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: 7 November 2011; 10(69)

November 2011

Assessment of genetic diversity among maize accessions using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers

The narrow genetic base of popcorn has been of concern to the breeders of this cultivar, hence the present research aimed at assessing popcorn variability using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers. From 52 accessions, nine groups were made at a cutoff value of 0.36 on the abscissa in the UPGMA dendrogram. Among the genotypes, the ancestors Tripsacum sp. and teosinte were the most divergent,...

Author(s): Antonio Teixeira do Amaral Júnior, Érica Cristina de Oliveira, Leandro Simões Azeredo Gonçalves, Carlos Alberto Scapim, Liliam Silvia Candido, Thiago Rodrigues da Conceição Silva, Cássio Vittorazzi and Keila Silva da Cunha

November 2011

Molecular cloning and phylogenetic analysis of a novel BURP domain-containing gene from Camellia sinensis

BURP domain-containing proteins are a new class of plant-specific proteins thatplay important roles in the growth, development and stress response of plants. In this paper, a novel BURP domain-containing gene from Camellia sinensis (CsBDP,GenBank accession No. EU715397) was isolated and cloned using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) followed by 5′ and 3′...

Author(s): Peng Wang, Rui-Rui Su, Ji-Yang Zheng, Shuang-Huai Cheng and Guo-Ping Zhu

November 2011

DNA landmarks for genetic diversity assessment in tea genotypes using RAPD markers

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is one of the most important non-alcoholic beverages of the world. Natural genetic diversity in tea has been reduced due to continue selection in favor of desirable traits. The present study was conducted to estimate genetic diversity in tea genotypes cultivated in Pakistan using 20 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. 75 tea accessions from 13 tea genotypes...

Author(s): Sahib Gul Afridi, Habib Ahmad, Mukhtar Alam, Imtiaz Ahmed Khan and Mukhtiar Hassan

November 2011

Phylogeny of Symphytum L. (Boraginaceae) with special emphasis on Turkish species

The genus Symphytum L. (Boraginaceae tribe Boraginae) comprises perennial mesophytic species. The distribution area of the genus is mainly Euro-Siberian and Mediterranean regions. The whole genus comprises approximately 40 species, of which Turkey holds the largest number with 18 species. Boissier (1897), Kusnetsov (1910), Bucknall (1913) and Pawlowski (1971) made subgeneric...

Author(s): Burcu Tarıkahya Hacıoğlu, and Sadık Erik

November 2011

Development of species-specific primers for identifying Auricularia auricula-judae using intergenic spacer 1 (IGS1) sequences

Auricularia auricula-judae, an important edible and medicinal mushroom was first cultivated in China more than one thousand years ago. In this study, we developed a simple and rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic tool for identifying A. auricula-judae from other morphologically similar Auricularia species.Based on the sequence analysis of intergenic spacer 1 (IGS1) in...

Author(s): Li Li, Wei Liu, Yin-Bing Bian and Yang Xiao

November 2011

Genetic diversity of intensive cultured and wild tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon (Fabricius) in Malaysia using microsatellite markers

Inbreeding as negative factor perhaps promote a significant increase of the genetic similarity of the captive populations, consequently leading to greater disease susceptibility and impairment of both the growth and final size of the shrimps. Therefore evaluating genetic diversity and inbreeding required for improvement of brood stock management will assist shrimp breeders to minimize or avoid inbreeding...

Author(s): Reza Nahavandi, , Parivash Hafezamini and Mariana Nor Shamsudin

November 2011

Analysis of sex chromosomal constitution in sperm from a 47, XYY/46, XY male by using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)

This study was carried out to analyze sex chromosomal constitution in sperm from a 46, XY [60%] / 47, XYY [40] karyotype male and to evaluate the risks of his reproductive genetics. Sperm samples harvested from the mosaic karyotype patient and four healthy male (control group) were assessed using duel-color (specific centremeric probes for X and Y chromosome) fluorescence in situhybridization (FISH) studies. Sex...

