Informatics Publishing Limited

H. M. Mamrutha ¹, K. N. Nataraja ², N. Rama ², D. K. Kosma ³, T. Mogili ⁴, K. Jhansi Lakshmi ⁵, M. Udaya Kumar ², M. A. Jenks ⁶

Affiliations
1 Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal 132 001, IN
2 Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru 560 065, IN
3 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, US
4 Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysuru 570 008, IN
5 Central Sericultural Germplasm Resources Centre, Thally Road, Hosur 635 109, IN
6 Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, US

Abstract

Silkworm (Bombyx mori), the primary producer of silk, has strong feeding preference for most turgid and hydrated mulberry leaves. In a previous study, we showed positive correlation between moisture retention capacity (MRC) of the mulberry leaf and leaf surface wax amount. In the present study, we examined wax constituents in genotypes that exhibited a wide range of leaf surface wax amount and MRC. Gas chromatographic analysis revealed that acids, alkanes, aldehydes, primary alcohols, iso-alkanes, triterpenoids, esters were among mulberry waxes identified and the major being alkanes. The highest total leaf wax amount was 1006.8 μg dm^-2 in the V1 genotype whereas S-36 had the least wax at 436.9 μg dm^-2. The alkanes were dominated by those having 25, 27, 29, 31 and 33 carbons, with C₃₁ compounds being the most abundant. RNA-blot hybridization performed with 13 wax biosynthesis associated genes using heterologous probes revealed a close association between surface wax composition and expression levels of genes associated with wax elongation (CUT1, KCS1). The association was also established with homologous probes of KCS1, WAX2, CUT1 and LTP1-like genes. In summary, regulation of early wax precursor metabolism is a likely contributor to the variation observed in leaf wax composition in mulberry.

Keywords

Cuticular Wax, Moisture Retention Capacity, Mulberry, Silkworm, Wax Genes.

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S. Djodilatchoumy ¹, N. Rama ², S. Gunasekaran ³

Affiliations
1 Department of Computer Science & Applications, Pachaiyappa’s College, Chennai-600 030, IN
2 Department of Computer Science, Presidency College, Chennai - 600 005, IN
3 Spectrophysics Laboratory, Pachaiyappa’s College, Chennai - 600 030, IN

Abstract

Elevated lipid level is supposed to be one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Therefore lipid lowering is one of the major target in cardiovascular treatment and prevention. Hence hyperlipidemic blood has to be identified and lipid level has to be lowered. Atorvastatin and simvastatin are the lipid lowering agents, they lower the low density cholesterol. For the characterization of hyperlipidemic blood, the FTIR spectra of blood sera of 20 healthy people and 20 hyperlipidemic patients of the same age group were recorded and fed as input to our system.To study the efficacy of statins, the FTIR spectral data of blood sera of the 20 hyperlipidemic patients of the same age group and blood group were recorded and fed as input to our system. Our system is trained to distinguish between the healthy and hyperlipidemic blood. Some remarkable differences are identified by our system. Both the statins were well tolerated and it is concluded from the results that Atorvastatin is more efficacious than simvastatin in modifying lipids in patients with hyperlipidemia and a high coronary heart disease risk. FTIR spectroscopy allows accurate lipids concentration determination. The results obtained from our System are well supported by both spectroscopic data and clinical data. Since our system is trained to distinguish the hyperlipidemic blood with the fine details of FTIR spectra, it can improve the diagnostic accuracy and rate of cardiovascular treatment and also it can analyze the efficacy of statins at a faster rate with more accuracy.

Keywords

Lipids, Hyperlipidemia, Atorvastatin, Simvastatin, Efficacy of Statins.

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