Chromosomal analysis of photosynthesis rate and stomatal conductance and their relationships with grain yield in wheat (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Triticum aestivum</Emphasis> L.) under water-stressed and well-watered conditions

A series of substitution lines of variety ‘Timstein’ (Tim) into genetic background of Chinese Spring (CS) were used in this study. Analysis of variance indicated that significant differences exist among the substitution lines for all the traits under study except stomatal width (SW) in the water-stressed condition and stomatal length, and photosynthesis rate (PR) in the well-watered experiment. Correlation analysis indicated that PR and stomatal conductance (SC) were most important in affecting yield under the both experiments. Chromosomal analysis indicated that grain weight was affected by many chromosomes as it was expected due to its complexity under both well-watered and water-stressed conditions. In well-watered experiment, no substitution line was significantly different from recipient variety for PR. Despite results in well-watered experiment, chromosomes 3A, 3B, 4B, and 3D from variety Timestin increased PR when substituted into variety CS under the water-stressed experiment. In well-watered experiment, chromosome 7D of variety Timetin had the main effect on increasing SC, and chromosome 1A had a diverse effect on this character when substituted into recipient variety. However chromosomes 3A, 3B, 4B, and 1D of Timestin increased SC under water-stressed conditions. It was also revealed that in general the chromosomes expressed their independent effects on the characters regardless of environment. Nonetheless, some chromosomes indicated similar effects under the two conditions. Among them, chromosome 1A of Timestin reduced yield, chromosomes 2B, 7B, and 5D increased the amount of grain yield, and chromosome 1D increased SC under both conditions.     

Comparison of different tomato puree production phases from an environmental point of view

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - Agro-food systems are involved with considerable environmental impacts. Tomato as an important vegetable crop is processed into some products...     

Epigenetic Modification of MicroRNA-219-1 and Its Association with Glioblastoma Multiforme

Biochemistry (Moscow) - MicroRNA-219-1 (miR-219-1) acts as a tumor suppressor in a variety of cancers but, the regulatory epigenetic mechanism involved in its gene expression level has not been...     

Lisianthus response to salinity stress

The effect of salinity on some morpho-physiological characteristics in lisianthus cultivars was investigated. Cultivars namely, Blue Picotee (C1), Champagne (C₂), Lime Green (C₃), and Pure White (C₄), were subjected to salt stress (0–60 mM NaCl) in a sand culture and their responses were measured. Our results showed that as a salinity level increased, growth parameters, relative water content, photosynthetic pigments, and gas-exchange characteristics decreased in all cultivars, while root fresh mass, root/shoot length ratio, electrolyte leakage, and a malondialdehyde content increased. However, the changes were less pronounced in C₃ and C₄ compared to C1 and C₂. The regression analysis of the relationship between salinity levels and seedling height or root/shoot length ratio defined two groups with different slope coefficients: C1 and C₂ as salt-sensitive cultivars and C₃ and C₄ as salt-tolerant cultivars. Shoot dry mass and leaf area tolerance indices were less affected by salinity in C₃ and C₄ compared to those in C1 and C₂. Further, C₃ and C₄ showed higher photosynthetic rates, greater stomatal conductances, and accumulated greater K+ and Ca2+ contents and K+/Na+ ratios in roots and shoots compared to those in C1 and C₂. The results suggests that C₃ and C₄ could be recommended as resistant cultivars due to maintaining higher growth, water balance, leaf gas exchange, ion compartmentalization, and lower lipid peroxidation in response to salinity compared to C1 and C₂.     

Association analysis,genetic diversity and structure analysis of tobacco based on AFLP markers

Knowledge in the area of genetic diversity could aid in providing useful information in the selection of material for breeding such as hybridization programs and quantitative trait loci mapping. To this end, 50 Nicotiana tabacum genotypes were genotyped with 21 primer combination of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). A total of 480 unambiguous DNA fragments and 373 polymorphic bands were produced with an average of 17.76 per primer combination. Also, the results revealed high polymorphic rate varing from 52.63 to 92.59 %, demonstrating that AFLP technique utilized in this research can be a powerful and valuable tool in the breeding program of N. tabacum. Cluster analysis based on complete linkage method using Jaccard’s genetic distance, grouped the 50 tobacco genotypes into eight clusters including three relatively big clusters, one cluster including Golden gift, Burly 7022 and Burly Kreuzung, one cluster consisting of two individuals (Pereg234, R9) and three single-member clusters (Pennbel69, Coker176 and Budisher Burley E), Recent genotypes showed high genetic distance from other genotypes belonging to cluster I and II. Association analysis between seven important traits and AFLP markers were performed using four statistical models. The results revealed the model containing both the factors, population structure (Q) and general similarity in genetic background arising from shared kinship (K), reduces false positive associations between markers and phenotype. According to the results nine markers were determined that could be considered to be the most interesting candidates for further studies.     

Separation of bacteria smaller than 4 µm from other blood components using insulator-based dielectrophoresis: numerical simulation approach

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Bloodstream infection (BSI) is a life-threatening infection that causes more than 80,000 deaths and more than 500,000 infections annually in North...     

AN INVESTIGATION ON KERATIN EXTRACTION FROM WOOL AND FEATHER WASTE BY ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS

In this study, the possibility of keratin extraction from wool and feather by an enzymatic treatment along with a reducing agent has been investigated. The effects of different parameters, that is, enzyme loading, type of substrate and surfactant, hydrolysis time, and reducing agent concentration, have been examined in order to optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis. The optimal condition for maximum keratin extraction was attained by making use of 1 g/L sodium dodecyl sulfate (an anionic surfactant) and 2.6% (v/v) protease (Savinase), along with 8.6 and 6.4 g/L sodium hydrogen sulfite (a reducing agent) for wool and feathers, respectively, at liquor to fiber ratio of 25 mL/g for 4 hr. The obtained results indicated higher degradation of wool fiber in comparison with feathers, which might be due to the higher hydrophilic nature of the former. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) patterns revealed that the molecular weights of the extracted proteins from wool and feather were lower than those for the untreated fibers. Scanning electron micrographs showed fibers fibrillation and degradation upon enzymatic treatment. Besides, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra indicated no evident changes in the chemical structure of the hydrolyzed fibers. However, wool and feather remainders were mostly composed of α-helix and β-sheets conformations, respectively.