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The global demand for food production is escalating, necessitating innovative approaches to mitigate pest-related crop losses. Conventional pest management using synthetic pesticides has several drawbacks, promoting the search for eco-friendly alternatives such as biopesticides. Among these, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-based biopesticides have emerged as a promising option due to their specificity, sustainability, and safety. This article reviews the success and application of Bt as a biopesticide, analysing its environmental impacts, formulation strategies, marketing trends and associated challenges. The environment impact of Bt is multifaceted, influencing soil ecosystems, plant-associated habitats, and non-target organisms. It interacts dynamically with soil invertebrates and affects both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, demonstrating a complex ecological footprint. The market for Bt-based biopesticide is expanding, driven by their proven efficacy and eco-friendliness with projections indicating continued growth. Despite the promising market trends, regulatory hurdles and formulation complexities remain significant obstacles. Addressing these challenges require collaborative efforts to streamline processes and enhance market acceptance. Nonetheless, the future of Bt-based biopesticide appears promising. Ongoing research is focused on advanced formulations, expanding the range of targeted pests and fostering regulatory cooperation, underscoring the pivotal role of Bt-based biopesticide in sustainable agriculture., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Balakrishnan N reports a relationship with Tamil Nadu Agricultural University that includes: employment. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.), a globally significant vegetable crop, faces a substantial threat from viral diseases, specifically Groundnut bud necrosis orthotospovirus (GBNV). Traditional approaches such as removal of infected plants, use of barrier crops, and insecticides have been employed but they have not proven to be consistently effective. Consequently, an alternative approach involving the stimulation of host resistance through the Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) was adopted. From the previous study, B. subtilis (BST8), B. subtilis (Bbv57), and B. amyloliquefaciens (Ka1) were found to be effective against GBNV in cowpea. To enhance the shelf life of Bacillus spp. and improve the water retention capacity of tomato leaf surfaces, these bacteria were encapsulated within nanosilica, an identified host defense inducer. An effective inverse Pickering emulsion with a 2.5% (w/v) silica concentration was developed and characterized using diverse techniques, viz ., phase contrast, scanning electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, contact angle goniometry, and variable angle ellipsometry. The prepared emulsion was then tested for its antiviral efficacy against GBNV in cowpea and tomatoes. Nanoencapsulated Bacillus consortia significantly reduced GBNV lesions in cowpea to 0.63 per leaf compared to the control (6.63). DAC-ELISA revealed a virus titer of 0.75 (3.33 times lower than the control), indicating antiviral efficacy. In tomato (var. PKM1), the consortia achieved an impressive 77.91% disease reduction (19% DSI) at 14 days post-inoculation (DPI), surpassing both nanoemulsion and consortia alone (DSIs: 67 and 30%, respectively). Nanoencapsulated Bacillus consortia demonstrated the lowest GBNV titer in tomatoes (0.86 vs control-3.32) through DAC-ELISA. This study introduces a promising strategy for the effective management of GBNV in cowpea and tomatoes using nanoencapsulated Bacillus consortia, underscoring its potential as an effective solution in crop protection.

Bud blight disease caused by groundnut bud necrosis virus (GBNV) is a serious constraint in the cultivation of agricultural crops such as legumes, tomato, chilies, potato, cotton etc. Owing to the significant damage caused by GBNV, an attempt was made to identify suitable organic antiviral agents through molecular modelling of the nucleocapsid Coat Protein of GBNV; molecular docking and molecular dynamics that disclosed the interaction of the ligands viz., Squalene and Ganoderic acid-A with coat protein of GBNV. Invitro inhibitory effect of Squalene and Ganoderic acid-A was examined in comparison with different concentrations, against GBNV in cowpea plants under glasshouse condition. The different concentrations of Squalene (50, 100, 150, 250 and 500 ppm) tested in vitro resulted in reduction of lesion numbers (1.69 cm 2 ) as well as reduced virus titre in co-inoculation spray. The present study suggests the antiviral activity of Squalene by effectively fitting into binding site of coat protein of GBNV with favourable hydrophilic as well as strong hydrophobic interactions thereby challenging and blocking the binding of viral replication RNA with coat protein and propagation. The present organic antiviral molecules will be helpful in development of suitable eco-friendly formulations to mitigate GBNV infection disease in plants., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Large numbers of bioactive natural products from plant species such as alkaloids, phenolics, terpenoids etc. are remaining unexplored for their potential as plant protective agents as inhibitors for viral and other pathogenic infections of plant. Myzus aphids are important plant pests and vectors for several plant viruses. Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) belongs to the plant virus family Caulimoviridae which is transmitted "non-circulative" from plant to plant through an interaction with aphid insect vectors. This viral transmission process most likely involves a protein-protein binding interaction between aphid stylet receptor cuticular protein and viral proteins namely, CaMV aphid transmission Helper Component protein and virion associated protein. Aphid stylets are made of cuticle and little is known about the structure of cuticle protein of this insect group. The present study reports the molecular modeling of the structures of Myzus persicae aphid stylet's cuticular protein (MpsCP) and cauliflower mosaic virus aphid transmission Helper component protein (CaMV HCP). Protein-protein docking studies and molecular dynamics simulations are performed to establish the mode of binding of MpsCP with CaMV HCP. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics investigations of terpenoids Annosquamosin-A from Annona squamosa complex with CaMV transmitting aphid M. persicae stylet's cuticular protein revealed their means of interaction perhaps relates to restrain viral binding and transmission. QM/MM optimization of mesoporous silica nanopores composite with Annosquamosin-A for smart and safe delivery of bioactive is carried out to study their electronic parameters such as heat of formation, total energy, electronic energy, Ionization potential, Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital, Lowest Un-occupied Molecular Orbital and energy gaps., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestAll the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Indian Virological Society 2019.)

Even after so much advancement in gene expression microarray technology, the main hindrance in analyzing microarray data is its limited number of samples as compared to a number of factors, which is a major impediment in revealing actual gene functionality and valuable information from the data. Analyzing gene expression data can indicate the factors which are differentially expressed in the diseased tissue. As most of these genes have no part to play in causing the disease of interest, thus, identification of disease-causing genes can reveal not just the case of the disease, but also its pathogenic mechanism. There are a lot of gene selection methods available which have the capacity to remove irrelevant genes, but most of them are not sufficient enough in removing redundancy in genes from microarray data, which increases the computational cost and decreases the classification accuracy. Combining the gene expression data with the gene ontology information can be helpful in determining the redundancy which can then be removed using the algorithm mentioned in the work. The gene list obtained after these sequential steps of the algorithm can be analyzed further to obtain the most deterministic genes responsible for type 2 diabetes.