📰 Why is Wassenaar Arrangement important to India?
Is India a nuclear power?
•Before its nuclear weapons test in 1998, India was considered a nuclear capable country but was not recognised as one. This meant that there was no formal recognition that India was capable of producing both nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
•The reason for this was mainly because India had not acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which aims to prevent spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology and promote nuclear disarmament, which India considered discriminatory since it could do so only as a non-nuclear power. That would mean that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the U.S., the U.K., China, France and Russia — coincidentally all nuclear powers, would in effect continue to deny India the recognition as a nuclear power as well, even though it was widely acknowledged as a nuclear capable country after the 1974 “peaceful nuclear explosion” at Pokhran.
What is India's stand?
•India wanted to break out into the open and be recognised as a nuclear power like the other nuclear countries and be part of the global nuclear order, not as a nuclear hold out. For that to happen, India needed to be recognised as a nuclear power and be made part of the global non-proliferation architecture. There are four groupings of countries that multilaterally work to prevent and address proliferation of nuclear weapons, the technology that enables making of nuclear weapons and the systems that are capable of delivering those weapons. The Wassenaar Arrangement is one such. The Missile Control Technology Regime (MTCR) is another; India became a member of this grouping last year. The Australia Group and the Nuclear Suppliers Group are the other two; India is not a member of either yet.
What is the Wassenaar Arrangement?
•The Wassenaar Arrangement is a grouping of 42 countries, of which India is the latest entrant (on December 8) that seek to bring about security and stability, by fostering transparent practices in the process of sale and transfer of arms and materials and technologies that can be used to make nuclear weapons with a view to prevent any undesirable build-up of such capabilities. By doing so the grouping hopes to stymie destabilising developments. A further aim is also to prevent these proscribed items and technologies from falling into the hands of terrorists as well. Significantly, one of the purposes of the arrangement is to “enhance co-operation to prevent the acquisition of armaments and sensitive dual-use items for military end-uses, if the situation in a region or the behaviour of a state is, or becomes, a cause for serious concern to the Participating States.”
How do Wassenaar countries do this?
•They periodically exchange detailed and specific information on transfer or denial of items or technology, both conventional and nuclear capable, to countries outside the grouping. This is done through maintenance and updating of detailed lists, of dual use and munitions that are considered militarily significant.
•There are various classifications of the sub-sections of the lists. The dual use list has for example, the sensitive list and the very sensitive list. The disclosure of such sale or transfer is voluntary.
What are the advantages?
•India will be able to more easily access dual use technologies and materials and military equipment that are proscribed for non-participating members. India will also be able to sell its nuclear reactors and other materials and equipment indigenously produced without attracting adverse reactions. It will also be in a better position to collaborate with other countries in developing such capabilities.
Will it help to join other groups?
•There are more or less the same countries in all these groupings, with one crucial exception. China, which has been opposed to India’s entry into the NSG, is not part of both the MTCR as well as the Australia Group. So it should be easier to get into the Australia Group.
📰 Adoption: plan to empower magistrates to issue orders
Proposal to amend Juvenile Justice Act to tackle the delay
•In an effort to tackle the delay in issuing adoption orders by courts, which are supposed to dispose such cases within two months from the date of filing, the Ministry of Women and Child Development plans to amend the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, 2015. It has proposed empowering the executive magistrate, instead of the court, to issue orders under the adoption proceedings.
•According to the JJ Act, once an adoption order is issued by a court, the child becomes the son/daughter of the adoptive parents for all purposes from the date on which the adoption order takes effect. Further, all ties of the child and his or her biological family stand severed and are replaced by those created by the adoption order.
•Though Section 61 (2) of the JJ Act states that the ‘adoption proceedings shall be held in camera and the case shall be disposed of by the court within a period of two months from the date of filing’, a letter by the Ministry to State governments notes that a number of adoption proceedings are getting delayed, some even pending for more than two years.
•Proposing an amendment to reverse this, the Ministry’s order states that ‘any matter pending before any court pertaining to adoption shall be transferred to the executive magistrate having jurisdiction over the area to entertain such matters if it was instituted or filed for the first time after the amendment’.
