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: 17 May 2012; 11(40)

May 2012

Molecular characterization of six populations of Acorus calamus L. using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers

  Studies were undertaken to identify genetic relationship in six different populations of Acorus calamus L. through randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. A total of 574 DNA fragments ranging from 281 to 1353 bp were amplified using 10 selected primers. The number of amplification products produced by a primer ranged from as low as six to a maximum of 13, with an average of nine bands per...

Author(s): Priyanka Giri, Gohar Taj and H. S.Ginwal

May 2012

Molecular characterization of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) genome for drought tolerant cultivars selection

  The present work aimed to select drought tolerant barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars through identification of stress genes responsible for drought tolerance. Several barley genotypes were tested for drought resistance using specific molecular markers, nine out of all the genotypes were chosen for this study; five out of them were drought resistant (ALEXES, Giza 121, Giza 122, Giza 123 and...

Author(s):    Haddad A. El Rabey, Jalaludin A. Khan, Khalid O. Abulnaja and Abdulrahman L. Al-Malki   

May 2012

Isolation and characterization of a candidate gene for resistance to cereal cyst nematode from Aegilops variabilis in China

  Cereal cyst nematode (CCN) (Heterodera avenae Woll.) is one of the most economically damaging endoparasite pests of wheat worldwide. We isolated and characterized a novel cereal CCN resistance candidate gene, CreV8, fromAegilops variabilis (2n = 28, UUSvSv). The gene was 3,568 bp long and showed high nucleotide similarity with the known nematode resistance...

Author(s): D. L. Xu, J. Li, H. Long, G. B. Deng, Z. F. Pan and M. Q. Yu

May 2012

Characterization of molecular variability in Rhizoctonia solani isolates from different agro-ecological zones by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers

  Rhizoctonia solani is a plant pathogenic fungus which is the causal organism of sheath blight of rice. Yield losses due to the sheath blight, caused by R. solani Kuhn is reported to range from 5.2 to 50%, depending on environmental conditions, crop stages at which the disease appears, cultivation practices and cultivars in India. Rice sheath blight has become a major constraint to...

Author(s): S. Banerjee, S. Dutta, A. Mondal, N. Mandal and S. Bhattacharya

May 2012

The clone of wheat dehydrin-like gene wzy2 and its functional analysis in Pichia pastoris

  Dehydrin is one of the responsive proteins under water-deficit stress. The aim of this study was to explore function of dehydrins in cells and the relationship with drought tolerance under water-deficit stress. We used winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) Zhengyin No.1 as the material, the complete cDNA sequence of dehydrin wzy2 was cloned and the code sequence of wzy2 was transformed into yeast (Pichia...

Author(s): Weining Zhu, Linsheng Zhang, Nan Zhang, Yuan Xing and Bin Jiang

May 2012

Stress-induced changes in the free amino acid composition of two wheat cultivars with difference in drought resistance

  Developmental changes in the levels of free amino acids of flag leaves in drought-tolerant (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Zagros) and drought-sensitive (cv. Marvdasht) wheat genotypes was investigated under controlled water deficit condition during grain filling. Cultivars were grown in pots and treated with either well-watered (control) or drought-stress (stress) from anthesis to maturity. Total soluble...

Author(s): Saeed Saeedipour and Foad Moradi

May 2012

Effect of N, P and K humates on dry matter of Zea mays and soil pH, exchangeable

  Ammonia volatilization from surface-applied urea reduces urea-N use efficiency in crop production and it also pollutes the environment; it is an economic loss. A greenhouse study was conducted to confirm the effect of similar fertilizer formulations (N, P and K humates) on soil pH, exchangeable ammonium, available nitrate retention and dry matter of Zea mays cultivated on an acid soil (Typic...

Author(s):   Osumanu Haruna Ahmed, Shamsuddin Rosliza, Nik Muhamad Ab. Majid and Mahamadu Boyie Jalloh

May 2012

Comparative effects of neutral salt and alkaline salt stress on seed germination, early seedling growth and physiological response of a halophyte species Chenopodium glaucum

  Effects of neutral salt (NaCl) and alkaline salt (NaHCO3) stress on seed germination, early seedling growth and physiological response of 15-day-old seedling of Chenopodium glaucum, a halophyte widely distributed in temperate saline areas of China, were determined. Results show that NaCl stress of higher concentration (≥ 300 mM) more seriously retarded and postponed seed germination...

