; Prashant Swapnil; R.S. Upadhyay; Mohammad Ajmal Ali; Abdullah Ahmed Al-Ghamdi; Joongku Lee
Objective: Microbial priming represents an adaptive strategy to enhance the plant defense against subsequent challenges incited by pathogenic microbes. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of priming with Trichoderma harzianum (Th) on the induced resistance potential of tomato after challenged with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol) pathogen. Methods: This work demonstrated antioxidative and defense related enzyme activities and qRT-PCR to study the resistance mechanisms of tomato plants bioprimed with T. harzianum against Fol pathogen. Result: Microbial biopriming with T. harzianum resulted into enhanced expression of tomato defense-related genes and was accompanied by increased antioxidative enzymic activities. The study reported that the T. harzianum primed plants showed 2.71-fold higher SOD than control and 1.34-fold (Fol + Th) higher SOD activity compared to Fol challenged plants. In contrast, Fol + Th treated showed 5.87-fold and 1.34-fold higher CAT enzyme activity as compared to control and pathogen exposed plants. T. harzianum bioprimed plants noted 1.47- and 11.47-fold enhanced PPO activity as compared to Fol challenged and controls, respectively. PAL and PO activities were also found higher in T. harzianum primed plants. The qRT-PCR revealed that expression of defense related gene showed higher up-regulation in T. harzianum primed plants as compared to pathogen challenged plants. As compared to control, Fol + Th treated plants also showed higher up-regulation of all the studied genes. Conclusion: The study concluded T. harzianum priming aggravates the plant defense system against the Fol challenged condition and accompanied by higher expression of defense related genes and increased antioxidative activities against subsequent Fol attack. © 2022 The Authors
Evaluation of morpho-physiological growth parameters of tomato in response to Cd induced toxicity and characterization of metal sensitive NRAMP3 transporter protein
(Elsevier B.V., 2018) Mukesh Meena; Mohd Aamir; Vikas Kumar; Prashant Swapnil; R.S. Upadhyay
Cadmium (Cd) is a non essential and toxic heavy metal that gets incorporated in the soil ecosystem through several anthropogenic activities. The Cd contaminated soils might have devastating affects on seed germination, plant growth and development. In the present work, a comparative evaluation was made to determine and optimize the detrimental level of accumulated toxic Cd metal in the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum; CO-3 variety). The perturbed morpho-physiological, biochemical alterations and molecular responses following the Cd induced stress were found to maximum at 250 μM Cd with having the highest expression of LeNRAMP3 gene. The oxidative burst induced and cell death was visualized through histochemical analysis using Evans blue (cell death) and DAB staining (H2O2 accumulation). The structural modelling of metal transporter protein done through homology modelling was found to acquire typical helical configuration, and revealed the potential active site residues involved in metal chelation. The function of LeNRAMP3 was deduced based on the functional annotation of protein AtNRAMP3. The functional signaling network and evolutionary relationships for LeNRAMP3 were explored and predicted based on comparative genomics and proteomic studies using the interactome pathways available for AtNRAMP3. The study revealed that LeNRAMP3 metal transporters are activily involved in Cd translocation from root to leaves of tomato and sensitive at 250 μM Cd concentration in the tomato plants. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Functional characterization of microbes and their association with unwanted substance for wastewater treatment processes
(Elsevier Ltd, 2023) Prashant Swapnil; Laishram Amarjit Singh; Chandan Mandal; Abhishek Sahoo; Farida Batool; Anuradha; Mukesh Meena; Pritee Kumari; Harish; Andleeb Zehra
Nowadays, microorganisms can be used to eliminate a variety of pollutants such as toxic metal ions from wastewater. These emergences of harmful elements in wastewater, high-priced cultivation of microbes and technical hitches in industrial scale production appeared as main challenges for thriving coupling of microbes with wastewater. These microbes serve as potential sorbents by following suitable adsorption mechanisms. There are some photobioreactors have been also mentioned in this review which is based on microbial biofilm and emerged as an alternative technology to predictable photosynthetic systems for treatment of wastewater based on biomass production at low cost. Bioremediation using different microbes showed contrast results to remove heavy metals from wastewater. Microorganism such as Nostoc sp., Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus lentulus and Aspergillus niger remediate 99.6, 99.89, 99.7 and 98 % of Pb, Cr, Cu and Ni, respectively. In this review, mechanistic approaches and distinct pathways of the microbes for removal of various inorganic and organic compounds from wastewater have been methodically discussed. We have also discussed some major commercial production challenges such as techno-economic feasibility genetic engineering research and biorefinery approach. Overall the review discussed the microbial biodiversity in wastewater and their role in remediation of wastewater and their ability to be a potent candidate headed for sustainable industrial wastewater treatment applications through different approaches such as phytoremediation and bioremediation. This article provides valuable insights into multiple aspects of environmental biotechnology, including photobioreactors, metal uptake capacity of microorganisms, heavy metal contamination and its effects and bioremediation using molecular approaches and wastewater treatment through phytoremediation. Moreover, it contributes to our understanding of these topics and can help in the development of sustainable solutions for environmental remediation and pollution control in wastewater though microorganisms. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd
