04 Oct 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

October 4th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. India PV EDGE 2020
2. Xoo infection
3. New species of pipeworts

1. India PV EDGE 2020

Context:

The NITI Aayog, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and Invest India, are organizing a global symposium virtually, ‘India PV EDGE 2020’ in October 2020 to catalyze cutting-edge PV (photovoltaic) manufacturing in India.

Background:

• Solar deployment has been the flagship green growth story of the last decade and this would be instrumental to stimulate growth and build a climate-resilient world.
• India has the third-largest solar capacity in the world and has set an ambitious target of 450 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, comprising 300 GW of solar capacity.
• The major factor behind the rise of solar deployment is giga-scale solar manufacturing and the continuous adoption of innovations to reduce prices.
• Hence, solar PV manufacturing is one of the strategic sectors announced by the Indian Government as part of the post-COVID Atmanirbhar Bharat recovery initiative.

Also read: National Solar Mission

2. Xoo infection

Context:

Moving towards a vaccine to reduce yield loss due to diseases in rice.

What is Xoo?

• Xoo is a bacterium that causes a serious bacterial leaf blight disease in rice plant.
• Xanthomonas oryzaepv. oryzae, or commonly known as Xoo infection, causes huge yield losses to rice cultivation throughout the world.
• Appropriate methods for inoculation of Xoo and disease scoring are necessary to investigate the nature of the disease and the mechanism of plant resistance to the pathogen.
• As the most widely grown crop in the worldwide, rice yield plays an important role in food security. Uncovering mechanisms of plant-pathogen interaction of rice and Xoo will help develop rice plants that are more resistant to disease caused by Xoo.

New study:

• A recipient of the DST-Inspire Faculty Fellowship, along with her research team, has uncovered the mechanism by which Xoo interacts with rice plant and causes disease.
• The team is developing new disease control strategies that they can use as vaccines that activate the rice immune system and provide resistance to rice plants from subsequent infections by pathogens.
• The research group has zeroed in on a few molecules derived from the Xoo bacterium and from infected rice cell walls which they hope to develop into vaccines.
• The group is working on a cellulase protein secreted by Xoo.
  • This cellulase protein has the features of a typical vaccine as it is a potent elicitor of rice immune responses.
  • Pre-treatment of rice plants with this protein provides resistance to rice against subsequent Xoo infection.

3. New species of pipeworts

Context:

Scientists from Agharkar Research Institute, Pune discover two new species of pipeworts from the Western Ghats of Maharashtra & Karnataka.

Details:

• Two new species of a plant group known for their varied medicinal properties have been discovered in the Western Ghats – one of the thirty-five hot-spots of biological diversity in the world.
• The plant group known as pipeworts (Eriocaulon), which completes its life cycle within a small period during the monsoons, exhibits great diversity in the Western Ghats, having around 111 species in India.
• Most of these are reported from the Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalayas, and around 70% of them are endemic to the country.
• One species, Eriocaulon cinereum, is well known for its anti-cancerous, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and astringent properties.
• E. quinquangulare is used against liver diseases.
• E. madayiparense is an anti-bacterial from Kerala.
• The new species discovered:
  • The one reported from the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra was named Eriocaulon parvicephalum (due to its minute inflorescence size).
  • The other reported from Kumta, Karnataka was named Eriocaulon karaavalense (named after Karaavali = Coastal Karnataka region).
  • The medicinal properties of the newly discovered species are yet to be explored.

Read previous PIB here.

October 4th, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here