TRENDS IN BIOSCIENCES 6-1, 2013 EDITION

More documents

Recommendations

Info

4 Trends in Biosciences 6 (1), 2013 and direction of their effect. Similarly, technological risks can be distinguished into two types: technology inherent risks concern the risks to human health, ecology, and the environment, and technology derived risks which are the result of the specific use of the technology, either reducing or enhancing the poverty gap, reducing or protecting biodiversity, and centralising or decentralising the control over and access to technology and its products. The risk of biodiversity loss is evident if we continue to experience the current trend for predatory and unregulated exploitation of living natural resources. Biodiversity has value for Science, and this value transcends merely subjective arguments. Brazil has a significant importance in biodiversity conservation due to the magnitude of its biological diversity. The Pantanal is a wetland system with a variety of ecosystems due to the seasonal flooding, and is recognized as one of the most important biodiversity biomes (Alho and Gonçalves, 2005). It is well recognized that Brazil is important in the scientific value of biodiversity because of the size of its territory, the diversity of its biomes, the size of its river system, the concept of a mega diverse country, and the biodiversity hotspots identified, with a large and continuous continental biota. The estimated size of known or recorded Brazilian biota is around 200,000 species, representing about 10% of the world’s known number of species. These numbers may increase dramatically considering that the Neotropics constitutes, so far, one of the least studied regions. There are over 55,000 species of flora (without fungi species), representing nearly 20% of the world’s flora. Brazilian biomes hold an immense number of terrestrial invertebrates, including 26,000 Lepidoptera, 12,000 Hymenoptera, 30,000 Coleoptera and so on. The number of amphibians (765 species) makes the country a leader in this taxon’s diversity. Reptiles comprise 600 species, including 350 species of snakes (Lewinshon and Prado, 2006). The issues involved in the interaction between biodiversity and biotechnology have far-reaching consequences and need to be subject to an open and knowledge-based dialogue in society. The dialogue needs to include many different stakeholders, including farmers of developing countries, diverse scientists, policy makers and communicators. Cultural values involved in farming and food production needs to be taken into consideration, just as much as the emotional side of eating and drinking. A significant aspect of ethical behavior is openness. Transparent information is required both from scientists in non-commercial settings as well as from industry. Several large projects in biotechnology like HUGO, the Human Genome Organization, have an “ELSI” component, dealing with ethical, legal and societal implications of biotechnology. This shows that some scientists realize that science cannot be seen as a human activity taking place in a void, without any connection to social and political realities. Ethicists stress that it is the responsibility of scientists to be actively concerned with these issues and that they should take special responsibility in communicating with non-specialists to explain what they know as well as what they don’t know. The analysis focuses on (a) the political climate around GEs having been spread from Europe around the world; (b) the legal and trade consequences connected to regulation and political climate; (c) GMO over-regulation making use of GEs for the public sector inaccessible for cost and time reasons; (d) the financial support to professional anti-GElobby groups and (e) poor support for agricultural research in general (Potrykus Ingo, 2010). Preservation of the genetic diversity present in crop species is an important need being addressed by various public and private programs. In this respect, biotechnology can be a valuable tool for introducing novel (alien or non-alien) genes into underused crop traits and crop species. Furthermore, the development and introduction of GM crop varieties does not represent any greater risk to crop genetic diversity than the breeding programs associated with conventional agriculture. After all, the overall performance of a plant and the quality and quantity of its product is the result of thousands of genes and the genetic background is almost always more important for the questions dealt with in this review than a single transgene. LITERATURE CITED Alho, C.J.R. and Gonçalves, H.C. 2005. Biodiversidade do Pantanal. Ecologia e Conservacaoo. Campo Grande: Editora UNIDERP. ISBN: 858739294-8. pp.142. Bowman, D.T., May, O.L. and Creech, J.B. 2003. Genetic uniformity of the US upland cotton crop since the introduction of transgenic cottons. Crop Sci., 43:515–518. Brown, T. and Johnes, G. 2003. New ways with old wheat – Part I, Archaeology University of Sheffield. Cracraft, C. 2002. Species concepts and speciation analysis. Ornithology 1:159-187. Drew, R.A. 2008. Applications of Biotechnology to Tropical Fruit Crops in Australia and Worldwide. Acta Horticulturae, No. 787. James, C. 2005. Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2004”, ISAAA (www.isaaa.org). Krishnan, P.N., Decruse, S.W. and Radha, R.K. 2011. Conservation of Medicinal Plants of Western Ghats, India and its Sustainable Utilization through in vitro Technology. In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology: Plant., 47(1):110-122. Lecointre, G. and Guyader, H.L. 2001. Classification phylogenetique du vivant. Paris, France: Belin. Lewinshon, T.M. and Prado, P.I. 2006. How many species are there in Brazil? Conservation Biology, 19(3): 619-624. Potrykus, I. 2010. Constraints to Biotechnology Introduction for Poverty Alleviation. New Biotechnology, 27(5):447-448. Slabbert, R. 2004. Drought tolerance, traditional crops and biotechnology: breeding towards sustainable development. South African J. Botany, 70: 116-123. Sneller, C.H. 2003. Impact of transgenic genotypes and subdivision on diversity within elite North American soybean germplasm. Crop Sci., 43: 409-414. Udvardy, M.D.F. 1975. A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Recieved on 12-08-2012 Accepted on 02-12-2012
Trends in Biosciences 6 (1): 5-13, 2013 MINI REVIEW Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Changes during High Temperature in Plants – A Review KSHITIJ KUMAR AND I.U. RAO Department of Botany University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007 e-mail: patelbiotech@gmail.com ABSTRACT Heat stress is often defined as the rise in temperature beyond a threshold level for a period of time sufficient to cause irreversible damage to plant growth and development. In general, a transient elevation in temperature, usually 10-15 o C above ambient, is considered heat shock or heat stress. However, heat stress is a complex function of intensity (temperature in degrees), duration, and rate of increase in temperature. The extent to which it occurs in specific climatic zo nes depe nds on the proba bility and period o f high temperatures occurring during the day and/or the night. Heat tolerance is generally defined as the ability of the plant to grow and produce economic yield under high temperatures. However, while some res earc hers believe tha t night temperatures are major limiting factors others have argued that day and night temperatures do not affect the plant independently, and that the diurnal mean’ temperature is a better predictor of plant response to high temperature with day temperature having a secondary role. Key word Heat stress, Temperature, Heat shock Proteins Heat stress due to high ambient temperatures is a serious threat to crop production worldwide. Gaseous emissions due to human activities are substantially adding to the existing concentrations of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, methane, chlorofluorocarbons and nitrous oxides. Different global circulation models predict that greenhouse gases will gradually increase world’s average ambient temperature. According to a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change (IPCC), global mean temperature will rise 0.3 ?C per decade reaching to approximately 1 and3 ?C above the present value by years 2025 and 2100, respectively, and leading to global warming. Rising temperatures may lead to altered geographical distribution and growing season of agricultural crops by allowing the threshold temperature for the start of the season and crop maturity to reach earlier. At very high temperatures, severe cellular injury and even cell death may occur within minutes, which could be attributed to a catastrophic collapse of cellular organization (Sch¨offl, et al., 1999). At moderately high temperatures, injuries or death may occur only after long-term exposure. Direct injuries due to high temperatures include protein denaturation and aggregation, and increased fluidity of membrane lipids. Indirect or slower heat injuries include inactivation of enzymes in chloroplast and mitochondria, inhibition of protein synthesis, Mr Kshitij Kumar is a research Scholar at Department of Plant Molecular Biology Narendra Deva University of Agriculture & Technology Narendra Nagar (Kumarganj) Faizabad Uttar Pradesh India. Mr Kshitij Kumar has completed M.Sc. (Agriculture) in Agricultural Biotechnology from Narendra Deva University