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Handwritten signatures in biometric authentication leverage unique individual characteristics for identification, offering high specificity through dynamic and static properties. However, this modality faces significant challenges from sophisticated forgery attempts, underscoring the need for enhanced security measures in common applications. To address forgery in signature-based biometric systems, integrating a forgery-resistant modality, namely, noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG), which captures unique brain activity patterns, can significantly enhance system robustness by leveraging multimodality's strengths. By combining EEG, a physiological modality, with handwritten signatures, a behavioral modality, our approach capitalizes on the strengths of both, significantly fortifying the robustness of biometric systems through this multimodal integration. In addition, EEG's resistance to replication offers a high-security level, making it a robust addition to user identification and verification. This study presents a new multimodal SignEEG v1.0 dataset based on EEG and hand-drawn signatures from 70 subjects. EEG signals and hand-drawn signatures have been collected with Emotiv Insight and Wacom One sensors, respectively. The multimodal data consists of three paradigms based on mental, & motor imagery, and physical execution: i) thinking of the signature's image, (ii) drawing the signature mentally, and (iii) drawing a signature physically. Extensive experiments have been conducted to establish a baseline with machine learning classifiers. The results demonstrate that multimodality in biometric systems significantly enhances robustness, achieving high reliability even with limited sample sizes. We release the raw, pre-processed data and easy-to-follow implementation details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene encoding enzyme based EST–SSR markers are more potent or functional marker system to evaluate astounding genetic and structural differentiation in plants. It is very useful in shaping divergences in metabolic fingerprinting, ecological interactions, conservation and adaptation among plants. Therefore, gene encoding enzyme mediated EST–SSR markers system were used presently to evaluate genetic and population structure among 48 Capsicum accessions. Total of 35 gene encoding enzyme based EST–SSR markers was used and generated 184 alleles at 35 loci with an average of 5.25 alleles per locus. The average value of polymorphic information content, marker index and discriminating power was 0.40, 0.232, and 0.216 respectively which revealed noteworthy degree of marker efficacy and their competency was further supported by primer polymorphism (93.57%) and cross transferability (44.52%). A significant genetic variability (Na = 1.249, Ne = 1.269, I = 0.247, He = 0.163, and uHe = 0.183) was identified among the Capsicum accession using EST–SSR markers. The mean value for Nei gene diversity, total species diversity (Ht), and diversity within population (Hs) were 0.277, 0.240 and 0.170 respectively. The coefficient of gene differentiation (Gst) was 0.296 indicating significant genetic differentiation within the population and Gene flow (Nm) was 1.189, which reflect a constant gene flow among populations. AMOVA revealed more genetic differentiation within the population which is similarly supported by principal coordinate analysis among the different Capsicum population. Thus, gene encoding enzyme based EST–SSR markers represent a potent system for estimation of genetic and structural relationship and is helpful for estimation of relationships or variations studies in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recognition of inner speech, which could give a 'voice' to patients that have no ability to speak or move, is a challenge for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). A shortcoming of the available datasets is that they do not combine modalities to increase the performance of inner speech recognition. Multimodal datasets of brain data enable the fusion of neuroimaging modalities with complimentary properties, such as the high spatial resolution of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the temporal resolution of electroencephalography (EEG), and therefore are promising for decoding inner speech. This paper presents the first publicly available bimodal dataset containing EEG and fMRI data acquired nonsimultaneously during inner-speech production. Data were obtained from four healthy, right-handed participants during an inner-speech task with words in either a social or numerical category. Each of the 8-word stimuli were assessed with 40 trials, resulting in 320 trials in each modality for each participant. The aim of this work is to provide a publicly available bimodal dataset on inner speech, contributing towards speech prostheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Genetic mapping of some key plant architectural traits in a vegetable type and an oleiferous B. juncea cross revealed QTL and candidate genes for breeding more productive ideotypes. Brassica juncea (AABB, 2n = 36), commonly called mustard, is an allopolyploid crop of recent origin but contains considerable morphological and genetic variation. An F1-derived doubled haploid population developed from a cross between an Indian oleiferous line, Varuna, and a Chinese stem type vegetable mustard, Tumida showed significant variability for some key plant architectural traits—four stem strength-related traits, stem diameter (Dia), plant height (Plht), branch initiation height (Bih), number of primary branches (Pbr), and days to flowering (Df). Multi-environment QTL analysis identified twenty Stable QTL for the above-mentioned nine plant architectural traits. Though Tumida is ill-adapted to the Indian growing conditions, it was found to contribute favorable