Publications by authors named "Prakash Lakshmanan"

Providing plants with adequate nitrogen (N) through an appropriate ammonium-to-nitrate-ratio (NH/NO-ratio) can enhance nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and promote growth. However, how different NH/NO-ratios affect N and carbon (C) metabolic processes and growth in sugarcane, a fast-growing high-biomass crop, remain unclear. Here, a hydroponic experiment was conducted using sugarcane variety 'Yunzhe05-51', applying seven NH/NO-ratios under a constant total N supply level of 10 mmol·L.

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Viruses are ubiquitous regulators of microbial dynamics and may thus greatly influence global microbial-driven greenhouse gas emissions. Anthropogenic stressors, such as chemical contamination, are likely to amplify these viral contributions; however, their global significance and underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Utilizing N tracing, metagenomics, and laboratory assays, we explore soil viral communities and their evolutionary potential under the stress from antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP), focusing on their roles in regulating nitrogen cycling and NO production.

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Lysine acetylation and protein abundance both play crucial roles in regulating sucrose accumulation in sugarcane, with 73 dual-function proteins identified as potential targets for molecular breeding to enhance sucrose levels. Lysine acetylation plays a crucial role in regulating various biological processes in plants, but its role in sucrose accumulation in sugarcane remains unexplored In this study, we conducted a comprehensive quantitative proteome and acetylated proteome analysis on the leaves of two sugarcane genotypes with high and low sucrose levels at early, middle, and late stages of sucrose accumulation. Quantitative proteome analysis identified 2363 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs), of which 165 were associated with sugar metabolism pathways, providing more targets for improving sucrose content in sugarcane.

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Sugarcane is a globally significant crop for sugar and energy production, yet its breeding potential is limited by its complex genetic background and restricted genetic diversity. Molecular breeding presents a promising approach to boost sugarcane productivity. Gibberellins (GA) plays a critical role in plant growth and development, with GA20-oxidase being the most crucial enzyme in GA biosynthesis.

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Nitrification inhibitors (NIs) are critical to reduce nitrogen (N) leaching losses. However, the efficacy of different NIs can be highly variable across soils and crop types, and a deeper understanding of the mechanistic basis of this efficiency variation, especially in purple soil under vegetable production, is lacking. To enrich this knowledge gap, the impact of different NIs amendment (3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate, DMPP; dicyandiamide, DCD; nitrapyrin, NP) on nitrification and the microbial mechanistic basis of controlling nitrate (NO-N) leaching of vegetable purple soil was explored in southwest China.

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Urban landscapes are high phosphorus (P) consumption areas and consequently generate substantial P-containing urban solid waste (domestic kitchen wastes, animal bones, and municipal sludge), due to large population. However, urbanization can also trap P through cultivated land loss and urban solid waste disposal. Trapped urban P is an overlooked and inaccessible P stock.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Agricultural systems are significant contributors to global nitrous oxide (NO) emissions, largely due to over-fertilization and antibiotic residues, prompting global concern about environmental impacts.
  • - Research focused on how ciprofloxacin (CIP) increases NO production in soils by altering microbial processes, revealing that exposure leads to a shift from nitrification to denitrification and increases certain bacteria that produce NO.
  • - The study identifies a specific strain, Methylobacillus flagellatus KT, which can produce NO while also breaking down CIP, suggesting it uses CIP byproducts as food and highlighting its role in both NO emission and antibiotic degradation in soil ecosystems.
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Pepper (Capsicum spp.) is an important fruit vegetable worldwide, and it is a rich dietary source of minerals for human being. Yet, the spatio-temporal distribution of pepper fruit mineral composition and the factors influencing such variations at global scale remain unknown.

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The land application of livestock manure has been widely acknowledged as a beneficial approach for nutrient recycling and environmental protection. However, the impact of residual antibiotics, a common contaminant of manure, on the degradation of organic compounds and nutrient release in Eutric Regosol is not well understood. Here, we studied, how oxytetracycline (OTC) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) affect the decomposition, microbial community structure, extracellular enzyme activities and nutrient release from cattle and pig manure using litterbag incubation experiments.

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Returning organic nutrient sources (for example, straw and manure) to rice fields is inevitable for coupling crop-livestock production. However, an accurate estimate of net carbon (C) emissions and strategies to mitigate the abundant methane (CH) emission from rice fields supplied with organic sources remain unclear. Here, using machine learning and a global dataset, we scaled the field findings up to worldwide rice fields to reconcile rice yields and net C emissions.

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Pigments derived from red pepper fruits are widely used in food and cosmetics as natural colorants. Nitrogen (N) is a key nutrient affecting plant growth and metabolism; however, its regulation of color-related metabolites in pepper fruit has not been fully elucidated. This study analyzed the effects of N supply (0, 250, and 400 kg N ha) on the growth, fruit skin color, and targeted and non-target secondary metabolites of field-grown pepper fruits at the mature red stage.

