Botany - Research Publications
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Item Molecular docking and in vitro study of Syzygium cumini-derived natural compounds on receptor tyrosine kinases pathway components(Inderscience Enterprises Ltd., 2019) Singh, P; Bast, Felix; Bhushan, S; Mehra, R; Kamboj, P.Syzygium cumini (S. cumini) is used for a variety of biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and anti-oxidant; currently, it has been reported for DNA protecting activity against radiation damage. Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are identified as critical regulators of various cellular processes including cell proliferation, metabolism and apoptosis. These receptors have recently gained attention as an attractive target for cancer treatment. The present research was aimed to screen S. cumini-derived natural compounds against RTKs pathway components using molecular docking. Furthermore, in vitro anti-proliferative 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and anti-oxidative (nitro blue tetrazolium and H 2 CDFD) activities of leaf extract of S. cumini are also reported. Selected natural compounds were docked with X-ray crystal structure of RTKs signalling proteins using grid-based ligand docking with energetics Maestro 9.6. In the present investigation, our result highlighted that myricetin, kaempferol, delphinidin chloride, ellagic acid, rutin, petunidin, gossypol and mirtillin generated a good dock score with all selected proteins. Protein-ligand interactions accentuated that several bonds such as lipophilic, hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking and cation-π interactions represent a ruling contribution at the active site. Moreover, reduction in cell viability with leaf extract of S. cumini treatment at concentrations of 5-80 µg/ml after 48 h in MCF-7 cells was observed. Leaf extract of S. cumini significantly reduced the Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in MCF-7 cells after 48 h. These results indicate the anti-cancer potential of S. cumini. Thus, isolation and purification of anti-cancerous compounds are suggested to explore more possibilities in the field. © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.Item Marine macroalga Caulerpa: role of its metabolites in modulating cancer signaling(Springer, 2019) Mehra, R; Bhushan, S; Bast, Felix; Singh, S.Cancer, the leading causes of death worldwide, causes multiple metabolic and physiological alterations, leading to an unregulated proliferation of cells. The existing anticancer therapies are usually nonspecific with side effects and or are extremely expensive, thus hunt for better therapeutics is still on, specially efforts are made to look for naturally occurring molecules. Sea harbors several organisms which are unexplored for their biological potentials. Green macroalga genus, Caulerpa, is one such invaluable repository of bioactive metabolites like alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, steroids and tannins with reported bioactivities against many diseases including cancer. Anti-cancerous metabolites of Caulerpa like caulerpenyne (Cyn), caulerpin, caulersin, and racemosin C, possess unique structural moieties and are known to exhibit distinct effects on cancer cells. Theses metabolites are reported to affect microtubule dynamics, unfolded protein response, mitochondrial health, cell cycle progression, metabolic and stress pathways by their cross-talk with signalling proteins like AMPK, GRP78, GADD153, Bid, Bax, AIF, Bcl2, P21, cyclin D, cyclin E, caspase 9, and PTP1B. Targeting of multiple cancer hallmarks by Caulerpa metabolites, with concomitant modulations of multiple signalling cascades, displays its multifactorial approach against cancer. Evaluation of anti-cancer properties of this genus is particularly important as Caulerpa species are widely edible and utilized in several delicacies in the coastal countries. This is the first review article providing a consolidated information about the role of Caulerpa in cancer with major contributing metabolites and plausible modulations in cancer signaling and prospects. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.Item Insilco Molecular Docking Study of Natural Compounds On Wild and Mutated Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor(Springer, 2014) Singh, Pushpendra; Bast, FelixThe role played by overexpression of tyrosine kinase epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), the transmembrane receptor central to numerous cellular processes comprising cell migration, adhesion, apoptosis, and cell proliferation, has been highlighted in various cancers such as prostate, breast, lung, and ovarian cancers as well as in mutations in the EGFR kinase domain. Although many therapeutic approaches have targetted EGFR, the mutations occurring in the EGFR kinase domain including L858 EGFR and T790/L858R had led to the amplification of EGFR signals, consequently leading to increased cell proliferation and cell growth. The strategies involving the inhibition of EGFR L858 and T790M have been accredited with limited achievement in addition to being associated with unwanted adverse effects as a result of crosstalk of wild-type EGFR. All current EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors have been identified as ATP competitive inhibitors of wild-type EGFR possessing aniline and quinazoline moiety on the ligands skeleton. Our results obtained by performing molecular docking study on Maestro 9.3 molecular docking suite indicated that CID5280343 possesses better energy conformation against wild-type EGFR as well as two mutated EGFR. Moreover, it was discovered in this study that the natural compounds CID72276, CID5280445, CID441794, and CID72277 and InterBioScreen's library STOCK1N-78657, STOCK1N-78976, and STOCK1N-78847 have better binding conformation against