alleles in Stable QTL for five architectural traits—press force, Dia, Plht, Bih, and Pbr; these QTL could be used to breed superior ideotypes in the oleiferous mustard lines. A QTL cluster on LG A10 contained Stable QTL for seven architectural traits that included major QTL (phenotypic variance ≥ 10%) for Df and Pbr, with Tumida contributing the trait-enhancing alleles for both. Since early flowering is critical for the cultivation of mustard in the Indian subcontinent, this QTL cannot be used for the improvement of Pbr in the Indian gene pool lines. Conditional QTL analysis for Pbr, however, identified other QTL which could be used for the improvement of Pbr without affecting Df. The Stable QTL intervals were mapped on the genome assemblies of Tumida and Varuna for the identification of candidate genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brassica juncea (mustard) is a major oilseed crop of India grown in around five to six million hectares of land under low moisture availability. In around two million hectares of rain-fed area under mustard cultivation in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, the crop is severely affected by the root parasite Orobanche aegyptiaca. Glyphosate, a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide has been reported to control O. aegyptiaca besides the general weed flora. We report glyphosate-resistant transgenic lines in B. juncea variety Varuna using three different genes—cp4 epsps, gox, and gat. The cp4 epsps gene encodes a protein that is insensitive to glyphosate; the gox and gat genes encode proteins that detoxify the herbicide. Transgenes were expressed either under a CaMV 35S promoter or a predominantly meristem-specific promoter; two 5′ UTRs—SYN J and PHOTO were used to enhance the transgene expression. Nine different constructs were made and used to develop 327 transgenic lines. Single copy transgenic lines were identified and tested for resistance to glyphosate by germinating seeds on different concentrations of the herbicide. Glyphosate at 50 mg/L was lethal for the seedlings of untransformed Varuna; seedlings of many transgenic lines grew normally at the highest tested concentration of 500 mg/L. Transgenic lines containing the cp4 epsps gene along with a double mutant als gene could provide long-term control of O. aegyptiaca in the highly affected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antimicrobial resistant strains of several pathogens are major culprits of hospital-acquired nosocomial infections. An active and urgent action is necessary against these pathogens for the development of unique therapeutics. The cysteine biosynthetic pathway or genes (that are absent in humans) involved in the production of L-cysteine appear to be an attractive target for developing novel antibiotics. CysE, a Serine Acetyltransferase (SAT), catalyzes the first step of cysteine synthesis and is reported to be essential for the survival of persistence in several microbes including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Structure determination provides fundamental insight into structure and function of protein and aid in drug design/discovery efforts. This review focuses on the overview of current knowledge of structure function, regulatory mechanism, and potential inhibitors (active site as well as allosteric site) of CysE. Despite having conserved structure, slight modification in CysE structure lead to altered the regulatory mechanism and hence affects the cysteine production. Due to its possible role in virulence and vital metabolism of pathogens makes it a potential target in the quest to develop novel therapeutics to treat multi-drug-resistant bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the design and development of a multiband filter using folded substrate integrated waveguide (FSIW) for the Wi-Fi 6E application. The emerging network standard IEEE802.11ax also known as Wi-Fi 6E is the next generation of Wi-Fi, which includes an additional frequency band at 6 GHz and provides improvements over 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5). The designed filter is based on modification of the impedance of the FSIW structure introducing longitudinal as well as transverse slots. The equivalent circuit of the slot loaded structure is derived and simulated results using ADS are compared with the simulated results of the structure using HFSS as well as with the measured results. The measured results and simulated results using HFSS and ADS show the good agreement. The size of the designed structure is 0.31λg × 0.15λg and shows insertion loss less than 0.8 dB over the desired frequency bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we propose a heterogeneous committee (ensemble) of diverse members (classification approaches) to solve the problem of human epithelial (HEp-2) cell image classification using indirect Immunofluorescence (IIF) imaging. We hypothesize that an ensemble involving different feature representations can enable higher performance if individual members in the ensemble are sufficiently varied. These members are of two types: (1) CNN-based members, (2) traditional members. For the CNN members, we have employed the well-established ResNet, DenseNet, and Inception models, which have distinctive salient aspects. For the traditional members, we incorporate class-specific features which are characterized depending on visual morphological attributes, and some standard texture features. To select the members which are discriminating and not redundant, we use an information theoretic measure which considers the trade-off between individual accuracies and diversity among the members. For all selected members, a compelling fusion required to combine their outputs to reach a final decision. Thus, we also investigate various fusion methods that combine the opinion of the committee at different levels: maximum voting, product, decision