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Background: Despite the exposure to arid environmental conditions across the globe ultimately hampering the sustainability of the living organism, few plant species are equipped with several unique genotypic, biochemical, and physiological features to counter such harsh conditions. Physiologically, they have evolved with reduced leaf size, spines, waxy cuticles, thick leaves, succulent hydrenchyma, sclerophyll, chloroembryo, and photosynthesis in nonfoliar and other parts. At the biochemical level, they are evolved to perform efficient photosynthesis through Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) and C4 pathways with the formation of oxaloacetic acid (Hatch-Slack pathway) instead of the C3 pathway. Additionally, comparative genomics with existing data provides ample evidence of the xerophytic plants' positive selection to adapt to the arid environment. However, adding more high-throughput sequencing of xerophyte plant species is further required for a comparative genomic study toward trait discovery related to survival. Learning from the mechanism to survive in harsh conditions could pave the way to engineer crops for future sustainable agriculture. Aim of the review: The distinct physiology of desert plants allows them to survive in harsh environments. However, the genomic composition also contributes significantly to this and requires great attention. This review emphasizes the physiological and genomic adaptation of desert plants. Other important parameters, such as desert biodiversity and photosynthetic strategy, are also discussed with recent progress in the field. Overall, this review discusses the different features of desert plants, which prepares them for harsh conditions intending to translate knowledge to engineer plant species for sustainable agriculture. Key Scientific Concepts of Review: This review comprehensively presents the physiology, molecular mechanism, and genomics of desert plants aimed towards engineering a sustainable crop.

The use of efficient biobased materials for the treatment of heavy metal-contaminated wastewater has been demonstrated to be a highly effective method. The natural adsorbent banana peduncle has a lot of potential for treating wastewater because it is renewable, inexpensive, readily available, and environmentally benign. To learn more about the possible uses of these adsorbents, we synthesized them from banana peduncles and studied their shape, crystalline structure, and functional groups. The following parameters were found to be ideal for lead biosorption in batch trials concentrating on Pb (II) removal: a pH of 5, a contact period of 120 min, particle sizes between 240 and 300 mesh, concentrations at 40 mg/L, dosages of 3 g/L, and agitation rates of 200 revolutions per min (RPM). The banana peduncle showed an amazing biosorption efficiency of 94.0 % in the results. A comparison was made between the Freundlich, Langmuir, and Temkin models to investigate the adsorption isotherms of lead (II) ions. The R2 values obtained for these models were 0.9946, 0.9769, and 0.9537, respectively. Models that were pseudo-second-order and first-order were evaluated; the latter showed a better fit. The effectiveness and affordability of banana peduncle as the best adsorbent were highlighted by desorption testing. This study shows how materials made from banana peduncles can be an effective and sustainable way to reduce heavy-metal pollution in wastewater. This paper is the first to explore the potential absorption of Pb (II) by the peduncle of bananas, based on our current understanding.

Abstract In recent decades, consumers, manufacturers, and researchers have been more interested in functional foods, which include probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics. Probiotics are live microbes that, when regulated in enough quantities, provide health benefits on the host, while the prebiotics are substrates that host microorganisms selectively use. Postbiotics are metabolites and cell-wall components that are beneficial to the host and are released by living bacteria or after lysis. Postbiotic dietary supplements are more stable than probiotics and prebiotics. Many bioactivities of postbiotics are unknown or poorly understood. Hence, this study aims to present a synopsis of the regular elements and new developments of the postbiotics including health-promoting effects, production, conceptualization of terms, bioactivities, and applications in the field of food safety and preservation. Postbiotics aid in bio preservation and the reduction of biofilm development in food due to their organic acids, bacteriocins, and other antibacterial activities. The present study examines the production of postbiotic metabolites in situ in food and the effects of external and internal food components. The antimicrobial roles, removal of biofilms, and its applications in preservation and food safety have also been discussed. This paper also explored the various aspects like manipulation of postbiotic composition in the food system and its safety measures. Graphical Abstract

Nanoscale copper oxide (CuO NPs) with diameters in the 80–150 nm range has been biosynthesized using lipopeptide biosurfactant derived from Bacillus vallismortis and characterized by XRD and FE-SEM. The CuO NPs could be introduced as nanocarrier systems for combination therapy and a potential candidate for antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-diabetic activity. The antibacterial activity of CuO NPs was studied by incorporating the nanoparticles with fluorescent antibiotic Ciprofloxacin HCL (CIP) to form CIP@CuO NPs and tracked inside HEK-293 cell lines. The MIC values of CIP@CuO NPs against 1 × 106 CFU ml−1 Pseudomonas aeruginosa was determined to be 76 µg ml−1and 69 µg ml−1 against 1 × 106 CFU ml−1 Staphylococcus aureus. The CuO NPs were conjugated with the anticancer drug Doxorubicin (DOX) to form DOX@CuONPs, improving delivery toward cancer (HeLa) cells. The intracellular uptake of the drug-loaded CuO NPs was confirmed from confocal micrographs. Finally, the in vitro anti-diabetic activity of lipopeptide-coated CuO NPs was confirmed by the inhibitory activity of α-amylase. In contrast, the in vivo anti-diabetic efficacy of CuO NPs was validated by a significant reduction in blood glucose and glutathione levels. The CuO NPs positively affected the histopathological changes of the pancreas in induced diabetic mice. Cytotoxicity testing with Zebrafish demonstrated abnormal organ development with varying viability and hatching rates at 72 and 96 hpf, with an LC50 of 45 µg/l. Aside from the various potential medicinal characteristics, the study provided valuable information on cytotoxic impact, which can be used in future investigations of their eco-toxicological impacts.