Antimicrobial peptide expression in a wild tobacco plant reveals the limits of host-microbe-manipulations in the field

Plant-microbe associations are thought to be beneficial for plant growth and resistance against biotic or abiotic stresses, but for natural ecosystems, the ecological analysis of microbiome function remains in its infancy. We used transformed wild tobacco plants (Nicotiana attenuata) which constitutively express an antimicrobial peptide (Mc-AMP1) of the common ice plant, to establish an ecological tool for plant-microbe studies in the field. Transgenic plants showed in planta activity against plant-beneficial bacteria and were phenotyped within the plants´ natural habitat regarding growth, fitness and the resistance against herbivores. Multiple field experiments, conducted over 3 years, indicated no differences compared to isogenic controls. Pyrosequencing analysis of the root-associated microbial communities showed no major alterations but marginal effects at the genus level. Experimental infiltrations revealed a high heterogeneity in peptide tolerance among native isolates and suggests that the diversity of natural microbial communities can be a major obstacle for microbiome manipulations in nature

Healthcare Quality Management: A Study on Quality Awareness among Employees of Indian Hospitals

ABSTRACT The study has made an attempt to measure the effectiveness of hospital quality management practices to meet quality performance. Keeping this as an objective, the study dealt with quality awareness which may affect the quality performance of hospitals. The study was conducted among network hospitals accredited for Tamilnadu Government Employees New Health Insurance Scheme in India. Among 514 hospitals, 490 hospitals located in Tamilnadu were taken as population size and a sample of 245 hospitals were chosen for the study using systematic sampling method. The data were collected from top and middle level executives of network hospitals. The study adopted descriptive statistics, factor analysis and one-way ANOVA for its analytical process. From the findings of the study it was observed that, larger share of the respondents profile is from clinical and non-clinical departments and mostly heads of the departments represented for the survey. The study observed that the level of quality awareness among executives were moderate in nature. The study observed that the level of quality awareness among executives were moderate in nature. Further the variable, quality awareness were reduced to two factors. These factors were used for further investigation and found that respondents profile like designation, no. of years of experience and the departments are associated with many of the Quality practices. Keywords: Quality management, healthcare management, quality awareness, Indian Hospital

<i>Arthrobacter pokkalii</i> sp nov, a Novel Plant Associated Actinobacterium with Plant Beneficial Properties, Isolated from Saline Tolerant Pokkali Rice, Kerala, India

<div><p>A novel yellow colony-forming bacterium, strain P3B162^T was isolated from the pokkali rice rhizosphere from Kerala, India, as part of a project study aimed at isolating plant growth beneficial rhizobacteria from saline tolerant pokkali rice and functionally evaluate their abilities to promote plant growth under saline conditions. The novel strain P3B162^T possesses plant growth beneficial traits such as positive growth on 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), production of indole acetic acid (IAA) and siderophore. In addition, it also showed important phenotypic characters such as ability to form biofilm and utilization of various components of plant root exudates (sugars, amino acids and organic acids), clearly indicating its lifestyle as a plant rhizosphere associated bacterium. Taxonomically, the novel strain P3B162^T was affiliated to the genus <i>Arthrobacter</i> based on the collective results of phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic analyses. Moreover, molecular analysis using 16S rRNA gene showed <i>Arthrobacter globiformis</i> NBRC 12137^T, <i>Arthrobacter pascens</i> DSM 20545^T and <i>Arthrobacter liuii</i> DSXY973^T as the closely related phylogenetic neighbours, showing more than 98% 16S rRNA similarity values, whereas the <i>recA</i> gene analysis displayed <i>Arthrobacter liuii</i> JCM 19864^T as the nearest neighbour with 94.7% sequence similarity and only 91.7% to <i>Arthrobacter globiformis</i> LMG 3813^T and 88.7% to <i>Arthrobacter pascens</i> LMG 16255^T. However, the DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain P3B162^T, <i>Arthrobacter globiformis</i> LMG 3813^T, <i>Arthrobacter pascens</i> LMG 16255^T and <i>Arthrobacter liuii</i> JCM 19864^T was below 50%. In addition, the novel strain P3B162^T can be distinguished from its closely related type strains by several phenotypic characters such as colony pigment, tolerance to NaCl, motility, reduction of nitrate, hydrolysis of DNA, acid from sucrose, cell wall sugars and cell wall peptidoglycan structure. In conclusion, the combined results of this study support the classification of strain P3B162^T as a novel <i>Arthrobacter</i> species and we propose <i>Arthrobacter pokkalii</i> sp.nov.as its name. The type strain is P3B162^T (= KCTC 29498^T = MTCC 12358^T).</p></div

Standardization of the Optimum Effects of Indole 3-Butyric Acid (IBA) to Control Root Knot Nematode, <i>Meloidogyne enterolobii</i>, in Guava (<i>Psidium guajava</i> L.)

Guava is an important revenue generating crop for small, medium, and commercial guava cultivators all over the world. Nematode infestation is one of the factors that cause declines in fruit production. Researches have proven that the application of plant growth regulators induces the synthesis of defense-related proteins in Guava. IBA is one such plant growth regulator, and its effects on guava plants has not yet been elucidated. Thus, this research is focused on the optimization of IBA concentrations, which results in the induction and production of maximum defense-related proteins to defend against root knot nematode. The present study includes the application of IBA on M. enterolobii-infested experimental guava plants at different concentrations ranging from 100 ppm to 2000 ppm. The synthesis of defense-related proteins is identified with 1000 ppm of IBA. At this concentration, IBA influences the morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics and enhances the induction of defense-related proteins in M. enterolobii-infested experimental guava plants. Thus, 1000 ppm of IBA prevents nematode infestation in Lucknow-49 guava plants

Standardization of the Optimum Effects of Indole 3-Butyric Acid (IBA) to Control Root Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne enterolobii, in Guava (Psidium guajava L.)

Guava is an important revenue generating crop for small, medium, and commercial guava cultivators all over the world. Nematode infestation is one of the factors that cause declines in fruit production. Researches have proven that the application of plant growth regulators induces the synthesis of defense-related proteins in Guava. IBA is one such plant growth regulator, and its effects on guava plants has not yet been elucidated. Thus, this research is focused on the optimization of IBA concentrations, which results in the induction and production of maximum defense-related proteins to defend against root knot nematode. The present study includes the application of IBA on M. enterolobii-infested experimental guava plants at different concentrations ranging from 100 ppm to 2000 ppm. The synthesis of defense-related proteins is identified with 1000 ppm of IBA. At this concentration, IBA influences the morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics and enhances the induction of defense-related proteins in M. enterolobii-infested experimental guava plants. Thus, 1000 ppm of IBA prevents nematode infestation in Lucknow-49 guava plants.</jats:p