template, Bayes, Dempster-Shafer, etc. The proposed method is evaluated using ICPR-2014 data which consists of more images than some previous datasets ICPR-2012 and demonstrate state-of-the-art performance. To check the effectiveness of the proposed methodology for other related datasets, we test our methodology with newly compiled large-scale HEp-2 dataset with 63K cell images and demonstrate comparable performance even with less number of training samples. The proposed method produces 99.80% and 86.03% accuracy respectively when tested on ICPR-2014 and a new large-scale data containing 63K samples. Graphical Abstract Overview of the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low-profile planar four-element MIMO antenna is proposed in this paper that can be integrated inside wireless handheld devices. Every unit antenna is made of simple planar L-shaped monopole placed over etched non-ground area of 10 × 5 mm2. The optimized antenna elements cover three 5G New Radio bands falling within C-band: n77 band (3.3–4.2 GHz), n78 band (3.3–3.8 GHz) and n79 band (4.4–5 GHz), with isolation better than 18.8 dB, without the requirement of any additional decoupling structure. The designed antenna is fabricated on FR4 substrate of dimension 120 × 65 × 1.6 mm3. Antenna characteristics regarding reflection coefficient, mutual coupling, radiation pattern and gain are measured and discussed. The envelop correlation coefficient is computed and is lower than 0.018 for the entire range of frequency under consideration. The simplicity and compactness of the proposed MIMO antenna provides adequate space for integration of other circuits inside handheld mobile terminal. Further the integration with lower generation antennas are investigated; the result indicates that the placement of the proposed antenna system on the two long arms of ground plane offer adequate space for integration of lower generation antenna without adversely affecting each other's performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: BjuWRR1, a CNL-type R gene, was identified from an east European gene pool line of Brassica juncea and validated for conferring resistance to white rust by genetic transformation. White rust caused by the oomycete pathogen Albugo candida is a significant disease of crucifer crops including Brassica juncea (mustard), a major oilseed crop of the Indian subcontinent. Earlier, a resistance-conferring locus named AcB1-A5.1 was mapped in an east European gene pool line of B. juncea—Donskaja-IV. This line was tested along with some other lines of B. juncea (AABB), B. rapa (AA) and B. nigra (BB) for resistance to six isolates of A. candida collected from different mustard growing regions of India. Donskaja-IV was found to be completely resistant to all the tested isolates. Sequencing of a BAC spanning the locus AcB1-A5.1 showed the presence of a single CC-NB-LRR protein encoding R gene. The genomic sequence of the putative R gene with its native promoter and terminator was used for the genetic transformation of a susceptible Indian gene pool line Varuna and was found to confer complete resistance to all the isolates. This is the first white rust resistance-conferring gene described from Brassica species and has been named BjuWRR1. Allelic variants of the gene in B. juncea germplasm and orthologues in the Brassicaceae genomes were studied to understand the evolutionary dynamics of the BjuWRR1 gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the boom in industrialization, there is an increase in the level of heavy metals in the soil which drastically affect the growth and development of plants. Nickel is an essential micronutrient for plant growth and development, but elevated level of Ni causes stunted growth, chlorosis, nutrient imbalance, and alterations in the defense mechanism of plants in terms of accumulation of osmolytes or change in enzyme activities like guiacol peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Ni-induced toxic response was studied in seedlings of finger millet, pearl millet, and oats in terms of seedling growth, lipid peroxidation, total chlorophyll, proline content, and enzymatic activities. On the basis of germination and growth parameters of the seedling, finger millet was found to be the most tolerant. Nickel accumulation was markedly lower in the shoots as compared to the roots, which was the highest in finger millet and the lowest in shoots of oats. Plants treated with a high concentration of Ni showed significant reduction in chlorophyll and increase in proline content. Considerable difference in level of malondialdehyde (MDA) content and activity of antioxidative enzymes indicates generation of redox imbalance in plants due to Ni-induced stress. Elevated activities of POD and SOD were observed with high concentrations of Ni while CAT activity was found to be reduced. It was observed that finger millet has higher capability to maintain homeostasis by keeping the balance between accumulation and ROS scavenging system than pearl millet and oats. The data provide insight into the physiological and biochemical changes in plants adapted to survive in Ni-rich environment. This study will help in selecting the more suitable crop species to be grown on Ni-rich soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the study of structural, morphological and microwave dielectric properties of CoO added corundum type MgNbO ceramics, sintered at 1200-1300 °C. The samples were prepared by solid state reaction method. X-ray diffraction patterns of these samples confirm the phase (Mg Co)NbO along with a small percentage of secondary phase MgNbO. The SEM micrographs suggest the gradual grain growth with the increase in Co addition as well as sintering temperature. The microwave dielectric properties of sintered ceramics were investigated by dielectric resonator method and they show a strong dependence on their