African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12474

Table of Content: 13 March 2013; 12(11)

March 2013

Physiological blockage in plants in response to postharvest stress

  Flowers have been designed primarily for cutting because of the diversity of shapes, colors and also durability. However, ornamental plants are used in floral arrangementsin vases and have limited shelf-life. Thus, this study showed that one of the factors contributing to this limitation is...

Author(s): Marcos Ribeiro da Silva Vieira, Caio Marcio Guimarães Santos, Angela Vacaro de Souza, Reinaldo de Alencar Paes and Luzia Ferreira da Silva

March 2013

Induction, development and regulation of trimolters: Great progress in the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori L.)

  As the only truly agricultural and great economic domesticated insect, the silkworm is not only value as a model for genetics and rmolecular biology research, but it also has great value for new silk materials. Induction and regulation of trimolter induced by anti-juvenile hormone have shown vast potential to be significant patterns in silkworm research, especially after the further studies on the regulation...

Author(s): WU Zhiping,, LIU Lin, CHEN Guoqiang, and TAN Jianzhong,

March 2013

Assessment of genetic diversity in sorghum accessions using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis

  Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was used to assess the genetic relationships among 46 accessions of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) collected from the north-western, western and central parts of Ethiopia as well as South Africa. Six AFLP primer combinations were used for the analysis of DNA fragment amplification. Dice similarity coefficients were calculated and a dendrogram...

Author(s): Abe Shegro, Maryke T. Labuschagne, Angeline van Biljon, and Nemera G. Shargie

March 2013

Characterization of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) varieties using SDS-PAGE and RAPD markers

  In an experiment, sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) were evaluated separately as a tool for characterizing coriander varieties. The SDS-PAGE electrophoresis of total soluble seed proteins revealed a total of 7 bands with Rm value ranging from 0.347 to 0.926. A polymorphism of 71.4% was recorded among 20 varieties of coriander. The...

Author(s): R. K. Singh, S. S. Verma, R. S. Meena and Rajesh Kumar

March 2013

Molecular characterization, cloning and sequencing of coat protein gene of a Pakistani potato leaf roll virus isolate and its phylogenetic analysis

  Total RNA was extracted from potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) positive potato plants and complementary DNA were synthesized. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based detection conditions were optimized by using coat protein (CP) gene specific primers. A 346 bp amplicon of PLRV- coat protein (CP) gene was amplified. Amplified CP-gene of PLRV was cloned in TA cloning...

Author(s): Md. Belal Hossain, Idrees Ahmad Nasir, Bushra Tabassum and Tayyab Husnain

March 2013

Building a bi-directional promoter binary vector from the intergenic region of Arabidopsis thaliana cab1 and cab2 divergent genes useful for plant transformation

  The ability to express genes in a controlled and limited domain is essential to succeed in targeted genetic modification. Having tools by which to rapidly and conveniently generate constructs which can be assayed in a diverse array of plant species expedites research and end-product development. Targeting specifically green plant tissues offers an opportunity to effect changes to diverse...

Author(s): Jimmy Moses Tindamanyire, Brad Townsley, Andrew Kiggundu, Wilberforce Tushemereirwe and Neelima Sinha

March 2013

Optimization of parameters for Agrobacterium mediated transformation of black gram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper) using cotyledon explants

  Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 harbouring binary vector pCAMBIA 2301, which contains a neomycin phosphotransferase gene (nptII) and a b-glucuronidase (GUS) gene (uid A) was used for transformation of Vigna mungo cotyledon derived calli. Wounding of explants before infection, osmotic effects of infection and cocultivation media had an effect on the competence of the tissue as well...

Author(s):   Yellisetty Varalaxmi, Adapa Prasanna, Sushil K. Yadav, Bandi Venkateswarlu and Mandapaka Maheswari

March 2013

Experimental measurement of the biomass of Olea europaea L.

  Olive (Olea europaea L.) is an evergreen tree extensively cultivated for its fruit in many warm parts of Southern Europe, North Africa, South Asia and Oceania. The objective of this paper was to obtain information on the total biomass productivity of the olive grove as well as on individual tree biomass productivity and the proportions of the tree components. The study was carried out in Central Italy...

Author(s): L. Ilarioni, L. Nasini, A. Brunori and P. Proietti

March 2013

Effects of hydropriming on seed germination and seedling growth in sage (Salvia officinalis L.)

  The germination of Salvia officinalis L. (sage) seeds is a problem of great concern that may be overcome by employing seed priming techniques. Seed priming is an efficient technique for improvement of seed vigor, increasing germination and seedling growth. Little information has been reported on seedling development of sage subsequent to seed priming. The influence of hydropriming treatments on seed...

