Browsing by Author "Swati Mishra"

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Cyanobacterial imprints in diversity and phylogeny
(Elsevier, 2020) Swati Mishra
Cyanobacteria are known as architects of Earth’s atmosphere. The global importance of cyanobacteria is well established because of their worldwide distribution and abundance in the myriad possible niche as well as their contribution to atmospheric oxygen. In spite of a long evolutionary history of cyanobacteria, only a fraction of their diversity has been addressed in recent times through molecular methods. The classical taxonomy emphasized on the morphological identification of cyanobacteria. Although it provides critical information such as accurate taxonomic identification and quantitative data, the process is relatively time-consuming and requires experienced taxonomists. Also, certain noteworthy phenotypic changes, which may occur in natural assemblages as well as in laboratory environments,make the morphological identification often more challenging even to experienced taxonomists. In recent years, several valuable phenotypic, especially ultramorphological, features, such as cell wall perforations, have been confirmed to be stable and reliable taxonomic characters. To reconstruct evolutionary relationships among cyanobacterial species, a specific set of marker genes usually 16S rDNA, rpoB, phycocyanin locus, internal transcribed spacer region, and nif genes, have been used widely in cyanobacteria. These specific target sequences represent variations and allow identification of similarities or dissimilarities in organisms. Therefore the molecular approaches applied, with classical single and multilocus phylogenetic taxonomy methods, on the one hand, and the rapid identification of cyanobacterial diversity within environmental samples, on the other, have been investigated with high-throughput next-generation sequencing methods, without considering their taxonomic status in depth. Moreover, the molecular techniques, such as DNA barcoding, metagenomic analysis, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), have also been applied for the identification and quantification of cyanobacteria. In the present scenario, completely sequenced genomes of several cyanobacterial species have uncut information about the cell. Therefore taxonomists have suggested that phylogenetic reconstructions should be considered more reliable to resolve phylogenetic interest, provided they are based on entire genomes. A multitude of taxonomists have used a varied number of genes for analysis, but very few have tried to combine data into a unified data set for a comprehensive analysis. In this context, combined analysis (analysis of extensive concatenated data set from several single-gene data sets) has been suggested in cyanobacteria, which up until recently has been applied only intermittently. © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
India-China Dialogues Beyond Borders: Cultural, Social Economic and Political Perspectives
(Springer, 2023) Swati Mishra; Ranjana Sheel
This book is a collection of contributions related to India–China relationship beyond the issue of borders. It focuses on those elements that play important role in defining, continuing, and strengthening the interaction between the two countries. In doing so, it explores roles of language and linguistics, history and culture, politics and economy, and philosophy and sociology that mediated ancient and modern interfaces. The book observes the role of silk route in the economic, political, and scholarly exchanges between ancient civilizations and in the movement of Buddhism to China and other Asian nations. The contributors highlight how the two countries have co-existed in various eras and tackled issues of conflict and cooperation during lows and highs in the past and present. It pays special attention to the role of language and linguistic competence as an important component of socio-cultural comprehension of a society and introduces major innovations and challenges inteaching and learning the Chinese language. The wide-ranging contributions make the book an attractive resource for academics, think-tanks, diplomats, and researchers working on Asian/India–China studies across the globe. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.