Author(s): Shasha Chen, Jiajia Xing and Haiyan Lan

May 2012

Characterization of Tanzanian elite sweet potato genotypes for sweet potato virus disease (SPVD) resistance and high dry matter content using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers

  A total of 57 sweet potato genotypes with high dry matter content and resistant to sweet potato virus disease (SPVD) were characterized using four simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The germplasm included 20 genotypes identified as having high dry matter content and 25 accessions tolerant to SPVD in a study conducted in Tanzania in 2008. The total number of alleles within the 57 genotypes across 4 loci was...

Author(s): Catherine Gwandu, Fred Tairo, Emmarold Mneney and Alois Kullaya

May 2012

Study on cow urine and Pongamia pinnata Linn seed in farmyard: A natural, cost effective, ecofriendly remedy to bacterial leaf blight (BLB) of paddy

  Bacterial leaf blight (BLB) of paddy is caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv.oryzae (Xoo), which leads to yield loss from 6 to 60%. Though chemicals and bactericides control BLB, they also cause several health and environmental hazards. Therefore, an alternative, cost effective, eco-friendly pest and pathogen control is the need of the hour. In the present investigation, cow urine extract, hexane,...

Author(s): A. M. Murugan, S. Shanthi, C. Arunachalam, N. Sivakumar, S. Elamathy and K. Rajapandian

May 2012

Effect of nitrogen (N) fertilizer and foliar-applied iron (Fe) fertilizer at various reproductive stages on yield, yield component and chemical composition of soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) seed

  Nutritional management is an important factor in the success of crop production.However, research on the effects of nitrogen (N) and iron (Fe) application on soybean yield is limited. In order to study the effects of N and Fe application at various reproductive stages on grain yield and quality of soybean seed, an experiment was conducted using a factorial arrangement based on randomized complete...

Author(s): Yousef Sohrabi, Azam Habibi, Khosro Mohammadi, Mansour Sohrabi, Gholamreza Heidari, Shiva Khalesro and Masomeh Khalvandi

May 2012

Analysis of genetic diversity in some durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf) genotypes grown in Ethiopia

  An experiment was conducted to examine the magnitude of genetic diversity and characters contributing to genetic diversity among 23 durum wheat genotypes grown at Adet, northwest Ethiopia, in 2010 main cropping season. Genetic divergence was carried out according to Mahalanobis D2 statistics. Genetic distance analysis revealed that the Euclidean genetic distance values ranged from 2.69 (between D-1 and...

Author(s): Dawit Tsegaye, Tadesse Dessalegn, Yigzaw Dessalegn and Getnet Share

May 2012

Assessment of total coliform removal and leaching of metal ions from sewage sludge-fly ash mixture at different pH and washing conditions

  Effectiveness of fly ash as a stabilising agent for heavy metals leaching was studied for different ratios of sewage sludge (SS)-fly ash (FA) mixtures at different pH and washing conditions. The supernatant liquid was analysed for total coliforms. The results obtained from the microbiological analysis of 1:1, 4:1, 1:4 sewage sludge and fly ash ratios showed that the initial...

Author(s): Monika Kharub, Anita Rajor and Susheel K Mittal

May 2012

Production and characterization of heavy-metal removing bacterial bioflocculants

  Bioflocculants produced by Herbaspirillium sp. CH7, Paenibacillus sp. CH11,Bacillus sp. CH15 and Halomonas sp. are potential flocculanting agents in the treatment of industrial wastewater effluents. Up to 250% increases in bioflocculant production were achieved by manipulation of the media composition. Increases in peptone and glycerol contents, up to 2 and 3%, respectively...

Author(s): J. Lin and C. Harichund

May 2012

Water absorption and maintenance of nanofiber cellulose production by Gluconacetobacter rhaeticus TL-2C

  Physiochemical properties of bacterial cellulose producing byGluconacetobacter rhaeticus TL-2C was investigated for confirming its possibility as wound care dressing material. Scanning electron micrograph showed that the diameter of bacterial cellulose fiber was 40 to 50 nm. Solid state13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data showed that the bacterial cellulose had amorphous peak of C-4 and C-6 and the...

Author(s): Ji-Suk Jeong and Jae-Yong Park

May 2012

Characterization of partially purified catalase from camel (Camelus dromedarius) liver

  The liver of camel has high level of catalase (32,225 units/g tissue) as commercially used bovine liver catalase. For the establishment of the enzyme, the rate of catalase activity was linearly increased with increase of the catalase concentration and incubation time. The procedure of partial purification of catalase from camel liver included preparation of crude extract, ammonium sulphate precipitation and...