•The Ministry, which plans to place its proposal in the ongoing session of Parliament, has also sought responses from the States in a week’s time, failing which it will be assumed that the State is agreeable to the amendment.
Objections to proposal
•The proposed move has not gone down well among legal experts as well as those working in the area of child rights.
•Swagata Raha, a Bengaluru-based legal researcher, said the executive magistrate’s roles is defined as ‘administrative’ in nature.
•“But the process of issuing orders under adoption proceedings is a judicial exercise to see if all the adoption procedures are followed and, therefore, we believe it would be more appropriate if a judicial authority decides this,” she said.
•Citing that the adopted child is legally entitled to property, she said the proposed amendments could have implications in this regard.
•Nina Nayak, former chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, and an adoptee parent, said while the intent is good, the execution of this order may not be in the best interest of the child. "A district magistrate is already overburdened with several responsibilities and may not be in a position to look at this in detail. Besides, s/he may not have the legal acumen for carrying out these proceedings," she said.
•Instead of this, she suggested wider consultations with magistrates and an effort to understand the challenges and the reality on the ground.
•Another expert pointed out that there is a need to enquire into various processes of adoption and ensure that there is nothing illegal in the adoption, look at the home study reports of the specialised adoption agency to examine if the family was ‘physically fit, financially sound, mentally alert and highly motivated to adopt a child’; and expressed scepticism if a district magistrate could look into all these factors, and sought to know where one can question an illegal adoption.
📰 The right start: healthcare in India
•We may lament about the poor state of health in India, but we must also realise that some things have improved. In 1980, only 85 out of every 100 children born would live to age five. Today, that number is 96. Improved child survival translates, among other benefits, into reduced fertility since people do not have to compensate by having more children.
•But is survival enough? If children simply live, but are cognitively impaired, do not attend school because of repeated illnesses or are otherwise unable to learn, are they achieving their full potential, either for themselves or for the nation?
•No upper-middle income country that has achieved sustained growth rates, be it Mexico, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, or Thailand, did so without having made significant investments in child development. These include vaccination, good nutrition for mother and child, clean water and sanitation, and protection from vector-borne infectious diseases, including malaria and dengue.
Importance of vaccines
•Vaccines are the most cost-effective, life-saving interventions of all time and also help child development. They are usually given when the rate of brain development is at its peak, which can benefit cognitive development through prevention of illness and its neurological complications, for example encephalitis. Research from Bangladesh shows that the benefits of antibodies from maternal tetanus vaccinations passing from a mother to her unborn child can lead to gains of about 0•25 years of schooling for children whose parents did not attend school. In the Philippines, vaccinations have been shown to help improve test scores in children, and offer a return on investment of 21% when translated into the earning gains of adults.
•On nutrition, there is evidence from a study that followed around 1,500 children in four villages of Guatemala, South America between 1969 and 2004. It found that protein-rich nutritional supplementation before 24 months of age was associated with 1.2 times higher schooling grades completed for women, increased adult cognitive skills for both men and women, and increased average adult male wages by 46%.
•In a trial conducted in Andhra Pradesh by the National Institute of Nutrition, along with follow-up surveys, children who received corn-meal-based upmawere 8% more likely to be enrolled in school and to have completed 0.84 more schooling grades than children born in villages without this early intervention. Imagine if all children in the country completed 0.8 more grades than they do now. Research across many countries shows that being literate raises earnings by 10%. An additional 0.8 grades of schooling, controlling for literacy, raises earnings by an additional 4%, which translates into impressive economic gains for the whole country.
•Countries that make early investments in their children are more likely to have the workforce supporting economic growth over decades. In 1960, the average South Korean had an income that was twice that of the average Indian. But by 2015, the average person in South Korea had an income 17 times that of the average Indian. A key difference was the vastly different levels of literacy (under 40 in India versus over 70 in South Korea) and life expectancy between the two countries in 1960.
•We stand at an unusual moment in time. The number of children born in India each year is greater than those born in any country at any point in human history. If we give them the right start with vaccines, early nutrition and a childhood free of diseases such as malaria or dengue, we have the opportunity to create a nation that will race ahead in economic productivity, and growth that reaches all Indians. If we fail, we will ensure that the lack of public health will translate into the largest loss of human potential in any country in history. This would be accompanied by growth rates that will eventually drop back to under 4% as Indian children fail to make it a global marketplace for human resources.