composition, densification and microstructure. A good combination of dielectric properties with dielectric constant (ε) of 16.69, quality factor ( Qf) of 65,849 GHz (at 9.3 GHz) and nearly zero temperature coefficient of resonant frequency ( $${\tau }_{f}$$ ) have been obtained for (MgCo)NbO composition, sintered at 1275 °C. The design of a coupler circuit was simulated by Sonnet Lite software and then fabricated on this thermal stable ceramic taking centre frequency as 2 GHz. The experimental result resembles well with the simulated result and shows ~70% size reduction as compared to a similar circuit designed on FR4 substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Seed weight QTL identified in different populations were synthesized into consensus QTL which were shown to harbor candidate genes by in silico mapping. Allelic variation inferred would be useful in breeding B. juncea lines with high seed weight. Abstract: Seed weight is an important yield influencing trait in oilseed Brassicas and is a multigenic trait. Among the oilseed Brassicas, Brassica juncea harbors the maximum phenotypic variation wherein thousand seed weight varies from around 2.0 g to more than 7.0 g. In this study, we have undertaken quantitative trait locus/quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of seed weight in B. juncea using four bi-parental doubled-haploid populations. These four populations were derived from six lines (three Indian and three east European lines) with parental phenotypic values for thousand seed weight ranging from 2.0 to 7.6 g in different environments. Multi-environment QTL analysis of the four populations identified a total of 65 QTL ranging from 10 to 25 in each population. Meta-analysis of these component QTL of the four populations identified six 'consensus' QTL ( C- QTL) in A3, A7, A10 and B3 by merging 33 of the 65 component Tsw QTL from different bi-parental populations. Allelic diversity analysis of these six C- QTL showed that Indian lines, Pusajaikisan and Varuna, hold the most positive allele in all the six C- QTL. In silico mapping of candidate genes with the consensus QTL localized 11 genes known to influence seed weight in Arabidopsis thaliana and also showed conserved crucifer blocks harboring seed weight QTL between the A subgenomes of B. juncea and B. rapa. These findings pave the way for a better understanding of the genetics of seed weight in the oilseed crop B. juncea and reveal the scope available for improvement of seed weight through marker-assisted breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have earlier reported the deployment of an effective pollination control system for hybrid seed production in Brassica juncea based on use of the barnase- barstar system. The current study analyses the stability and performance of four male-sterile ( barnase) and 34 fertility restorer ( barstar) lines under containment field conditions. Line ( barnase) x tester ( barstar) crosses were studied for effective fertility restoration over three successive growing seasons by screening the F and representative F progeny for three major parameters, namely segregation of Basta resistance and sensitive plants, distribution of male-sterile and fertile plants (vis-à-vis segregation of the barnase and the barstar genes) and pollen viability of the restored events. A total of 29 male sterile/restorer combinations out of 53 obtained in the first growing season were stable for their restoration ability when tested for two subsequent growing seasons. Stable restorers with high pollen viability were obtained at a significantly higher frequency for one of the barnase lines, bn 3.6, out of the four lines tested. Among the barstar lines, constructs carrying two transcription units of the barstar gene provided more effective fertility restoration. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of restored progeny obtained for all the four barnase lines showed that three barnase lines ( bn 3.23, bn 3.4 and bn 3.48) had an early and much higher level of barnase expression than the line bn 3.6 indicating that the level of barnase expression in the line bn 3.6 is optimal for better and stable restoration. It was observed that a high barstar : barnase transcript ratio and an extended window of barstar gene expression are critical parameters for the development of stable male-sterile ( barnase) and fertility-restorer ( barstar) combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: QTL mapping by two DH mapping populations deciphered allelic variations for five different seed glucosinolate traits in B. juncea. Abstract: Allelic variations for five different seed glucosinolate (GS) traits, namely % propyl, % butyl, % pentyl, aliphatics and total GS content were studied through QTL analysis using two doubled haploid (DH) mapping populations. While the high GS parents in two populations differed in their profiles of seed aliphatic GS, the low GS parents were similar. Phenotypic data of seed GS traits from three environments of the two populations were subjected to QTL analysis. The first population (referred to as DE population) detected a total of 60 QTL from three environments which upon intra-population meta-QTL analysis were merged to 17 S- QTL (Stable QTL) and 15 E- QTL (Environment QTL). The second population (referred to as VH population) detected 58 QTL from the three environments that were merged to 15 S- QTL and 16 E- QTL. In both the populations, majority of S- QTL were detected as major QTL. Inter-population meta-analysis identified three C- QTL (consensus QTL) formed by merging major QTL from the two populations. Candidate genes of GS pathway were co-localized to the QTL regions either through genetic mapping or through in silico comparative analysis. Parental allelic variants of QTL or of the co-mapped candidate gene(s) were determined on the basis of the significantly different R values of the component QTL from