gatekeeper T790M mutated EGFR concluded to be brought about by means of flexible ligands/receptor-based molecular docking protocol. Miraculous features of these compounds are their various pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters which were found to be satisfactory as drug-like molecules. This molecular docking study also summarizes docking free energy, protein-ligands interaction profile, and pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameter of lead molecules which were tremendously helpful in enhancing the activity of these natural compounds against EGFR.Item Seaweeds in Japanese Culture: An analysis of medievalWakapoetry(2014) Bast, FelixItem Strong endemism of bloom-forming tubular Ulva in Indian west coast, with description of Ulva paschima Sp Nov (Ulvales, Chlorophyta)(PLOS One, 2014) Bast, Felix; John, Aijaz Ahmad; Bhushan, SatejUlva intestinalis and Ulva compressa are two bloom-forming morphologically-cryptic species of green seaweeds widely accepted as cosmopolitan in distribution. Previous studies have shown that these are two distinct species that exhibit great morphological plasticity with changing seawater salinity. Here we present a phylogeographic assessment of tubular Ulva that we considered belonging to this complex collected from various marine and estuarine green-tide occurrences in a ca. 600 km stretch of the Indian west coast. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference phylogenetic reconstructions using ITS nrDNA revealed strong endemism of Indian tubular Ulva, with none of the Indian isolates forming part of the already described phylogenetic clades of either U. compressa or U. intestinalis. Due to the straightforward conclusion that Indian isolates form a robust and distinct phylogenetic clade, a description of a new bloom-forming species, Ulva paschima Bast, is formally proposed. Our phylogenetic reconstructions using Neighbor-Joining method revealed evolutionary affinity of this new species with Ulva flexuosa. This is the first molecular assessment of Ulva from the Indian Subcontinent.Item DNA Barcoding of a new record of epi-endophytic green algaeUlvellaleptochaete(Ulvellaceae, Chlorophyta) in India(Indian Academy of Science, 2014) Bast, Felix; Bhushan, Satej; John, Aijaz AhmadEpi-endophytic green algae comprise one of the most diverse and phylogenetically primitive groups of green algae and are considered to be ubiquitous in the world's oceans; however, no reports of these algae exist from India. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of Ulvella growing on intertidal green algae Cladophora glomerata and benthic red algae Laurencia obtusa collected from India. DNA barcodes at nuclear ribosomal DNA Internal Transcriber Spacer (nrDNA ITS) 1 and 2 regions for Indian isolates from the west and east coasts have been generated for the first time. Based on morphology and DNA barcoding, isolates were identified as Ulvella leptochaete. Phylogenetic reconstruction of concatenated dataset using Maximum Likelihood method differentiated Indian isolates from other accessions of this alga available in Genbank, albeit with low bootstrap support. Monophyly of Ulvella leptochaete was obvious in both of our phylogenetic analyses. With this first report of epi-endophytic algae from Indian territorial waters, the dire need to catalogue its cryptic diversity is highlighted and avenues of future research are discussed.Item Creatures of India: Guide to Animals in India with up-to-date systematics(New Delhi Publishers, 2014) Bast, FelixIndian Biodiversity, albeit being one of the richest in the world with three of the 32 �Biodiversity Hotspots�, is unfortunately in a serious sate of neglect from the administration and the general public alike. Four big-sized animals, Pink-headed Duck, Himalayan Mountain Quail, Lesser Indian Rhinoceros and Indian Cheetah, have gone extinct in the last century alone. IUCN enlist India at 7th rank of shame-list, countries struggling to protect its biodiversity. With almost 18% of world population cramming into less than 2% of area, sub-continental forest cover has been steadily shrinking, so as its biodiversity. This report is first of its kind in India, a comprehensive assessment of status and trends of commonly found animals in the subcontinent with its up-to-date taxonomic positions, overview on the systematics, bio-prospecting and conservation. This work also serves as a �binomen dictionary�-for looking up binomial names of virtually every animal species that you might encounter in daily life in India. The idea to write this book sprang from one of the class assignments as part of BSS.506: Biosystematics and Biodiversity course here at the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. The assignment was to make a database of Indian Biodiversity. While I appreciate the passion that my students put in the creation of database, most of their entries were well-described taxa from North America and Europe-presumably obtained through online resources, highlighting the dire need to categorize Indian Biodiversity. Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has published few checklists of animal taxa in India but those did not include several of the important animal phyla. Checklists merely enlist scientific names without common name or any other information and therefore their utility in practical identification is extremely limited. This inspired me to write a book with following focuses: 1. Limit to the macroscopic extant species that are commonly found in nature throughout the subcontinent. 2. Species of human importance; a note on bio-prospecting that highlights commercially cultivated/medicinally important/culturally significant taxa discussed in each chapter introduction. 