Influence of seed invigouration and foliar spray on seed yield of semi dry rice

A study was conducted in Soil and Water Management Research Institute, Thanjavur with different combination of seed treatments and foliar spray on growth parameters of rice and its seed yield. Paddy variety Anna (R) 4 seeds were invigourated with different seed treating chemical/biocontroll agents viz., 1% Potassium Chloride, 750 PPM Gelatin (commercial grade), 2% Pigmented Facultative Methylotroph (PPFM) for 12 hours soaking and dried back to original moisture content of 13%. The seeds were dibbled with a spacing of 20 x 10 cm and other recommended package of practice was followed to all the plots. Foliar nutrition on 60 and 90 days after sowing was done with 2% DAP, 4 % cowpea sprout extract and 4 % horsegram sprout extract were applied. Seeds hardened with 2% Pink Pigmented Facultative Methylotroph (PPFM) for 12 hrs and foliar spray with 4 % cowpea sprout extract on 60 and 90 days after sowing recorded significant enhancement in productive tillers, seeds /panicle, 1000 seed weight and 11 per cent higher seed yield than the control.

Charting the Metabolic Landscape of the Facultative Methylotroph Bacillus methanolicus

Methanol is inexpensive, is easy to transport, and can be produced both from renewable and from fossil resources without mobilizing arable lands. As such, it is regarded as a potential carbon source to transition toward a greener industrial chemistry. Metabolic engineering of bacteria and yeast able to efficiently consume methanol is expected to provide cell factories that will transform methanol into higher-value chemicals in the so-called methanol economy. Toward that goal, the study of natural methylotrophs such as Bacillus methanolicus is critical to understand the origin of their efficient methylotrophy. This knowledge will then be leveraged to transform such natural strains into new cell factories or to design methylotrophic capability in other strains already used by the industry.

Infusing Microbial Consortia on Seed Quality and Seedling Vigour in Pearlmillet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]

Aim: Seed treatment with Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) is considered to be safe for seed and environment and ecologically sound. To ensure the benefits of the PGPB, studies were conducted in pearlmillet by treating with liquid microbial cultures for enhancing seed germination and seedling vigour. Methods: The pearlmillet seeds were infused with different concentrations of liquid microbial cultures and their consortia. Also, the bioinoculant infused seeds were treated with chemicals to assess their effect on the microbial population. Results: The pearlmillet seeds soaked in equal volume of Azospirillum or phosphobacteria @ 1:50 dilution or Pink Pigmented Facultative Methylotroph (PPFM) @ 1:100 dilution for 18 h have recorded higher germination and seedling vigour. Pink Pigmented Facultative Methylotroph treated seeds have showed higher germination and seedling vigour amid the microbial cultures. In addition, the bioinoculant treated seed viability and vigour were not affected during three months storage. However, the microbial populations in the seed get declined during storage. The microbial consortia comprising of Azospirillum, phosphobacteria and PPFM did not affect the germination rather seedling vigour. Besides, seeds infused with Azospirillum @ 1:50 dilution and PPFM @1:100 dilution (1:1) for 18 h have recorded higher seedling vigour. In addition, seeds soaked in PPFM @1:100 dilution for 18 h followed by polymer coating @ 5 ml kg-1 and carbendazim seed treatment @ 2 g kg-1 of seed had higher germination and seedling vigour. But, the microbial population in the seed was reduced considerably due to the chemical treatment. Conclusion: The liquid bioinoculants viz., Azospirillum, phosphobacteria and PPFM can be used to pre-inoculate the pearlmillet seeds with required population to be carried over to the field.

Charting the metabolic landscape of the facultative methylotroph Bacillus methanolicus

ABSTRACTBacillus methanolicus MGA3 is a thermotolerant and relatively fast-growing methylotroph able to secrete large quantities of glutamate and lysine. These natural characteristics make B. methanolicus a good candidate to become a new industrial chassis organism, especially in a methanol-based economy. This has motivated a number of omics studies of B. methanolicus at the genome, transcript, protein and metabolic levels. Intriguingly, the only substrates known to support B. methanolicus growth as sole source of carbon and energy are methanol, mannitol, and to a lesser extent glucose and arabitol. We hypothesized that comparing methylotrophic and non-methylotrophic metabolic states at the flux level would yield new insights into MGA3 metabolism. 13C metabolic flux analysis (13C-MFA) is a powerful computational method to estimate carbon flows from substrate to biomass (i.e. the in vivo reaction rates of the central metabolic pathways) from experimental labeling data. In this study, we designed and performed a 13C-MFA of the facultative methylotroph B. methanolicus MGA3 growing on methanol, mannitol and arabitol to compare the associated metabolic states. The results obtained validate previous findings on the methylotrophy of B. methanolicus, allowed us to characterize the assimilation pathway of one of the studied carbon sources, and provide a better overall understanding of this strain.IMPORTANCEMethanol is cheap, easy to transport and can be produced both from renewable and fossil resources without mobilizing arable lands. As such, it is regarded as a potential carbon source to transition toward a greener industrial chemistry. Metabolic engineering of bacteria and yeast able to efficiently consume methanol is expected to provide cell factories that will transform methanol into higher-value chemicals in the so-called methanol economy. Toward that goal, the study of natural methylotrophs such as B. methanolicus is critical to understand the origin of their efficient methylotrophy. This knowledge will then be leveraged to transform such natural strains into new cell factories, or to design methylotrophic capability in other strains already used by the industry.

Single mutation in a novel bacterial LOV protein yields a singlet oxygen generator

The first blue light photoreceptor isolated from Methylobacterium radiotolerans, a pink-pigmented facultative methylotroph, has been turned into an efficient singlet oxygen generator by introducing a single mutation.