the two populations which were merged to form C- QTL. The results of the study are significant for marker-assisted transfer of the low GS trait and also for developing lines with lower GS than are present in Brassica juncea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Genetic locus for tetralocular ovary ( tet - o ) in Brassica rapa was identified and it was shown that the number of locules and width of silique are associated. Abstract: Brassica rapa is a highly polymorphic species containing many vegetables and oleiferous types. An interesting group of oleiferous types is the yellow sarson group (subspecies trilocularis) grown mostly in eastern India. This group contains lines that have bilocular ovaries, a defining trait of Brassicaceae, but also lines that have tetralocular ovaries. Yellow sarson lines commonly have high silique width which is further enhanced in the tetralocular types. We mapped the locus influencing tetralocular ovary in B. rapa using three mapping populations (F, F and F) derived from a cross between Chiifu (subspecies pekinensis, having bilocular ovary) and Tetralocular (having tetralocular ovary). QTL mapping of silique width was undertaken using the three mapping populations and a F population derived from a cross between Chiifu and YSPB-24 (a bilocular line belonging to yellow sarson group). Qualitative mapping of the trait governing locule number ( tet- o) in B. rapa mapped the locus to linkage group A4. QTL mapping for silique width detected a major QTL on LG A4, co-mapping with the tet- o locus in bilocular/tetralocular cross. This QTL was not detected in the bilocular/bilocular cross. Saturation mapping of the tet- o region with SNP markers identified Bra034340, a homologue of CLAVATA3 of Arabidopsis thaliana, as the candidate gene for locule number. A C → T transition at position 176 of the coding sequence of Bra034340 revealed co-segregation with the tetralocular phenotype. The study of silique related traits is of interest both for understanding evolution under artificial selection and for breeding of cultivated Brassica species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During embryogenesis, defective movement of thyroid tissue from the floor of the primitive foregut to the pre-tracheal region leads to ectopic thyroid, most commonly found around the course of the thyroglossal duct or sometimes laterally in the neck. Very rarely, ectopic thyroid at distant sites, e.g., in the thorax (mediastinal, lung, heart) or in the abdomen (ovary, adrenal, duodenal, pancreas, and intestine) are reported. Thyroid function in all these cases has been reported to vary from euthyroid, hypothyroid to hyperthyroid. We are here presenting a rare case of ectopic thyroid in the heart (Struma cordis), within the right ventricular cavity attached to the interventricular septum at the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), i.e., on the tricuspid valve and adjacent intraventricular septum in a male subject (male to female ratio as M/F 1:6). This case is worth reporting because of the rarity regarding the location, male sex, and the involvement of the tricuspid valve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of the candidate gene responsible for the seed coat colour variation in Brassica juncea was undertaken following an earlier study where two independent loci ( BjSc1 and BjSc2) were mapped to two linkage groups, LG A9 and B3 (Padmaja et al. in Theor Appl Genet 111:8-14, ). The genome search from BRAD data for the presence of flavonoid genes in B. rapa identified three candidate genes namely, DFR, TT1 and TT8 in the LG A9. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed absence of transcript for the late biosynthetic genes (LBGs) and showed significant reduction of transcript in the TT8 from the developing seeds of yellow-seeded line. While mapping of two DFR genes, the BjuA.DFR and BjuB.DFR did not show perfect co-segregation with the seed coat colour loci, that of the two TT8 genes, BjuA.TT8 and BjuB.TT8 showed perfect co-segregation with the seed coat colour phenotype. The BjuA.TT8 allele from the yellow-seeded line revealed the presence of an insertion of 1,279 bp in the exon 7 and did not produce any transcript as revealed by reverse transcriptase PCR. The BjuB.TT8 allele from the yellow-seeded line revealed the presence of an SNP (C→T) in the exon 7 resulting in a stop codon predicting a truncated protein lacking the C-terminal 8 amino acid residues and produced significantly low level of transcript than its wild-type counterpart. Hence, it is hypothesized that the mutations in both the TT8 genes are required for inhibiting the transcription of LBGs in the yellow-seeded mutant of B. juncea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic analysis of 12 yield-associated traits was undertaken by dissection of quantitative trait loci (QTL) through meta-analysis and epistatic interaction studies in Brassica juncea. A consensus (integrated) map in B. juncea was constructed using two maps. These were VH map, developed earlier in the laboratory by using a DH population from the cross between Varuna and Heera (Pradhan et al. in Theor Appl Genet 106:607-614, ; Ramchiary et al. in Theor Appl Genet. 