📰 Reduce pesticide residue in rice, States told
Exports are being affected owing to detection of pesticides exceeding the prescribed maximum residue limits
•After noticing the pesticide level in rice exceeding stipulated limit, which has led to problems in export, major rice producing States in the South have been asked to take necessary steps to reduce the pesticide residue.
•Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana have been asked by the Union Ministry of Agriculture to keep a watch on the use of pesticides by farmers that could finally enter the food chain.
•“Export of rice has faced problems in the last few years in different markets such as the U.S., E.U. and Iran owing to detection of pesticides exceeding the prescribed maximum residue limits (MRLs),” said a cautionary note that has been sent in late September to the Agriculture Departments of all five States through the Hyderabad-based Directorate of Oilseeds Development, which is the nodal agency for agri-related activities for South India. In Karnataka, the note was forwarded to the officials concerned in late November.
•The note, which was issued following an advisory from the Commerce Ministry, pointed out that recently, the European Union has brought the MRL of Tricyclazole to 0.01 gm/kg. “Similarly, the U.S. does not permit the presence of residue of Isoprothiolane beyond 0.01 gm/kg. Therefore, paddy farmers are required to be selective in use of pesticides keeping in view the target market,” the note said. It has also urged the local department of agriculture and agricultural universities to review the use of pesticides in paddy and also create awareness among farmers of the correct dose.
•Tricyclazole and Isoprothiolane, scientists say, are the two pesticides commonly used in paddy cultivation to prevent blast disease, a major threat to the Basmati and non-Basmati crops. However, an officer in one of the agriculture universities in Karnataka said these two chemicals are used in higher doses ‘by overzealous farmers to prevent crop loss’. He added that irrespective of export or domestic consumption, pesticide residue should be low. “If it gets rejected in exports, the rice will find its way to the domestic market,” he warned.
•However, according to Agriculture Commissioner G. Sathish, the advisory has a background of export rejection of Basmati rice and that Karnataka is not a Basmati growing region. “The advisory is about the time between application of pesticide and harvest.”
•But following the Union government’s advisory, the State has decided to check the MRLs from the coming season, and has asked the joint directors to collect samples for tests. They have also been asked to start awareness clinics to impress upon the farmers to use pesticides in suggested quantities.
How rampant is fertilizer use?
•Is pesticide being indiscriminately used in paddy cultivation in Karnataka?
•There are differing views on this. While farmers, and an officer of an agriculture university whom The Hindu spoke to, acknowledged that it is the case, Agriculture Department officials claim that pesticide use is under control.
•Farmers say that local fertilizer dealers have emerged as an advisor to farmers, who follow their instructions instead of sticking to the protocols issued by the Agriculture Department or agriculture universities. Rice growers like A.N. Anjaneya from Harihar taluk in Davangere, Revanna Siddappa Chinchiraki and Bheem Rao of Sindhanur taluk in Raichur district said that farmers have been using pesticide doses higher than the prescribed limit.
•Mr. Anjaneya said: “The department recommends spraying insecticide once or twice depending on the need. However, farmers end up spraying anywhere from 4 to 8 times. While the department recommends one-and-a-half quintal of NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium) per acre, farmers apply at least four-and-a-half quintals.” In fact, he said that though the department does not always advice use of systemic pesticides (which remain in the plant for a long time), farmers use them at their discretion.
•Revanna Siddappa, who earlier was a fertilizer trader in Sindhanur but now practises organic farming on his five-acre lemon orchard, said that farmers spend a huge amount of money on fertilizers and pesticides, which results in very little profit from agriculture. He added that scientists had a tough task on the same issue during a recent interaction at Kisan Vijnana Kendra at Lingasugur.
•Another rice farmer Bheem Rao said while some have taken the advice of the agriculture university or the Agriculture Department, a large section of farmers in Raichur do not adhere to the protocol. “Due to abuse of fertilizers and pesticides over the years, the soil has lost its fertility and farmers have been increasing the quantity of fertilizer/pesticide,” he explained.
