African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12486

Table of Content: 17 January 2011; 10(3)

January 2011

In vitro propagation of walnut - A review

  In vitro propagation of walnut has played a very important role in rapid multiplication of cultivars with desirable traits and production of healthy and disease-free plants. During the last several years, different approaches have been made for in vitropropagation of walnut. Micropropagation using apicale bud, nodale segement, leaves, petioles, cotyledons, embryos and understanding the specific...

Author(s): Kamal Payghamzadeh and Sayyed Kamal Kazemitabar

January 2011

A critique of current methods in nematode taxonomy

  Morphology based nematode taxonomy and biodiversity studies have historically challenged most biologists. In the past few decades, there have been efforts to integrate molecular methods and digital 3D image-capturing technology in nematode taxonomy, the former to enhance the accuracy of identification of such a taxonomically challenging group and the latter to communicate morphological data. While the...

Author(s): Eyualem Abebe, Tesfamariam Mekete and William K. Thomas

January 2011

Brewer’s spent grain: A review of its potentials and applications

  Most developing nations continuously produce abundant agro-industrial residues such as brewer’s spent grain (BSG), which are underexploited. BSG as the main by-product of brewing industry, representing approximately 85% of total by-products generated, is rich in cellulose and non-cellulosic polysaccharides and has a strong potential to be recycled. Due to the global intense pressure towards green...

Author(s): Salihu Aliyu and Muntari Bala

January 2011

Gene study within the 5' flanking regions of growth hormone gene of first exon in Bos indicus

  Growth hormone (GH) is a main regulatory protein secreted by pituitary gland and placenta, involved in most anabolic processes in mammals. Expression of more than one gene for GH has been reported, indicating polymorphism at gene and protein level; apart from this, silent mutations has also been reported, relating to the level of expression of GH gene. The aim of this study is to identify silent mutations...

Author(s): Amtul Jamil Sami, Muhammad Tahir Nazir, Zohra Jabeen and AR Shakoori+

January 2011

Isolation and identification of differentially expressed genes between Gossypium arboreum and Gossypium hirsutum species

  Plants have evolved sophisticated molecular defense mechanisms in order to survive disease conditions. So far, a number of pathogen resistance (R) genes have been reported in plants. These R genes are thought to be involved in activating the signals that lead to disease resistance. The structural specificity of R genes products makes it possible to isolate these genes from plants by...

Author(s): Moddassir Ahmed, Saima Iqbal, Farhatullah and Aftab Bashir

January 2011

Phylogenetic analysis of human Tp53 gene using computational approach

  The TP53 gene encoding p53 protein is involved in regulating a series of pathways. New discoveries about the function and control of p53 are still in progress and it is hoped to develop better therapeutics and diagnostics by exploiting this system. Evolutionary studies are of prime importance in the field of biological research since very long as provide the basis for comparative genomics. The sequence of...

Author(s): Mohammad Haroon Khan, Hamid Rashid and Asif Mir

January 2011

Responses of some selected Malaysian rice genotypes to callus induction under in vitro salt stress

  Tissue culture technique can be used as a source for genetic variability by means of genetic modifications through the process of in vitro cultures. This technique has been widely used for breeding purposes, especially for stress tolerance selection, which severely limits rice production. Also, the establishment of a suitable plant regeneration system is a prerequisite for successful genetic...

Author(s): Nwe Nwe Htwe, Mahmood Maziah, Ho Chai Ling, Faridah Qamaruz Zamanand Abdullah Mohd Zain

January 2011

Production and purification of polyclonal anti-hamster immunoglobulins in rabbits

  Polyclonal antibodies are mixtures of monoclonal antibodies that were produced against different epitops. The goal of this project is to know the production, purification and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugation of polyclonal antibodies against hamster immunoglobulins in rabbits. 300 µg/300 µl of ten hamster immunoglobulins was mixed with the same volume (300 µl) of adjuvant and injected...

Author(s): Vahideh Ahmadzadeh, Jafar Majidi, Nader Chaparzadeh, JalalAbdolalizadeh and Mohammad Reza Aliparasti

January 2011

Pollen viability and germination in Jatropha ribifolia and Jatropha mollissima (Euphorbiaceae): Species with potential for biofuel production

  The aim of this work is to assess pollen viability using the staining technique and in vitro germination with different concentrations of sucrose in Jatropha ribifolia andJatropha mollissima, contributing to the knowledge of the reproductive biology and subsidizing their conservation, management and utilization. Pollen viability was measured by dye method. Acetocarmine,...

