Bashir Ahmad Ganai

University of Kashmir · Centre of Research for Development(CORD)

The widespread incidence of brain tumors presents a substantial obstacle to public health due to their debilitating and lethal outcomes. Although the etiology of brain tumors is still an enigma, emerging evidence indicates a strong correlation between pesticide exposure and the onset of brain cancer. The commonly used pesticides, including organoph...

Coral reefs, the rainforests of the sea, are vital hotspots for marine biodiversity. However, the persistent challenge of climate change directly threatens the delicate balance of coral reef ecosystems, impacting myriad species and critical ecosystem services. Therefore, this comprehensive review critically discusses the associated challenges in as...

The present study assessed source, degradation status, and temporal trends of organic matter up to ∼3700 years Before Present (BP) in Dal Lake sediment cores using multiproxy indicators, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, and time series forecasting. Bulk organic parameters such as total organic carbon and total nitrogen indicated thei...

Endophytic fungi serve as vital reservoirs of natural products. This study investigates the role of the endophytic fungus, Diaporthe amygdali GWS39, isolated from Geranium wallichianum D. Don Ex Sweet aerial stem. Showing a notable resemblance to Diaporthe amygdali, as confirmed through microscopic, molecular and phylogenetic techniques, this funga...

Objective: More than 50% of human cancers show mutated TP53 gene. Reactivation or restoration of p53 mutations is viewed as a potential approach for treating cancer. The objective of the present study was to determine whether ursolic acid (UA) could effectively restore the p53 mutations to their wild type or normal state and upregulate its expressi...

Exploring the evolution of biological systems across temporal scales and diverse paleoenvironmental contexts is facilitated by the geological records. Recent advancements in DNA sequencing and sediment dating have enabled the reconstruction of past flora dynamics from ancient plant DNA extracted from lake sediment samples. In this study, we investi...

For invasion biologists, the key question as to why only some alien species emerge as successful invaders as against a majority of other alien introduced species is still unclear. One of the best ways to resolve this question is to compare phylogenetically related alien invasive vs alien non-invasive species. Here we compared the allelopathic poten...

Fungal endophytes are the microorganisms living in a symbiotic relationship with their hostplants. These naturally occurring symbionts are abundant, have a huge biodiversity and provide a great deal of advantages to their host plants such as providing protection against pathogens and other biotic as well as abiotic stresses. In the present study, t...

Phellinus caribaeo‐quercicola is a basidiomycetous fungus, isolated as an endophyte in this study from the healthy and symptomless leaves of Inula racemosa Hook. f., an important medicinal herb growing in Kashmir Himalaya. This study combines morphological, molecular and phylogenetic techniques to identify the fungal endophyte, using the ITS sequen...

Background The objective of this research was to elucidate the hypocholesterolemic effects of a bioactive compound extracted from buckwheat, and to delineate its influence on the regulatory mechanisms of cholesterol metabolism. The compound under investigation was identified as quercetin. Material and results In vitro experiments conducted on HepG...

This study describes the extraction and characterization of the hemicellulosic autohydrolysates (HAHs) derived from rice straw (RS) and vascular aquatic weeds like Typha angustifolia (TA) and Ceretophyllum demersum (CD). It further explores their capacity to sustain the proliferation of selected lactic acid bacteria (i.e., prebiotic activity) isola...

The mining industry has historically served as a critical reservoir of essential raw materials driving global economic progress. Nevertheless, the consequential by-product known as mine tailings has consistently produced a substantial footprint of environmental contamination. With annual discharges of mine tailings surpassing 10 billion tons global...

Cryoconite holes, small meltwater pools on the surface of glaciers and ice sheets, represent extremely cold ecosystems teeming with diverse microbial life. Cryoconite holes exhibit greater susceptibility to the impacts of climate change, underlining the imperative nature of investigating microbial communities as an essential module of polar and alp...

Background Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a prevailing endocrinopathy affecting a significant population of women of reproductive age across the globe. A myriad set of complex intertwined factors ranging from etiological, genetic, and epigenetic reasons cause this disorder. Out of the different factors, vitamin D shows an imperative aspect i...

Molecular Mechanisms in the Etiology of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): A Multifaceted Hypothesis Towards the Disease with Potential Therapeutics

Every year several thousand metric tons of macrophytic biomass is removed from water bodies and discarded without any further use. Valorizing this biomass into biofuels can be a way to help in mitigating the world’s rising energy demand. In the current study, firstly nitrate reductase (NR) activity and total chlorophyll content in six prevalent aqu...

