August 2011
Estimating and testing the effect of allelic recombination on the correlation between genotypic relatives
This paper provides estimates of the correlation between genotypic relatives and the effect of allelic recombination on the correlation assuming random mating. It is shown that the correlation is a non negative quantity and that allelic recombination has the effect of reducing total variation and doubling the correlation between genotypic relatives with respect to measurements on the character of interest. The...
August 2011
Genetic manipulation of fungal strains for the improvement of heterologous genes expression (a mini-review)
Fungi are eukaryotic microorganisms that influence our everyday lives in areas as diverse as agriculture, medicine and basic science. With the advent of molecular biology, it has been attempted to improve the expression level of heterologous genes, which encode favorable traits in fungal strains. The expression of heterologous genes can be limited in transcription, post-transcription, translation and...
August 2011
Quality of agricultural-food products as a factor of the Republic of Serbia's competitiveness in international market
This study analyzes the competitiveness of agricultural-food products of Serbia in the local and international markets. The subject of this research is analysis of relevant competitiveness factors of agricultural-food products, aiming to assess the products' quality and highlight the main intentions of production and processing. Possibility of improving the products' quality was also...
August 2011
Molecular characterization and expression analysis of a hepcidin gene from rice field eel (Monopterus albus)
Hepcidin is a cysteine-rich, dual-function peptide with antimicrobial activity that plays crucial roles in iron homeostasis. A few hepcidin-like genes have been isolated from teleost. Here, we have identified a hepcidin-like gene from rice field eel (RFE), Monopterus albus. Nucleotide sequences including cDNA and genomic DNA (GenBank accession numbers: FJ436808 and FJ594996, respectively) and deduced amino...
August 2011
A random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) molecular marker linked to late-bolting gene in pak-choi (Brassica campestris ssp. chinensis Makino L.)
Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) methods were used to analyze F2 individuals of P-27 × P-28 to screen and characterize the molecular marker linked to late-bolting gene in pak-choi (Brassica campestris ssp. chinensis Makino L.). A total of 200 random primers were used for RAPD analysis. One RAPD marker S265750 was identified to be...
August 2011
Influence of silencing the MC4R gene by lentivirus-mediated RNA interference in bovine fibroblast cells
Melanocortin receptor 4 (MC4R) is a key element in the mechanisms used to regulate both aspects of keeping the balance between energy uptake and energy expenditure. MC4R was knocked down by lentivirus-mediated shRNA expressing plasmids, which were controlled by the U6 promoter in bovine fibroblast cells, and the expression of MC4R was examined by the real time-PCR and Western blot analysis. We...
August 2011
Generation and analysis of cDNA library from lipopolysaccharide-stimulated gastropod abalone (Haliotis diversicolor supertexta) hemocytes
A cDNA Library of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated gastropod abalone hemocytes was constructed using switching mechanism at 5' end of RNA transcript (SMART) approach. 300 random clones were selected and sequenced. 180 ESTs was gained. After assembling, we obtained 24 contigs and 119 singlets finally, some of which were immune- related genes. These immune-related genes include cytidine deaminase,...
August 2011
The morphological diversification of pollinia of some members of Asclepiadaceae
Most of the natural systems of plant classification have been based on exomorphic characters. The flower is a primary reproductive character considered to be more important than any vegetative characters. The mass of pollen grains is basically called pollinia. Like pollen, the pollinium is also the key character for theidentification of specific plant species belonging to the family Asclepiadaceae...
August 2011
Studies of genetics of yield and yield component characters in F2 and F3 generations of rice (Oryza sativa L.)
Three parents with three different durations were crossed in full diallel fashion. The resultant six hybrids were selfed along with their three parents to get six F2’s. The F2’s were selfed to obtain six F3’s. The aforementioned five generations of the six crosses were studied for days to flowering, number of productive tillers per plant, number of filled grains per panicle, 100 seed weight, grain L/B...
August 2011
Impact of UV radiation on the physical properties of polypropylene floating row covers
In the intensive horticulture, various ways of protected area are used for the growth of seedlings and the cultivation of vegetables in all seasons. The easiest and the cheapest form of protected area is agrotextile, which can be laid directly over vegetable crops (row cover). Agrotextiles are nonwovens which are manufactured from textile fibres which are usually of chemical origin. Textiles, used as agrotextiles...
