February 2012
Structural, functional and molecular basis of cyanophage-cyanobacterial interactions and its significance
The cyanophages are double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ds-DNA) viruses, infecting cyanobacteria which are the first oxygenic photosynthesizers and significant nitrogen fixers of the biosphere. The evolutionary findings of the cyanophages do not truly reflect their actual time of origin. They show extreme diversification in morphology, habitat, host range and molecular attributes. They infect and establish an...
February 2012
Effects of Zingiber officinale extract on antioxidation and lipid peroxidation in mice after exposure to 60Co-γ-ray
Zingber officinale extract (ZOE) has been demonstrated to protect mice against radiation-induced sickness and mortality. In this study, we investigated protective ability of ZOE against anti-oxidative damage induced by non-lethal dose of 60Coï§-ray. The optimum dose was selected by giving mice 0, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600 mg/kg body weight (B.W.) of ZOE (oral gavage) p.o. once daily for five days. Superoxide...
February 2012
Differential expression of ATP-dependent RNA helicase gene in viable but nonculturable Salmonella pullorum
The purpose of this study was to screen new gene involved in viable but nonculturable (VBNC) Salmonella using messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) differential display. Strain cultured on liquid lysogeny broth (LB) medium at 4°C was induced for VBNC state; activated genes were detected using mRNA differential display and differential fragment of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent RNA...
February 2012
Molecular fingerprinting and relative relationship of apricot cultivars in China by simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers
In order to construct DNA fingerprint of apricot in China, the simple sequence repeats (SSR) analysis of 130 majority cultivars were performed. 104 alleles from 10 SSR loci were combined, which became the identification key of apricot cultivars. DNA fingerprint of these varieties had been primarily established. The identifying efficiency was also investigated using SSR data from three pair primers. The results...
February 2012
Differential responses of Chiltepin (Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum) and Poblano (Capsicum annuum var. annuum) hot peppers to salinity at the plantlet stage
Poblano (Capsicum annuum var. annuum) and Chiltepin pepper (Capsicum annuumvar. glabriusculum) are considered closely related parent species. Poblano pepper is a cultivated species that has lost stress tolerance attributes, and Chiltepin is a wild species adapted to adverse environmental conditions, such as salinity stress. Differential physiological responses between the wild and cultivated species...
February 2012
Development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers that are polymorphic between cultivars in Brassica rapa subsp. rapa
Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers were developed through data mining of3,803 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) previously published. A total of 144 di- to penta-type SSRs were identified and they were screened for polymorphism between two turnip cultivars, ‘Tsuda’...
February 2012
Effect of supplementary nutrition with Fe, Zn chelates and urea on wheat quality and quantity
Intensive and multiple cropping, cultivation of crop varieties with heavy nutrient requirement and unbalanced use of chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers reduced seed quality and caused micronutrient deficiency in crops. Balanced fertilization will increase yield and quality of crops. A field experiment was conducted on clay-loam soil at Parsabad Moghan region, Iran during 2009 to 2010 to...
February 2012
Growth and hypocholesterolemic properties of dry garlic powder (Allium sativum) on broilers
A total of 160 day-old Anak broilers were used in an eight-week trial to evaluate the growth and hypocholesterolemic properties of garlic (Allium sativum) when fed at varying dietary levels to broilers. The 160 birds were assigned to four dietary treatments containing 0, 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 percent garlic in treatments 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Each treatment had forty birds which were...
February 2012
Effects of strands thinning on yield and fruit quality of Succary date palm
Succary date palm cultivar was thinned by removing 15 and 30% of the total number of strands from the center of each bunch, while the control strands were used as reference. Although, thinning caused significant decrease in yield (based on both bunch and palm weight), significant improvement in fruit quality was observed. In conclusion, our results recommended that thinning 30% at four weeks after...
February 2012
The use of degenerate oligonucleotide primed polymerase chain reaction (DOP-PCR) technique to detect and isolate cytochrome P450 2E1 and 2A genes
Cytochrome P450 (CYP, P450) enzymes are widely studied for their involvement in the metabolism of drugs as well as endogenous substrates. Assessing some forms of P450 such as P450 2E1 and 2A phenotype may be of great importance to predict organism’s susceptibility to xenobiotic and environmental pollutants which are metabolically activated by these isoenzymes. In the present study, we designed universal degenerate...
February 2012
Chemical composition and citral content in lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil at three maturity stages
The demand for lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is for its high citral content. Early or delayed harvesting of lemongrass affected essential oil and citral content. The objective of the study was to determine the effects of three maturity stages at harvest of lemongrass on essential oil, chemical composition and citral contents. The lemongrass plant was planted using a randomized complete block design with four...
February 2012
Salt-induced changes in photosynthetic activity and oxidative defense system of three cultivars of mustard (Brassica juncea L.)
A greenhouse experiment was conducted to assess salt-induced modulation in gas exchange attributes and some key enzymes of oxidative defense system in three cultivars of mustard (Brassica juncea L.), Varuna, RH-30 and Rohini, under saline conditions. After 21 days of seed germination, three salt treatments (0, 100 and 200 mM NaCl) were applied to the root growing medium. Salt treatments for three weeks...
