Neural plasticity and adult neurogenesis: the deep biology perspective

The recognition that neurogenesis does not stop with adolescence has spun off research towards the reduction of brain disorders by enhancing brain regeneration. Adult neurogenesis is one of the tougher problems of developmental biology as it requires the generation of complex intracellular and pericellular anatomies, amidst the danger of neuroinflammation. We here review how a multitude of regulatory pathways optimized for early neurogenesis has to be revamped into a new choreography of time dependencies. Distinct pathways need to be regulated, ranging from neural growth factor induced differentiation to mitochondrial bioenergetics, reactive oxygen metabolism, and apoptosis. Requiring much Gibbs energy consumption, brain depends on aerobic energy metabolism, hence on mitochondrial activity. Mitochondrial fission and fusion, movement and perhaps even mitoptosis, thereby come into play. All these network processes are interlinked and involve a plethora of molecules. We recommend a deep thinking approach to adult neurobiology.

Paederia foetida- a promising ethno-medicinal tribal plant of northeastern India

The northeastern region of India constitutes one of the biodi- versity hotspots of the world. The ethnic groups inhabiting this region practice their distinctive traditional knowledge systems using biodiver- sity for food, shelter and healthcare. Among the less-studied plants, Paederia foetida has been used by various ethnic tribes as food and medicine. Many of its therapeutic properties relate to the gastrointestinal system and suggest its potential utility for gastrointestinal ailments. This is a review of the ethnobotanical uses, phytochemistry and therapeutic properties of P. foetida compiled from various reports. P. foetida is promising as a remedy for life-style related conditions, especially treat- ment of ulcers. Its utility highlights the need for proper evaluation of tribal plants as medicines and the species could be considered for devel- opment of new drugs.

Carbendazim resistance and calculation effective concentration of carbendazim for Trichoderma harzianum

There is a method for investigating the transformation of resistance gene of carbendazim into Trichoderma harzianum. In order to introduce the resistance to benzimidazole fungicide into bio-control microorganism Trichoderma harzianum was transformed with the resistance gene. In this study, we investigate resistance level and calculate EC 50 (effective concentration of carbendazim that can survive 50% of Trichoderma harzianum in that concentration) and stability of the resistance for the transformant isolate of Trichoderma harzianum. Results show the transformants can growth on the medium containing more than 1 000 μg/ml carbendazim and the resistance is stabled after 10 times transfer on non-selective medium and have EC 50 average about, 1 200 μg/ml.