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Background: Majority of the people believed that, only the native breeds have A2 milk than exotic or crossbred animals. There is no enough research on milk protein variants have been carried out in Indian zebu cattle. Present study was conducted to screen more number of crossbred cattles and buffaloes in Tamil Nadu to identify the frequency of A1 and A2 alleles in the population. Methods: The study was conducted on 68 cattle and 172 murrah/graded murrah buffaloes to explore the polymorphic variants of β-casein gene. Genomic DNA was extracted by phenol-chloroform method. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed with allele specific primers to amplify a 244 bp long fragment of beta-casein gene and visualized in 2% agarose gel electrophoresis. The population genetic indices were calculated based on the formulas. Result: In the present study revealed higher level of A2A2 genotype frequency (1.00) and fixation of A2 allele in kangayam cattle and murrah/graded murrah buffalo. The observed frequency of A1A1, A1A2 and A2A2 genotypes were 0.38,0.62 and 0.00 for jersey crossbred and 0.29, 0.71 and 0.00 for HF crossbred cattle. The range of Expected homozygosity (0.50 to 1.00), polymorphism information content (0.30 to 0.38), effective number of alleles (1.00 to 2.00) and level of possible variability realization value (44.54% to 100%) reflected existence of medium genetic variability in studied population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work examined the thermo-mechanical characteristics of bio-fillers, namely Azadirachta indica seed powder, spent Camellia sinensis powder, their combinations filled jute fabrics–epoxy composites analytically and experimentally and compared it with the unfilled one. The test results showed that Azadirachta indica seed powder filled composites showed better mechanical properties with lesser voids, while spent Camellia sinensis powder and its composites showed better thermal stability. ANSYS analysis was used to show the stress distribution during the tensile and flexural testing. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study various characteristics of the fractured composites. A telephone stand was also fabricated to prove the application capability of best mechanical performer and analysed for deformation behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity of N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-producing rhizosphere bacterial community associated with Avicennia marina in the mangrove ecosystems of South India was investigated. Approximately 800 rhizobacteria were isolated from A. marina, and they were screened for the production of AHL using two biosensors, Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Agrobacterium tumefaciens NTL4 (pZLR4). Among the total isolates screened, 7% of the rhizobacteria showed positive induction for AHL signals. The BOX-PCR profile of 56 positive isolates represented 11 distinct genotypic groups. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rRNA sequences of 16 representatives showed that the isolates belonged to the class Gammaproteobacteria, which represented six different genera: Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, Vibrio, Photobacterium, Serratia and Halomonas. The study also identified three AHL-producing species, namely, Photobacterium halotolerans MSSRF QS48, Vibrio xiamenensis MSSRF QS47 and Pseudomonas sp. MSSRF QS1 that had not been reported previously. AHL profiling by TLC detected short chains C4, C6 and C8-HSL, and long chains C10 and C12-HSL with both unsubstituted and substituted side chains among the 16 representative AHL positives. This is the first report concerning the diversity of AHL-producing Gammaproteobacteria from mangrove ecosystems exhibiting diverse AHL profiles., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)