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Agriculture plays a key role in deciding the economy of the country and agricultural marketing has become the potential driver of the agricultural sector. Green revolution and succeeding technologies made our farmers to succeed in the production front, but lagging appreciably in terms of price realization owing to their inability to stop post-harvest losses and inaccessibility to efficient and scientific marketing system. Post-harvest management includes storage, packaging, coating, disease management, extended shelf life, maintaining food quality. Foods and other products can be preserved by storage at low temperature, which retards the activities of microorganisms and preserve perishable foods in their natural state. Preservation depends on the storage time required whether short or long-term short and the type of product. A cold storage unit works on two principles: Vapour absorption system (VAS), and Vapour compression system (VCS). Although VAS is a bit costlier, but economical in operation. Food irradiation is another recent food preservation technology to address some of post-harvest losses. Food is exposed to ionizing radiation (i.e. radiowaves, microwaves, UV rays, X-rays, gamma rays etc.). Food irradiation can be applied to specific purposes as quarantine treatment of fruits and vegetables and as a method to ensure hygienic quality of foods. Food processing techniques like grading, sorting and packaging, etc add value and enhances shelf life of food. Agricultural productivity augmentation needs a concurrent development of post-harvest support mechanism and efficient and organized marketing system, which would ensure maximum price rrealization to the farmers.

This present study has been designed to develop an Antifouling agent to minimize the attachment of fouling organisms on the submerged substratum. In order to analyze the leaf extracts of reputable species, such as Ipomoea pescaprae, (sand dune plants) and Sesuvium portulacastrum, Batis maritima (salt marsh), an attempt was undertaken. Methanolic extracts of three plants were screened for antifouling activity against six marine fouling bacteria (Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas sp., Vibrio sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli) using disc diffusion method where the methanolic extract of Ipomea pes caprae exhibited a maximum zone of inhibition (26mm) against Pseudomonas sp. Further, the minimum inhibitory concentration assay was performed to determine the lowest effective concentration to inhibit microbial growth. Hence, the result has suggested Ipomea pes-caprae has a maximum inhibitory percentage (51%) in a lower concentration (100µL) against E. coli. To detect the functional groups in three extracts, FTIR was carried out, where Amine, Secondary Alcohol, Alkane and Amine salt all are commonly present in these three samples. A field study has been designed to evaluate the antifouling efficiency of three samples, where the commercial paint was formulated using methanolic extracts from three different plants. Thus, resulted in Sample-1 (Ipomea pes-caprae) has good bioactivity towards fouling organisms and resulted in less percentage of fouling formation (Wood-10%, Aluminium-22% and Fiber sheet-26%) in this field study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monkeypox (Mpox), a zoonotic illness triggered by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), poses a significant threat since it may be transmitted and has no cure. This work introduces a computational method to predict Protein–Protein Interactions (PPIs) during MPXV infection. The objective is to discover prospective drug targets and repurpose current potential Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drugs for therapeutic purposes. In this work, ensemble features, comprising 2–5 node graphlet attributes and protein composition-based features are utilized for Deep Learning (DL) models to predict PPIs. The technique that is used here demonstrated an excellent prediction performance for PPI on both the Human Integrated Protein–Protein Interaction Reference (HIPPIE) and MPXV-Human PPI datasets. In addition, the human protein targets for MPXV have been identified accurately along with the detection of possible therapeutic targets. Furthermore, the validation process included conducting docking research studies on potential FDA drugs like Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide and Hydrogen (NADH), Fostamatinib, Glutamic acid, Cannabidiol, Copper, and Zinc in DrugBank identified via research on drug repurposing and the Drug Consensus Score (DCS) for MPXV. This has been achieved by employing the primary crystal structures of MPXV, which are now accessible. The docking study is also supported by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation. The results of our study emphasize the effectiveness of using ensemble feature-based PPI prediction to understand the molecular processes involved in viral infection and to aid in the development of repurposed drugs for emerging infectious diseases such as, but not limited to, Mpox. The source code and link to data used in this work is available at: https://github.com/CMATERJU-BIOINFO/In-Silico-Drug-Repurposing-Methodology-To-Suggest-Therapies-For-Emerging-Threats-like-Mpox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document discusses the use of yeast strains for the production of biochemicals and biofuels. The demand for these products has increased due to urbanization, industrialization, and a growing preference for bio-based and environmentally friendly alternatives. Yeast strains have the ability to utilize inexpensive waste feedstock, making them ideal for synthesizing natural products. The document highlights several research articles that focus on the use of yeast strains for the production of specific commodities, such as 2,3-butanediol and γ-bisabolene. It also includes review articles on yeast-mediated bioenergy production and waste valorization. Overall, the articles emphasize the environmentally friendly and sustainable nature of yeast-based production strategies. [Extracted from the article]

