African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12487

Table of Content: 1 November 2012; 11(88)

November 2012

Synteny (co-linearity) in some cereal crops genomes as revealed by amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP), simple sequence repeats (SSR) and inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers

  Genomes of barley, maize, rice, wheat and sorghum were characterized based on three different mole-cular markers based on DNA sequence namely; Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLP), Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) and Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) markers. Five AFLP primer combinations were used for fingerprinting six cultivars which belongs to barley, rice and wheat cultivars leading to the...

Author(s): Haddad El Rabey, Jalaluddin A. Khan, Abdulrahman L. Al-Malki and Hussein K. Hussein,

November 2012

Nucleotide variation at the methionine synthase locus in an endangered tree species, Fokienia hodginsii (Cupressaceae) in Vietnam

  Nucleotide variation at the methionine synthase (MetE) locus within and among populations of an endangered forest tree Fokienia hodginsii in Vietnam was investigated in the present study. A total of 12 populations were sampled across Vietnam. The length of the sequenced locus varied from 1567 to 1559 bp. A total of 42 polymorphic sites were detected among samples. Overall, nucleotide diversity was estimated...

Author(s): Nguyen Duc Quang, Phan Thi Phuong Hoa, Dao Van Tan and Nguyen Van Thang

November 2012

The impact of MYOG, MYF6 and MYOD1 genes on meat quality traits in crossbred pigs

  The objective of this paper was to determine the effect of the MYOG, MYF6 and MYOD1 genes on selected meat quality traits in crossbred pigs. The observation of these effects on the total amount of 20 indicators of meat quality traits was carried out on a sample of 124 slaughter pigs of cross-breed combinations Pietrain × (Large WhiteD × Landrace) and (Large WhiteS × Duroc) × (Large...

Author(s): Roman Stupka, Jaroslav Citek, Michal Sprysl, Monika Okrouhla and Lubos Brzobohaty

November 2012

Allelopathic potential of selected rice varieties

        Two experiments, one in the laboratory and the other in the greenhouse, were carried out at the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, to evaluate the allelopathic potential of nine rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties/lines (BR-5331-93-2-8-4, BR-5620-9-1-2, BRRI Dhan27, BR-5615-3-1-2, Lalparija, BR11, BR21, BR23 and BR25). Under laboratory condition, relay seedling technique...

Author(s):   S. M. Rezaul Karim, A. M. T. A. Monowarul Momin and Mahfuza Begum

November 2012

Magnetic-time model for seed germination

  Germination of seed depends on several physico-chemical factors like temperature, water potential, light, nitrate content, smoke, electric field and magnetic field. In the present work, effect of static magnetic field on black-gram seeds (Cicer arietinum L.) was described. Seeds of C. arietinum L. were exposed in batches to static magnetic fields of 0 to 226 mT strength in steps of 50 mT (approximately)...

Author(s): Tarlochan Singh Mahajan and O. P. Pandey

November 2012

Decolourization and degradation of azo Dye, Synozol Red HF6BN, by Pleurotus ostreatus

  The present paper focuses on the use of fungus, Pleurotus ostreatus, to decolorize and degrade azo dye, Synazol Red HF6BN. Decolorization study showed that P. ostreatus was able to decolorize 96% Synazol Red HF6BN in 24 days. It was also found that 94% Synazol Red HF6BN containing dye effluent was decolorized by P. ostreatus after 30 days of incubation at room temperature. The enzyme exhibited highest...

Author(s): Sidra Ilyas, Skinder Sultan and Abdul Rehman

November 2012

Acute toxicity assessment of crude lead-extract from electronic waste materials in Nigeria

  Lead, with its toxic emission and pollution, is one of the hazardous chemical components of electronic wastes (e-wastes) rapidly generated in developing countries. This study assessed the environmental health effects of crude lead extracted from e-wastes materials, as determined by its acute toxicity (rat, oral). Diluted HNO3 and hot concentrated HCl tests were used to confirm the presence of lead in the...

Author(s): O. C. Eneh and P. A. Akah

November 2012

Specific aminopeptidases of indigenous Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum

  Lactic acid bacteria play an important role in milk coagulation and cheese ripening. To select strains showing interesting industrial features, two indigenous lactobacilli (Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum) were studied for aminopeptidase activity. Cell and cells free extract were tested for leucyl aminopeptidase activity on the chromogenic leucyl-p-nitroanilide substrate. Intracellu-lar and...