Aquatic plants, vital components of aquatic ecosystems, play pivotal roles in nutrient cycling, habitat provision, and overall ecological stability. This study presents a comprehensive investigation into the leaf biochemical composition and phytoconstituents of six distinct aquatic plant species viz. Nymphaea mexicana, Trapa natans, Nymphoides pelt...

Main conclusion Environmental DNA-based monitoring provides critical insights for enhancing our understanding of plant–animal interactions in the context of worldwide biodiversity decrease for developing a global framework for effective plant biodiversity conservation. Abstract To understand the ecology and evolutionary patterns of plant–animal in...

An associated microbiome of any host helps it in different metabolic processes ranging from the decomposition of food to the maturation of gametes. Organisms with a parasitic mode of life, though present at nutritious sites inside their host, maintain their own microbiome. Nevertheless, the comprehensive characterization and functionality of microb...

In recent times, plants are known to be the novel sources for obtaining pharmacologically active drugs which are produced by them in response to the stress which in turn facilitate mutualistic and antagonistic interactions of the plant with its changing environment. Keeping in view the medicinal importance and vulnerability status of Bergenia cilia...

Heavy metal pollution has posed a severe danger to environmental stability due to its high toxicity and lack of biodegradability. The present study deals with the appraisement of tolerance shown by various bacteria in varied copper and iron concentrations. Among the 20 isolates, four isolates, GN2, SC5, SC8, and SC10, exhibiting more significant ir...

The stability of ecosystem and the well-being of humans have been significantly impacted by the contamination of heavy metals and pesticides, primarily due to their resistance, persistence, and high toxicity. Consequently, this paper attempts to provide a comprehensive elucidation of the bioremediation capabilities of microorganisms, considering th...

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) are a global environmental concern that encompasses public health issues, water availability, and water quality owing to the production of various secondary metabolites (SMs), including cyanotox-ins in freshwater, brackish water, and marine ecosystems. The frequency, extent, magnitude, and duration of CHA...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, generally affecting elderly people in the age group of above 60–65 years. Amyloid deposition has been found to be a possible cause and a characteristic feature of Alzheimer’s disease. Mutations, variant genotypes, or downregulation that reduce amyloid clearance or accelerate amyloid accu...

Buckwheat ( Fagopyrum spp.) is an important crop in the high-altitude regions of the Northwest Indian Himalayas. The agro-climatic heterogeneity of this region offers a great deal of diversity in the agro-morphology of buckwheat species. In this study, a total of 61 accessions of Fagopyrum esculentum and Fagopyrum tataricum were characterized for 1...

Analysis reveals a unique diversity of soil bacteria in Dachigam National Park, located in the Zabarwan Mountains of Kashmir.

Pesticide pollution in recent times has emerged as a grave environmental problem contaminating both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems owing to their widespread use. Bioremediation using gene editing and system biology could be developed as an eco-friendly and proficient tool to remediate pesticide-contaminated sites due to its advantages and great...

In this work, a psychrotrophic bacteria producing cold-active protease, was obtained from Dachigam National Park, an ecologically significant habitat in Western Himalayas owing to its varied endemic and endangered flora and fauna. This isolate was identified as Bacillus sp. HM49 via phenotypic, Gram staining, bio-chemical and 16S rRNA gene identifi...

In the present world a significant threat to human health is posed by zoonotic diseases. Helminth parasites of ruminants are one of the most common zoonotic organisms on the planet. Among them, trichostrongylid nematodes of ruminants, found worldwide, parasitize humans in different parts of the world with varying rates of incidence, particularly am...

Dachigam National Park (DNP), in Zabarwan mountains of north-western Himalaya constitutes a region of high biodiversity with greater endemism. DNP is known for its unique micro-climate together with distinct vegetational zones providing home to variety of threatened and endemic plant, animal, and bird species. However, studies on soil microbial div...

Aconitum heterophyllum is a rare perennial herb from Kashmir Himalayas. Due to its threatened status and dependence on its environment, the plant was examined for any potential endophytes, which is of utmost importance for bioprospection. In the current study, endophytic fungal diversity associated with A. heterophyllum was examined, and 328 fungal...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) share common genetic features. Transcription factor 7-like-2 (TCF7L2) is consistently studied T2DM susceptibility locus. However, limited studies on TCF7L2 have failed to demonstrate any link with the PCOS risk. Therefore, we investigated the association of TCF7L2 polymorphic vari...

