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: December 2002; 1(2)

December 2002

Physiological and molecular insights into drought tolerance

  Water is a major limiting factor in world agriculture. In general, most crop plants are highly sensitive to even a mild dehydration stress. There are however, a few genera of plants unique to Southern Africa, called “resurrection plants” which can tolerate extreme water loss or desiccation. We have used Xerophyta viscosa, a representative of the monocotyledonous resurrection plants to isolate...

Author(s): Sagadevan G Mundree, Bienyameen Baker, Shaheen Mowla, Shaun Peters, Saberi Marais, Clare Vander Willigen, Kershini Govender, Alice Maredza, Samson Muyanga, Jill M Farrant and Jennifer A Thomson

December 2002

The diagnosis of trypanosome infections: applications of novel technology for reducing disease risk

  Reliable DNA based methodologies to determine prevalence of trypanosome species in domestic livestock have been available for over 10 years.  Despite this, they are rarely used to generate baseline data for control operations for these diseases in the field. Rather, such operations tend to rely on data which can be generated using low technology methods such as direct observation of parasites...

Author(s): Picozzi, K., Tilley, A., Fèvre, E.M., Coleman, P.G., Magona, J.W., Odiit, M., Eisler, M.C and Welburn S.C.

December 2002

Monoterpenes reduced adducts formation in rats exposed to aflatoxin B1

  Perillyl alcohol and d-limonene are naturally occurring plant compounds that exhibited anti-carcinogenic activities in mammary tumor models.  The effects of these monoterpenes at the initiation stage of aflatoxin B1-induced hepatocarcinogenesis were investigated.  Male F344 rats were fed Control or treatment diets throughout the study and exposed to aflatoxin for 5 days.  Three...

Author(s): J. Abiodun Elegbede and Michael N. Gould

December 2002

Estimates of biological nitrogen fixation by Pterocarpus lucens in a semi arid natural forest park in Senegal using 15N natural abundance method

  Nitrogen (N2) fixation by Pterocarpus lucens in a natural semi arid ecosystem, in Ferlo, Senegal was estimated using 15N natural abundance (∂15N) procedure. Other non-fixing trees accompanying P. lucens in the same area were also investigated as control. Results showed an important variation of ∂15N in leaves between the nitrogen-fixing tree (P. lucens) and reference plants,...

Author(s): Sylla S N, Ndoye I, Gueye M, Ba A T and Dreyfus B

December 2002

Bio-deterioration of breadfruit (Artocarpus Communis) in storage and its effects on the nutrient composition

The bio-deterioration of breadfruit in storage and its effects on the nutrient composition of the fruit was investigated at Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria. Freshly dropped fruits were stored under laboratory conditions for a period of 9 days. Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifer, Botryodiplodia theobromae, Mycovellosiella fulva, Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus flavus, were found associated with...

Author(s): Amusa, N.A, Kehinde, I. A. and Ashaye, O. A

December 2002

Effect of cold temperature storage on the quality attributes of pawpaw and guava leathers

  The effect of cold temperature storage on the quality attributes of pawpaw and guava leathers was evaluated.  Pawpaw leather was significantly higher than guava leather in calorific content, water activity, pH and total mould count throughout the duration of storage. However Guava leather was higher in texture. Sensory scores in relation to period of storage showed that Guava leather gave better...

Author(s): Babalola S. O., Ashaye O. A., Babalola A. O. and Aina J.O.

December 2002

Influence of carbon source on the expression of Cochliobolus carbonum xylan-degrading enzyme genes

  The expression of four Cochliobolus carbonum endo-1,4-b-xylanase genes (XYL1,XYL2, XYL3, XYL4), and an exo-1,4-b-xylosidase gene (XYP1) was studied following the growth of the fungus in minimal medium containing glucose, sucrose, xylose, xylan, pectin, or cellulose. The XYL1 and XYL2 genes were expressed only when the culture medium contained xylan or...

Author(s): Nyerhovwo J. TonukariY, , John S. Scott-Craig and Jonathan D. Walton

December 2002

Characterization of potential ethylene-producing rhizosphere bacteria of Striga-infested maize and sorghum

  Three rhizosphere bacteria, Pseudomonas sp., Enterobacter sakazakii andKlebsiella oxytoca, were analyzed for genetic variation. DNA fingerprint patterns of the three bacteria were markedly different when amplified with different primers. In total, 68 bands were produced by the three primers, 62 of which where variable. The number of polymorphic RAPD loci per isolate ranged from one to 13....

Author(s): Olubukola O. Babalola, Elie O. Osir  and Abiodun I. Sanni