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The present study reports Ranatra cardamomensis Zettel, Phauk, Kheam, and Freitag, 2017 for the first time from India. This species was collected from the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh State and from Maharashtra. Taxonomic characteristics, specimen photographs and distribution range of the species are provided. With the present record, 14 species of Ranatra Fabricius, 1790 are now known from India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jaiswal D, Banerjee S. 2024. Notes on Gerridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) from the Eastern Ghats of Telangana and Northern Andhra Pradesh, India. Nusantara Bioscience 16: 43-53. Gerridae is the family of semi-aquatic bugs found in both the lentic and lotic freshwater bodies. The present study focused on the Gerridae from the Eastern Ghats of Telangana and Northern Andhra Pradesh, India. This study documented a total number of 16 species belonging to 13 genera and 7 subfamilies under the family Gerridae. Tenagogonus nicobarensis Andersen, 1964, was earlier described from Andaman and Nicober islands and also known to be endemic to that particular geographical area. We are recording this species for the first time from the mainland of the Indian subcontinent. Ventidius aquarius Distant, 1910 was also recorded for the first time during this present study from the Eastern Ghats, an endemic species to peninsular India. Another species, Naboandelus signatus Distant, 1910 is also recorded from the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh as well as an addition to the state fauna of Andhra Pradesh. It is a widespread species and reported from both central and northeastern India. In southern India, it was reported from the two states and present record will be the additional third state to its distribution. In addition to taxonomic details, the article covers the geographic distribution of the 16 species. This study has also led to the addition of nine species of Gerridae to the state fauna of Andhra Pradesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity and distribution of aquatic and semi-aquatic Hemipterans were studied from Amrabad and Kawal Tiger Reserve of the state Telangana. This report documents 38 species of aquatic and semi-aquatic hemipterans belonging to 22 genera and ten families from Amrabad and Kawal Tiger Reserve. Interestingly, 20 species were noted as additions to the state of Telangana. Two species Ranatra libera Zettel, 1999 and Rhagovelia sumatrensis Lundblad, 1933 were observed, where both species are new distributional records to peninsular India. Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) showed higher species diversity than the Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) with respect to species richness. The present report is the first documentation from both tiger reserves on aquatic and semi-aquatic hemipterans from the state of Telangana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomolecular carbon dots (CDs) have immense potential for various industries due to exceptional bioactivity, biocompatibility, low toxicity, and biodegradability. In the present work xylitol (Xlt), a natural sweetener produced by microbial fermentation of sugarcane bagasse (71.98% conversion) has been used for CDs preparation by microwave‐assisted carbonization in the presence of ethylene diamine (EDA). The resultant xylitol carbon dots (XCDs) were irregular shaped, rough with an average size of 8.88 nm and exhibiting fluorescence between 400 and 450 nm. The presence of EDA preserves the native chemical structure of Xlt even after exposure to microwaves. Purified XCDs were conjugated (AM‐XCD) with ketoconazole and tetracycline for fungi and bacteria, respectively. In comparison to Xlt, XCDs have higher inhibitory potential and reduced dosage size of antimicrobials against Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida albicans, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Escherichia coli by 75%, 75%, 87.50%, and 50%, respectively. For Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella typhi also inhibitory potential was increased by 14.68% and 21.38%. Increased efficacy advocated the improved drug delivery in the presence of XCDs. However, no inhibitory effect was recorded against DU145 (human prostate cancer) and HCT‐15 (human colon adenocarcinoma) cell lines. The findings of the current work suggested the possible use of Xlt as an important antimicrobial agent besides an efficient drug carrier in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel 14α-O-(1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazolyl) ester derivatives of andrographolide (5a-n) were synthesized from andrographolide (1). For this endeavour, selective esterification at C-14 hydroxyl group of andrographolide (1) with propiolic acid via protection, deprotection strategy followed by 1,4-regioselective [1,3]dipolar cycloaddition of alkyne, azide using Cu(I) catalyzed Click chemistry. All the synthesized derivatives were screened for their cytotoxicity on HCT-15, HeLa and K562 cell lines. Compounds 5c and 5j showed highest activity against HCT-15 and K562 cell lines whereas compound 5a displayed activity in all the three cell lines. Loss of cell viability was not observed with the non-transformed cell line MRC-5 with compounds 5j, 5k, 5h and 2 indicating cytotoxic activity of these compounds towards cancer cell lines. Further, molecular docking analysis and SAR studies of highly active compounds 5c and 5j revealed enhanced binding affinity to the target NF-κB protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of new flavanone-triazole hybrids (7a–m) were synthesized from flavanone oximes (6a–c) via multistep synthetic strategy, involving Cu (I) catalyzed azide, alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition by Click reaction. All the synthesized compounds were tested for their cytotoxicity against HCT-15, HeLa, NCI-H522, and