115:807-817, ; Panjabi et al. in BMC Genomics 9:113, ), and the TD map, developed in the present study using a DH population of 100 lines from the cross between TM-4 and Donskaja-IV. The TD map was constructed with 911 markers consisting of 585 AFLP, 8 SSR and 318 IP markers covering a total genome length of 1,629.9 cM. The consensus map constructed by using the common markers between the two maps contained a total of 2,662 markers and covered a total genome length of 1,927.1 cM. Firstly, QTL analysis of 12 yield-associated traits was undertaken for the TD population based on three-environment phenotypic data. Secondly, the three-environment phenotypic data for the same 12 quantitative traits generated by Ramchiary et al. () were re-analyzed for the QTL detection in the VH map. Comparative analysis identified both common and population-specific QTL. The study revealed the presence of QTL clusters on LG A7, A8 and A10 in both TD and VH maps. Meta-analyses resolved 187 QTL distributed over nine linkage groups of TD and VH maps into 20 meta-QTL. Maximum resolution was recorded for the LG A10 wherein all the 54 QTL were mapped to a single meta-QTL within a confidence interval of 3.0 cM. Digenic epistatic interactions of QTL in both TD and VH maps revealed substantial additive × additive interactions showing a higher frequency of Type 1 and Type 2 interactions than Type 3 interactions. Some of the loci interacted with more than one locus indicating the presence of higher order epistatic interactions. These findings provided some detailed insight into the genetic architecture of the yield-associated traits in B. juncea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil content and oil quality fractions (viz., oleic, linoleic and linolenic acid) are strongly influenced by the erucic acid pathway in oilseed Brassicas. Low levels of erucic acid in seed oil increases oleic acid content to nutritionally desirable levels, but also increases the linoleic and linolenic acid fractions and reduces oil content in Indian mustard ( Brassica juncea). Analysis of phenotypic variability for oil quality fractions among a high-erucic Indian variety (Varuna), a low-erucic east-European variety (Heera) and a zero-erucic Indian variety (ZE-Varuna) developed by backcross breeding in this study indicated that lower levels of linoleic and linolenic acid in Varuna are due to substrate limitation caused by an active erucic acid pathway and not due to weaker alleles or enzyme limitation. To identify compensatory loci that could be used to increase oil content and maintain desirable levels of oil quality fractions under zero-erucic conditions, we performed Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping for the above traits on two independent F1 doubled haploid (F1DH) mapping populations developed from a cross between Varuna and Heera. One of the populations comprised plants segregating for erucic acid content (SE) and was used earlier for construction of a linkage map and QTL mapping of several yield-influencing traits in B. juncea. The second population consisted of zero-erucic acid individuals (ZE) for which, an Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP)-based framework linkage map was constructed in the present study. By QTL mapping for oil quality fractions and oil content in the ZE population, we detected novel loci contributing to the above traits. These loci did not co-localize with mapped locations of the fatty acid desaturase 2 ( FAD2), fatty acid desaturase 3 ( FAD3) or fatty acid elongase ( FAE) genes unlike those of the SE population wherein major QTL were found to coincide with mapped locations of the FAE genes. Some of the new loci identified in the ZE population could be detected as 'weak' contributors (with LOD < 2.5) in the SE population in which their contribution to the traits was 'masked' due to pleiotropic effects of erucic acid genes. The novel loci identified in this study could now be used to improve oil quality parameters and oil content in B. juncea under zero-erucic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

White rust caused by Albugo candida (Pers.) Kuntze is a major disease of the oilseed mustard Brassica juncea. Almost all the released varieties of B. juncea in India are highly susceptible to the disease. This causes major yield losses. Hence, there is an urgent need to identify genes for resistance to white rust and transfer these to the existing commercial varieties through marker-assisted breeding. While the germplasm belonging to the Indian gene pool is highly susceptible to the disease, the east European germplasm of B. juncea is highly resistant. In the present study, we have tagged two independent loci governing resistance to A. candida race 2V in two east European lines, Heera and Donskaja-IV. Two doubled haploid populations were used; the first population was derived from a cross between Varuna (susceptible Indian type) and Heera (partially resistant east European line) and the second from a cross between TM-4 (susceptible Indian type) and Donskaja-IV (fully resistant east European line). In both the resistant lines, a single major locus was identified to confer resistance to white rust. In Heera, the resistance locus AcB1-A4.1 was mapped to linkage group A4, while in Donskaja-IV, the resistant locus AcB1-A5.1 was mapped to linkage group A5. In both the cases, closely linked flanking markers were developed based on synteny between Arabidopsis and B. juncea. These flanking markers will assist introgression of resistance-conferring loci in the susceptible varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report in this study, strategies for enhancing and extending tissue-specific expression of a restorer gene (barstar) and their use in the development of improved fertility restorer lines for transgenic male sterile (barnase) lines for hybrid seed production. In the first strategy, a chimeric promoter was developed by combining regulatory elements of two overlapping tapetum-specific promoters (A9 and TA29) by placing a 275bp fragment of the A9 promoter (minus the TATA box) upstream to a functional 330bp fragment of the TA29 promoter. Analysis of chimeric promoter activity using the gusA gene showed that it enhanced transgene expression levels in anthers of transgenic Brassica juncea (Indian oilseed mustard) plants by two- to three-fold over those obtained with either promoter alone but retained the temporal expression profile of the TA29 promoter. In the second strategy, the A9 and TA29 promoters were used to independently express two copies of the wild type barstar gene sequence