We selected 28 populations of Leucaena leucocephala from different geographical locations in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa of India on the basis of height and girth at breast height （GBH）. We e...We selected 28 populations of Leucaena leucocephala from different geographical locations in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa of India on the basis of height and girth at breast height （GBH）. We evaluated fiber length, optical density, wall thickness, vessel element length, vessel element diameter, specific gravity and lignin of these populations of L. leucocephala in different sites. Populations had significant variations for all growth, wood and paper parameters. Girth at breast height （GBH） and specific gravity were the most important pa- rameters for heritability and genetic gain, respectively. The minimum heritability was reported for vessel element length and genetic gain for fiber length. The populations were grouped into six clusters, cluster II had maximum number of populations （14） and clusters IV and VI had one population each. GBH contributed maximum of 34.39 % towards total divergence followed by specific gravity （14.02%）. An economic technique to produce quality seed by establishing seed orchards with genetically divergent parents was suggested. The hybridization among the populations selected from diverse clusters could produce greater heterosis needed for higher growth and suitable wood and paper manu- facturing parameters.展开更多
The Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) in Nepal is home to unique natural beauty and cultural significance. While the SNP has a relatively small local population, it has drawn thousands of visitors since Edmund Hillary an...The Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) in Nepal is home to unique natural beauty and cultural significance. While the SNP has a relatively small local population, it has drawn thousands of visitors since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the peak of Mt Everest in 1953. Importantly, the tourists and their concurrently generated refuse have caused massive anthropogenic pressure with serious environmental consequences for the unique SNP and SNP Buffer Zone ecosystems. This study aimed to understand the spatial variation of nutrient concentrations in stream water and drinking water (primarily shallow springs) using analyses of nitrogen as NH<sup>+</sup><sub style="margin-left:-5px;">4</sub> and chlorine (Cl<sup>-</sup>) concentrations. Sampling occurred in April 2017 during the pre-monsoon dry season in the upper Dudhkoshi River Basin, SNP. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (NH<sup>+</sup><sub style="margin-left:-5px;">4</sub>) concentrations in both drinking water and stream water were low with average concentrations in drinking water of 0.016 mg/L (±0.010) and 0.033 mg/L (±0.031) in stream water. Similarly, Cl<sup>-</sup> concentrations were also low with average concentrations of 0.185 mg/L (±0.045) and 0.124 mg/L (±0.051) in stream and drinking water, respectively. Importantly, nitrogen in stream waters exhibits a decreasing trend with altitude whereas Cl<sup>-</sup> values decrease with altitude in both drinking water and streams. The observed spatial variations of nitrogen and chlorine concentrations are attributed primarily to the significant variations in land use/land cover from the highest portions of the drainage basin to the lowest elevations, which are outside of the SNP boundary and therefore allow more agricultural development. Our results demonstrated that although the quality of stream water in the upper reach of Dudhkoshi River Basin meets WHO standards for drinking water, there is significant surface water contamination in the form of agricultural run-off. These results will provide base-line data for further studies and will help to improve understanding of the relationship <span style="white-space:nowrap;">between land use/land cover and water quality in the region.</span>展开更多
Leptospirosis is recognized as the most widespread zoonosis with a global distribution. In this study, the antigenic variation in Leptospira interrogans and Leptospira borgpetersenii isolated from human urine and fiel...Leptospirosis is recognized as the most widespread zoonosis with a global distribution. In this study, the antigenic variation in Leptospira interrogans and Leptospira borgpetersenii isolated from human urine and field rat kidney was preliminarily confirmed by microscopic agglutination test using monoclonal antibodies, and was further subjected to amplification and identification of outer membrane lipoproreins with structural gene variation. Sequence similarity analysis revealed that these protein sequences, namely OmpL1, LipL32 and LipL41, showed no more homologies to outer membrane lipoproteins of non-pathogenic Leptospira and other closely related Spirochetes, but showed a strong identity within L. interrogans, suggesting intra-specific phylogenetic lineages that might be originated from a common pathogenic leptospiral origin. Moreover, the ompL1 gene showed more antigenic variation than lipL32 and lipL41 due to less conservation in secondary structural evolution within closely related species. Phylogenetically, ompL1 and lipL4l of these strains gave a considerable proximity to L. weilii and L. santaro- sai. The ompI,1 gene of L. interrogans clustered distinctly from other pathogenic and non-pathogenic leptospiral species. The diversity of ompL genes has been an- alyzed and it envisaged that sequence-specific variations at antigenic determinant sites would result in slow evolutionary changes along with new serovar origination within closely related species. Thus, a crucial work on effective recombinant vaccine development and engineered antibodies will hopefully meet to solve the therapeutic challenges.展开更多
基金the group working under CSIR-NIMTLINew Delhi for financial and other necessary supports to the project entitled ‘Biotechnological approaches forimprovement of plant species with especial reference to pulp andpaper’
文摘We selected 28 populations of Leucaena leucocephala from different geographical locations in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa of India on the basis of height and girth at breast height （GBH）. We evaluated fiber length, optical density, wall thickness, vessel element length, vessel element diameter, specific gravity and lignin of these populations of L. leucocephala in different sites. Populations had significant variations for all growth, wood and paper parameters. Girth at breast height （GBH） and specific gravity were the most important pa- rameters for heritability and genetic gain, respectively. The minimum heritability was reported for vessel element length and genetic gain for fiber length. The populations were grouped into six clusters, cluster II had maximum number of populations （14） and clusters IV and VI had one population each. GBH contributed maximum of 34.39 % towards total divergence followed by specific gravity （14.02%）. An economic technique to produce quality seed by establishing seed orchards with genetically divergent parents was suggested. The hybridization among the populations selected from diverse clusters could produce greater heterosis needed for higher growth and suitable wood and paper manu- facturing parameters.
