Plants especially in their natural habitat are considered part of a rich ecosystem that includes many various microorganisms in the soil. The current study aimed to identify the bacterial profile of agriculture-related soil samples using the metabarcoding technique to compare and explore relevant rhizosphere bacteria associated with plant cultivations in newly reclaimed land and habitual cultivated ones. Total environmental DNA was extracted from rhizosphere and non-cultivated samples derived from three land types in Egypt. The bacterial 16S rDNA was amplified and sequenced by NGS technology to profile each sample. The microbial profile was characterized by statistical and literature-based methods. Among all samples, the most identified phyla were Actinobacteriota (28%), followed by Proteobacteriota (26%), Firmicutes (14%), Ac-idobacteriota and Chloroflexi (7%), Gemmatimonadota (5%), Bacteriodota and Crenarchaeota (3%), and Myxococcota (2%), in addition to 37 other phyla with <1% counts. A total of 74 OTU was unique to the plant rhizosphere area and classified as Bacteriodota (5.1%:0.3%), Firmicutes (2.4%:0.1%), and Proteobacteria (3.5%:2%) phyla in agriculture and reclaimed lands, respectively. Moreover, the rhizosphere profile included a large portion of uncultured and unidentified bac-terial species, which opened a window to further analysis. Our analysis provides a key Knowledge about the rhizosphere microbiome and highlights its possible use to create microbial-based bi-ofertilizers targeting plant performance in contrast to traditional fertilizers and their side effect on the agriculture sector.

Polymerase I (Pol I) is at the epicenter of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) synthesis. Pol I is a target for treatment of cancer. Given the many cellular commonalities between cancer and neurodegeneration (i.e., different faces of the same coin) it seems rational to consider targeting of Pol I or, more generally, rRNA synthesis for treatment of disorders associated with the death of terminally differentiated neurons. Principally, ribosomes synthesize proteins and, accordingly, Pol I can be considered the starting point for protein synthesis. Given that cellular accumulation of abnormal proteins such as α-synuclein and tau is an essential feature of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson disease and fronto-temporal dementia, reduction of protein production is now considered as a viable target for treatment of these and closely related neurodegenerative disorders. Abnormalities in polymerase I activity and rRNA production may also be associated with nuclear and nucleolar stress, DNA damage, and childhood onset neuronal death as is the case for the UBTF E210K neuroregression syndrome. Moreover, restraining the activity of Pol I may be a viable strategy to slow aging. Before starting down the road of Pol I inhibition for treating non-cancerous disorders of the nervous system, many questions must be answered. First, how much Pol I inhibition can neurons tolerate and for how long? Should inhibition of Pol I be continuous or pulsed? Will cells compensate for Pol I inhibition by upregulating the number of active rDNAs? At present, we have no effective and safe disease modulatory treatments for Alzheimer disease, α-synucleinopathies, or tauopathies, and novel therapeutic targets and approaches must be explored.

Third-generation biomass production utilizing microalgae exhibits sustainable and environmentally friendly attributes, along with significant potential as a source of physiologically active compounds. However, the process of screening and localizing strains that are capable of producing high-value-added substances necessitates a significant amount of effort. In the present study, we have successfully isolated the indigenous marine diatom Odontella aurita OAOSH22 from the East coast of Korea. Subsequently, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of its morphological, molecular, and biochemical characteristics. Afterwards, comprehensive analysis was conducted on the morphological, molecular, and biochemical characteristics, along with testing for optimal growth conditions. The morphological characteristics of the isolate were observed using optical and electron microscopes, and it exhibited typical features of O. aurita. Additionally, the molecular phylogenetic inference derived from the sequence of the small-subunit 18S rDNA confirmed the classification of the microalgal strain as O. aurita. This isolate has been confirmed to contain 7.1 mg g-1 dry cell weight (DCW) of fucoxanthin, a powerful antioxidant substance, in terms of dry cell weight (DCW). In addition, this isolate contains 11.1 mg g-1 DCW of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which is one of the nutritionally essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. Therefore, this indigenous isolate exhibits a significant potential as a valuable source of bioactive substances for various bio-industrial applications.