Author(s): Nasrollah Dastanpoor, Hamid Fahimi, Mansour Shariati, Saeid Davazdahemami and Sayed Mojtaba Modarres Hashemi

March 2013

Responses of tropical maize landraces to damage by Chilo partellus stem borer

  The potential to manage insect pests using host-plant resistance exists, but has not been exploited adequately. The objective of this study was to determine the resistance of 75 tropical maize landraces through artificial infestation with Chilo partellusSwinhoe. The trial was laid in alpha-lattice design and each seedling was infested with five neonates three weeks after planting, over two seasons in...

Author(s): Munyiri S. W., Mugo S. N., Otim M., Tefera T., Beyene Y., Mwololo J. K., and Okori P.

March 2013

Heavy metals content in the stem bark of Detarium microcarpum determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer

  Detarium microcarpum is a member of the Caesalpinaceae sub-family and Leguminosae family of the flowering plants. Beneficial effects of natural products in healthcare delivery in Africa cannot be over emphasized. One of the main concerns with these plant products is the level of heavy metals. The heavy metal analysis was carried out on the stem bark of D. microcarpum using...

Author(s): Teddy Ehianeta, Chimezie Anyakora and Bola Mustapha

March 2013

Fermentation optimization and antioxidant activities of mycelia polysaccharides from Morchella esculenta using soybean residues

  The mycelia polysaccharides from Morchella esculenta are active ingredients in a number of medicines that play important roles in immunity improvement and tumor growth inhibition. So far, the production of polysaccharides from M. esculenta mycelia has not been commercialized. The aims of this work were to screen and optimize the fermentation conditions to produce...

Author(s): Jie Gang, Yitong Fang, Zhi Wang and Yanhong Liu

March 2013

Effect of varieties on physicochemical and pasting characteristics of water yam flours and starches

  Water yam (Dioscorea alata) flour and starch of ten varieties were processed using standard wet-milling procedure prior to the determination of their physico-chemical and pasting properties. The swelling power of the samples was characterized in the category of high restricted-swelling starch (9.21 to 11.03% for flours; 9.49 to 13.80% for starches). This characteristic is desirable for the manufacture of...

Author(s): M. O. Oke, S. O. Awonorin and T. S. Workneh

March 2013

Nitric oxide enhances osmoregulation of tobacco (Nicotiana tobacam L.) cultured cells under phenylethanoid glycosides (PEG) 6000 stress by regulating proline metabolism

    This study was carried out to investigate the effect of the intracellular signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO) on osmoregulation of tobacco cells under osmotic stress caused by phenylethanoid glycosides 6000 (PEG 6000). The results show that the PEG stress induced a specific pattern of endogenous NO production with two peaks in tobacco cells in vivo. Treatments with the...

Author(s): Xue Ke,, Zaiquan Cheng, Wenguang Ma and Ming Gong

March 2013

Comparison between constant methanol feed and on-line monitoring feed control for recombinant human growth hormone production by Pichia pastoris KM71

  Two methanol feeding methods, namely constant methanol feed and on-line monitoring feed control by methanol sensor were investigated to improve the production of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) in high cell density cultivation of Pichia pastoris KM71 in 2 L bioreactor. The yeast utilized glycerol as a carbon source for cell growth and yeast cells were accumulated to high cell density. Cell...

Author(s): Yardrung Suwannarat, Sornpichai Saeseaw, Niwat Chanasutthiprapa

March 2013

Effects of artemether on biochemical markers of liver function in Plasmodium berghei-infected and non-infected rats

  This study aimed at determining changes in plasma activities of some enzymes and concentrations of plasma organic constituents which are often used in the assessment of liver functions in uninfected rats (UNR) and Plasmodium bergheiinfected rats (INR), following a week of intramuscular administration of artemether (12.5 to 50.0 mg/kg/day). The observed changes were related to the...

Author(s): Rufus Ojo Akomolafe, Isaac Olukayode Adeoshun, Julius Bayo Fakunle, Ezekiel Olugbenga Iwalewa, Abiodun Oladele Ayoka, Olufemi Eyitayo Ajayi, Olukayode Michael Odeleye and Babatunde Oludare Akanji

March 2013

Effects of different diets on growth performance, physiological parameters of digestive tract and apparent digestibility in geese

  This experiment was conducted to compare the effects of different diets, containing different fibre sources, on growth performance, hormones level, digestive enzyme activity, intestinal canal morphology, and apparent digestibility. In the first experiment, a total of 216 three-weeks-old Yangzhou goslings were distributed into six pens of 36 birds/pen (18 males and 18 females). Each treatment was represented...

Author(s): H. M. YANG, X. L. ZHOU, Z. Y. WANG, J. M. ZOU and Y. J. CAO