The modern age life science research is more inclined towards interdisciplinary studies. Recent developments in the technologies have led to a better understanding of living systems, and this has removed the demarcations between various disciplines of life sciences. A new trend in life science incorporates biological research involving a merger of diverse disciplines such as microbiology, biotechnology, molecular biology, biochemistry, ecology and agriculture. This book is primarily written with the objective of providing standard information on recent topics in the fields of stress biology, molecular biology, ecology, agriculture, bioremediation, human diseases and over all, several biotechnological approaches towards the studies ranging from green photosynthesizing plants to human pathogens. The book encompasses topics on cyanobacteria, bacteria, fungi, higher plants, ecology and human diseases, distributed throughout eleven chapters for the benefit of graduate and postgraduate students as well as young researchers and scientists. The ever-increasing population has resulted in an increasing demand of food, medicine and other natural products. Researchers are continuously working to resolve and develop a better understanding of life and other biological processes; they need to conserve genes, plants and ecosystems, and the apprehension of land, water and environment have led to the strengthening of traditional disciplines as well as the emergence of diverse disciplines such as stress biology, molecular biology, biotechnology, agriculture and human health. This book imparts the latest developments and the state-of-the art knowledge in the specific fields of life sciences. The subject matter is presented in a logical sequence so that it is easily understandable to the students and researchers. The recent information on the subject is integrated throughout the chapters. In addition, this book provides newer techniques and the use of modern tools in achieving the potential of microbiology, ecology, herbal medicine, biotechnology and stress biology; this is all used to understand the challenges found in life sciences. This book covers a wide range of topics, and the authors anticipate that the contents may appeal to a wider range of readers. Therefore, the authors present this book with great pleasure and express their most sincere gratitude to all the contributors and research scholars, namely Mr. Jainendra Pathak, Mr. Rajneesh, Ms. Vidya Singh, Mr. Deepak Kumar, Mr. Haseen Ahmed, Mr. Deepak K. Singh and Ms. Abha Pandey. They are also particularly thankful to Nova Science Publishers, Inc., for their continued patience and for the unfailing attention they have given to the publication of this book.

The present investigation deals with the isolation and characterization of rhizospheric diazotrophic bacteria from the rice fields of border region of India and Nepal. Molecular diversity among different isolates has been established by PCR-based techniques, restriction analysis of 16S rRNA gene, gene sequencing and DGGE. All the isolates were tested for plant growth promoting characteristics (IAA production, phosphate solubilization, and siderophore production) along with N2 fixation. A novel, rapid and simple method for the screening of IAA production plate assay technique was developed during this study. Our findings show the following significant achievements: i) novel and rapid method of detection of IAA, ii) P solubilization and ACCD activity by Microbacterium (ECI-12A), iii) Siderophore production by Agrobacterium (BN-2A) under salinity stress seems to be the first report. iv) Early flowering by inoculation of BN-2A and v) Species of Agrobacterium, Klebsiella, Serratia, Pseudomonas, Azotobacter and Microbacterium etc are predominantly present in the rhizosphere of rice plants of Indo-Nepal border region.