Author(s): D. H. Lyra, L. S. Sampaio, D. A. Pereira, A. P. Silva and C. L. F. Amaral

January 2011

Primary purification of two antifungal proteins from leaves of the fig (Ficus carica L.)

  Low-molecular-weight extracts of fig (Ficus carica L.) leaves has antifungal and antibacterial activities against several types of microorganisms. In this work, two high-molecular-weight fractions with antifungal activity, termed figinI and figinII were obtained from leaves of fig using a procedure including ion-exchange chromatography (SP-Sepharose Fast Flow), hydrophobic-interaction chromatography...

Author(s): Wei Yan, Ming Zhao, Yan Ma, Ying-hong Pan and Wen-xia Yuan

January 2011

Using Ferula assafoetida essential oil as adult carob moth repellent in Qom pomegranate orchards (Iran)

  Carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Lep.: Pyralidae), is the key pest of pomegranate fruits in most countries like Iran. Chemical insecticides cannot be used for the control of carob moth because they have biological and behavioral traits. Other control methods have no sufficient efficiency. So it is necessary to use new methods. Some pest control management such as application of...

Author(s): Maryam Peyrovi, S.H. Goldansaz and Kh. Talebi Jahromi

January 2011

The effects of nitrogen deficiencies on the lipid and protein contents of Spirulina platensis

  Nitrogen deficiencies were studied in Spirulina platensis (Cyanophyceae) with the aim of determining the effects of the 50 and 100% deficient nitrogen on the lipid and protein contents of the cell under laboratory conditions. S. platensis cultures were  grown in Spirulina medium and kept at  the constant room temperature...

Author(s): Leyla Uslu, Oya IÅŸik, Kemal Koç and Tolga Göksan

January 2011

Using relative penetration and maleness indices in Meloidogyne incognita to establish resistance type in Cucumis myriocarpus

  Resistance in plant-parasitic nematodes is broadly classified as pre-infectional or post-infectional. Pre-breeding establishment of resistance type in plant-parasitic nematodes is essential where germplasm is to be introgressed into the rootstock breeding lines since only post-infectional resistance is introgressible. A study was conducted to determine whether resistance in wild cucumber (Cucumis myriocarpus)...

Author(s): K. M. Pofu and P. W. Mashela

January 2011

Comparison of moisture management methods for the bioremediation of hydrocarbon contaminated soil

  Different moisture management methods were compared for biodegradation efficiency in sandy and organic soils. The conventional method consisted in maintaining the soil moisture at approximately 50 to 75% field capacity accompanied by daily aeration and mixing. In the test method, the soil was allowed to dry out completely for three to four days after which the soil was moistened to 50 to 75% of field capacity...

Author(s): Randy H. Adams, Kikey Kanga-Leyva, Francisco J. Guzmán-Osorio and Erika Escalante-Espinosa

January 2011

Monitoring of microcystin-LR in Luvuvhu River catchment: Implications for human health

  Cyanotoxins in surface drinking water sources are known to pose a threat to human health, of which microcystin-LR is the most investigated. The main aim of this study is to assess the levels of microcystin-LR in Luvuvhu River catchment and to assess the physicochemical parameters that may promote the growth of cyanobacteria. The level of microcystin-LR in some of the sampling sites was <0.18 µg/l...

Author(s): Makhera, M., Gumbo, J. R. and Chigayo, K.

January 2011

The effect of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius on multi-drug resistant micro-organisms

  This study was carried out to investigate possible bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius leaf extract on multi-drug resistant micro-organisms. The antimicrobial property of C. aconitifolius leaf extract was carried out on the following multi-drug resistant micro-organisms; Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas...

Author(s): Oyagbemi, A. A., Ogunleye, A. O., Lawal, T. O. and Azeez, I. O.

January 2011

Studies in concentration and preservation of sorrel extract

  The popular sorrel (zobo) juices drink which is about 99% water is known to be easily susceptible to microbial spoilage. The need thus arises to standardize its production to give quality product of compact packing and adequate shelf life. In this work attempts were made to study thermal concentration of the juice extract and its chemical preservation. Concentrating the juice to about 17% solid was found to...