•However, Agriculture Commissioner G. Sathish disputed the claim. He said that spending more money on fertilizers or pesticide does not make agriculture activity viable nor any business sense for farmers. “They may waste water but do not abuse fertilizers or pesticides. Normally, we recommend less than the sub optimal dose, which is based on weather and crop, and they stick to that.” He acknowledged that the department had not tested samples though it has the facilities to do so. “We offer testing facilities to anyone wanting to test samples. Similar facilities exist in the private sector and agriculture universities too,” he said.
📰 India stands by free Internet: Prasad
Right of non-discriminatory access to the Web is not negotiable, says Minister
•Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Saturday that the “right of non-discriminatory access to Internet is not negotiable”.
•“When Facebook came to India with Free Basics, I examined it ... and I found it will be free only when you enter from my gate. India does not believe in one gate and I didn’t give them permission,” Mr. Prasad said while addressing the Digital India Summit.
•He said it was for the U.S. to decide its stand on Net neutrality, but “our stand is very clear — right of non-discriminatory access to internet is not negotiable”.
•The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India issued a regulation in February 2016 on discriminatory pricing for internet access, which led to a ban of platforms such Free Basics and Airtel Zero.
•TRAI ruled against discriminatory pricing for different data platforms or content, and said operators could not enter into pacts with Internet companies to subsidise access to some websites.
•As per ruling, the companies violating the rules would be fined Rs. 50,000 per day for the duration of contravention, subject to a maximum of Rs. 50 lakh.
•Following debate over Net neutrality, Mr. Prasad, as Telecom Minister, had set up a panel of officers from the Department of Telecommunications to examine the matter and come up with recommendations.
•Last month, TRAI prohibited Internet service providers from making any discrimination in traffic while providing Web access.
•“I believe Internet is one of the finest creation of mankind and must be available for all. If Internet is a global platform it must have link with local,” Mr. Prasad said.
•The DoT has to now take a call on TRAI recommendations over Net neutrality.
•He said the government was making efforts to make India a $1 trillion digital economy in the coming five years which include IT and IT-enabled services.
📰 What is the lowdown on re-curving cyclones?
What is it?
•First, it helps to get a sense of how cyclones move. The ones that typically strike the Indian neighbourhood in the northern hemisphere rotate anticlockwise. Their normal behaviour is to derive strength from the moisture in waters such as the Bay of Bengal, move west, incline in a northerly direction and peter out into the sea or land, depending on their origin.
•This is how you would explain a regular cyclone, say like Mora, which formed over the Bay of Bengal on May 26. It rapidly strengthened on May 28, with the India Meteorological Department classifying it as a “depression” and eventually as a cyclonic storm. It kept north, almost parallel to the Myanmar coast and then made landfall in Bangladesh and blew over Nagaland. In a re-curving cyclone, the cyclone gets a sort of second wind when it is on the wane.
•Like the googly in cricket, it’s deflected right or eastwards. This is due to air currents in the local atmosphere that push cold air from the poles towards the equator and interfere with cyclone formation. That’s what make them ‘re-curving.’ In the southern hemisphere, the cyclones spin clockwise and therefore also re-curve in the opposite direction.
How do they come about?
•During the monsoon months, cyclones in the Western Pacific move westwards towards India and aid the associated rain-bearing systems over the country. However, in the years of a re-curve, they do not give as much of a push to the rain as they do in the good monsoon years and that is why monsoon rain this August was a dampener. Rain that month was 13% short of what is usual and meteorologists say it was almost certainly because of an active hurricane season in the Pacific that consisted of a few re-curving cyclones. However, these are back in the news due to Cyclone Ockhi. The whirlwind that arose in the Bay of Bengal and revved up over Sri Lanka was expected to pass over Lakshadweep and then ease into the Arabian Sea, far away from India’s west coast.
•However, the cyclone ended up sharply swerving into parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. It did not blow in very strongly because there it had not gained as much moisture from the Arabian Sea like it had over the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean boundary. And though it wreaked havoc in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, even a weakened Ockhi destroyed several beaches in Goa when it curved back to the land.
Why does it matter?