Food habits of the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes were studied in Dachigam National Park of the Kashmir Himalaya from December 2017 to November 2018 by scat analysis. A total of 246 scats were collected across seasons from different habitat types of the park. The diet of the Red Fox was characterized by a wider prey spectrum with small rodents, plants, and...

Eremurus himalaicus Baker, belonging to the Asphodelaceae family, is one of the least investigated valuable medicinal plants and is widely used in conventional and folk remedies as a vegetable, for treating anemia, and inducing lactation in the post-partum period. In light of the pervasive use of E. himalaicus in traditional medicine and the paucit...

Background: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent endocrinopathy disorder affecting a significant population of women of reproductive age globally. A myriad set of complexly intertwined factors ranging from etiological, genetic, and epigenetic causes affect this disorder. Out of the different factors, Vitamin D shows an imperative aspec...

AimHNF1α transcription factor regulates a network of genes involved in the development of β-cells and also serves as a model for transcription defects in pancreatic β-cells; mutations in this gene cause MODY. The goal of this study was to assess the promoter methylation and expression profile of the most common MODY causing gene, HNF1α, in Kashmiri...

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) are increasing at an alarming rate in different water bodies worldwide. In India, CHAB events in water bodies such as Dal Lake have been sporadically reported with no study done to characterize the cyanobacterial species and their associated toxins. We hypothesized that this Lake is contaminated with toxi...

The dearth of cardinal data on species presence, dispersion, abundance, and habitat prerequisites, besides the threats impeded by escalating human pressure has enormously affected biodiversity conservation. The innovative concept of eDNA, has been introduced as a way of overcoming many of the difficulties of rigorous conventional investigations, an...

The present study aimed to explore the antibacterial activity of various organic root extracts of Skimmia anquetilia N.P. Taylor and Airy Shaw and the identification of major functional groups and phytoconstituents through fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The extracts were evaluated fo...

Maturity Onset Diabetes of Young (MODY), characterized by the pancreatic β-cell dysfunction, the autosomal dominant mode of inheritance and early age of onset (often ≤25 years). It differs from normal type 1 and type 2 diabetes in that it occurs at a low rate of 1-5%, three-generational autosomal dominant patterns of inheritance and lacks typical d...

The present study suggests that standardized methodology, careful site selection, and stratigraphy are essential for investigating ancient ecosystems in order to evaluate biodiversity and DNA-based time series. Based on specific keywords, this investigation reviewed 146 publications using the SCOPUS, Web of Science (WoS), PUBMED, and Google Scholar...

Skimmia anquetilia N.P. Taylor and Airy Shaw (Rutaceae) is a perennial, aromatic, gregarious wild ornamental shrub native to the Western Himalaya. The plant is used in the traditional medicinal system to treat copious health conditions like rheumatism, fever, inflammation, headache, influenza, body-ache, clearing of the nose, diabetes, lowering the...

The previous decade witnessed a remarkable expansion in environmental DNA (eDNA) based research globally. Environmental DNA is typically understood to be the DNA that is extracted from environmental materials (such as soil, water, faeces, or air) without first isolating any target organism. This eDNA signal obtained can originate from organisms rep...

Marine environments accommodating diverse assortments of life constitute a great pool of differentiated natural resources. The cumulative need to remedy unpropitious effects of anthropogenic activities on estuaries, and coastal marine ecosystems has propelled the development of effective bioremediation strategies. Marine bacteria producing biosurfa...

Skimmia anquetilia is a plant species native to the Western Himalaya region that has tremendous potential for phytochemical activities. This study aimed to identify bioactive compounds and assess the antibacterial activity of S. anquetilia. To determine the major bioactive chemicals in the methanol leaf extract of S. anquetilia, we used a gas chrom...

Purpose: TCF7L2 mediated Wnt signaling cascade regulates glucose homeostasis by orchestrating expression, processing, and hepatic clearance of insulin. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) significantly overlap in pathophysiological features with insulin resistance as a central driver. While TCF7L2 is the most poten...

Environmental contamination is triggered by various anthropogenic activities, such as using pesticides, toxic chemicals, industrial effluents, and metals. Pollution not only affects both lotic and lentic environments but also terrestrial habitats, substantially endangering plants, animals, and human wellbeing. The traditional techniques used to era...