Author(s): Wei Le, Qiuming Chen, Junhai Qian, Chunyan Li, Shengdao Dan, Denglong Wu, LiHe Guo and JinFu Zhang

November 2011

Allelopathic effects of decomposing garlic stalk on some vegetable crops

This study was carried out to examine the allelopathic effects of decomposed stalk of three garlic cultivars on the growth of the receiver vegetable crops: namely tomato, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, carrot, cucumber and hot pepper in a pot trial. The results showed that all three garlic cultivars have different allelopathic effects and each cultivar showed different allelopathic effects upon different vegetable crops...

Author(s): Cheng Zhi-hui, Wang Chun-hui, Xiao Xue-mei and Muhammad Azam Khan,

November 2011

Effect of benzo-thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH) treatment on the resistant substance in postharvest mango fruits of different varieties

Nang klangwan and Tainong mango fruits were treated with benzo-thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH). The effect of BTH treatment on the resistant substance in postharvest fruits was evaluated to explore the enhanced disease-resistance mechanisms of mango fruits by BTH from different varieties. Results indicate that the main resistant substance such as total phenolic, flavonoid, ligin and...

Author(s): Yong-Gui Pan, and  Xin-Hua Liu

November 2011

Contribution of agroforestry in farmers’ livelihood and its impact on natural forest in northern areas of Pakistan

Agri-silicultural system is in vogue for livelihood under prevailing biophysical limitations of the environment in northern areas of Pakistan. Therefore, to make the farmers realise the significance of agroforestry system and to analyse its income, agro ecological effect on agroforestry income of farmers a study was carried out in two villages of two different agro ecological zones of northern areas in Pakistan;...

Author(s): Muhammad Essa, Syed Moazzam Nizami, Sarwat N. Mirza, Irshad A. Khan, and Mohammad Athar

November 2011

Technology transfer for cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) production under protected agriculture in uplands Balochistan, Pakistan

The adverse climatic conditions and scarcity of irrigation water in Balochistan (Pakistan) have encouraged the development of protected agriculture. Semicircular plastic tunnels were introduced in three districts of Balochistan. This technology transfer trials have shown the advantages and benefits of producing cucumber in tunnels with marketable yield per unit area between 5.37 to 6.77 kg m2. Farmer-managed...

Author(s): Azeem Khan, Muhammad Islam, Inam-ul-Haq, Sarfraz Ahmad, Ghazanfar Abbas and Mohammad Athar

November 2011

Identification of proteins involved in excess boron stress in roots of carrot (Daucus carota L.) and role of niacin in the protein profiles

Plants are constantly challenged by various biotic and abiotic stresses in nature.Boron toxicity have become one of the important abiotic stress factor for plants.Boron toxicity responses of plants is reflected by alterations in protein expression level, activity, location and concentration. In this study, we identified the proteins which respond to the boron excess stress in Daucus carota root cells, and...

Author(s): Hatice Demiray, Aylin E. Dereboylu, Filiz Altan and Ali ZeytünlüoÄŸlu

November 2011

Feasibility and influencing factors of laser cutting of tomato peduncles for robotic harvesting

Due to the dissatisfactory effect of fruit detaching methods in robotic fruit harvesting, the laser may now be a new method to cut off the peduncle. In this paper, the feasibility of cutting tomato peduncles with 30 W, 980 nm fiber-coupled semiconductor laser was firstly verified by tests and calculations....

Author(s): Ji-zhan Liu, Yang Hu, Xiu-qiong Xu and Ping-ping Li

November 2011

Evaluation of full-strength paper mill effluent for electricity generation in mediator-less microbial fuel cells

In the search for renewable, sustainable and affordable energy sources, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer the advantage of a biological oxidation of pollutants to the direct generation of electricity by microorganisms. We thus examined the biodegradability and suitability of unamended paper mill effluent for power production in MFCs. In addition, an investigation of the response from indigenous waste microbes upon...