Molecular identification via Internal Transcribed Spacer region (nrDNA-ITS) sequencing of Fusarium spp. isolates from wheat originated from Stara Zagora region, were performed for the first time in Bulgaria. А total of 60 wheat samples (Triticum aestivum) were morphologically identified at the genus level as Fusarium spp. in advance. The rDNA-ITS region of all isolates was successfully amplified and the PCR products obtained were directly sequenced. After a comparison of detected sequences with NCBI database, members of three different fungal genera (Fusarium, Chaetomium, and Alternaria) were identified. Among Fusarium isolates, the F. tricinctum was prevailing, followed by F. poae. A total of three isolate F. proliferatum, F. graminearum and F. equiseti were presented with a single probe. The lowest genetic distance (0.004) was detected between F. tricinctum isolates. On the base of genetic distances, fungal isolates were grouped in two main clusters – one comprising F. tricinctum isolates and F. proliferatum, and second including F. equiseti, F. graminearum and F. poae. It could be concluded that the rDNA-ITS genome region of the genus Fusarium may be used as a suitable marker of early detection, accurate and reliable identification of Fusarium spp. contamination of wheat. The timely and accurate information would assist in the selection of appropriate approaches for control of fusarium infections and possible mycotoxins contamination of agricultural production.

The Populus L. genus unites tree species, which are botanically grouped into several sections. The species successfully hybridize both in the same section and between some sections. The poplar hybridization widely occurs in nature and in variety breeding. Therefore, the development of poplar species specific molecular markers is very actual. The effective markers for trees of the Aigeiros Daby section have been recently developed using the polymorphism of the 5S rDNA non-transcribed spacers (NTSs). In this article, the 5S rDNA NTS based markers were designed for several species of the Leuce Daby section. The alb9 marker amplifies one fragment with DNA matrix of P. alba and P. × canescens (natural hybrid P. alba × P. tremula). The alb2 marker works the same way except the case with P. bolleana. In this case, the amplification of three fragments was observed. The tremu1 marker amplification is detected with DNA matrix of P. tremula and P. × canescens. Thus, the developed markers may be applied as useful tool for the P. alba, P. tremula, P. × canescens and P. bolleana identification in such areas of plant science as botany, dendrology, genetics of populations, variety breeding etc.

The soil and groundwater of Bhagobangola I block of Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India is severely arsenic contaminated. A bacterium was isolated from the garden soil of Mahishasthali village, which could tolerate 36.49 mM arsenic (III), 280.44 mM arsenic (V) and 63 mM chromium (III), which makes it arsenic (III & V) and chromium (III) hyper-tolerant bacterium. The growth pattern of this bacterium does not show much alteration in presence of 10 mM arsenic (III) and chromium (III), emphasizing its resistance to these heavy metals. Scanning electron microscopy depicted the size of this bacterium to be ~1.45 µm. 16S rDNA sequencing followed by subsequent phylogenetic analysis established the identity of this bacterium as Microbacterium paraoxydans. The bacterium is capable of bioremediation of arsenic and showed 30.8% & 22.6%, and 35.2% and 30.5% of bioremediation over a period of 24 and 48 hours in 1 mM and 4 mM arsenite, respectively. Microbacterium paraoxydans also exhibit plant growth promoting properties like nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, indole-3-acetic acid production and production of siderophores. Therefore, the heavy metal resistance, bioremediation potential and plant growth promoting potential of the bacterium could be utilized not only for reduction of arsenic toxicity in soil and groundwater but also for plant growth promotion by using it as a biofertilizer.

The advent of RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) technologies has markedly improved our knowledge and expanded the compendium of small non-coding RNAs, most of which derive from the processing of longer RNA precursors. In this review article, we will discuss about the biogenesis and function of small non-coding RNAs derived from eukaryotic ribosomal RNA (rRNA), called rRNA fragments (rRFs), and their potential role(s) as regulator of gene expression. This relatively new class of ncRNAs remained poorly investigated and underappreciated until recently, due mainly to the a priori exclusion of rRNA sequences—because of their overabundance—from RNA-Seq datasets. The situation surrounding rRFs resembles that of microRNAs (miRNAs), which used to be readily discarded from further analyses, for more than five decades, because we could not believe that RNA of such a short length could bear biological significance. As if we had not yet learned our lesson not to restrain our investigative, scientific mind from challenging widely accepted beliefs or dogmas, and from looking for the hidden treasures in the most unexpected places.