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Waterlogging represents a substantial agricultural concern, inducing harmful impacts on crop development and productivity. In the present study, 142 diverse sesame genotypes were examined during the early vegetative phase to assess their response under waterlogging conditions. Based on the severity of symptoms observed, 2 genotypes were classified as highly tolerant, 66 as moderately tolerant, 69 as susceptible, and 5 as highly susceptible. Subsequent investigation focused on four genotypes, i.e., two highly tolerant (JLT-8 and GP-70) and two highly susceptible (R-III-F6 and EC-335003). These genotypes were subjected to incremental stress periods (0 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 96 h) to elucidate the biochemical basis of tolerance mechanisms. Each experiment was conducted as a randomized split-plot design with three replications, and the statistical significance of the treatment differences was determined using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Fisher least significant difference (LSD) test at p ≤ 0.05. The influence of waterlogging stress on morphological growth was detrimental for both tolerant and susceptible genotypes, with more severe consequences observed in the latter. Although adventitious roots were observed in both sets of genotypes above flooding levels, the tolerant genotypes exhibited a more rapid and vigorous development of these roots after 48 h of stress exposure. Tolerant genotypes displayed higher tolerance coefficients compared to susceptible genotypes. Furthermore, tolerant genotypes maintained elevated antioxidant potential, thereby minimizing oxidative stress. Conversely, susceptible genotypes exhibited higher accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde content. Photosynthetic efficiency was reduced in all genotypes after 24 h of stress treatment, with a particularly drastic reduction in susceptible genotypes compared to their tolerant counterparts. Tolerant genotypes exhibited significantly higher activities of anaerobic metabolism enzymes, enabling prolonged survival under waterlogging conditions. Increase in proline content was observed in all the genotypes indicating the cellular osmotic balance adjustments in response to stress exposure. Consequently, the robust antioxidant potential and efficient anaerobic metabolism observed in the tolerant genotypes served as key mechanisms enabling their resilience to short-term waterlogging exposure. These findings underscore the promising potential of specific sesame genotypes in enhancing crop resilience against waterlogging stress, offering valuable insights for agricultural practices and breeding programs.

This study was undertaken to bridge the knowledge gap pertaining to cyanobacteria’s response to pretreatment. The result elucidates the synergistic effect of pretreatment toxicity in cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC7120 on morphological and biochemical attributes. Chemical (salt) and physical (heat) stress-pretreated cells exhibited significant and reproducible changes in terms of growth pattern, morphology, pigments, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant activity. Salinity pretreatment showed more than a five-fold decrease in the phycocyanin content but a six-fold and five-fold increase in carotenoid, lipid peroxidation (MDA content), and antioxidant activity (SOD and CAT) at 1 h and on 3rd day of treatment, respectively, giving the impression of stress-induced free radicals that are scavenged by antioxidants when compared to heat shock pretreatment. Furthermore, quantitative analysis of transcript (qRT-PCR) for FeSOD and MnSOD displayed a 3.6- and 1.8-fold increase in salt-pretreated (S-H) samples. The upregulation of transcript corresponding to salt pretreatment suggests a toxic role of salinity in synergizing heat shock. However, heat pretreatment suggests a protective role in mitigating salt toxicity. It could be inferred that pretreatment enhances the deleterious effect. However, it further showed that salinity (chemical stress) augments the damaging effect of heat shock (physical stress) more profoundly than physical stress on chemical stress possibly by modulating redox balance via activation of antioxidant responses. Our study reveals that upon pretreatment of heat, the negative effect of salt can be mitigated in filamentous cyanobacteria, thus providing a foundation for improved cyanobacterial tolerance to salt stress.