Author(s): J. Kassongo and C. A. Togo

November 2011

Bioreclamation effect and growth of a leguminous forage plant (Lotus corniculatus) in calcareous saline-sodic soil

Salt-affected soils are characterized by the occurrence of salt and sodium to levels that can adversely affect several soil properties and growth of most crops. In this study, we reported a pot experiment for studying the potential soil reclamation effects and biomass production of Lotus corniculatus grown under calcareous saline-sodic soil conditions. Seed-derived plants of L. corniculatus were...

Author(s): Salih Aydemir and Halime Sünger (Akıl)

November 2011

Evaluation of nutritional substrate and physical stress (gamma irradiation) in b-glucan productivity by mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)

-Glucans present in mushrooms are bioactive polysaccharides that have many pharmacological (immuno-modulatory, antitumoral, hepatoprotector, anti- inflammatory and antioxidant) activities. The -glucans productivity of the mushroom depends upon the growing conditions, nutritional substrates, biotic and abiotic stress factors that result in an enzymes over-expression. The study shows the potential response...

Author(s): Mohamed E. A. Dawoud and Amira M. Abu Taleb

November 2011

Chromium tolerance and reduction potential of Staphylococci species isolated from a fly ash dumping site in South Africa

In order to study the microbiology of chromium tolerance and reduction at a fly ash dumping site in South Africa, 15 core samples were investigated. It was shown that the 30 year old dumping site exhibited high concentrations of Cr (VI) ranging from 1.6 to 9.6 mg/g. From this contaminated fly ash dumping site, 67 chromium resistant bacteria (CRB) growing in liquid medium in presence of a high chromium concentration (500...

Author(s): Claude Ghislaine Kouadjo and Adolphe Zeze

November 2011

Determination of the effectiveness of organosulfur compound in the leather industry by adenosine triphosphate (ATP) luminometer

Organosulfur compound is the world’s leading bactericide product for the leather industry. It was reported that it is highly effective for preserving salt and brine solutions, soaking liquors as well as processing materials. This research was conducted in a plant-processing cattle hide in Tuzla.  Measurements were carried out at 24 h of wetting back- soaking baths into which was fed organosulfur containing...

Author(s): Özgür Karamanli ÅžekeroÄŸlu, Eser Eke BayramoÄŸlu and Gonca Telli Yamamoto

November 2011

Effect of Bifidobacterium lactis on some physico-chemical and organoleptical properties of Lighvan cheese

The aim of this study was to determine survival of Bifidobacterium lactis and its effect on some physico-chemical properties during the ripening of Lighvan cheese. Lighvan cheese from ewe's and goat's milk was produced according to a traditional protocol, and with the addition of 9.0 log10 cfu of fresh cells per gram of B. lactis. The effect of time on survival of B. lactis during...

Author(s): A. R. Shahab Lavasani, M. R. Ehsani, S. Mirdamadi and S. M. Mousavi

November 2011

Microbiota of Tayohounta, a fermented baobab flavour food of Benin

The present work provides data on the microbial composition of Tayohounta, a product of natural fermentation of baobab seed kernels. Samples were collected from 3 different small scale producers from Benin at the end of the fermentation process. Microorganisms were enumerated and identified using phenotypic and molecular approaches. Tayohounta was also investigated using culture independent techniques,...

Author(s): Flora J. Chadare,, Jochem Jonkman, Judith Wolkers-Rooijackers, Martinus J. R. Nout, Joseph D. Hounhouigan and Marcel H. Zwietering

November 2011

Aging and some physiological and biochemical characteristics of two Aelorupus species

In order to understand the effects of aging on physiological traits involved in abiotic stress tolerance in different species of halophyte plants (Aelorupus lagopoides and Aeloropus littoralis), alteration in weight, malondialdehyde (MDA), sodium and potassium, proline, protein and antioxidant enzymes in these two species after germination and during the increasing of the age were studied. According to these results,...