Author(s): BELKHEIR Khadidja, ROUDJ Salima, ZADI KARAM Halima and KARAM Nour Eddine

November 2012

Evaluation of haematological and plasma biochemical effects of aqueous extracts of Parkia biglobosa seeds in rats

  The effects of sub-acute exposure to aqueous extract of Parkia biglobosa seeds on haematology and plasma biochemical parameters were studied. Twenty eight male Wistar albino rats were orally ingested with 0, 200, 400 and 800 mgkg-1 dose of the extract for 21 days and were sacrificed. Haematological parameters were assessed: red blood cell counts, haematocrit and haemoglobin concentration significantly...

Author(s): Ajibade, T. O. and Soetan, K. O.

November 2012

Screening of in vitro derived mutants of banana against nematodes

        Investigations were carried out to screen the in vitro derived mutants of banana cv. Robusta (Caveidish- AAA) and Rasthali (Silk- AAB) by using certain bio-chemical parameters including some enzyme activities. The mutants tested were Ro Im V4 6-1-1, Ro Im V4 6-1-2, Ro Im V4 6-2-1, Si Im V4 10-5-3, Si Im V4 6-2-5 along with respective susceptible checks (Robusta and Rasthali),...

Author(s): A. Ramesh Kumar, N. Kumar, K. Poornima and K. Soorianathasundaram

November 2012

Efficacy of some antibacterial agents against Streptococcus mutans associated with tooth decay

  Isolation of Streptococcus mutans was achieved from 79.3% of total positive culture of tooth decay cases. Testing of various extracts of Punica grantum (pomegranate), red and white fruit juice, fruit crust and three tooth pastes (Signal-2, Close-Up and Sinan) with comparison to standard antibiotics were carried out in this study. The highest diameter of inhibition zone was recorded for 1000 mcg/ml of fruit...

Author(s): Ihsan Edan Alsaimary

November 2012

New record of stored product pest Lepinotus reticulatus (Psocoptera: Trogiidae) from China: Identification through scanning electron microscopy and DNA barcode

  The parthenogenetic psocid Lepinotus reticulatus Enderlein (Psocoptera: Trogiidae) is regarded as the common stored product pest in the world. This species has been identified as a new record in People's Republic (P.R) of China in this study. It was found in a sample of rice sweepings at grain storage in Lijiang, Yunnan, 2010. Decisive morphological characteristics of this new record species were...

Author(s): Zhihong Li, Zuzana Kučerová, Qianqian Yang and Václav Stejskal

November 2012

Some morphometric relationship traits of Labeo bata (Hamilton, 1822) from Head Panjnad, Pakistan

  In the present research work, 127 Labeo bata having diverse body size ranging from 8.20 to 16.00 cm total length collected from Head Panjnad, Pakistan were used for the analysis of some morphometrics, that is, length-weight and length-length relationships. Condition factor and their relationships to investigate growth external morphometric characters, that is, total length (TL), standard length (SL), fork...

Author(s): Muhammad Naeem, Amina Zuberi, Naveed Ahmad Khan, Saeed Akhtar Rasool, Hafiza Fatima Ismail and Abida Qamar

November 2012

Screening of marine sponge-associated bacteria from Echinodictyum gorgonoides and its bioactivity

  This paper describes the evaluation of bacterial strain (MB2) bioactivity isolated from marine sponge. The sponge Echinodictyum gorgonoides associated bacterial strain MB2 was tested for its action against various human pathogenic bacterial isolates. The biochemical tests were done to determine the characterization of the bacterial strain and to identify the specific MB2 strain. The cytotoxicity studies of...

Author(s): D. Isaac Dhinakaran, D. Ramakrishana Deva Prasad, R. Gohila and A. P. Lipton

November 2012

Growth responses of Escherichia coli and Myxococcus xanthus on agar gel substrates with different levels of stiffness

  Bacteria colonize surfaces responding to the physicochemical properties of substrates. A systematic study was carried out with growing single bacterial colonies on the surface of agar media to decipher the interaction between bacterial growth and substrate stiffness. We investigated the growth kinetics of wild-type Escherichia coli, non-motile E. coli, and Myxococcus xanthus, cultured on semi-solid agar...

Author(s): Eun-Jung PARK#, Myoung-Ock CHO#, Donghee LEE and Jung Kyung KIM,