Deepak Ohri

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with significant resistance to conventional therapies, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera), a medicinal plant rich in diverse bioactive compounds, has shown promising potential for anti-lung carcinoma activity. This study investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of M. oleifera bioactive compounds for their anti-lung cancer activities through an integrated network modeling and molecular docking approach. By constructing comprehensive compound–target–lung cancer pathway networks, we aim to elucidate the multitarget pharmacology of M. oleifera compounds, providing valuable insights into their potential as therapeutic candidates. Computational pipeline was applied to identify 180 phytochemicals from M. oleifera, filtered using Lipinski’s Rule of Five and ADMET properties, resulting in 10 lead compounds followed by their potential biological target proteins in regulating lung cancer progression. We identified 80 targeted proteins involved in lung cancer, with EGFR being the most enriched in pathway enrichment analysis. In the molecular docking analysis, caffeic acid showed the highest binding score (−28.97 kcal/mol) with EGFR forming stable complex during molecular dynamics simulations compared to the known EGFR inhibitor ‘erlotinib’. The overall results suggest that caffeic acid, a key bioactive compound in M. oleifera, is an EGFR-mediated oncogenic signaling inhibitor for lung cancer therapy, warranting further experimental validation to translate these findings into clinical applications.

The present study describes the published karyotypes of 338 conifer taxa comprising of 302 species belonging to 59 genera of conifers. The somatic chromosome numbers range from 2n=18 inPhyllocladus(Podocarpaceae) to 2n=66 inSequoia sempervirens(Cupressaceae). Polyploidy is rare as out of 512 conifer taxa known cytologically 2.80 per cent are polyploid and 2.20 per cent have both diploid and polyploid cytotypes. Various families show uniform somatic numbers such as Pinaceae (2n=24), Araucariaceae (2n=26), Cupressaceae (2n=22) except for some cases of polyploid taxa, and Podocarpaceae (2n=18‐38) caused by centric fissions. In Pinaceae the genusPinushas the most symmetrical karyotype andLarixhas the maximum bimodality. The karyotype diversity in rest of the families has been discussed in the phylogenetic framework. This apparent uniformity of karyotypes is not reflected in diversity of fluorescent bands and rDNA loci. These additional markers have taxonomic relevance and also facilitate chromosome identification in a number of cases. This karyotype conservation is reflected in very weak interspecific crossing barriers with the hybrids showing normal meiosis, and also in the conservation of gene content and order.

Gymnosperms show a significantly higher mean (1C=18.16, 1Cx=16.80) and a narrow range (16.89-fold) of genome sizes as compared with angiosperms. Among the 12 families the largest ranges of 1C values is shown by Ephedraceae (4.73-fold) and Cupressaceae (4.45-fold) which are partly due to polyploidy as 1Cx values vary 2.41 and 1.37-fold respectively. In rest of the families which have only diploid taxa the range of 1C values is from 1.18-fold (Cycadaeae) to 4.36-fold (Podocarpaceae). The question is how gymnosperms acquired such big genome sizes despite the rarity of recent instances of polyploidy. A general survey of different families and genera shows that gymnosperms have experienced both increase and decrease in their genome size during evolution. Various genomic components which have accounted for these large genomes have been discussed. The major contributors are the transposable elements particularly LTR-retrotransposons comprising of Ty3gypsy, Ty1copia and gymny superfamilies which are most widespread. The genomes of gymnosperms have been acquiring diverse LTR-RTs in their long evolution in the absence of any efficient mechanism of their elimination. The epigenetic machinery which silences these large tracts of repeat sequences into the stretches of heterochromatin and the adaptive value of these silenced repeat sequences need further investigation.

The present report is based on a cytological data base on 614 (56.0 %) of the total 1104 recognized species and 82 (90.0 %) of the 88 recognized genera of gymnosperms. Family Cycadaceae and many genera of Zamiaceae show intrageneric uniformity of somatic numbers, the genus Zamia is represented by a range of number from 2n=16-28. Ginkgo, Welwitschia and Gentum show 2n=24, 2n=42, and 2n=44 respectively. Ephedra shows a range of polyploidy from 2x-8x based on n=7. The family Pinaceae as a whole shows 2n=24except for Pseudolarix and Pseudotsuga with 2n=44 and 2n=26 respectively. Araucariaceae constantly shows 2n=26 while Podocarpaceae has a range of 2n=18-38. Sciadopityaceae and Cupressaceae are represented by 2n=20 and 2n=22 respectively. Taxaceae shows variable numbers of 2n=24, 36 and 22. Polyploidy is exceptional being represented by 8.0 % of the taxa studied. B-chromosomes have been studied in 31 taxa while heteromorphic sex chromosomes have been reported in some dioecious taxa.

The 4C DNA amounts of 54 taxa of Chenopodium measured by Feulgen densitometry showed 7.91-fold variation ranging from 1.25 pg (C. aristatum, 2x) to 9.89 pg (C. album PI 433379, 6x). The genome size varied only 2.65-fold from 0.31 pg (C. aristatum, 2x) to 9.82 pg (C. album ‘Chandigarh’, 4x). No intraspecific differences were found among 21 accessions of C. quinoa and 5 accessions of C. giganteum. However, 6x accessions of C. album originating from India showed significant differences as compared to those from Europe and America. The DNA amounts of various taxa conform to their systematic position.