This work primarily focuses on electrical characteristics of a hybrid power system (HPS) incorporating renewable energy generation (REG) (HPSREG). The major components of HPSREG are the resources coordinated with multi-unit of photovoltaic cells, multi-unit of wind turbine generators, a diesel engine generator (DEG), energy storage system (ESS) with diverse nature and an electric vehicle (EV). The performance characteristics of HPSREG are determined by constant generation of power from the various sources as well as varying load perturbations. As the variation in load demand will introduce fluctuation in frequency and power with constant generation. In few of overcome the frequency and power deviation under both the above-mentioned generation and load demand conditions, proper control technique is required. In order to control the deviation in frequency and power, an integration in the environment of fractional order (FO) calculus for proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller and fuzzy controller, termed with FO-Fuzzy PID controller tuned with quasi-opposition based harmonic search (QOHS) algorithm has been proposed. The results acquired with the proposed FO-Fuzzy-PID controller are then analyzed along with FO-PID and PID controller route for quantify effectiveness for the same under the considered cases to determine the effectiveness of the algorithm undertaken. Sensitivity investigation is also conducted in order to show the strength of the technique under study of differences in HPSREG parameters of magnitude.

A hemiterpene, isoprene, is commercially produced from crude oil refining processes. As a result of fossil fuel depletion, isoprene production process development is gaining attention from recombinant cyanobacteria and other microbial systems for its industrial and biofuel applications. In the present study, a fast-growing and CO2-tolerant cyanobacteria, Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973, is engineered with Pueraria montana isoprene synthase (IspS) at neutral site I (NSI) in the genome of S. elongatus UTEX 2973. Furthermore, to enhance isoprene production a key enzyme (isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, IDI) of the methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway is also overexpressed at neutral site III (NSIII). Wild-type and recombinant strains of S. elongatus UTEX 2973 (UTEX IspS and UTEX IspS.IDI) are studied for growth and isoprene production in the presence of an inducer (IPTG) and/or inhibitor (alendronate). Alendronate is used for the inhibition of geranyl diphosphate synthase (CrtE), downstream of the MEP pathway that catalyzes dimethylallyl diphosphate/isopentenyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP/IPP) condensation in the recombinant UTEX 2973 strains. The docking studies on SeCrtE (CrtE of Synechcoccus elongatus PCC 7942) and alendronate as an inhibitor have revealed that alendronate binds more tightly than IPP in the cavity of SeCrtE, with a higher number of intermolecular interactions and energy. The UTEX IspS strain has shown isoprene production below the limit of detection in the presence of an inducer and/or inhibitor; however, production studies using UTEX IspS.IDI showed a maximum production of 79.97 and 411.51 µg/g dry cell weight (DCW) in a single day in the presence of an inducer only and an inducer along with an inhibitor, respectively. The UTEX IspS.IDI strain produced 0.41 mg/g DCW of cumulative isoprene in the presence of an inducer and 1.92 mg/g DCW in the presence of an inducer as well as an inhibitor during six days of production. The yield improvement of isoprene is observed as being 4.7-fold by using the inhibition strategy, which is used for the first time in the recombinant cyanobacterial system. The average productivities of isoprene obtained from UTEX IspS.IDI are observed to be 2.8 μg/g DCW/h in the presence of an inducer and 13.35 μg/g DCW/h in the presence of an inducer as well as an inhibitor. This study provides a basis for the process development and yield improvement in isoprene production using a novel inhibition strategy in fast-growing recombinant cyanobacteria. Recombinant strains and metabolic pathway inhibition studies can be used in future attempts to photosynthetically produce hemiterpenes.

Global warming is a critical crisis threatening human survival and development. International organizations and countries worldwide are introducing policies and practices to achieve carbon neutrality. In China, numerous carbon neutrality policies have been established; however, a systematic understanding of the underlying policy logic is lacking. Using the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, this paper analyzes selected carbon neutrality policies in China. We conducted a bibliometric visualization analysis of the texts of 20 policies and matched their logic to the elements of the IAD framework. We established 90 keywords with occurrences of no less than 10 times in China’s carbon neutrality policies. The network visualization analysis identified six clusters. We discuss implementation challenges of China’s carbon neutrality policies, address the policy implementation, and finally outline impacts on China’s carbon neutrality governance. This study responds to the global concern over China’s carbon neutrality commitments by clarifying the institutional logic of China’s policies and actions. This study could provide a reference for countries worldwide that are designing and introducing carbon neutrality policies.

