Antioxidant activity of tomato has been extensively studied but only in context of Lycopene. This study relates the activity of antioxidant enzymes (Polyphenol Oxidase and Catalase) along with Lycopene in Lycopersicon esculentum Mill at different growth stages of (Seedling, Flowering and Fruiting). Polyphenol Oxidase, Catalase (both partially purified) and Lycopene were estimated spectrophotometrically and presence of Lycopene was further confirmed through Thin Layer and High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography. Polyphenol Oxidase and Catalase could be partially purified with 2.61 (22.55% yield) and 2.11 (62.3% yield) fold purification respectively via ammonium sulphate precipitation respectively. Antioxidant enzymes showed maximum production at the seedling stage (Polyphenol Oxidases: 197.12U/ml and Catalase: 0.037U/ml) where Lycopene production was least; while Lycopene production was maximum in the fruiting stage (259.49mg/kg of fresh weigh) where enzyme activities were negligible. HPTLC analysis also supported the above findings. Linear Regression analysis of Lycopene, PPO and CAT were performed in which r (correlation coefficient) value for Lycopene and PPO was -0.9279108012 and for Lycopene and CAT was -0.7316992009; which indicated strong negative correlation between Lycopene and both the enzymes. It can be concluded that Antioxidant enzymes play their share at young stages while Lycopene at mature stage in antioxidant network of tomato.

Attempts were made to store the carotene rich pumpkin powder at 30 + 2°C & 62+5% RH and 7 + 1°C & 80+5% RH in aluminum laminated flexible pouch for the period of 180 days. The shelf life was determined on the basis chemical and microbiological analysis of stored powder at an interval of every 15 days. As the storage period was increased from 0 to 180 days, the carotene retention was found to decrease. More carotene could be retained (82.95%) when pumpkin powder was stored at 7°C as compared to 52.28% retention at 30°C when the stored for 180 days. Standard plate count of pumpkin powder stored at 7°C was found to be only 440 cfu / g at the end of 180 days of storage. Similarly, yeast and mold count observed at the end of 180 days storage was only 7 cfu/g. Coliform was found to be absent throughout storage. Pumpkin powder was found to be more stable upto only 75 days, if stored at 30°C. However, it can be safely stored for almost 180 days, if stored at 7°C.

Objective of this research work is to utilize EST- SSR markers for fibre quality traits to generate genetic diversity between tetraploid (Gossypium hirsutum) and diploid (Gossypium herbaceum and Gossypium arboreum) cotton species at molecular level. Twenty four (24) genotypes of cotton and thirty five (35) EST SSR primers for different fibre quality traits (fibre length, Lint percentage, Boll weight and fibre strength) were taken for this study. Almost all primers reveals amplification in both diploid and tetraploid cotton species which indicates that flanking primer sequences are conserved in both genomes of cotton. Thirty one (31) EST SSR primers generate good and enormous amplicon and produced a total of four hundred seventy eight (478) sharp, similar and variable bands in all genotypes. Average number of bands amplified by each primer was 15.419. Statistical analysis for EST SSR data was conducted using software programme NTSYS pc version 2.02e and GeneAlEx. The genetic distance (GD) among the all genotypes of cotton were also analyzed and it is ranged from 0.05 to 0.71 which indicates significant diversity between all the genotypes of both tetraploid and diploid cotton species. The average observed mean heterozygosity was 0.60 and observed mean percentage of polymorphic loci was 60%.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is nutritionally, one of the most important cereal crops. Rice production is mostly reduced due to different biotic stresses. Bacterial leaf blight, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae bacteria, is one of the major biotic destructive diseases throughout the world. This disease affects the rice production because it reduces the photosynthesis by causing leaf wilting. The preferred strategy for disease management is through varietal resistance because it is not fully controlled by any chemical treatments. Gene pyramiding is the most effective strategy; in which, pyramided lines with three to four different bacterial leaf blight resistance genes have been developed in the genetic background of popular rice cultivars by using marker-assisted selection. The present study was carried out with an aim to study the molecular characterization of 30 rice genotypes for BLB resistance using RAPD and SSR markers. Overall results on the basis of clustering pattern of SSR and RAPD pooled data analysis revealed genetic similarity between some of the pyramided lines with their respective recurrent parent. Some of the SSR markers are very informative and can be useful for marker-assisted selection.