within the same T-DNA borders. Alternatively, one of the promoters was used to express the wild type sequence and the other was used to drive expression of a codon-modified version of the barstar gene designed for enhanced and stable expression in dicot plants. The efficiencies of these constructs for fertility restoration was determined by retransforming a male sterile TA29-barnase line of B. juncea and analyzing the frequency and pollen viability of male fertile (restored) plants thus obtained. A significantly higher frequency of restored plants was obtained with constructs containing two transcription units of the barstar gene (92.9% for constructs with two copies of the wild type gene and 89.8% for constructs using the wild type and codon-modified sequences) as compared to that obtained with the chimeric promoter-barstar construct (77.8%) or the TA29-barstar construct (65.6%). Pollen viability assays on restored plants showed that the desirable extent of restoration is obtained in a higher proportion of male fertile plants generated using the construct containing a combination of the wild type and modified barstar genes. These observations were corroborated by genetic analysis of F1 progeny of crosses between various barstar lines and four different male sterile barnase lines, three of which could not be restored in earlier studies using TA29-barstar constructs. The simultaneous use of the wild type and modified barstar genes with the TA29 and A9 promoters was found to be the most effective method for fertility restoration with efficient restorers being identified for all the male sterile barnase lines tested, including those which could not be restored earlier. The two gene-two promoter strategy could be successfully deployed for enhancing and extending the tissue-specific as well as constitutive expression of other agronomically important transgenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A zero erucic acid (C22:1) line of Brassica juncea (VH486), adapted to the agronomic conditions of Northern India, has been modified for its fatty acid composition in the seed oil with antisense constructs using the sequence of fad2 gene of B. rapa. The full-length B. rapa fad2 cDNA sequence was determined by 5’ and 3’ RACE of a partial sequence available in the EST database. Construct pASfad2.1 contained 315 to 1251 bp and construct pASfad2.2 contained 1 to 1251 bp fragment of the fad2 gene, both in antisense orientation, driven by a truncated napin promoter. Analysis of the levels of linoleic acid (C18:2) in the BC1 seeds of single-copy transgenics showed that the construct pASfad2.2 gave better suppression of the fad2 gene as compared to the construct pASfad2.1. The BC1 transgenic seeds containing the pASfad2.2 construct segregated into two distinct classes of C18:2>20% (putative null homozygotes) and C18:2<20% (putative heterozygotes) in a 1:1 ratio, while the T1 seeds segregated into three classes, C18:2>20%, C18:2 between 12% and 20%) and C18:2<12% (putative homozygotes) in a 1:2:1 ratio. Putative homozygous T1 seeds (C18:2<12% analyzed by the half-seed method) of four of the transgenic lines were grown to establish T2 homozygous lines. These had ca. 73% C18:1 and 8 to 9% each of C18:2 and C18:3 (α-linolenic acid) fractions in comparison to ca. 53% C18:1, 24% C18:2 and 16% C18:3 in the parental line VH486. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male-sterile lines were generated in oilseed mustard ( Brassica juncea) with a cytotoxic gene ( barnase) in conjunction with either of two tapetum-specific promoters, TA29 and A9. Several transformation vectors based on different promoter and marker gene combinations were developed and tested for their efficacy in generating agronomically viable male-sterile lines. Use of strong constitutive promoters (e.g. CaMV 35S or its double-enhancer variant) to express the marker gene ( bar) in barnase constructs generated male-sterile plants at an extremely low frequency with most plants showing abnormalities in vegetative morphology, poor female fertility, low seed germination frequencies and/or distortion in segregation ratios of transgenes. Such abnormalities were considerably reduced on using weaker promoters (e.g. nos) to drive the marker gene ( nptII) in barnase constructs and could therefore be attributed to leaky expression of the barnase gene under enhancing effects of strong constitutive promoters. We show that the use of a Spacer DNA fragment between the barnase gene (driven by a tapetum-specific promoter) and the CaMV 35S promoter-driven bar gene insulates tissue-specific expression of the barnase gene over all developmental stages of transgenic plants and significantly enhances recovery of agronomically viable male-sterile lines. All TA29- barnase male-sterile lines containing the Spacer DNA fragment exhibited normal morphology, growth and seed set on backcrossing as observed for wild-type plants. Around 75% of single-copy events tested further also showed proper segregation of the marker gene/male-sterile phenotype among backcross progeny. Constructs based on the use of Spacer DNA fragments as insulators could be successfully used to alleviate limitations associated with transformation of plant systems using cytotoxic genes for development of agronomically viable male-sterile lines in crop plants and for cell/tissue ablation studies in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction and characterization of two genome-specific recombinant DNA clones from B. nigra are described. Southern analysis showed that the two clones belong to a dispersed repeat family. They differ from each other in their length, distribution and sequence, though the average GC content is nearly the same (45%). These B genome-specific repeats have been used to analyse the phylogenetic relationships between cultivated and wild species of the family Brassicaceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic