FUNGICIDAL MANAGEMENT OF ASSOCIATED MYCOFLORA WITH STORED SEEDS OF WHEAT AND CHICKPEA

Wheat and chickpea are considered the most important sources of food and energy and stored for longer period of time in the rural areas in the farmers sheds as seed for the next crop and as market commodity to sale. Both of these crops are liable to many mycoflora which not only deteriorate their quality but also leads toward the crop failure during the coming season. A number of seed borne pathogens viz., Aspergills niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus sulphureus, Aspergillus nidulense, Rhizopus stolonifer, Penicillium spp. and Drechslera spp, were isolated from wheat seed samples while Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Bipolaris spp., Penicillium spp. and Rhizopus stolonifer were isolated from seed samples of chickpea. Various broad spectrum fungicides were evaluated against the isolated mycoflora which showed significant result. Score, Topsin-M and ridomil gold to be the most significant fungicides at all doses against the isolated mycoflora.

In-fusion expression and characterization of β-xylanase and β-1,3-1,4-glucanase in Pichia pastoris

Two chimeric genes, XynA-Bs-Glu-1 and XynA-Bs-Glu-2, encoding Aspergillus sulphureus β-xylanase (XynA, 26 kDa) and Bacillus subtilis β-1,3-1,4-glucanase (Bs-Glu, 30 kDa), were constructed via in-fusion by different linkers and expressed successfully in Pichia pastoris. The fusion protein (50 kDa) exhibited both β-xylanase and β-1,3-1,4-glucanase activities. Compared with parental enzymes, the moiety activities were decreased in fermentation supernatants. Parental XynA and Bs-Glu were superior to corresponding moieties in each fusion enzymes because of lower Kn higher kcat. Despite some variations, common optima were generally 50°C and pH 3.4 for the XynA moiety and parent, and 40°C and pH 6.4 for the Bs-Glu counterparts. Thus, the fusion enzyme XynA-Bs-Glu-1 and XynA-Bs-Glu-2 were bifunctional.