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Eliminating both overt and hidden hunger is at the core of the global food and nutrition security agenda. Yet, the collective state of nutrition security at the population level is not known. Here we quantify food-based availability of 11 essential nutrients for 156 countries using a food production-consumption-nutrition model, followed by assessment of the nutrient availability status as a ratio of recommended intake.

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Using agricultural wastes as an alternative phosphorus (P) source has great prospects to improve soil P status. A 70-day incubation experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of superphosphate (SSP), poultry manure (PM), cattle manure (CM), maize straw (MS), and cattle bone meal (CB) with the same total P input on soil P availability and fractions in typical acidic (red soil) and alkaline (fluvo-aquic soil) soils. The results showed that in both fluvo-aquic and red soils, CM out-performed other P sources in improving soil P availability.

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In this study, effect of nitrate-dependent suberization in maize root on cadmium (Cd) uptake and accumulation was investigated. Suberization in maize roots was significantly lower in plants grown with a high nitrate supply compared with low nitrate. This decrease was seen in the total amount of suberin, in which the aliphatic suberin amount was significantly decreased, whereas no difference in aromatic suberin content between different N-treatments.

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Diazotrophic microorganisms are free-living groups of organisms that can convert atmospheric nitrogen (N) into bioavailable nitrogen for plants, which increases crop development and production. The purpose of the current study was to ascertain how diazotrophic plant growth promoting (PGP) Pseudomonas strains (P. koreensis CY4 and P.

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Banana (Musa acuminata) fruits ripening at 30 °C or above fail to develop yellow peels; this phenomenon, called green ripening, greatly reduces their marketability. The regulatory mechanism underpinning high temperature-induced green ripening remains unknown. Here we decoded a transcriptional and post-translational regulatory module that causes green ripening in banana.

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Excessive use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer for sugarcane cultivation is a significant cause of greenhouse gas emission. N use-efficiency (NUE) of sugarcane is relatively low, and considerable effort is now directed to exploit biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in sugarcane. We hypothesize that genetic base-broadening of sugarcane using high-BNF , a wild progenitor of sugarcane, will help develop N-efficient varieties.

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Pepper is one of the most vitamin C enriched vegetables worldwide. Although applying nitrogen (N) fertilizer is an important practice for high fruit yield in pepper production, it is still unclear how N application regulates pepper fruit vitamin C anabolism at different maturity stage. To further the understanding, we combined physiological and metabolomic analysis to investigate the fruit vitamin C content (including ascorbic acid (AsA) and dehydroascorbic acid (DHA)), related enzyme activity and non-targeted metabolites of field-grown chili pepper produced under different N levels at mature green and red stages.

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Introductions: Ethylene regulates ripening by activating various metabolic pathways that controlcolor, aroma, flavor, texture, and consequently, the quality of fruits. However, the modulation of ethylene biosynthesis and quality formation during banana fruit ripening remains unclear.

Objectives: The present study aimed to identify the regulatory module that regulates ethylene and fruit quality-related metabolisms during banana fruit ripening.

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Introduction: A better understanding of the regulatory role of microorganisms on soil phosphorous (P) mobilization is critical for developing sustainable fertilization practices and reducing P resource scarcity. The genes regulate soil organic P (Po) mobilization.

Methods: Based on the long-term P application experiments in acid purple soil of maize system in Southwest China (started in 2010), the experiment included five P levels: 0, 16, 33, 49, and 65.

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Article Synopsis
  • Sugarcane is the primary sugar crop globally, responsible for over 80% of total sugar production, but faces significant threats from pests that can lead to major yield losses.
  • This study investigates how sugarcane responds at the genetic and metabolic levels to attacks from a key pest, examining changes in gene expression and metabolite production following 72 hours of insect feeding.
  • The findings highlight specific defense genes related to amino acid and secondary metabolite production, as well as plant hormone signaling, providing insights that could help in developing more pest-resistant sugarcane varieties through molecular breeding.
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Red rot caused by the fungus is the main disease limiting sugarcane productivity in several countries including the major producer India. The genetic basis for red rot resistance is unclear. We studied a panel of 305 sugarcane clones from the Australian breeding program for disease response phenotype and genotype using an Affymetrix Axiom array, to better understand the genetic basis of red rot resistance.

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Sugarcane is an important crop across the globe, and the rapid multiplication of excellent cultivars is an important object of the sugarcane industry. As one of the plant growth regulators, paclobutrazol (PBZ) has been frequently used in the tissue culture of sugarcane seedlings. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of response to PBZ in this crop.

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Background: Sugarcane is the most important sugar crop, contributing > 80% of global sugar production. High sucrose content is a key target of sugarcane breeding, yet sucrose improvement in sugarcane remains extremely slow for decades. Molecular breeding has the potential to break through the genetic bottleneck of sucrose improvement.

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