HEK-293 (normal cell line) cell lines. Compounds 6a, 7a, 7b, 7d, 7e, 7j, and 7m showed the significant cytotoxicity, wherein compound 7b showed potential cytotoxicity against NCI-H522 cell line and compounds 6a and 7a were offensive with HEK-293 in their toxicity profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study encompasses the synthesis and characterization of organotin(IV) derivatives of non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug ibuprofen (IBF), viz. [(Me3Sn)(IBF)] (1), [(Bu3Sn)(IBF)] (2), [Ph3Sn(IBF)] (3), {[Me2Sn(IBF)]2O}2 (4) and [Bu2Sn(IBF)2] (5). The crystal structure of complex 3, [Ph3Sn(IBF)], indicates a highly distorted tetrahedral (td) geometry with anisobidentate mode of coordination of the carboxylate group with tin atom, and a similar structure has been proposed for other two triorganotin(IV) derivatives. Moreover, the DFT (density functional theory) calculation and other studies have verified a dimer distannoxane type of structure for complex 4, {[Me2Sn(IBF)]2O}2. Complex 5 has been found to exhibit a highly distorted octahedral geometry around the tin atom. To investigate the DNA binding profile of the synthesized complexes, viscosity measurement, UV–vis and fluorescence titrations were performed, which revealed an intercalative type of binding with DNA for IBF and complex 5 and external binding in case of the complexes 1 and 2; complexes 3 and 4 could not be studied owing to their insufficient solubility in tris buffer. Plasmid DNA fragmentation studies of IBF and complexes 1, 2 and 5 indicate that they cleaved the pBR322 plasmid potentially. Further, the drugs IBF {2‐[4‐(2‐methylpropyl)phenyl]propanoic acid}, MESNA (sodium 2‐mercaptoethane‐sulfonate), warfarin [2H‐1‐benzopyran‐2‐one,4‐hydroxy‐3‐(3‐oxo‐1‐phenylbutyl)], sulindac (2‐{5‐fluoro‐1‐[(4‐methanesulfinylphenyl) methylidene]‐2‐methyl‐1H‐inden‐3‐yl}acetic acid) and their corresponding organotin(IV) complexes 1–19 (complexes 6–19 were synthesized/reported previously) were screened in vitro for cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines viz. DU145 (prostate cancer), HCT‐15 (colon adenocarcinoma), Caco‐2 (colorectal adenocarcinoma), MCF‐7 (mammary cancer), LNCaP (androgen‐sensitive prostate adenocarcinoma) and HeLa (cervical cancer), through MTT reduction assay and the cause of cell death was investigated through acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining of cells and DNA fragmentation assay. The probable structure–cytotoxicity relationship is also discussed. The major role of apoptosis along with small necrosis was also validated by flow cytometry assay using annexin V–fluorescein isothiocyanate and propidium iodide analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Next-generation sequences (NGS) dataset of nanobody (Nb) clones in a phage display library (PDL) is of immense value as it serves in many different ways, such as: i). estimating the library size, ii). improving selection and identification of Nbs, iii). informing about frequency of V gene families, diversity and length of CDRs, iv). high resolution analysis of natural and synthetic libraries, etc. [1], [2], [3]. We used a fraction of our previously constructed PDL of Nbs derived from an E. coli lipopolysaccharide-immunized Indian desert camel in order to obtain the dataset of NGS reads of Nbs. The cryo-preserved transformants library was revived to extract the Nb-encoding VHH (inserts)-pHEN4 (vector) DNA pool. The DNA sample was used for amplifying VHH pool by PCR [6]. The VHH amplicons band was gel-purified and subjected to NGS using Illumina MiSeq TM platform. 'Nextra XT micro V2 Index' kit was used for the Nb library DNA sample sequencing, with the adaptors: 'i7' (N706: TAGGCATG) and 'i5' (S517: GCGTAAGA). The raw data comprised of a total read count of 182146 (matched= 179591; unmatched=2555), with average read length of 130.33 bases and a total of 23.74 Mb. Of 179591 matched reads, 142004 were paired reads and 37587 broken paired reads. The raw data of NGS reads was submitted to NCBI Sequence Reads Archive accessible at URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Traces/study/?acc=PRJNA516512 (dataset ref. [7]), and after analysis deposited in Mendeley Datasets repository, which is accessible at URL: [https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/4rsz3snvk5/3] (dataset ref. [8]). The sequence reads were analyzed by bioinformatics tools [9], [10], [11], [12]. The assembled consensus contigs revealed Nb orthologs of diverse Ag-specificities, including those isolated by conventional panning and Sanger-sequenced functional Nbs. Contig 1 CDR1-3 matched to those of anti- Trypanosoma evansi RoTat1.2 variant surface glycoprotein (VSG), while Contig 2 CDR1-3 matched to those of anti-LPS Nb clones isolated from the library. Contig 3 was however incomplete and lacked CDR3. Despite lacking the depth, the NGS data is a useful guide for selection of antigen-specific Nbs from the library, as demonstrated by anti- T. evansi VSG Nbs, and provides templates for Nb-based diagnostic reagents and therapeutic agents., Competing Interests: The phage display library of nanobodies derived from LPS-immunized Indian desert camel was produced in 2009 in a research project funded by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and implemented by the second author as Principal Investigator at Ch. Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU), Hisar, Haryana. The said library is an Nb resource of implied commercial interests and is a joint intellectual property of the funding agency (DBT) and CCSHAU according to mutually agreed terms and conditions. NGS of Nbs in the said library has been funded by ICAR, New Delhi for Emeritus Scientist scheme being implemented in LUVAS, Hisar. Any commercial interests arising from these findings will be jointly settled by LUVAS, Hisar and ICAR, New Delhi. However, these declared ‘Conflicts of Interest’ did not influence the results of the present investigation., (© 2020 The Authors.)