Preface
(Springer, 2023) Swati Mishra; Ranjana Sheel
[No abstract available]
Protein fingerprinting may serve as a complementary tool for the phylogenetic classification of heterocystous (Nostoc, Anabaena, Cylindrospermum, Aulosira and Tolypothrix) Cyanobacteria
(2010) Swati Mishra; Poonam Bhargava; Rashmi Rai; Yogesh Mishra; Teresa Zotta; Eugenio Parente; Lal Chand Rai
A combination of morphology, SDS-PAGE, 16S rRNA gene and the fuzzy approach has been used for the first time to attest the phylogenetic affiliation of the cyanobacterial species such as Nostoc, Anabaena, Cylindrospermum, Tolypothrix and Aulosira. The idea was to ascertain as how far SDS-PAGE analysis and morphological taxonomy work coherently and serve as a reliable tool, compatible with 16S rRNA gene based classification of cyanobacteria. Intermingling of Nostoc and Anabaena species in SDS-PAGE and 16S rRNA gene indicates that the two taxa are not clearly separated at the genetic level and may be polyphyletic in origin. In contrast to this, clustering of Tolypothrix and Aulosira species in the same clade attests the taxonomic coherence of these species. However, Cylindrospermum showed greater phylogenetic relatedness with Anabaena strain in all phylogenetic analyses. Despite a few minor incongruities, protein fingerprint depicted greater similarity with 16S rRNA gene as compared to morphological taxonomy. Thus protein fingerprinting developed using fuzzy approach appears to be more compatible with 16S rRNA gene analysis than morphological taxonomy in discriminating cyanobacteria up to the species level. Copyright Internet Scientific Publications, LLC., 1996 to 2010.
Soil Algae as a Feedstock for Biofuel Production and Value-Added Products
(Springer Nature, 2025) Vijayata Singh; Swati Mishra; Deepjyoti Singh
Microalgae are a sustainable and economical source of biofuels and other valuable products. Algae are autotrophic organisms that can survive in aquatic or terrestrial forms. They are fast-growing microorganisms with a high potential for converting CO2 from the atmosphere into valuable products such as polysaccharides, fats, and other bioactive metabolites. Fuel derived from algae is named “third-generation biofuel,” which has several critical positives over plant-based (first) and animal waste feedstock (second). Biofuel companies are currently seeking to increase the commercial algal product and pursuing several engineering and biotechnological approaches to design an economic system for proper algal growth. However, microalgal research and production are mainly confined to aquatic forms, with specific limitations like water contamination and the high cost of dewatering feedstock during processing. Overexploitation of aquatic algae also leads to ecosystem imbalance as aquatic algae are the primary producers. Soil algae can be used as an alternative to counterbalance the usage of aquatic algae. The present chapter compiles some terrestrial algae that can be used as potential biomass to produce biofuels and various bioactive products. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.
Weighted morphology: a new approach towards phylogenetic assessment of Nostocales (Cyanobacteria)
(Springer-Verlag Wien, 2015) Swati Mishra; Poonam Bhargava; Siba Prasad Adhikary; Anubhav Pradeep; Lal Chand Rai
The classification of order Nostocales (Cyanobacteria) and inter relationships of morphologically similar taxa is still debatable due to ever changing morphological features. No attempt has been made to improve the morphological taxonomy despite the fact that it is the morphology that represents the totality of genes. To test the validity of morphological taxonomy and fine tune the phylogenetic relationships within the order Nostocales a new weighted morphology approach was applied by using 76 isolates and their 16S rRNA gene sequences. Further, the study was extended with morphological data set of the remaining 232 taxa for which no molecular data are yet available. Trichome aggregation, heterocyst shape, and akinete shape are suggested as important and stable features for identification. At 30 % weight assignment to the selected morphological characters, morphological taxonomy found 36 % compatible with 16S tree. Adding weight to the morphological characters considerably improved the congruence between the morphology and 16S rRNA-based phylogenetic trees of the order Nostocales. When the weighting procedure was extended to all the Nostocalean members irrespective of molecular data availability, it was found that Nostoc sphaericum and Nostoc microscopicum closely assembled in a single clade. Closer arrangement of Aulosira and Nodularia represent the subfamily aulosirae (Bornet and Flahault Ann Sci Nat Bot 7:223–224, 1888) while taxonomic affiliation of Cylindrospermum with Nostoc, Anabaena, and Raphidiopsis representing the subfamily anabaenae (Bornet and Flahault Ann Sci Nat Bot 7:223–224, 1888) was resolved. © 2014, Springer-Verlag Wien.