Harnessing weedy rice as functional food and source of novel traits for crop improvement
(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2024) Ingudam Bhupenchandra; Sunil Kumar Chongtham; Ayam Gangarani; Pranab Dutta; Elangbam Lamalakshmi; Sansuta Mohanty; Anil K. Choudhary; Anup Das; Konsam Sarika; Sumit Kumar; Yumnam Sonika; Diana Sagolsem; Y. Rupert Anand; Dawa Dolma Bhutia; M. Victoria; S. Vinodh; Chongtham Tania; Adhikarimayum Dhanachandra Sharma; Lipa Deb; Manas Ranjan Sahoo; Chandra Shekhar Seth; Prashant Swapnil; Mukesh Meena
A relative of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.), weedy or red rice (Oryza spp.) is currently recognized as the dominant weed, leading to a drastic loss of yield of cultivated rice due to its highly competitive abilities like producing more tillers, panicles, and biomass with better nutrient uptake. Due to its high nutritional value, antioxidant properties (anthocyanin and proanthocyanin), and nutrient absorption ability, weedy rice is gaining immense research attentions to understand its genetic constitution to augment future breeding strategies and to develop nutrition-rich functional foods. Consequently, this review focuses on the unique gene source of weedy rice to enhance the cultivated rice for its crucial features like water use efficiency, abiotic and biotic stress tolerance, early flowering, and the red pericarp of the seed. It explores the debating issues on the origin and evolution of weedy rice, including its high diversity, signalling aspects, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping under stress conditions, the intricacy of the mechanism in the expression of the gene flow, and ecological challenges of nutrient removal by weedy rice. This review may create a foundation for future researchers to understand the gene flow between cultivated crops and weedy traits and support an improved approach for the applicability of several models in predicting multiomics variables. © 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Immune signaling networks in plant-pathogen interactions
(Elsevier, 2023) Andleeb Zehra; Mukesh Meena; Prashant Swapnil
Plants and their pathogens are in a constant coevolutionary fight for dominance. The consequences of these interactions are particularly important for human activities as they may have significant implications for agricultural systems. Plants use a number of cell-surface and intracellular immunological receptors to detect and respond to a variety of immunogenic signals associated with pathogen infection. Plants have a remarkable ability to identify pathogens using both conserved and varied pathogen elicitors, and modify the defense response by secreting virulence effector chemicals. The recent confluence of molecular studies of plant immunity and pathogen invasion tactics has revealed a more comprehensive picture of the plant-pathogen relationship from the perspective of both species. Here, we review the activation of different immune receptors and outline our current understanding of their signaling pathways. We also go over how different receptors are grouped into networks and what this means for the integration of complicated threat signals into appropriate defense outputs. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Isolation, characterization and toxicological potential of Alternaria-mycotoxins (TeA, AOH and AME) in different Alternaria species from various regions of India
(Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Mukesh Meena; Prashant Swapnil; R.S. Upadhyay
Alternaria species produce various sorts of toxic metabolites during their active growth and causes severe diseases in many plants by limiting their productivity. These toxic metabolites incorporate various mycotoxins comprising of dibenzo-α-pyrone and some tetramic acid derivatives. In this study, we have screened out total 48 isolates of Alternaria from different plants belonging to different locations in India, on the basis of their pathogenic nature. Pathogenicity testing of these 48 strains on susceptible tomato variety (CO-3) showed 27.08% of the strains were highly pathogenic, 35.41% moderately pathogenic and 37.5% were less pathogenic. Phylogenetic analysis showed the presence of at least eight evolutionary cluster of the pathogen. Toxins (TeA, AOH and AME) were isolated, purified on the basis of column chromatography and TLC, and further confirmed by the HPLC-UV chromatograms using standards. The final detection of toxins was done by the LC-MS/MS analysis by their mass/charge ratio. The present study develops an approach to classify the toxicogenic effect of each of the individual mycotoxins on tomato plant and focuses their differential susceptibility to develop disease symptoms. This study represents the report of the natural occurrence and distribution of Alternaria toxins in various plants from India. © 2017 The Author(s).
