Aquaporins (AQPs) mediate cross membrane transport of water and other solutes in plants. AQPs also enhance plant performance under environmental stresses including water shortage. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the most important pulse legume for the people of semi-arid tropics. To understand the evolutionary relationships and role of AQPs in drought tolerance in chickpea, the current study involves an evolutionary analysis coupled with expression analysis and promoter analysis of selected AQPs. A total of 503 non-redundant AQP genes have been studied in 11 plant species including mosses (Physcomitrella patens), monocots (Oryza sativa and Zea mays) and dicots (Solanum lycopersicum, Populus trichocarpa, Gossypium hirsutum, Glycine max, Arabidopsis thaliana, Brassica rapa, Solanum tubrosum and Cicer arietinum). Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated a clear divergence of AQP subfamilies as paralogous groups and possible evolutionary direction of AQP subfamilies. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis depicted involvement of PIP2; 2 and NIP6; 3 in increasing plant drought stress tolerance and of SIP1; 1 and PIP2; 3 with a contrary role. In silico promoter analysis identified a 49 bp conserved motif among six AQPs and several abiotic stresses related cis-elements. The present study is a very first step in deciphering AQPs role in drought stress tolerance with a special perspective from evolutionary relationships and gene expression regulation.

This work demonstrates the degradation of toxic RhB (rhodamine B) dye from polluted water in various pH environments. It assesses the antibacterial action of CDs (carbon dots)/CS (chitosan)-doped La 2 O 3 (lanthanum oxide) NRs (nanorods). CS and CDs have been introduced as dopants to modify the characteristics of La 2 O 3 to achieve efficient outcomes. The influence of doping on the structural, morphological, optical, and elemental properties of synthesized La 2 O 3 NRs was investigated through a number of analytical techniques. The structural analysis of XRD revealed a hexagonal phase. The rod-like structure of pure La 2 O 3 and reduction in the size of NRs upon doping were exhibited by TEM micrographs. From UV−vis spectroscopy, increased absorption upon doping and introduction of redshift that led to reduced bandgap energy were observed. The FTIR spectra indicate the presence of functional groups of pure and integrated samples. The catalytic activity of specimens in basic medium toward dye showed excellent results (94.57%). The inhibition zone of diameter 4.15 mm was evaluated by 6 mL of CDs/ CS-doped La 2 O 3 NRs against Escherichia coli once the surface area increased by dopants. In silico experiments were performed for enoyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] reductase (FabI) and DNA gyrase enzymes to assess the potency of CS-doped La 2 O 3 and CDs/CSdoped La 2 O 3 as their inhibitors and to justify their possible mechanism of action.