Salinity stress is one of the most serious environmental stresses which limit plant growth, development and productivity. In this study, we screened 25 bacterial isolates based on the biochemical activity of ACC deaminase. Two potent PGPR namely Bacillus marisflavi (CHR JH 203) and Bacillus cereus (BST YS1_42) having the highest ACC deaminase (ACCD) activity were selected for further analyses such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), salt tolerance assay, expression analysis, antioxidant assay, etc. The structural gene for ACCD activity was further confirmed by PCR showing the amplicon size ̴ 800 bp. The acdS positive isolates exhibited optimum growth at 3% w/v (NaCl), indicating its ability to survive and thrive in induced saline soil. Inoculation of acdS + strain on pea plants was found to be efficient and ameliorated the induced NaClstress by enhancing the various parameters like plant-biomass, carbohydrates, reducing sugars, protein, chlorophylls, phenol, flavonoids content and increasing antioxidants enzymes levels in plants. Moreover, the expression of ROS scavenging genes (PsSOD, PsCAT, PsPOX, PsNOS, PsAPX, PsChla/bBP), defense genes and cell rescue genes (PsPRP, PsMAPK, PsFDH) were analyzed. Inoculated plants exhibited a higher gene expression level and salt tolerance under 1%NaCl concentration. Thus, our results indicate that CHR JH 203 and BST YS1_42 strain showed the highest plant growth-promoting attributes could be used as bio-inoculants for crops under saline stress in the field towards sustainable crop development.

No abstract

Parasitic MAPKs exhibiting significant divergence with humans and playing an imperative role in parasitic metabolic activities have been exploited from several years as important targets for development of novel therapeutics. In addition, the emergence of the drug resistant variants of parasitic diseases in the recent years has aroused a great need for the development of potent inhibitors against them. In the present study we selected the metabolically active MAPKs LmxMPK4, PfMAP2 and TbMAPK5 of the three parasitic protozoans Leishmania mexicana, Plasmodium falciparum and Trypanosoma brucei respectively. The homology modeling technique was used to develop the 3D structures of these proteins and the same was validated by PROCHECK, ERRAT, ProQ and ProSA web servers to check the reliability. Ten phytoligands were employed for molecular docking studies with these proteins to search for potent phytoligand as a broad spectrum inhibitor. In this regard two phytoligands (Aspidocarpine for LmxMPK4 & TbMAPK5 and Cubebin for PfMAP2) were found to be more effective inhibitors, in term of robust binding energy, strong inhibition constant and better interactions between protein-ligand complexes. Furthermore predicted ADME & Toxicity properties suggested that these identified phytoligands exhibited comparable results to control drugs potentiating them as persuasive therapeutic agents for Leishmania, Trypanosoma and Plasmodium sp.

No abstract

Parasitic MAPKs exhibiting significant divergence with humans and playing an imperative role in parasitic metabolic activities have been exploited from several years as important targets for development of novel therapeutics. In addition, the emergence of the drug-resistant variants of parasitic diseases in the recent years has aroused a great need for the development of potent inhibitors against them. In the present study, we selected the metabolically active MAPKs LmxMPK4, PfMAP2 and TbMAPK5 of the three parasitic protozoans Leishmania mexicana, Plasmodium falciparum and Trypanosoma brucei, respectively. The homology modeling technique was used to develop the 3D structures of these proteins, and the same was validated by PROCHECK, ERRAT, ProQ and ProSA web servers to check the reliability. Ten phytoligands were employed for molecular docking studies with these proteins to search for potent phytoligand as a broad spectrum inhibitor. In this regard, two phytoligands (aspidocarpine for LmxMPK4 and TbMAPK5 and cubebin for PfMAP2) were found to be more effective inhibitors, in terms of robust binding energy, strong inhibition constant and better interactions between protein-ligand complexes. Furthermore, predicted ADME and toxicity properties suggested that these identified phytoligands exhibited comparable results to control drugs potentiating them as persuasive therapeutic agents for Leishmania, Trypanosoma and Plasmodium sp.