Comparative analysis of genetic structure and variability in wild and cultivated pomegranates as revealed by morphological variables and molecular markers

In this study, the genetic variability and relationships among wild and cultivated pomegranate genotypes from the north of Iran were investigated by morphological characters and RAPD molecular markers. Principal component analysis showed that the first three components explained 61.64 % of the total morphological variation for studied genotypes. Fruit neck diameter, anthocyanin index, TSS, aril juice, fruit flavor index, petiole length, fruit peel thickness and seed hardness were predominant in the first component and contributed most of the total variation. Fruit characteristics such as titratable acidity were negatively correlated (r = ?0.56) with TSS (r = ?0.56) and pH (r = ?0.86) and also, seed hardness showed negative correlation with aril length and aril diameter. Clustering from morphological data allocated individuals into two main clusters with high variation. Two hundred and twenty-nine fragments were scored of which 174 of them were polymorphic with 76.9 % polymorphism. Genetic similarity ranged from 0.15 to 0.78 with an average of 0.42, indicating high genetic variation among studied genotypes. High molecular and morphological variability indicated that this germplasm includes rich and valuable plant materials for pomegranate breeding.     

Simultaneous determination of sucrose and trehalose in olive leaves by spectrophotometry utilizing partial least squares method

This study deals with the simultaneous determination of sucrose and trehalose in olive leaf samples, with easy sample preparation step, by second derivative UV–Vis spectrophotometry and partial least squares technique. A training set consisting of 31 binary mixture solutions was applied for the construction of PLS model. The proposed procedure was successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of both carbohydrates in laboratory prepared mixtures and in real samples. The real samples were from different growth stages of olive plant. The root mean square error of prediction was determined to be 1.95 and 2.06 for sucrose and trehalose, respectively. Also, limit of detection was 0.21 ppm for sucrose and 0.26 ppm for trehalose. The proposed procedure is rapid, simple, and easy to perform which can be used for routine analysis of both carbohydrates in plant leaves.     

Enantiomeric analysis of terfenadine in rat plasma by HPLC.

Enantiomeric pairs of the antihistaminic drug terfenadine and its carboxylic acid derivative were directly separated by HPLC using an ovomucoid protein column. Absolute configurations of terfenadine enantiomers were assigned by comparing their circular dichroism spectra with those of 1-phenyl-1-butanol enantiomers of known absolute stereochemistry. Terfenadine and its major carboxylic acid metabolite extracted from blood plasma following an oral administration of a racemic terfenadine to rats were found to be enriched in the (S)- and (R)-enantiomers, respectively. The results indicated that the (R)-enantiomer of an orally administered racemic terfenadine was preferentially oxidized in rats to form a carboxylic acid metabolite enriched in the (R)-enantiomer.     

Multiregional Evaluation of the SimPlate Heterotrophic Plate Count Method Compared to the Standard Plate Count Agar Pour Plate Method in Water

A new SimPlate heterotrophic plate count (HPC) method (IDEXX Laboratories, Westbrook, Maine) was compared with the pour plate method at 35°C for 48 h. Six laboratories tested a total of 632 water samples. The SimPlate HPC method was found to be equivalent to the pour plate method by regression analysis (r = 0.95; y = 0.99X + 0.06).