Background: Rhynchostylis retusa (L.) Blume, commonly known as the fox-tail orchid, is a promising epiphytic native species for breeding programs. Its’ population is diminishing in the native habitat due to unscrupulous overexploitation and habitat destruction. Hence, conservation of this species attains prime importance. To achieve the foregoing task, phenotypic traits in relation to adaptation are to be elucidated. Methods: In the present investigation, the morphological characters were documented and the correlation between each trait was determined. Furthermore, the anatomy of leaves and roots was documented, as was the stomatal structure and distribution on the abaxile and adaxile surfaces of the leaves. Biometric features of floral characters and reproductive biology such as anthesis, stigma receptivity, pollen production per pollinium, pollen viability, pollination mechanisms, self and cross-compatibility; male sterility, etc. were studied and documented. Observations on capsule development, nature of seeds, seed viability, etc. were also determined. Result: The seed viability tests revealed that about 40% of the seeds are viable. The observations gathered during this investigation can be used to develop conservation, sustainable utilization and genetic improvement strategies for this crop.

Snake envenomation leads to about 125,000 deaths yearly in worldwide, with India accounting for almost 50,000 of these fatalities. Even as antivenoms remain the primary treatment, they have got limitations, prompting the exploration of phytochemicals from Calotropis gigantea as potential multi-target therapies against cobra venom toxins. Fourteen venom proteins, namely phospholipase A2 (PLA2), cobrotoxin, L-amino acid oxidase, acetylcholinesterase, cobramin A, cobramin B, cytotoxin 3, long neurotoxins 1 to 5, serine protease and proteolase were the selected targets. The 3D structures of those venom proteins were downloaded from Protein Data Bank and SWISS-MODEL. A complete of 164 phytochemicals from C. gigantea was docked using AutoDock Vina and PyRx 8.0 to assess their binding capability. Compounds with binding energies ≤ -6 kcal/mol have been selected as hits based on their multi-target activity. Subsequently, Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity (ADMET) properties and molecular interactions of these molecules had been analysed, with choice standards specializing in binding affinity and pharmacokinetics. Molecular dynamics simulations over 100 ns, completed the usage of GROMACS 2018.1, identified β-amyrin and lupeol as effective inhibitors of PLA2, acetylcholinesterase, and cobrotoxin. Lupeol exhibited greater constancy throughout simulations, at the same time as β-amyrin more suitable enzyme structure stabilization. Both compounds demonstrated good pharmacokinetics, though issues such as low solubility and potential cardiac dangers warrant further research.

Spathoglottis species are popular terrestrial orchids used as model for orchid studies. Due to alarming threat to species diversity, loss of habitat and increasing popularity, it needs to establish information on morphological characteristics as well as genetic variability for qualitative and quantitative traits to utilize for the genetic improvement programme and conservation of these endangered species. With these objectives an attempt was made to estimate genetic variability in terms of genetic component of variance, heritability and genetic advance in per cent of mean for biometrical traits and qualitative traits of four species viz, Spathoglottis albida Kraenzl., Spathoglottis gracilis Rolfe ex Hook.f., Spathoglottis unguiculata (Labill.) Rchb.f. and Spathoglottis plicata Blume. Results showed that flower colour, the colour and shape of the labellum and bracts were important characteristics used to resolve the morphological difference within Spathoglottis species. Biometrical traits viz, plant height, length of inflorescence, flower size, capsule size, number of flowers / inflorescence etc. involved significant role in the differentiation of species for utilization in the genetic improvement programme. Breeding method selection can be adopted for the genetic improvement programme since the genetic variability estimate revealed statistically significant high phenotypic coefficient of variation, genotypic coefficient of variation, heritability (broad sense) and genetic advance in per cent of mean for most of these biometrical traits.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although drugs are available for its treatment, administrations of those drugs have so many limitations and emergence of drug resistant strains of bacteria necessitate for the discovery of novel drugs. Plants are the best source of novel drugs and they are safe to use. Andrographis paniculata has been used in the Indian traditional medicine against tuberculosis, however, its efficacy was not tested and chemical molecules having the drug property are not identified. In the present investigation a total 140 chemical molecules derived from A. paniculata, 114 compounds collected from databases and 26 compounds determined through GC-MS analysis, were docked with three target proteins such as filamentous temperature sensitive protein Z (FtsZ), decaprenyl phosphoryl-beta D ribofuranose 2 epimerase (DprE1) and pantothenate kinase (PanK) and based on the lowest binding energy (≤-5kcal/mol) hit molecules were identified. Further hydrogen bond interaction and drug-likeness property analysis revealed that the compound β-sitosterol have inhibitory activity against FtsZ and DprE1. The compound 3,14 dideoxyandrographolide/andrograpanin showed least binding energy with PanK protein. The toxicity and drug-likeness property analysis indicated that among the hit molecules β-sitosterol is a promising lead molecule for the development of anti-tuberculosis drug. The results also substantiate the traditional use of this plant against tuberculosis.

The efficacy of currently used vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is questionable since the virus is rapidly mutating. A single drug that can simultaneously act on multi-target at different stages of disease causing pathways is the best option to fight against it. The multi-target inhibitory activities of many phytochemicals have been reported. The present investigation was aimed to screen the multi-target inhibitory activity of 215 phytochemicals from Carica papaya L. against three targets of SARS-CoV-2 viz spike protein (SP), main protease (Mpro), RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp) and a target from host, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) using the docking tool, AutoDock Vina in PyRx 0.8. The docked results with free energy of binding ≤ -6 kcal/mol were considered active/hit molecules. Of the 215 phytochemicals, 48 have binding energy ≤ -6 kcal/mol against all the targets. Further molecular interaction between the ligand and targets, pharmacokinetics and ADMET analysis of the top ranked five hits obtained against each target revealed that the compound hesperidin can be selected as the best lead since it has the least binding energy, admissible ADMET and a better binding score than the control drugs. Hesperidin has been used as an approved drug to treat vascular disease. Overall, results revealed that C. papaya is a rich source of phytochemicals with activity on multi-target of SARS-CoV-2 infection and multiplication in the human host.