Author(s): A. S. Olawale

January 2011

Sonicated date syrup media preparation for microbial culture

  20% of the world’s date exports are produced by Iran and much of these fruits are either damaged or has insufficient quality for human consumption. The proportion of the crop (35% of the total crops) that currently goes to waste can be turned into useful byproducts. Because of the high cost of commercial prepared culture media in Iran, it is envisioned that date waste can be used in the preparation of...

Author(s): Simin Hagh Nazari

January 2011

Nutritional evaluation of cookies produced from pigeon pea, cocoyam and sorghum flour blends

  Cookies were produced from pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) flour blends. Ten different cookie formulations were produced. The cookies were evaluated for proximate composition, antinutritional factors and protein quality. The protein content ranged from 6.40% for cookies from 100% cocoyam flour (CF) to 12.97% for cookies from 100% pigeon pea flour...

Author(s): L. C. Okpala and E. C. Okoli

January 2011

Genomic study of the cereolysin A and B genes in Bacillus cereus isolated from raw and pasteurized milk

  Bacillus cereus spores are expanded in the nature and they can be separated from different foods. Cytotoxin is one of the most important poisons which is produced byBacillus cereus, and it is highly resistant to heat and leads to diarrhea, nausea and vomiting syndrome. Hence study about existence of Bacillus cereus in pasteurized milk is very important due to probability of causing illness by...

Author(s): Samareh Fallah, Mohammad Chamani, Mehdi Aminafshar and Hamid Ezzatpanah

January 2011

In vitro propagation and whole plant regeneration from callus in Datura (Datura stramonium. L)

  Leaf explants and mature embryos of Datura were separately cultured in  MS basal medium supplemented with 30 g/l sucrose, 8 g/l agar and different combination of 2,4,D (at three levels, 0, 1 and 2 mg/l) and kinetin (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mg/l). The formed calli were transferred to regeneration media supplemented with BAP alone (at three levels, 1, 2 and 3 mg/l) or in combination with NAA (at four...

Author(s): S. Amiri, S. K. Kazemitabar, G. A. Ranjbar and M. Azadbakht

January 2011

Construction of a high-efficiency multi-site-directed mutagenesis

  Although site-directed mutagenesis has been used in many fields, it still has low rate of success and high cost because of low-yield target products. A modified method for multi-site-directed mutagenesis was developed with shifted primer design and cold-start polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The developed method was successfully applied to hexapeptide gene synthesis and recombinant...

Author(s): Haidong Tan, Yueguang Li, Ling Chen, Tomonari Kasai and Masaharu Seno

January 2011

The effects of nitrogen and phosphorus deficiencies and nitrite addition on the lipid content of Chlorella vulgaris (Chlorophyceae)

  The effect of 50% N, 100% N, 50% N plus 50% P and 50% P deficiencies and nitrite addition were treated on Chlorella vulgaris (Chlorophyceae) was studied in laboratory conditions with the aim to determine the effects of the deficient nutrient and different nitrogen sources on lipid and protein contents. Protein and lipid values of the biomass were found as 50.8 and 12.29% for the control group,...

Author(s):   Yasemin Bulut Mutlu, Oya Işık, Leyla Uslu, Kemal Koç and YaÅŸar Durmaz  

January 2011

Phytochemical and antimicrobial studies on Detarium microcarpum Guill and Sperr (Caesalpinioceae) seeds coat

  Ninety percent aqueous methanol extract of the seeds coat (32.324%, w/w) ofDetarium microcarpum was screened against clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomona aeruginosa, Klebsiellapneumonia, Salmonella paratyphi and Candida albicans. A broad spectrum antimicrobial activity at the test concentration of 10 mg/ml comparable with the...

Author(s): Ebi, G. C. and Afieroho, O. E.

January 2011

Effect of a calcineurin inhibitor tacrolimus (FK506) treatment on meiotic chromosomes in testes, epididymal spermatozoa and fertility in Swiss Albino male mice

  Tacrolimus hydrate (FK506), isolated from Streptomyces tsukubaensis, is an immensely used immunosup pressive agent. It was evaluated for its effects on meiotic chromosomes in testes, epididymal spermatozoa and fertility in male mice.  The study under different parameters constituted sub acute (seven days) administration (gavage) of FK506 at doses of 4, 8 and 16 mg/kg/day body weight. The results...

Author(s): Rafiq R. A. Abou-Shaaban, Riyadh M. Al-Ashban, Hassan Sher and Arif H. Shah