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SummaryPeanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a major species of the family, Leguminosae, and economically important not only for vegetable oil but as a source of proteins, minerals and vitamins. It is widely grown in the semi-arid tropics and plays a role in the world agricultural economy. Peanut production and productivity is constrained by several biotic (insect pests and diseases) and abiotic (drought, salinity, water logging and temperature aberrations) stresses, as a result of which crop experiences serious economic losses. Genetic engineering techniques such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens and DNA-bombardment-mediated transformation are used as powerful tools to complement conventional breeding and expedite peanut improvement by the introduction of agronomically useful traits in high-yield background. Resistance to several fungal, virus and insect pest have been achieved through variety of approaches ranging from gene coding for cell wall component, pathogenesis-related proteins, oxalate oxidase, bacterial chloroperoxidase, coat proteins, RNA interference, crystal proteins etc. To develop transgenic plants withstanding major abiotic stresses, genes coding transcription factors for drought and salinity, cytokinin biosynthesis, nucleic acid processing, ion antiporter and human antiapoptotic have been used. Moreover, peanut has also been used in vaccine production for the control of several animal diseases. In addition to above, this study also presents a comprehensive account on the influence of some important factors on peanut genetic engineering. Future research thrusts not only suggest the use of different approaches for higher expression of transgene(s) but also provide a way forward for the improvement of crops.

Eight local, nondescript adult donkeys, sero-negative to EHV-1, were experimentally infected in two different experiments with EHV-1 of horse origin to study the establishment of viral infection in donkeys along with four pony mares as the control. The virus persisted up to 7 days along with clinical manifestations in pony mares in both the experiments. The virus was also detected by PCR from the spleen of one of the pony mares, but both virus isolation and PCR studies carried out on nasal discharges, peripheral blood lymphocytes and tissues of the animals sacrificed at the end of the experiment, negated the presence of EHV-1 in donkeys. The infectivity and viability of EHV-1 used as the inoculum in both donkey and pony mares was confirmed by isolation of EHV-1and detection of its DNA by PCR from the nasal swabs of pony mares. The use of dexamethasone as an immunosuppresant, failed to indicate the establishment of EHV-1 infection in the donkeys as the virus could not be revived, isolated and detected in PCR studies.

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BackgroundKojic acid was used for decades in the cosmetic industry as an antimelanogenic agent. However, there are two major drawbacks of Kojic acid, one is cytotoxicity and second are instability on storage. These limitations led the scientist to synthesize the active Kojic acid peptides.ObjectiveIn the present study, we synthesize and investigate the effect of five Kojic acid peptides to overcome the limitation of Kojic acid.MethodsThe peptide was analyzed and purified by high-performance liquid chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectroscopy. Further, the tyrosinase activities of the Kojic acid and Kojic acid peptides were compared. The toxicity was measured and the melanin content is recorded in B16F10 mouse melanoma cells.ResultsMaximum tyrosinase activity was measured by Kojic acid peptides. Therefore, Kojic acid peptides were subjected to melanin assay and cytotoxicity assay and finally the stability of the Kojic acid peptide was measured.ConclusionIt was observed that this newly synthesized Kojic acid peptide is stable and potent to inhibit the tyrosinase activity and melanin content of B16F10 mouse melanoma cells without exhibiting cell toxicity. Together, these preliminary results suggest that a further exploration is being needed to establish Kojic acid peptide as antimelanogenic agent.