Author(s): Atusa Vaziri, Nasrin Motamed, Ali-Reza Abbasi, Beniamin Yazdani and Vahid Niknam

November 2011

In vitro anti-trypanosomal activities of crude extracts, β-sitosterol and α-sulphur from Buchholzia coriacea seed

The seeds of Buchholzia coriacea Engler are traditionally used as a febrifuge in Southeast Nigeria. The bioassay-guided fractionation of the crude extracts was carried out using in vitro cultures of Trypanosoma brucei brucei S427. On soxhlet extraction, methanol gave the highest yield (5.44 %) followed by hexane (3.34%) and ethyl acetate (0.66%). The ethyl acetate extract showed the highest...

Author(s): Nweze NE, Anene BM and Asuzu IU

November 2011

Design and research of a new kind of minimally invasive fixation device in orthopaedics

A new kind of external fixation for orthopaedics was designed in order to overcome the shortcomings of high weight, difficult operation and high degree of injury for the conventional external fixation. This device uses the so called quick casting method, which can be quickly concreted, to efficiently reduce the injury to patients. It is mainly composed of the macromolecule casting material and the steel stainless nails...

Author(s): Liang Xiangdang, Guo Zhanshe and Sun Geng

November 2011

Effects of plant growth regulators on in vitro propagation of Cymbidium faberi Rolfe

Cymbidium faberi Rolfe is one of the oldest cultivated orchids in China, which is often sold as a precious potted specimen because of its beautiful and fragrant flowers in eastern Asia. However, the propagation of C. faberi is greatly restricted by the low seed germination rate due...

Author(s): Jun Tao, Liqin Yu, Fen Kong and Daqiu Zhao,

November 2011

The effect of laccase on cellulase-treated lignin in 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride/H2O homogeneous and H2O heterogeneous solutions

In this study, the effect of laccase earlier obtained by our laboratory on cellulase-treated lignin (CEL) in two different solution systems was further investigated. Results obtained were as follows: After laccase treatment of CEL in the heterogeneous water solution, CEL was then compared with control sample A. Ultraviolet (UV) spectra showed that the total absorbance of sample B increased at 205 and 280 nm;...

Author(s): Zhang Yinglong, Zhang Haibo, Zhu Youshuang and Huang Feng

November 2011

A graph-clustering approach to search important molecular markers and pathways of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. Therefore, it is worthwhile to search for important molecular markers and pathways that hold great promise for further treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease. DNA-microarray-based technologies allow simultaneous analysis of expression of thousands of genes. Here, we performed a comprehensive gene level assessment of Parkinson’s...

Author(s): Bo Diao, Ying Liu, Yi Zhang, Guo-zheng Xu

November 2011

Investigation of poultry housing capacity on energy efficiency of broiler chickens production in tropical areas

The aim of this study was to investigate the evaluated energy efficiency and effect of poultry house size on energy productivity in three different capacity. Capacities of houses were 10,000 (3 housings), 20,000 (2 housings) and 28,000 (1 house) birds per production period and were assigned as HI, HII and HIII respectively. For calculating the effective factors on energy efficiency in the studied poultry housing, this...

Author(s): Ali Ahmad Alaw Qotbi, Saeed Najafi, Omid Ahmadauli, Enayat Rahmatnejad , and Masumeh Abbasinezhad

November 2011

High efficacy of fibroblast and hepatocyte growth factors on the in vitro blastocyst production of post-thaw mouse two-cell embryo: The cryotop method

There is great need to improve our understanding of what increases an embryo’s development potential, after vitrification-thawing processes. For this subject, 358 two-cell stage embryos were collected from oviduct of pregnant two-day old mice and vitrified. After thawing, embryos were cultured in Tyrode's (T6) medium supplemented with different doses of fibroblast growth factor (FGF; 0, 10, 20, 50...

Author(s): Fatemeh Ghasemian, Mahnaz Azarnia, Abtin Heidarzadeh, Shervin Ghadarjani and Mohammad Hadi Bahadori