African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12496

Table of Content: 6 November, 2013; 12(45)

November 2013

Identification of receptor like kinase genes in coconut and development of a marker for validation of breeding materials resistant to a phytoplasma disease in Ghana

Cape St. Paul Wilt Disease (CSPWD) is a major factor that impacts on coconut productivity in Ghana. Novel markers that might be specific for a promising variety of coconut or that could validate the efficacy of crosses would be valuable for confidence in the identity of palms. This study couples the discovery of such a marker with a high throughput genotyping system based on high resolution melt curve analysis. Using...

Author(s): Swarbrick, P. J., Yankey, E. N., Nipah, J. O., Quaicoe, R. and Dickinson, M. J.

November 2013

Molecular diversity among Turkish oaks (QUERCUS) using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

The genus Quercus (Fagaceae) includes the most important woody plants with decidious and evergreen species in Northern hemisiphere. They have a problematic taxonomy because of widespread hybridization between the infrageneric taxa. Turkey is one of the most important region of the world according to oak species number and variation. In this study, species belonging to evergreen oaks in Turkey were investigated to solve...

Author(s): Yılmaz Aykut, Uslu Emel and Babaç M. Tekin

November 2013

Heterosis expression, interrelationship, direct and indirect effects of component characters on yield in intervarietal crosses of eggplant

Heterosis has been amply exploited in developing hybrids in brinjal. In India, only 17.8% area of brinjal cultivation is under hybrid seed due to lack of appropriate hybrids for specific area and purpose. In the present investigation, 14 parents were selected on the basis of divergence and mated in line (L) × tester (T) design hybrids and parents were raised to measure heterosis for different yield attributes. 40...

Author(s): S. Ramesh Kumar, T. Arumugam, C. R. Anandakumar, S. Balakrishnan and D. S. Rajavel

November 2013

Detection of Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae in commercial corn seeds and its correlation with seedling transmission

Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae (Aaa) caused bacterial leaf streak of corn. To minimize the risk of introducing this pathogen, sorbitol neutral red (SNR) agar was integrated with bio-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect Aaa in commercial corn seeds. A set of 32-random samples was initially detected by sorbitol neutral red (SNR). Colony forming units (CFU) of Aaa from SNR plates and seed extracts was confirmed...

Author(s): Krittidetch Anan, Wilawan Chuaboon and Dusit Athinuwat

November 2013

In vitro comparism of the extracellular secretion of inulosucrase enzyme in potential probiotic Escherichia coli 16 and BL-21

Escherichia coli 16 has potential probiotic properties including antimicrobial activity due to extracellular secretion of colicins E1/1a1b. Inulosucrase (InuJ) enzyme catalyses the polymerization of a fructose moiety of sucrose leading to the formation of fructooligosaccharides. The present investigation compared the activity of InuJ enzymes cloned into pMAL-p2ΔlacIQ a deletion vector and transformed into E. coli...

Author(s): Prasant Kumar, Sriram Garg Gopalakrishnan and Naresh Kumar, G

November 2013

Cloning and characterization of a thermostable and alkaline fibrinolytic enzyme from a soil metagenome

A sequence-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was employed to screen fibrinolytic enzymes from soil metagenomes. A basic alignment search tool (BLAST) sequence homology analysis of 15 positive amplicons indicated a high degree of nucleotide sequence identity (>98%) to a fibrinolytic enzyme, nattokinase in Bacillus sp. Among the positive clones, KSL79_FE was selected for further characterization. Sequence analysis...

Author(s): Sun-Yi Lee†, Sun-Nyoung Yu†, Hak-Jong Choi, Kwang-Youn Kim, Sang-Hun Kim, Yong-Lark Choi, Cheol-Min Kim, and Soon-Cheol Ahn,

November 2013

Effects of red monascal rice supplementation on growth, digestive function and oocyte maturation in Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens Regan, 1910)

Evaluation of red monascal rice supplementation on growth, digestive function and oocyte maturation were investigated in Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Completely randomized design with different dietary levels of red monascal rice (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 1.00 and 2.00%) was conducted for six weeks. The growth of fish fed a control diet was not statistically different (P > 0.05) from a diet containing 0.25% of...

Author(s): Karun Thongprajukaew, Uthaiwan Kovitvadhi, Pisamai Somsueb and Satit Kovitvadhi,

November 2013

Antifungal activity of epithelial secretions from selected frog species of South Africa

Resistance to antibiotics has been acknowledged as a major global public health problem. The use of antimicrobial peptides to provide alternatives to combat multi-drug antibiotic resistance is beginning to attract increasing attention. The high diversity of amphibian skin peptides renders anurans an important potential source for the discovery of novel pharmacophores. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal...

Author(s): D. R. Katerere, A. Dawood, A. J. Esterhuyse, H. F. Vismer and T. Govender

November 2013

Oil extract from Gongronema latifolium leaves exhibit anti-diabetic and anti-ulcer activities

Air-dried, pulverized leaves of Gongronema latifolium were subjected to step wise fractionation using first, ethanol and subsequently fractionation of the dried ethanol extract using solvents of increasing polarity, n-hexane, chloroform, ethylacetate and ethanol. Column fractionation of the n-hexane extract using graded solvent mixture of n-hexane and ethylacetate in specified ratios, yielded four fractionates, one of...

Author(s): Ezekwe, C. I., Nwodo, O. F. C. and Ezea, S. C.

November 2013

Population structure and genetic diversity of Sudanese native chickens

The objectives of this study were to analyze genetic diversity and population structure of Sudanese native chicken breeds involved in a conservation program. Five Sudanese native chicken breeds were compared with populations studied previously, which included six purebred lines, six African populations and one Sudanese chicken population. Twenty-nine (29) microsatellite markers were genotyped individually in these five...

Author(s): Mohy eldein Adam Berima, Ibrahim Abdelsalam Yousif, Herwin Eding, Steffen Weigend and Hassan Hussein Musa