Author(s): Omar A. M. Al-Bar

May 2012

Transcriptome analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at the late stage of very high gravity (VHG) fermentation

  DNA microarray analysis was used to investigate the expression profile ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae genes in glycolysis pathway, trehalose and steroid biosynthesis and heat shock proteins (HSP) in response to harsh environment under the late stage of very high gravity (VHG) fermentation. The data show that only a few genes (GPM2, PGM1, GAL10 and PGM1) involved in...

Author(s): Qing Zhang, , , Hai Zhao, Guohua Zhang, Kaize He, Zhirong Yang and Yanling Jin

May 2012

Extraction and deproteinization of cucumber polysaccharide with high scavenging ability toward superoxide anion

  Preparation and antioxidant activity of polysaccharide from cucumber (Cucumis saticus L.) were investigated. The crude polysaccharide was prepared by the method of hot-water extraction. The percentages of deproteinization and polysaccharide loss were compared as indexes using the trichloroacetic acid (TCA) method and CaCl2 method, respectively. The infrared (IR) spectra analysis and content analysis...

Author(s): Gangliang Huang, Fei Cheng and Xiang Ding

May 2012

Effect of saccharides on growth, sporulation rate and d-endotoxin synthesis of Bacillus thuringiensis

  Effect of monosaccharides (glucose, fructose and galactose) and disaccharides (sucrose, lactose and maltose) as carbon sources on growth and sporulation rate of Bacillus thuringiensis MPK13 as well as d-endotoxin production was investigated using 400 ml shake flasks culture. Substantially high growth and sporulation rate were obtained in cultivation using glucose and sucrose. Fructose,...

Author(s): Mazmira, M. M., , Ramlah, S. A. A., Rosfarizan, M., Ling, T. C. and Ariff, A.B.

May 2012

Cosmetic emulsion from virgin olive oil: Formulation and bio-physical evaluation

  The present study aimed to formulate and subsequently evaluate a topical skin-care cream (o/w emulsion) from virgin olive oil versus its vehicle (base). A formulation containing 3% virgin olive oil was developed by entrapping it in the oily phase of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion. The base form did not contain natural oil. Lemon oil was incorporated to improve the odor. Both the base and formulation...

Author(s): Slim Smaoui, Hajer Ben Hlima, Raoudha Jarraya, Nozha Grati Kamoun,Raoudha Ellouze and Mohamed Damak

May 2012

Identification and primary characterization of a plant antimicrobial peptide with remarkable inhibitory effects against antibiotic resistant bacteria

  On the basis of a primary screening scheme by using plant seed methanol extract against a collection of human pathogenic bacteria, Medicago sativa L. seeds were chosen as the best potential resource against tested Gram positive bacteria. Then an agar-overlay method using fully separated proteins on sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacryliamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) gels was used for...

Author(s): Atousa Aliahmadi, Rasoul Roghanian, Giti Emtiazi, Fatemeh Mirzajani and Alireza Ghassempour

May 2012

Polymorphisms in 5’-upstream region of the myostatin gene in four chicken breeds and its relationship with growth traits in the Bian chicken

  Myostatin is a member of the transforming growth factor-β family with a key role in inhibition of muscle growth by negative regulation of both myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the 5’-upstream region of the myostatin gene were detected by single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and DNA sequencing in the Bian, Jinghai, Youxi and Arbor Acre...

Author(s): Zhang Genxi, , Dai Guojun,  , Wang Jinyu, , Wei yue, Ding Fuxiang, Li Zhang, Zhao Xiuhua, Xie Kaizhou ,  Wang wenhao,

May 2012

c-Lysozyme promotes proliferation of chicken embryonic fibroblast through bFGF pathway

  The egg white (EW) contains the majority of bioactive components which maintain embryo growth and differentiation. The discovery of new growth promoting factor in egg white will provide vital clue to understand the developmental regulation of early chicken embryo. The egg white heated with different temperatures (63.5, 70 and 95°C) underwent testing on its growth-promoting effect on chicken...

Author(s): Zhichen Cao, Song Lian, Kejun Wang, Fangfang Wu, Hongbing Han, Zhengxing Lian, and Ning Li