文摘The Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) in Nepal is home to unique natural beauty and cultural significance. While the SNP has a relatively small local population, it has drawn thousands of visitors since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the peak of Mt Everest in 1953. Importantly, the tourists and their concurrently generated refuse have caused massive anthropogenic pressure with serious environmental consequences for the unique SNP and SNP Buffer Zone ecosystems. This study aimed to understand the spatial variation of nutrient concentrations in stream water and drinking water (primarily shallow springs) using analyses of nitrogen as NH<sup>+</sup><sub style="margin-left:-5px;">4</sub> and chlorine (Cl<sup>-</sup>) concentrations. Sampling occurred in April 2017 during the pre-monsoon dry season in the upper Dudhkoshi River Basin, SNP. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (NH<sup>+</sup><sub style="margin-left:-5px;">4</sub>) concentrations in both drinking water and stream water were low with average concentrations in drinking water of 0.016 mg/L (±0.010) and 0.033 mg/L (±0.031) in stream water. Similarly, Cl<sup>-</sup> concentrations were also low with average concentrations of 0.185 mg/L (±0.045) and 0.124 mg/L (±0.051) in stream and drinking water, respectively. Importantly, nitrogen in stream waters exhibits a decreasing trend with altitude whereas Cl<sup>-</sup> values decrease with altitude in both drinking water and streams. The observed spatial variations of nitrogen and chlorine concentrations are attributed primarily to the significant variations in land use/land cover from the highest portions of the drainage basin to the lowest elevations, which are outside of the SNP boundary and therefore allow more agricultural development. Our results demonstrated that although the quality of stream water in the upper reach of Dudhkoshi River Basin meets WHO standards for drinking water, there is significant surface water contamination in the form of agricultural run-off. These results will provide base-line data for further studies and will help to improve understanding of the relationship <span style="white-space:nowrap;">between land use/land cover and water quality in the region.</span>
基金supported by grants from the Department of Science and Technology,Government of India (Sanction order No. SR/FT/L-47/2006)
文摘Leptospirosis is recognized as the most widespread zoonosis with a global distribution. In this study, the antigenic variation in Leptospira interrogans and Leptospira borgpetersenii isolated from human urine and field rat kidney was preliminarily confirmed by microscopic agglutination test using monoclonal antibodies, and was further subjected to amplification and identification of outer membrane lipoproreins with structural gene variation. Sequence similarity analysis revealed that these protein sequences, namely OmpL1, LipL32 and LipL41, showed no more homologies to outer membrane lipoproteins of non-pathogenic Leptospira and other closely related Spirochetes, but showed a strong identity within L. interrogans, suggesting intra-specific phylogenetic lineages that might be originated from a common pathogenic leptospiral origin. Moreover, the ompL1 gene showed more antigenic variation than lipL32 and lipL41 due to less conservation in secondary structural evolution within closely related species. Phylogenetically, ompL1 and lipL4l of these strains gave a considerable proximity to L. weilii and L. santaro- sai. The ompI,1 gene of L. interrogans clustered distinctly from other pathogenic and non-pathogenic leptospiral species. The diversity of ompL genes has been an- alyzed and it envisaged that sequence-specific variations at antigenic determinant sites would result in slow evolutionary changes along with new serovar origination within closely related species. Thus, a crucial work on effective recombinant vaccine development and engineered antibodies will hopefully meet to solve the therapeutic challenges.