Mental retardation is a variable and heterogeneous manifestation of central nervous system dysfunction characterized by significant sub average intellectual functioning.In India the incidence of mental retardation is reported to be 2-3% of these 30% cases of severe mental retardation are genetically determined due to many reasons viz- chromosomal aberrations, X linked and subtelometric abnormalities and mutations in genes associated with nervous system function viz- TH ,COMT, MTHFR, PPP1R1B, MECP2. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene is located on chromosome number 11 and is coding for rate limiting enzyme in the synthesis of dopamine. Changes in TH gene expression or function influence the process or behavior modulated by dopamine, any mutation in TH gene modulate dopamine and its function. Catechol-o-methyl transferase (COMT) gene is located on chromosome number 22 and plays an important role in the metabolism of neurotransmitters. Low levels of COMT expression leads to mental retardation.The present study was carried out to study polymorphism in TH and COMT and its possible association with mental retardation. The detection technique includes isolation of DNA from peripheral blood of the mentally retarded patients of Surat and Anand regions of Gujarat state. DNA was isolated by standard phenol: chloroform method. PCR-RFLP was used for detection of polymorphism. Analysis of TH and COMT gene polymorphism in mentally retarded patients revealed that most observed genotype in normal as well as in mentally retarded patients is TT and HH for TH and COMT loci respectively.

The molecular study of seventeen genotypes of pigeonpea using 20 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers has been reported. A total of 179 loci were scored corresponding to an average of 8.95 loci per primer with 123 bands showing polymorphism (65.42%).Very low level of polymorphism in cultivated pigeonpeagermplasm had been earlier reported which was corroborated by many pigeonpea workers indicating the normal genetic base existing in this crop (Odenyet al. 2007). The average number of polymorphic loci obtained per primer (Assay Efficiency Index) was found to be 6.15. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.52 to 0.77 and the marker index value for pooled RAPD was found to be 11.65. A dendrogram constructed based on the UPGMA clustering method revealed two major clusters. Cluster-I comprised of 5 cultivars whichwas further differentiated into two sub-clusters. The cluster-II included remaining twelve cultivars. Genotypes that are susceptible to fusariumwilt of pigeonpeaviz., GT-1, GT-100, GT-101, GT-102 and BANAS were closely related and they formed one cluster. It also revealed that genotypes viz., AGT-2 and AVPP-1 were closely related and formed one cluster whereas viz., T-15-15, LRG-41, C-11, BDN-2 and ICPL-87 were closely related and formed another cluster. The dendogram showed that genotypes that are resistant to fusarium wilt of pigeonpeaviz., BSMR-853, WRGE-119, ICPL-87119, ICPL-84060 and ICP-8863 were related genotypes and they formed another cluster. The study reiterated that RAPD can be efficiently used for discriminating resistant and susceptible pigeonpea genotypes.

There is an increasing need to describe the growth characteristics of algae exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) because of occurrence of PAHs in lakes is known to deleteriously affect the growth of microorganisms. This study explored the chronic effect of different doses of three ring structure polycyclic hydrocarbon Acenapthene on the growth of two microalgal species and one cyanobacterial species. C. vulgaris, D. subspicatus and Scytonema sp. cultivated in the medium with different concentration of PAH and its affect was investigated during increasing 4, 8, 12 and 16 Days of exposure. The growth of Chlorella vulgaris, Desmodesmus subspicatus and Scytonema sp. was adversely affected by Acenapthene. The results indicated that the increased concentration of Acenapthene negatively impacted on chlorophyll content, carotenoids, phycobilliproteins, carbohydrate, amino acids, proteins, nitrate reductase, succinate dehydrogenase and glutamate synthetase except phenol . However, the raise in Phenol content was observed during the incubation period. Moreover, a high significance correlation (F>0.05) existed between different metabolites, pigments and enzymes which was statistically confirmed by Two Way Analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Keratins are insoluble proteins from feathers, wool, silk, collagens, elastin, horn, hair and nail. They are not easily degraded by common proteolytic enzymes like trypsin, pepsin and papain.The resistant property of these compounds are due to their disulphide bonds, hydrogen bonds, salt linkages and cross linkages and hydrophobic interactions. Actinomycetes are known to digest keratins by synthesizing specific class of extracellular enzymes called alkaline thermo stable proteases which degrade keratin into small peptides that can be utilized by cell. Alkaline protease producing thermophilic actinomycete strain was screened from hot water spring of Tulsishyam Gujarat and was identified as Saccharomonospora viridis SJ-21 on the basis of colony characters, biochemical activity, spore nature, growth patterns and pigmentation and 16 S r RNA sequencing.The partially purified protease of Saccharomonospora viridis SJ-21 and the isolate itself were employed to check feather degradation. The feathers were degraded successfully within 72h at 45ºC. The degraded samples were analyzed for release of various amino acids by HPLC- Fluorescence with post column Derivatization. The aminoacids released were tyrosine, phenylalanine, leucine, valine, cysteine, arginine, methionine, etc. S. viridis SJ-21 is found having a significant keratinolytic activity and may serve dual purpose for degradation of poultry waste and production of amino acid rich feed supplement. The protein rich, concentrated feather meal can also be used for organic farming as semi-slow release, nitrogen fertilizer.