•Long-term data suggest that while there has been an increase in the number of tropical cyclones in India’s neighbourhood there is no clear trend in re-curving ones. In general, cyclone activity in India peaks around November, by which time, the summer monsoon has already passed. Rarely do re-curving cyclones pose a mortal threat to Indian coasts and Cyclone Ockhi raised hackles because it had already left a certain amount of damage and threatened Gujarat and Maharashtra. It was also among the rare curving cyclones with a presence over the Arabian Sea.
What lies ahead?
•As climate change is projected to increase the frequency of extreme events, scientists have warned that tropical cyclones are likely to get more intense, and this could mean more scrutiny of re-curving ones. A challenge with re-curving cyclones is that it is hard for weather models to pick them early on — as was the case with Ockhi — and so they pose unique challenges in terms of hazard preparedness and disaster management.
📰 Biodiversity under alien attack
Scientists have identified 157 animal species that pose a threat to native fauna
•While invasive plant species have been written about widely, thanks to their economic impact, little is known about the prevalence of invasive fauna in India. Now the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has for the first time compiled a list of alien invasive animal species, totalling 157.
•“This number excludes invasive microbe species,” said Kailash Chandra, Director of the ZSI, adding that of the 157 species, 58 are found on land and in freshwater habitats, while 99 are in the marine ecosystem.
•Just as alien plant species such as Parthenium hysterophorus(cotton grass) and Lantana camara(Lantana) are known to harm agriculture and biodiversity, invasive animal species pose a threat to biodiversity and human well-being.
•According to experts, alien species become ‘invasive’ when they are introduced deliberately or accidentally outside their natural areas, where they out-compete the native species and upset the ecological balance. Of the 58 invasive species found on land and in freshwater, there were 31 species of arthropods, 19 of fish, three of molluscs and birds, one reptile and two mammals.
•Dr. Chandra gave the example of Paracoccus marginatus (Papaya Mealy Bug), which belongs to Mexico and Central America but is believed to have destroyed huge crops of papaya in Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Phenacoccus solenopsis (Cotton Mealybug) is a native of North America but has severely affected cotton crops in the Deccan. Among the invasive fish species, Pterygoplichthys pardalis (Amazon sailfin catfish) has been destroying fish populations in the wetlands of Kolkata.
•Achatina fulica (African apple snail) is said to be most invasive among all alien fauna. It is a mollusc and was first reported in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But today it is found all across the country and is threatening the habitats of several native species.
•Among the alien invasive marine species, the genus Ascidiaaccounts for the maximum number of species (31), followed by Arthropods (26), Annelids (16), Cnidarian (11), Bryzoans (6), Molluscs (5), Ctenophora (3), and Entoprocta (1).
•Experts point to the example of Tubastrea coccinea (Orange Cup-Coral), which originated in Indo-East Pacific but has now been reported in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Gulf of Kutch, Kerala and Lakshadweep.
•This compilation was announced on the sidelines of the National Conference on the Status of Invasive Alien Species in India, organised by the ZSI and the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).
📰 IMA tightens the screws on antibiotic prescriptions
Doctors should not prescribe antibiotic cover or prophylactic antibiotic without a high degree of clinical suspicion
•Alarmed over the growing antibiotic resistance that has made it difficult to treat many bacterial infections, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has advised doctors to follow strictly guidelines while prescribing antibiotics.
•Despite the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) setting up the National Anti-Microbial Resistance Research and Surveillance Network (AMRRSN) to enable compilation of data of such resistance at different levels of healthcare and publishing of treatment guidelines for anti-microbial use in common syndromes, the problem of multi-drug resistance due to widespread and indiscriminate use of antimicrobial and antibiotic drugs continues unabated in the country.
•To address this issue, the IMA, at the Antimicrobial Resistance Conference held in New Delhi last month, advised its members to mandatorily restrict the usage of antibiotics for treatment of proven bacterial infections. It also came out with a policy on anti-microbial resistance.
No refill without consent
•IMA national president K.K. Aggarwal told The Hindu that doctors should henceforth write the antibiotic in a box to differentiate it from other drugs in the prescription.
•“When prescribing antibiotics, clear instructions should be given to the patient about no refill of antibiotic prescription without the signature of the doctor. The role of antibiotics should be discussed in an informed consent,” he said.