transformation systems have been established for Brassica nigra (cv. IC 257) by using an Agrobacterium binary vector as well as by direct DNA uptake of a plasmid vector. Both the type of vectors carried nptII gene and gus gene. For Agrobacterium mediated transformation, hypocotyl tissue explants were used, and up to 33% of the explants produced calli on selection medium. All of these expressed B-glucuronidase gene on histochemical staining. Protoplasts isolated from hypocotyl tissues of seedlings could be transformed with a plasmid vector by FEG mediated uptake of vector DNA. A number of fertile kanamycin resistant plants were obtained using both the methods, and their transformed nature was confirmed by Southern blot analysis and histochemical staining for GUS. Backcrossed and selfed progenies of these transformed plants showed the presence of npt and gus genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method to obtain plants from embryogenic callus of Brassica nigra and protoplasts of hypocotyl expiants is described. Callus was initiated on Murashige and Skoog medium containing kinetin (kn) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D). Lowering of auxin induced embryo formation. Supplementation with gibberellic acid (GA) enhanced embryogenic response tenfold. Passage through liquid medium devoid of growth regulators was essential for the growth of embryos. Secondary embryos were produced on transfer to solid basal medium. Embryogenic callus retained its morphogenic ability even after 12 subcultures. Both primary and secondary embryos produced fertile plants. Hypocotyl-derived protoplasts were also regenerated to plants following the same protocol. The survival of plants on transfer to soil was about 80%. The seeds from plants derived from callus and protoplasts were viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blood transfusions carry the potential for causing increased morbidity & mortality both in terms of transfusion reactions as well as transfusion transmitted infections. It is therefore mandatory to test for transfusion transmitted diseases before any unit is transfused to a patient. In India it is mandatory to screen all units for HIV, HBsAg, HCV, Syphilis and Malaria. This study was done to study the incidence of malaria among blood donors at the blood bank of a tertiary care centre of Uttarakhand, India over a period of 2 years and also to analyse any associated factors. Any sample found positive was retested for confirmation by blood smear examination & using another kit. A total of 17,209 donors donated blood over a 2 year period and 14 donors (0.08 %) were found to test positive for malaria parasite. Only one case was a voluntary donor and the remaining 13 were replacement donors. It was seen that there was a peak in the months of September and October. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CysK (O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase) is a pyridoxal-5′ phosphate-dependent enzyme which catalyzes the second step of the de novo cysteine biosynthesis pathway by converting O-acetyl serine (OAS) into L-cysteine in the presence of sulfide. The first step of the cysteine biosynthesis involves formation of OAS from serine and acetyl CoA by CysE (serine acetyltransferase). Apart from role of CysK in cysteine biosynthesis, recent studies have revealed various additional roles of this enzyme in bacterial physiology. Other than the suggested regulatory role in cysteine production, other activities of CysK include involvement of CysK-in contact-dependent toxin activation in Gram-negative pathogens, as a transcriptional regulator of CymR by stabilizing the CymR-DNA interactions, in biofilm formation by providing cysteine and via another mechanism not yet understood, in ofloxacin and tellurite resistance as well as in cysteine desulfurization. Some of these activities involve binding of CysK to another cellular partner, where the complex is regulated by the availability of OAS and/or sulfide (H2S). The aim of this study is to present an overview of current knowledge of multiple functions performed by CysK and identifying structural features involved in alternate functions. Due to possible role in disease, promoting or inhibiting a "moonlighting" function of CysK could be a target for developing novel therapeutic interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structure-based drug discovery has emerged as a powerful tool in computational drug discovery and has gained rapid acceleration due to the development of better algorithms for high-end computation in an affordable time. Molecular docking and virtual screening methods are routinely used for the purpose but computing the ligand binding energies with inbuilt scoring functions accurately is still a limitation. Although, MMPBSA and MMGBSA are routinely employed tools for achieving accurate binding free energies, they are applied on well-equilibrated explicitly solvated systems and are computationally expensive and time-consuming. This study compares different post-processing protocols performed on an in-silico screened benchmarked P. falciparum Dihydrofolate reductase (PfDHFR) dataset with AutoDockVina. The docked and implicitly solvated complexes were subjected to (1) rescoring, (2) energy minimization and (3) Binding Estimation After Refinement (BEAR) algorithm. Subsequently, binding free energies were computed using three different tools—MMPBSA, MMGBSA and "g_mmpbsa". Surprisingly, rescoring alone displays lower accuracy than the inherent scoring function of the AutoDockVina. However, encouraging results were seen after post-processing with the other two protocols. The results suggest that MMPBSA applied on energy minimized conformations is able to achieve 42-fold reductions in computational time as opposed to the BEAR algorithm with comparable accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]