August 2011
Efficacy and economics of different herbicides in aerobic rice system
Aerobic rice system, the most promising irrigation water saving rice production technology, is highly impeded by severe weed pressure. Weed control through the use of same herbicide causes development of herbicide resistant weed biotypes and serious problem in weed management. This study was aimed at finding out herbicides with different mode of actions to suggest effective weed control herbicide technology in...
August 2011
Aquatic plants as potential sources of antimicrobial compounds active against bovine mastitis pathogens
Resistance of pathogens to common veterinary antibiotics hampers mastitis treatment and motivates the discovery of new antimicrobials. In this study, extracts from two aquatic plants, Salvinia auriculata and Hydrocleys nymphoides, were assayed against bovine mastitis pathogens. Selected parts of plants were extracted with different solvents. The extracts showed activity only against...
August 2011
Classification system for rain fed wheat grain cultivars using artificial neural network
Artificial neural network (ANN) models have found wide applications, including prediction, classification, system modeling and image processing. Image analysis based on texture, morphology and color features of grains is essential for various applications as wheat grain industry and cultivation. In order to classify the rain fed wheat cultivars using artificial neural network with different neurons number of hidden...
August 2011
Thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidase increases resistance to salt stress and drought in Brassica napus
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are cellular indicators of stress. In plants, they function as secondary messengers in response to environmental stress. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) is an important enzyme directly involved in the scavenging of ROS. In this study, we aimed at identifying the function of the Brassica napusthylakoid APX (tAPX). Germination efficiencies of seeds of B. napus plants over expressing...
August 2011
Estimating carbon emissions from forest fires during 1980 to 1999 in Daxing’an Mountain, China
A large number of carbons are released into the atmosphere from forest fires per year, which has a significant influence on carbon cycle and storage. In this study, we examined the spatio-temporal patterns of forest fires from 1980 to 1999 in Daxing’an Mountain of Heilongjiang Province, China and estimated the carbon emissions from forest fires based on both field research and laboratory experiments. The...
August 2011
Light and electron microscope assessment of the lytic activity of Bacillus on Microcystis aeruginosa
During the screening of lytic bacteria, plaques were obtained on Microcystis lawns. In the plaques, at least five distinct morphotypes of bacteria were found. The plumb rod-shaped bacilli were the most abundant and were found aggregated around unhealthy Microcystis cells and were the probable cause of deflation and lysis. These bacteria may have utilized the cyanobacteria cell contents as...
August 2011
In vitro pollen germination, pollen tube growth and longevity in some genotypes of loquat (Eriobotria japonica Lindl.)
Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) is one of the most perspective trees with tasty fruits suitable for commercial production in Iran. However, self-incompatibility of most loquat cultivars makes it necessary to select good pollinizers in breeding and orchard establishment programs. Therefore, studies on pollen viability traits of cultivars and genotypes have been one of the main issues for loquat growers and...
August 2011
Determination of fatty acid composition in seed oils of some important berry species and genotypes grown in Tokat Province of Turkey
This study was conducted to determine fatty acid composition in seed oils of four rose hips genotypes (Rosa canina L.), one Rosa montana L., one elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.) and guelder rose genotypes (Wiburnum opulus L.) growing in Tokat ecological conditions. As such, fatty acid contents were determined by GC.According to the findings, the amount and kinds of fatty acid contents in all fruit...
August 2011
Vibration and noise characteristics of hook type olive harvesters
The objective of this study was to obtain and evaluate the vibration and noise characteristics of portable hook type mechanical olive harvesters. Experiments included five hook type olive harvesters. In this study, the vibration and sound pressure levels of different harvesters were measured at idling and full load condition. The vibration levels on the handle grip of harvesters were measured and analyzed for both...
August 2011
Evaluation of pressed shredded empty fruit bunch (EFB)-palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge based compost using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis
Pressed-shredded empty fruit bunches (EFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge from a 500 m3 closed anaerobic digester system was utilized for the co-composting treatment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that the shredding-pressing treatment on EFB gave better results in removing the debris and silica bodies as compared to only shredding treatment. However, similar characteristics...
August 2011
Ruminal dry matter degradability of treated soybean meal as source of escape protein
In order to study rumen degradation of dry matter for treating soybean meal with black liquor as source of xylose and microwave radiation, an experiment in nylon bag technique was performed. Samples for treating soybean meal for 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 48 h in the rumen of three Taleshi male cows were incubated. Soybean meal samples treated with black liquor and microwave radiation decreased water soluble protein...