•Expressing concern over irrational antibiotic usage, Dr. Aggarwal said: “As per our policy, doctors should not prescribe antibiotic cover or prophylactic antibiotic without a high degree of clinical suspicion. No antibiotics should be prescribed for small bowel diarrhoea, fever with cough and cold, dengue, chikungunya, malaria and fever with rashes. However, early initiation of antibiotics is the rule in suspected sepsis bacterial pneumonia meningitis and confirmed tuberculosis cases.”
Prescription audit
•B.R. Jagashetty, former Drugs Controller of Karnataka and former National Adviser to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said the government should conduct random “prescription audits” in both private and public sectors to improve medication safety.
National policy
•This has also been included in the National Health Policy and Karnataka Public Health Policy prepared by the Knowledge Commission. The Karnataka Health Policy — that is yet to be implemented — also recommends that the State Health Ministry should also have its own antibiotic policy.
•Attributing the growing antibiotic resistance to self-medication by most people, Dr. Jagashetty said: “Many people go to a chemist and ask for medicines for their health problem without visiting a doctor. Buying medicines over the counter is a major reason for misuse. Moreover, some doctors too prescribe higher antibiotics due to the impatience shown by their patients in getting well soon.”
📰 ‘Safe disposal of expired antibiotics is crucial’
•Growing antimicrobial resistance is also linked to the discharge of drugs and some chemicals into the environment. This is one of the most worrying health threats today.
•Noting that safe disposal of expired and leftover antibiotics is a vital aspect that will check resistance, the Indian Medical Association has written to the Union Health Ministry to formulate clear guidelines.
•“Besides, seeking clear guidelines on safe disposal of leftover antibiotics, I have also written to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) asking that it should be made compulsory for food companies to label all poultry and agriculture products as antibiotic free,” Dr. Aggarwal added.
📰 One gene to tackle all stresses
Engineered plants may withstand drought or infections
•Different types of stress can affect the life of plants including that induced by pathogens (biotic stress) and that caused by non-living entities such as drought, osmotic stress, chemical or salt stress and so on (abiotic stress). For a long time, researchers have been trying to understand the genetics of stress, and now a collaboration of scientists from Bengaluru’s National Centre of Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has discovered a single gene whose expression controls the plants’ response to both biotic and abiotic stress. This finding can be used to engineer plants that can withstand, for instance, drought or bacterial infections. The research has been published in Plant Molecular Biology.
Unrelated stress
•“Previous studies at best identified genes that provide resistance to diverse abiotic stresses that are connected physiologically. For example, drought and salt stress are related and one single gene could provide resistance to both,” says P.V. Shivaprasad, professor at NCBS. The novelty of this research is that it proposes that by expressing a single gene, it is possible to develop resistance in plants to various diverse and unrelated types of stress.
•It has been known that the accumulation of an aldehyde – methylglyoxal – above a certain level can be toxic in all organisms. “Under normal developmental conditions, methylglyoxal levels remain very low (30-75 microM) and this regulates processes such as cell proliferation and their survival, and control of toxins,” says Prof. Shivaprasad. However, the problem begins when this level increases beyond an optimum. Methylglyoxal is highly toxic in all organisms including humans at higher concentrations. “High levels of methylglyoxal targets proteins and DNA and modify them in such a way that they are non-functional,” he adds.
•Studying tobacco plants, the researchers have shown that overexpression of heat shock protein (Hsp31), which has the capacity to detoxify the plant cells of methylglyoxal, can render them highly tolerant to both biotic and abiotic stress. This protein – Hsp31 – is very similar to the PARK7 protein in humans which is linked to early onset of Parkinson’s disease.
A timeline
•Sudhir Sopory of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, (JNU) has done pioneering work on related proteins in plants and also demonstrated that their expression can provide abiotic stress tolerance in plants. Patrick D’Silva, from IISc, had identified HSP31 in yeast as a methylglyoxalase that can offer abiotic stress tolerance in yeast. The NCBS team collaborated with the latter, whose lab provided clones as well as helped them with the biochemistry.
•“We show that plant proteins similar to PARK7 are much more potent in their ability to remove toxins… It will be interesting to see if plant PARK7-like proteins can provide cure to neurological diseases through their activities,” says Prof. Shivaprasad.