February 2012
Antimicrobial action of purified raspberry flavonoid
In this paper, the bacteriostatic action of purified raspberry flavonoid was explored. A study was conducted on the effect of raspberry flavonoid on Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rhizopus, Mucor andPenicillium. Raspberry flavonoid had the best inhibition effect on S. aureus, followed by B. subtilis, E....
February 2012
Isolation and characterization of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria from aerobic rice
Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria are frequently used as plant growth promoters. A study was conducted to isolate phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) from aerobic rice grown in Penang Malaysia and to determine some biochemical properties of the isolates such as, organic acids, enzymes, indoleacetic acid (IAA), siderophore production and its antagonistic effect against pathogen Rhizoctonia solani. Selective...
February 2012
Solid-state fermentation with okara for production of cellobiase-rich cellulases preparation by a selected Bacillus subtilis Pa5
Cellulolytic bacterium strain Pa5, showing high level production of exo-cellobiase was obtained and it was identified as Bacillus subtilis based on morphology, physiological and biochemical characteristics and homology of 16s rDNA gene sequence. The cellulases mixture from strain Pa5 has a relative high heat and pH stability. Furthermore, strain Pa5 was selected for performing the...
February 2012
Optimization of solid state fermentation media of Hericium erinaceus for soluble dietary fiber using artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms
For obtaining maximum soluble dietary fiber (SDF) production under solid state fermentation (SSF) by Hericium erinaceus, the optimum media supplemented to the basic substrate wheat bran (WB) was investigated. Soybean meal suitable for mycelial growth was used as nitrogen source, along with four inorganic salts (KH2PO4, ZnSO4, FeSO4 and MgCl2) that could increase SDF production...
February 2012
Microwave heat treatment of dent corn (Zea mays var. indentata sturt.): Drying kinetic and physical properties
This study is on the determination of drying kinetics of corn and selecting proper model in microwave drying method. For this purpose, semi-mathematical models earlier specified were run with test results; the coefficients in the equations as well as X2, root mean square error (RMSE) and R2 values were found and they were compared with the developed model. Also, the...
February 2012
Purification and partial characterization of peroxidase from lettuce stems
Peroxidase (EC1.11.1.7) was purified to homogeneity from lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) stems by means of 40 to 80% ammonium sulfate precipitation, Sephadex G-100 gel filtration and affinity chromatography with concanavalin A. Peroxidase was purified 17.92-fold with 2.67% recovery and its molecular mass was 35 kDa on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Its...
February 2012
Cationic liposomes as carriers for gene delivery: Physico-chemical characterization and mechanism of cell transfection
The inter-correlations among the parameters that influence the transfection efficiency of liposome-DNA complexes (lipoplexes) as carriers in gene therapy, optimum procedures for transfection and mechanism of cell transfection were investigated. The morphology, size and ζ-potential of liposomes and lipoplexes were measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering techniques. The lipoplexes...
February 2012
Increased expression of miR-221 and miR-222 in patients with thyroid carcinoma
To determine the diagnostic significance of miR-221 and miR-222 expression in papillary thyroid carcinoma and the associations with clinicopathological features of patients, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed in 83 cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma and the corresponding normal tissues, as well as in 25 cases of multinodular goiters and 15 cases...
February 2012
Establishment of efficient in vitro culture protocol for wheat land races of Pakistan
The reliability of the production and presence of disease resistance especially rust has sparked a renewed interest in improving landraces and exploiting these in wheat variety development programs. In vitro culture is a pre-requisite for most of the tools of biotechnology. In this context, three Pakistani wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) land races viz., LLR-13, LLR-15 and LLR-16, having leaf rust resistance...
February 2012
Heterologous expression of biologically active chicken granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor in Pichia pastoris
Granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is an effective nucleic acid adjuvant, which can enhance the body immunity, especially in the immune response to the DNA vaccine. In this study, we investigated the function of recombinant chicken GM-CSF (rchGM-CSF). Chicken GM-CSF (chGM-CSF) gene sequence was cloned, the signal peptide in the N terminal sequence was cut, and 3’ end of the stop codon was...
February 2012
Antimicrobial activities of Moringa oleifera Lam leaf extracts
Plants have been reported to contain important preventative and curative compounds. Studies were conducted to determine the antimicrobial activities ofMoringa oleifera extracts using in vitro antimicrobial screening methods. The acetone extract of M. oleifera leaves at a concentration of 5 mg/ml showed antibacterial activities against Escherichia...
February 2012
Effect of estradiol and oxytocin on ovine cervical relaxation
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of estradiol (E2) and oxytocin (OT) treatments on the cervix dilation of three breeds of Iranian ewes. Cervix dilation was measured by penetration of scaled bovine catheter into the cervix of the ewes. In experiment 1, 60 Zell ewes were equally assigned to three groups in the breeding season. At first, the ewes received 100 µg intravenous (i.v) E2. 12h later, the...
February 2012
Development And Release Of Indigenous Maize Hybrids To Enhance Maize Yield In North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan
Maize is the second most important summer cereal crop, after wheat, in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) occupying more than 27% of the total cropped area of the province. This crop is grown on about 0.530 million ha of land with grain production of 0.820 million t annually, having a very low average yield of 1.6 t ha-1 compared to an achievable potential yield of 10 t ha-1 in the NWFP. Such a low average yield is...
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