of Agriculture & Technology Narendra Nagar (Kumarganj) Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. He has completed his M.Phil. (Botany) from Department of Botany University of Delhi under supervision of Prof. I.U. Rao. protein degradation and loss of membrane integrity (Howarth, 2005). Effect of temperature at cellular level Dr. I.U. Rao is a ex-Professor of Botany at University of Delhi, Delhi. She has three decades experience of teaching and research and guiding several M.Phil. and Ph.D. students. She was Head, Dean and Proctor of University of Delhi. She has published many national and International papers in reputed journals. She has been involved in several research projects. At very high temperatures, severe cellular injury and even cell death may occur within minutes, which could be attributed to a catastrophic collapse of cellular organization (Schoffl et. al., 1999). At moderately high temperatures, injuries or death may occur only after long-term exposure. Direct injuries due to high temperatures include protein denaturation and aggregation, and increased fluidity of membrane lipids. Indirect or slower heat injuries include inactivation of enzymes in chloroplast and mitochondria, inhibition of protein synthesis, protein degradation and loss of membrane integrity (Howarth, 2005). Heat stress also affects the organization of microtubules by splitting and/or elongation of spindles, formation of microtubule asters in mitotic cells, and elongation of phragmoplast microtubules (Smertenko, et. al., 1997). These injuries eventually lead to starvation, inhibition of growth,
Page 1 and 2: Print : ISSN 0974-8 Online : ISSN 0
Page 3 and 4: International Advisory Board Trends
Page 5 and 6: Trends in Biosciences Volume 6 Numb
Page 7 and 8: Trends in Biosciences 6 (1): 1-4, 2
Page 9: MISHRA & DWIVEDI, Biodiversity and
Page 13 and 14: KUMAR AND RAO, Physiological, Bioch
Page 21 and 22: MATHUR, Knowledge and Gaps for Herb
Page 23 and 24: Table 3. MATHUR, Knowledge and Gaps
Page 25 and 26: Trends in Biosciences 6 (1): 19-22,
Page 27 and 28: MURALI AND REDDY, Insectivorous Pla
Page 31 and 32: SHARMA, et al., Expression and Immu
Page 33 and 34: SHARMA, et al., Expression and Immu
Page 35 and 36: BHATI & CHANDRA, Morphological and
Page 41 and 42: KUMAR, et al., Biology and feeding
Page 43 and 44: VANITHA et al., Survey, vector rela
Page 45 and 46: VANITHA et al., Survey, vector rela
Page 47 and 48: Table 1. BALAI AND SINGH, Losses Ca
Page 51 and 52: Table 3. BAHAR, Relative Performanc
Page 53 and 54: SHARMA AND ANSARI, Influence of Del
Page 55 and 56: Table 4. SHARMA AND ANSARI, Influen
Page 57 and 58: GAUTAM et al., Herbal Rumenotoric D
Page 59 and 60: GAUTAM et al., Herbal Rumenotoric D
Page 61 and 62:
Table 1. YADAV et al., Studies on N
Page 63 and 64:
JAIN AND MENDIRATTA, Evaluation and
Page 65 and 66:
Trends in Biosciences 6 (1): 59-62,
Page 67 and 68:
MATHUR, Spatial and Modular Variabi
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
SINGH et al., Induced mutation thro
Page 75 and 76:
JAIN AND INDAPURKAR, Assesment of G
Page 77 and 78:
NAGARAJA AND PUDALE, Phytotoxic Eff
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
MALLU et al., Serological detection
Page 83 and 84:
Table 1. S.N. SINGH et al., Influen
Page 85 and 86:
Table 1. RAHMAN, et al., Diversity
Page 87 and 88:
SINGH AND KUMAR, Effect of Ginger a
Page 89 and 90:
SASODE AND SINGH, Anti-Fungal Evalu
Page 91 and 92:
SASODE AND SINGH, Anti-Fungal Evalu
Page 93 and 94:
NATH, et al., Studies on status of
Page 95 and 96:
SRINIVASULU, Studies on the effect
Page 97 and 98:
SRINIVASULU, Studies on the effect
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Trends in Biosciences 6 (1): 99-100
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Table 2. KUMAR et al., Screening of
Page 111 and 112:
VERMA AND YADAV, Knowledge Level of
Page 113 and 114:
Table 1. PANDEY et al., Stability S
Page 115 and 116:
MANJUNATH et al., In Vitro Screenin
Page 117 and 118:
MANJUNATH et al., In Vitro Screenin
Page 119 and 120:
CHANDA PAKASH et al., Efficacy of D
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Table 2. CHANDA PAKASH et al., Bio-
Page 125 and 126:
Table 1. Traits SINGH et al., Genet
Page 127 and 128:
PREMA et al., Screening of horsegra
Page 129 and 130:
Table 1. Entry Table 2. Source of v
Page 131 and 132:
Author Index Vol. 5 (1-4) 2012 125
Page 133 and 134:
Author Index Vol. 5 (1-4) 2012 127
Page 135 and 136:
Subject Index Vol. 5 (1-4) 2012 129
Page 137 and 138:
Subject Index Vol. 5 (1-4) 2012 131
Page 139 and 140:
Subscription Order Form Name : …
Page 141:
army printing press www.armyprintin
show all

TRENDS IN BIOSCIENCES 6-1, 2013 EDITION

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?