Molecular interaction of nitrate transporter proteins with recombinant glycinebetaine results in efficient nitrate uptake in the cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120
(Public Library of Science, 2021) Prashant Swapnil; Mukesh Meena; Ashwani K. Rai
Nitrate transport in cyanobacteria is mediated by ABC-transporter, which consists of a highly conserved ATP binding cassette (ABC) and a less conserved transmembrane domain (TMD). Under salt stress, recombinant glycinebetaine (GB) not only protected the rate of nitrate transport in transgenic Anabaena PCC 7120, rather stimulated the rate by interacting with the ABC-transporter proteins. In silico analyses revealed that nrtA protein consisted of 427 amino acids, the majority of which were hydrophobic and contained a Tat (twin-arginine translocation) signal profile of 34 amino acids (1–34). The nrtC subunit of 657 amino acids contained two hydrophobic distinct domains; the N-terminal (5–228 amino acids), which was 59% identical to nrtD (the ATP-binding subunit) and the C-terminal (268–591), 28.2% identical to nrtA, suggesting C-terminal as a solute binding domain and N-terminal as ATP binding domain. Subunit nrtD consisted of 277 amino acids and its N-terminal (21–254) was an ATP binding motif. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that nitrate-ABC-transporter proteins are highly conserved among the cyanobacterial species, though variation existed in sequences resulting in several subclades. Nostoc PCC 7120 was very close to Anabaena variabilis ATCC 29413, Anabaena sp. 4–3 and Anabaena sp. CA = ATCC 33047. On the other, Nostoc spp. NIES-3756 and PCC 7524 were often found in the same subclade suggesting more work before referring it to Anabaena PCC 7120 or Nostoc PCC 7120. The molecular interaction of nitrate with nrtA was hydrophilic, while hydrophobic with nrtC and nrtD. GB interaction with nrtACD was hydrophobic and showed higher affinity compared to nitrate. Copyright: © 2021 Swapnil et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Multifarious Responses of Forest Soil Microbial Community Toward Climate Change
(Springer, 2023) Mukesh Meena; Garima Yadav; Priyankaraj Sonigra; Adhishree Nagda; Tushar Mehta; Prashant Swapnil; Harish; Avinash Marwal; Sumit Kumar
Forest soils are a pressing subject of worldwide research owing to the several roles of forests such as carbon sinks. Currently, the living soil ecosystem has become dreadful as a consequence of several anthropogenic activities including climate change. Climate change continues to transform the living soil ecosystem as well as the soil microbiome of planet Earth. The majority of studies have aimed to decipher the role of forest soil bacteria and fungi to understand and predict the impact of climate change on soil microbiome community structure and their ecosystem in the environment. In forest soils, microorganisms live in diverse habitats with specific behavior, comprising bulk soil, rhizosphere, litter, and deadwood habitats, where their communities are influenced by biotic interactions and nutrient accessibility. Soil microbiome also drives multiple crucial steps in the nutrient biogeochemical cycles (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur cycles). Soil microbes help in the nitrogen cycle through nitrogen fixation during the nitrogen cycle and maintain the concentration of nitrogen in the atmosphere. Soil microorganisms in forest soils respond to various effects of climate change, for instance, global warming, elevated level of CO2, drought, anthropogenic nitrogen deposition, increased precipitation, and flood. As the major burning issue of the globe, researchers are facing the major challenges to study soil microbiome. This review sheds light on the current scenario of knowledge about the effect of climate change on living soil ecosystems in various climate-sensitive soil ecosystems and the consequences for vegetation-soil-climate feedbacks. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PGPR-mediated induction of systemic resistance and physiochemical alterations in plants against the pathogens: Current perspectives
(Wiley-VCH Verlag, 2020) Mukesh Meena; Prashant Swapnil; Kumari Divyanshu; Sunil Kumar; Harish; Yashoda Nandan Tripathi; Andleeb Zehra; Avinash Marwal; Ram Sanmukh Upadhyay