August 2011
Determination of antioxidant activity of saffron taken from the flower of Crocus sativus grown in Lebanon
Since oxidative stress has been implicated in most common cause of death, especially in case of cancer and cardiovascular disease, natural substances and spices that show antioxidant effects merit a closer examination. Saffron is the yellow natural spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus and used as a coloring agent in many foods worldwide. In this study, we determined the total polyphenols...
August 2011
Biochemical observations in rats fed with cycads, Nigerian-like and western-like folic acid supplemented diets
Alterations in antioxidant enzymes and lipid peroxidation was studied in 90 Wistar albino rats exposed to cycads and fed with Nigerian-like and western-like diets supplemented with folic acid. The animals were divided into three diet classes of 30 animals each. One group was fed with a wholly compounded Nigerian-like diet (NLD) which was low in protein and high in carbohydrate and fiber. Another group was fed with a...
August 2011
Metabolic engineering and thermodynamic characterization of an extracellular β-glucosidase produced by Aspergillus niger
The production of an extracellular β-glucosidase by Aspergillus niger NRRL 599 was optimized using submerged fermentation technique. Effect of different media, different carbon sources, initial pH of the fermentation medium, temperature, incubation period and inoculum size on the production of β-glucosidase enzyme was investigated. A. niger NRRL 599 produced maximum extracellular...
August 2011
In vitro antilisterial properties of crude aqueous and n-hexane extracts of the husk of Cocos nucifera
The in vitro antilisterial activities and time kill regimes of crude aqueous and n-hexane extracts of the husk fiber of Cocos nucifera were assessed. The aqueous extracts were active against 29 of the 37 test Listeria isolates while the n-hexane extracts were active against 30. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of all the susceptible bacteria ranged between 0.6 and 2.5 mg/ml for...
August 2011
Biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Nicotiana tobaccum leaf extract and study of their antibacterial effect
A green synthesis of silver nanoparticle was carried out using tobacco leaf extract. Synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, TEM, EDAX, FT-IR and photoluminescence study, respectively. UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy of prepared silver colloidal solution showed absorption maxima at 418 nm. Excitation maximum and emission maximum obtained from photoluminescence study were...
August 2011
Comparison of the efficacy of entecavir and lamivudine in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B: A meta-analysis
Some researches demonstrate that entecavir increases the incidence of virological and biochemical responses compared to lamivudine, although, they have shown inconsistent response rates. A meta-analysis was conducted to compare the efficacy of entecavir and lamivudine for chronic hepatitis B treatment. Two independent researchers identified pertinent clinical controlled trials. Our analysis includes...
August 2011
In vitro and in vivo anticancer activities of a novel antibiotic
IC50 for nine cancer cell lines was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays. In KM mice bearing sarcoma S180 that was treated with subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of antibiotic BS, marked cures were obtained. In terms of tumor weight, the treated/control = 0.43. The conclusion is that BS merit further investigation as a potential anti-cancer candidate...
August 2011
Extracted tetrodotoxin from puffer fish Lagocephalus lagocephalus induced hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity to Wistar rats
This study aimed to investigate the toxicity of raw and boiled tissue extracts ofLagocephalus lagocephalus flesh or liver. Five groups of six male Wistar rats each were used. Four groups received a daily intraperitoneal injection of raw or boiled tissue extracts of L. lagocephalus flesh and liver at a dose of 1 ml/100 g (v/w). The fifth group served as a sham and received a daily intraperitoneal injection...
August 2011
A novel and convenient method to immunize animals: Inclusion bodies from recombinant bacteria as antigen to directly immunize animals
Purified recombinant protein has been routinely used to immunize rabbits to produce polyclonal antibodies. The process of the purification of recombinant proteins from bacterial inclusion bodies is both labor intensive and time consuming. To determine whether whole inclusion bodies can be used as antigen in polyclonal antibody production, we amplified Gallus gallus phospholipase A2 gene by RT-PCR, fused...
August 2011
Statistical experimental methods for optimizing the cultivating conditions for Rhodococcus erythropolis
Rhodococcus erythropolis was found to effectively degrade aflatoxin Bl produced byAspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. However, one problem of concern was the slow growth of this strain. In this study, Plackett–Burman design was used to select the most important variables, namely, temperature, pH, inoculum size, liquid volume, agitation speed and culture time that...
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