Environmental contamination is triggered by various anthropogenic activities, such as using pesticides, toxic chemicals, industrial effluents, and metals. Pollution not only affects both lotic and lentic environments but also terrestrial habitats, substantially endangering plants, animals, and human wellbeing. The traditional techniques used to era...

p class="042abstractstekst"> Tetrastichus miser (Nees, 1834) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae) is a parasitoid of Curculioninae and Scolytinae infesting various trees of economic importance. In the present study, it was collected from dried Cedrus deodara (Roxb.) G. Don (Pinaceae) infested with Scolytus beetles using sweep net and aspirator...

Lipases from Pseudomonas species are particularly useful due to their broader biocatalytic applications and temperature activity. In this study, we amplified the gene encoding wild-type cold-active lipase from the genome of psychrotrophic bacterium isolated from the Himalayan glacier. The isolated CRBC14 strain was identified as Pseudomonas sp. bas...

Fish epidermis is rich in different pharmacologically active substances, most of which play a crucial role in immunity. In the current study, β-defensin-like protein 1 with high in vitro antimicrobial activity was isolated and characterized from crude epidermal mucus extract of common carp, Cyprinus carpio L. The crude mucus was screened for antimi...

Dal Lake, also known as “Srinagar’s jewel” is situated in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the northern-most territory of India. The preeminent freshwater body, known worldwide for harboring rich, ethnic biodiversity also embraces itself as an excellent recreational site. However, over the last few decades, the freshwater aquatic eco...

Due to industrialization, the contamination of toxic metals in soils is currently one of the major concerns to scientists worldwide. The presence of high concentrations of heavy metals including cadmium in the environment is mainly attributed to human activities. Being a highly toxic metal, cadmium can enter plant cell transporters usually used for...

A new 9,19-cyclolanostane type arabinoside, 16,23;22,25-diepoxy-3β,22,23,24-tetrahydroxy-9,19-cyclolanostane-3-O-α-L-arabinopyranoside (1), together with two known compounds (2 and 3), was isolated from the aerial part of Astragalus grahamianus. The structures of these compounds were characterized and identified by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techn...

Fungal diseases of fish are a significant economic problem in aquaculture. Using high-throughput expression analysis, we identified potential transcript markers in primary head kidney and secondary embryonic cells from salmonid fish after stimulation with the inactivated fungi Mucor hiemalis and Fusarium aveneacium and with purified fungal molecula...

Aim Maturity-onset Diabetes of Young (MODY) is a monogenic form of diabetes affecting 1–5% of young (often ≤25 years) diabetic patients exhibiting an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance. Considering the significance of genetic polymorphisms in a variety of diseases, this study aimed to determine the association between HNF4α and GCK gene polymor...

Sufficient amount of minerals, vitamins, and proteins in human diet play indispensable role in maintaining the active metabolism for better human health. All the essential nutrients that are requisite for an individual's survival are acquired from plants as well as animals. Micronutrients and macronutrients directly influence the metabolic pathways...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder and is the most common form of dementia, commonly diagnosed in the age group of 60–65 years, but early onset AD also occurs in population at low frequency. In medical literature it is recognized by Alzheimer’s disease and is also referred to as SDAT (Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer T...

The source of pollutants may be natural or anthropogenic and have adverse effects on the environment. The pollutants or contaminants such as heavy metals, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, chemical spills, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other harmful substances impact not only population well-being but even environmental sustainability...

In contemporary times, owing to anthropogenic activities, soil contaminated with HMs has progressively become a grave global environmental issue affecting not merely ecosystem health and agricultural production but also posing a grave hazard to human well-being. Substantial efforts have been made to remediate contaminated soils either by immobiliza...

Background: Maturity onset diabetes of young (MODY) is considered to be the most underdiagnosed condition. The correct diagnosis of MODY has a definite bearing on the outcome and clinical course of the disease. We aim to determine the prevalence and clinical profile of MODY among young diabetic patients attending at Department of Endocrinology, a...

Despite substantial investment in research and treatment options, diabetes mellitus remains a pressing public health concern with potential epidemic proportions globally. There are reports that by the end of 2040, 642 million people will be suffering from diabetes. Also, according to an estimation, 1.6 million deaths were caused directly by diabete...