3. Species of conservation importance; a note on conservation discussed in each chapter introduction and common names are appropriately superscribed throughout (CR: Critically Endangered, EN: Endangered, VU: Vulnerable and NT: Near Threatened.) 4. Example families and genera covering all iconic metazoan phyla and phylogenetic trees to illustrate evolutionary relationships between them; to aid in understanding and appreciation of animal systematics. 5. Designated animals representing national and state level administration. This book is still incomplete; as a privileged reader who appreciates the biodiversity, a column in all the tables are waiting for you to complete; �Name in Regional Language�. With seventeen official languages, India is so linguistically diverse that if I sought out to include a multilingual list of taxa covered in this book, it would have doubled the weight of this book and wasted a number of pages! Instead I made this book like a class-activity notebook; it is for you to find, identify and complete the name in local dialect/regional language in the space provided (Activity: 1), a simple, yet pedagogically-sound method.Item Monostroma: the Jeweled Seaweed for Future Cultivation methods, Ecophysiology, Phylogeography and Molecular Systematics(Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011) Bast, FelixThis thesis aims at providing a comprehensive picture of the reproductive physiology, growth, phylogeography, and phylogenetics of M. latissimum-nitidum complex in Southern Japan. A review on agronomy and utilization of seaweeds is provided as Chapter 2 to present a comprehensive overview of the seaweed biology and applications. Seasonality in the growth and occurrence of Monostroma sp. at three environmentally distinct habitats along Tosa Bay, Kochi Prefecture, Japan is explored and results of correlation analyses between environmental conditions and thallus size are presented in Chapter 3. Also investigated in the same chapter is the homology of nuclear encoded rDNA Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) sequences between naturally occurring and commercially cultivated populations. Findings of the culture studies sought to identify the species naturally occurring at the study sites are also summarized in Chapter 2. In the course of research, I observed that thalli of the naturally occurring populations of M. latissimum, changes its color during maturation, as reported elsewhere in the literature. Further to that observation, a thorough cytological investigation on the gametangial ontogeny of naturally occurring M. latissimum is presented in Chapter 4 and possible taxonomic implications of this finding are discussed. Once the thalli of M. latissimum release gametes, which mode of syngamy do they have? Is sex of the progenies environmentally determined? These are some of the questions being investigated in Chapter 5. Reported in the Chapter 6 is a serendipitous discovery of an asexually reproducing ecotype of M. latissimum in the marginal populations at low-saline habitat. Findings of the culture studies to complete its life cycle are presented. Molecular studies to investigate homogeneity of nrDNA ITS sequences between the two ecot ypes (i.e., sexual vs asexual) are also investigated in the same chapter. Results of phylogenetic analyses of the newly generated ITS sequence of M. latissimum with that of the related monostromatic green algal taxa retrieved from GenBank are also presented in Chapter 6 to understand relative taxonomical position of this species in the class Ulvophyceae. Chapter 7 is an investigation on the morphologic and genetic homogeneity of natural and cultivated populations of the two closely related species M. latissimum and M. nitidum along the Southern Japanese coast where the warm-water Kuroshio Current influences throughout the year. Combined phylogeographical analysis of nuclear encoded first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) sequences and rDNA 18s gene are presented in addition to the comparison of morphological traits, to understand if they belong to the same taxa. In the final experimental chapter, Chapter 8, taxonomic hypothesis for Monostromataceae were tested and the systematic position of this family is explored using multi-local phylogeny. Relationships of this family with over 40 Ulvophycean genera were investigated and phylogeny reconstruction was conducted using five independent genetic markers; viz., nrDNA ITS1, nrDNA ITS2, nrDNA 5.8S, nrDNA 18S and cpDNA rbcL. Chapter 9 summarizes and discusses the results of this thesis, places them in a regional context and discusses avenues of future work.Item Public acceptence of Evolution in India(CSIR-NISCAIR, 2018) Bast, Felix; Tahilramani, HeenaThe public acceptance of evolution has been in debate since the initial publication of Darwin’s theory about origin of species. According to public polls carried out in a range of countries, the public acceptance of evolution is low in many countries with high degree of religiosity. Although religiosity is high in India, public acceptance of evolution has never been objectively evaluated in India yet. The rejection or denial of evolution could possibly offer the risk of shifting science education to common or popular beliefs and ideas, for example, creationism and intelligent design. Aim of the present study was to find out the public acceptance of evolution in India by carrying out a primary survey in 14 Indian states. Based upon the answers by the participants, the study explored the variables related to public acceptance of evolution namely, gender, religion, politics and occupation. The results showed that the 69.4% participants accepted evolution, which is very high compared with other countries of the world. Plausible reasons for high acceptance of evolution in India is being discussed in this paper.Item First report of Ulva sapora (Ulvales, Chlorophyta) from Indian subcontinent(My Research Journal, 2019) Bast, Felix; Rani, P