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are diverse groups of plant-associated microorganisms, which can reduce the severity or incidence of disease during antagonism among bacteria and soil-borne pathogens, as well as by influencing a systemic resistance to elicit defense response in host plants. An amalgamation of various strains of PGPR has improved the efficacy by enhancing the systemic resistance opposed to various pathogens affecting the crop. Many PGPR used with seed treatment causes structural improvement of the cell wall and physiological/biochemical changes leading to the synthesis of proteins, peptides, and chemicals occupied in plant defense mechanisms. The major determinants of PGPR-mediated induced systemic resistance (ISR) are lipopolysaccharides, lipopeptides, siderophores, pyocyanin, antibiotics 2,4-diacetylphoroglucinol, the volatile 2,3-butanediol, N-alkylated benzylamine, and iron-regulated compounds. Many PGPR inoculants have been commercialized and these inoculants consequently aid in the improvement of crop growth yield and provide effective reinforcement to the crop from disease, whereas other inoculants are used as biofertilizers for native as well as crops growing at diverse extreme habitat and exhibit multifunctional plant growth-promoting attributes. A number of applications of PGPR formulation are needed to maintain the resistance levels in crop plants. Several microarray-based studies have been done to identify the genes, which are associated with PGPR-induced systemic resistance. Identification of these genes associated with ISR-mediating disease suppression and biochemical changes in the crop plant is one of the essential steps in understanding the disease resistance mechanisms in crops. Therefore, in this review, we discuss the PGPR-mediated innovative methods, focusing on the mode of action of compounds authorized that may be significant in the development contributing to enhance plant growth, disease resistance, and serve as an efficient bioinoculants for sustainable agriculture. The review also highlights current research progress in this field with a special emphasis on challenges, limitations, and their environmental and economic advantages. © 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH
Physiological responses to salt stress of salt-adapted and directly salt (NaCl and NaCl+Na2SO4 mixture)-stressed cyanobacterium Anabaena fertilissima
(Springer-Verlag Wien, 2018) Prashant Swapnil; Ashwani K. Rai
Soil salinity in nature is generally mixed type; however, most of the studies on salt toxicity are performed with NaCl and little is known about sulfur type of salinity (Na2SO4). Present study discerns the physiologic mechanisms responsible for salt tolerance in salt-adapted Anabaena fertilissima, and responses of directly stressed parent cells to NaCl and NaCl+Na2SO4 mixture. NaCl at 500 mM was lethal to the cyanobacterium, whereas salt-adapted cells grew luxuriantly. Salinity impaired gross photosynthesis, electron transport activities, and respiration in parent cells, but not in the salt-adapted cells, except a marginal increase in PSI activity. Despite higher Na+ concentration in the salt mixture, equimolar NaCl appeared more inhibitive to growth. Sucrose and trehalose content and antioxidant activities were maximal in 250 mM NaCl-treated cells, followed by salt mixture and was almost identical in salt-adapted (exposed to 500 mm NaCl) and control cells, except a marginal increase in ascorbate peroxidase activity and an additional fourth superoxide dismutase isoform. Catalase isoform of 63 kDa was induced only in salt-stressed cells. Salinity increased the uptake of intracellular Na+ and Ca2+ and leakage of K+ in parent cells, while cation level in salt-adapted cells was comparable to control. Though there was differential increase in intracellular Ca2+ under different salt treatments, ratio of Ca2+/Na+ remained the same. It is inferred that stepwise increment in the salt concentration enabled the cyanobacterium to undergo priming effect and acquire robust and efficient defense system involving the least energy. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.