ABSTRACT Legumes represent a significant source of protein, roughage, minerals and carbohydrates in global diets. They are cultivated primarily for human consumption, forage and as a green manure. However, the growth and productivity of legumes are often hindered by a range of biological and environmental factors. The most prevalent diseases afflicting legumes include downy mildew, fusarium root rot, southern blight and common leaf spot. Additionally, environmental stresses such as salinity and drought represents significant challenges. Over time, the development of cultivars with enhanced tolerance has emerged as a sustainable approach to combat the impact of these stresses. Although environmentally friendly, traditional breeding methods entail lengthy screening and cross‐breeding protocols, which constrain their efficacy in addressing climate challenges and ensuring global food security. Furthermore, these approaches rely on the natural availability of genetic variation, which may not always be exist for specific traits, particularly in the context of rapidly changing environmental conditions. Additionally, the traditional breeding method is not sufficiently precise, which can result in the unintended introduction of undesirable traits. Furthermore, the genetic intricacy of legumes presents an additional challenge making it difficult to isolate and enhance desired traits. These constrain impede the capacity to expeditiously develop cultivars that can withstand emerging stresses, such as climate change. Genome editing has emerged as a powerful tool to overcome the limitations of traditional breeding methods. By enabling precise and targeted genetic manipulation, genome editing can enhance desired traits or introduce new ones, thereby facilitating the development of climate‐resilient agronomic varieties. In particular, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/CRISPR associated protein (CRISPR/Cas9)‐mediated editing has demonstrated considerable potential in enhancing legume adaptability to diverse stress conditions and increasing crop yield. This study highlights the advancements in genome editing, with a specific focus on CRISPR/Cas9 technology, as a means to improve legume crops' resilience and productivity in response to environmental pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waterlogging represents a substantial agricultural concern, inducing harmful impacts on crop development and productivity. In the present study, 142 diverse sesame genotypes were examined during the early vegetative phase to assess their response under waterlogging conditions. Based on the severity of symptoms observed, 2 genotypes were classified as highly tolerant, 66 as moderately tolerant, 69 as susceptible, and 5 as highly susceptible. Subsequent investigation focused on four genotypes, i.e., two highly tolerant (JLT-8 and GP-70) and two highly susceptible (R-III-F6 and EC-335003). These genotypes were subjected to incremental stress periods (0 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 96 h) to elucidate the biochemical basis of tolerance mechanisms. Each experiment was conducted as a randomized split-plot design with three replications, and the statistical significance of the treatment differences was determined using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Fisher least significant difference (LSD) test at p ≤ 0.05. The influence of waterlogging stress on morphological growth was detrimental for both tolerant and susceptible genotypes, with more severe consequences observed in the latter. Although adventitious roots were observed in both sets of genotypes above flooding levels, the tolerant genotypes exhibited a more rapid and vigorous development of these roots after 48 h of stress exposure. Tolerant genotypes displayed higher tolerance coefficients compared to susceptible genotypes. Furthermore, tolerant genotypes maintained elevated antioxidant potential, thereby minimizing oxidative stress. Conversely, susceptible genotypes exhibited higher accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde content. Photosynthetic efficiency was reduced in all genotypes after 24 h of stress treatment, with a particularly drastic reduction in susceptible genotypes compared to their tolerant counterparts. Tolerant genotypes exhibited significantly higher activities of anaerobic metabolism enzymes, enabling prolonged survival under waterlogging conditions. Increase in proline content was observed in all the genotypes indicating the cellular osmotic balance adjustments in response to stress exposure. Consequently, the robust antioxidant potential and efficient anaerobic metabolism observed in the tolerant genotypes served as key mechanisms enabling their resilience to short-term waterlogging exposure. These findings underscore the promising potential of specific sesame genotypes in enhancing crop resilience against waterlogging stress, offering valuable insights for agricultural practices and breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Jyotsna. Kubre, Vigya. Goyal, Saurabh. Saigal, J. Sharma, Rajnish. Joshi Hyponatremia in the neurocritical care patients is commonly encountered in the setting of either syndrome of inappropriate ADH secretion [...]