The European Union has recommended that about 10–50% of the global energy requirement should be supplemented by waste biomass resources by 2050 in order to achieve the objective of having net-zero-emission economies. This has led to intensive research being conducted on developing appropriate biofuel production technologies using advanced or integrated systems to tackle local, national, and global energy challenges using waste feedstock. Researchers have realized the potential of microbes (e.g., yeast strains) for bioenergy production. For this paper, both non-oleaginous and oleaginous yeasts were reviewed, with a specific focus being placed on their diversity in metabolism and tolerance to the various challenges that arise from the use of waste feedstock and influence bioprocessing. Gathering in-depth knowledge and information on yeast metabolism has paved the way for newer and better technologies to employ them for consolidated biorefineries to not only produce biofuels but also to cut down process expenses and decrease the risks of net carbon emissions. The rationale for using yeast strains improved by metabolic engineering and genetic manipulation that can substantially meet the challenges of alternate fuel resources is also described in this paper. This literature review presents the advantages and disadvantages of yeast-based biofuel production and highlights the advancements in technologies and how they contrast to conventional methods. Over the last decade, scientific publications have endorsed the idea of biorefineries for environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and sustainable biofuel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important and interesting feature of rice is that it can germinate under anoxic conditions. Though several biochemical adaptive mechanisms play an important role in the anaerobic germination of rice but the role of phytoglobin‐nitric oxide cycle and alternative oxidase pathway is not known, therefore in this study we investigated the role of these pathways in anaerobic germination. Under anoxic conditions, deepwater rice germinated much higher and rapidly than aerobic condition and the anaerobic germination and growth were much higher in the presence of nitrite. The addition of nitrite stimulated NR activity and NO production. Important components of phytoglobin‐NO cycle such as methaemoglobin reductase activity, expression of Phytoglobin1, NIA1 were elevated under anaerobic conditions in the presence of nitrite. The operation of phytoglobin‐NO cycle also enhanced anaerobic ATP generation, LDH, ADH activities and in parallel ethylene levels were also enhanced. Interestingly nitrite suppressed the ROS production and lipid peroxidation. The reduction of ROS was accompanied by enhanced expression of mitochondrial alternative oxidase protein and its capacity. Application of AOX inhibitor SHAM inhibited the anoxic growth mediated by nitrite. In addition, nitrite improved the submergence tolerance of seedlings. Our study revealed that nitrite driven phytoglobin‐NO cycle and AOX are crucial players in anaerobic germination and growth of deepwater rice. Nitrite improves anaerobic germination and growth of rice seedlings under anoxia via modulation of fermentation, phytoglobin‐hemoglobin (Pgb‐NO) cycle, reduction of ROS via induction of alternative oxidase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FKBP22, an Escherichia coli -made peptidyl-prolyl cis - trans isomerase, has shown considerable homology with Mip-like virulence factors. While the C-terminal domain of this enzyme is used for executing catalytic function and binding inhibitor, the N-terminal domain is employed for its dimerization. To precisely determine the underlying factors of FKBP22 dimerization, its structural model, developed using a suitable template, was carefully inspected. The data show that the dimeric FKBP22, like dimeric Mip proteins, has a V-like shape. Further, it dimerizes using 40 amino acid residues including Ile 9, Ile 17, Ile 42, and Ile 65. All of the above Ile residues except Ile 9 are partly conserved in the Mip-like proteins. To confirm the roles of the partly conserved Ile residues, three FKBP22 mutants, constructed by substituting them with an Ala residue, were studied as well. The results together indicate that Ile 65 has little role in maintaining the dimeric state or enzymatic activity of FKBP22. Conversely, both Ile 17 and Ile 42 are essential for preserving the structure, enzymatic activity, and dimerization ability of FKBP22. Ile 42 in particular looks more essential to FKBP22. However, none of these two Ile residues is required for binding the cognate inhibitor. Additional computational studies also indicated the change of V-shape and the dimeric state of FKBP22 due to the Ala substitution at position 42. The ways Ile 17 and Ile 42 protect the structure, function, and dimerization of FKBP22 have been discussed at length.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.