Exopolysaccharide producing fungal cultures were screened from the soil samples collected from New Vallabh Vidyanagar, Dist. Anand, Gujarat (India). The isolates designated as SGMP1 and SGMP2 were found to be significant producers of exopolysaccharide (EPS). The present study shows optimization, characterization and certain applications of EPS produced by selected isolates. The isolates SGMP1 and SGMP2 showed a maximum production of EPS 20.5 ± 0.85 g/l and 7.5 ± 0.4 g/l respectively with supplementation of 2% glucose and starch. Yeast extract was used as a nitrogen source at a concentration of 2% (w/v). The maximum production of EPS 7.5 g/l was obtained for SGMP2.The FTIR analysis of EPS showed the presence of polysaccharides, carboxylic acids and lactone. The fungal EPS showed antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. The EPS produced by the fungal isolate showed 99 % flocculating activity and could also act as an emulsifier. Furthermore, the fungal isolates SGMP1 and SGMP2 were able to remove Al+3 and Fe+3 up to the 600 mg/l concentration which suffices the role of EPS in bioremediation of heavy metals.

The contamination of soil and water by dye containing effluents is the major and most important environmental problem. The removal of 10 different synthetic textile dyes using white rot fungal isolate AGYP-1 was investigated. The screening of decolorization using solid and liquid media demonstrated an effective removal of Reactive Red M5B by the isolate. Laccase and MnP were found to be major enzymes involved in the decolorization. The dye decolorization efficiency of the isolate was further improved by optimizing various physico-chemical parameters. The isolate was capable to decolorize 100 mg l-1 dye at pH 5.0 and 30oC under shaking condition. The supplementation of maltose (20 g l-1) and gelatine (2.5 g l-1) improved the decolorization rate by 1.6 times along with 10.28 and 18.66 times higher production of laccase and MnP. A significant decolorization of 500 mg l-1 of the dye was achieved by the isolate AGYP-1. The degradation of Reactive Red M5B was confirmed by Uv-visible spectrophotometric and HPTLC analysis. This suggests the potential application of the isolate AGYP-1 for the treatment of dye containing industrial effluents.

Azo dyes are a chief class of synthetic colorants, which are released by the majority of the textile industries. The effluents of dyes disrupt the ecosystem so removal of these dyes is major concerned by using cost-competitive and eco-friendly method. The present study was aimed to study the decolorization efficiency of the textile azo dyes by Comamonas acidovorans MTCC 3364 and optimize the environmental condition for maximum decolorization and degradation of Reactive Black B (RBB) dye. Optimization of various environmental parameters like pH and temperature was studied in which maximum decolorization was obtained at 37°C, pH 7.0 under static condition within 24 hours. The addition of co-substrates lactose and yeast extract increased the rate of decolorization. The bacterial strain was able to decolorize high concentration of RBB dye (1 g l-1) up to 8th cycle. Vanillin was added as a redox mediator which showed the highest rate of decolorization (1.062 mg l-1 h-1) and thiourea was added as an inhibitor, which showed highest inhibition (0.246 mg l-1 h-1). Incubation of dye with a non-growing (free) cells and dead cells resulted in removal of dye from the buffer, indicating the biosorption and adsorption mechanism. Immobilization cell studies revealed that activated immobilized cell preparations decolorized RBB dye up to 10 cycles showing remarkable operational stability. The degradation analysis of RBB was further confirmed by HPTLC and FTIR techniques.