Length‐weight relationships of fish species in Kordan River (Namak Lake basin), Iran

Length‐weight relationships were estimated for three little‐known species in Kordan River, in the Namak Lake Basin, Iran. For all species the estimated length‐weight relationship parameters fell within normal distributions and predicted ranges.     

Occurrence of the Legionella species in the respiratory samples of patients with pneumonia symptoms from Ahvaz,Iran; first detection of Legionella cherrii

Molecular Biology Reports - This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of Legionella species in the respiratory samples of patients with pneumonia symptoms from Ahvaz, Iran by culture and the...     

Assessment of biofilm cell removal and killing and biocide efficacy using the microtiter plate test

Biofilm formation on surfaces has serious economic and environmental implications. Growth of biofilm within a water distribution system can lead to problems such as biocorrosion and biofouling accumulation. To prevent and control these occurrences, it is necessary to use suitable biocides to remove the biofilm and kill biofilm cells. In this study, the genera Actinobacillus, Branhamella, Bacillus, Micrococcus and Acinetobacter were isolated from biofilms formed on brass coupons exposed to a cooling water system. It was shown by the microtiter plate test that a mixed culture of the isolates and a single culture of Acinetobacter sp(2) produced high levels of biofilm formation. A microwell plate technique was applied for assessment of the ability of various biocides to remove and kill mixed-culture biofilm cells and Acinetobacter sp(2), the latter as a single-species biofilm with a high rate of biofilm production. The results showed that the mixed-culture biofilm cells had more resistance to removal and killing by some biocides, such as hydrogen peroxide and sulfathiazole, than the single-species biofilm cells (Acinetobacter sp(2)). Oxidising biocides, such as sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide, demonstrated a higher potential for biofilm removal and killing compared with non-oxidising biocides (sulfathiazole and glutaraldehyde).     

Sympatric morphotypes of the restricted-range Tashan Cave Garra: distinct species or a case of phenotypic plasticity?

Environmental Biology of Fishes - Among Tashan cave barb Garra tashanensis inhabiting a small cave in southwest Iran, two mental disc (sucking mouth disc) forms were observed. To assess their...     

Accelerated evolution of the mitochondrial genome in an alloplasmic line of durum wheat

Background

Wheat is an excellent plant species for nuclear mitochondrial interaction studies due to availability of large collection of alloplasmic lines. These lines exhibit different vegetative and physiological properties than their parents. To investigate the level of sequence changes introduced into the mitochondrial genome under the alloplasmic condition, three mitochondrial genomes of the Triticum-Aegilops species were sequenced: 1) durum alloplasmic line with the Ae. longissima cytoplasm that carries the T. turgidum nucleus designated as (lo) durum, 2) the cytoplasmic donor line, and 3) the nuclear donor line.

Results

The mitochondrial genome of the T. turgidum was 451,678 bp in length with high structural and nucleotide identity to the previously characterized T. aestivum genome. The assembled mitochondrial genome of the (lo) durum and the Ae. longissima were 431,959 bp and 399,005 bp in size, respectively. The high sequence coverage for all three genomes allowed analysis of heteroplasmy within each genome. The mitochondrial genome structure in the alloplasmic line was genetically distant from both maternal and paternal genomes. The alloplasmic durum and the Ae. longissima carry the same versions of atp6, nad6, rps19-p, cob and cox2 exon 2 which are different from the T. turgidum parent. Evidence of paternal leakage was also observed by analyzing nad9 and orf359 among all three lines. Nucleotide search identified a number of open reading frames, of which 27 were specific to the (lo) durum line.

Conclusions

Several heteroplasmic regions were observed within genes and intergenic regions of the mitochondrial genomes of all three lines. The number of rearrangements and nucleotide changes in the mitochondrial genome of the alloplasmic line that have occurred in less than half a century was significant considering the high sequence conservation between the T. turgidum and the T. aestivum that diverged from each other 10,000 years ago. We showed that the changes in genes were not limited to paternal leakage but were sufficiently significant to suggest that other mechanisms, such as recombination and mutation, were responsible. The newly formed ORFs, differences in gene sequences and copy numbers, heteroplasmy, and substoichiometric changes show the potential of the alloplasmic condition to accelerate evolution towards forming new mitochondrial genomes.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-67) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Population structure and linkage disequilibrium in Lupinus albus L. germplasm and its implication for association mapping

White lupin (Lupinus albus L.) has been around since 300 B.C. and is recognized for its ability to grow on poor soils and application as green manure in addition to seed harvest. The seed has very high levels of protein (33-47 %) and oil (6-13 %). It also has many secondary metabolites that are potentially of nutraceutical value to animals and humans. Despite such a great potential, lupins role in modern agriculture began only in the twentieth century. Although a large collection of Lupinus germplasm accessions is available worldwide, rarely have they been genetically characterized. Additionally, scarce genomic resources in terms of recombinant populations and genome information have been generated for L. albus. With the advancement in association mapping methods, the natural populations have the potential to replace the recombinant populations in gene mapping and marker-trait associations. Therefore, we studied the genetic similarity, population structure and marker-trait association in a USDA germplasm collection for their current and future application in this crop improvement. A total of 122 PI (Plant Inventory) lines were screened with 18 AFLP primer pairs that generated 2,277 fragments. A subset of 892 polymorphic markers with MAF >0.05 (minor allele frequency) were used for association mapping. The cluster analysis failed to group accessions on the basis of their passport information, and a weak structure and low linkage disequilibrium (LD) were observed indicating the usefulness of the collection for association mapping. Moreover, we were also able to identify two markers (a p value of 1.53 × 10(-4) and 2.3 × 10(-4)) that explained 22.69 and 20.5 % of seed weight variation determined using R (LR) (2) . The implications of lack of geographic clustering, population structure, low LD and the ability of AFLP to map seed weight trait using association mapping and the usefulness of the PI collections in breeding programs are discussed.     

Effect of Ghrelin Administration on Serum Corticostrone,T<Subscript>3</Subscript>, T<Subscript>4</Subscript> and Some Biochemical Indices in the Turkey (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Meleagridis gallopova</Emphasis>)

Ghrelin is a multifunctional regulatory peptide that has widespread endocrine and metabolic effects in mammals and birds. The present study aimed to investigate the possible effect of ghrelin on blood hormone and biochemical indices in turkey. A total of forty-eight 28 day-old turkeys were divided into three groups for tests. Ghrelin was injected at the onset of the experiment (28-day old birds). Treatment doses were as follows: treatment 1 (control) without injection; treatment 2—50 ng ghrelin/kg body weight (BW); and treatment 3—100 ng ghrelin/kg BW. Two blood samples were taken from the birds, one at 12 h (short-term effect) and the other at 40 days (long-term effect). Blood analyses showed that level of corticosterone increased in response to ghrelin treatments G50 and G100 in samples taken on days 28 and 68 (p?<?0.01). There was an increase in T₄ concentration in the G50 and G100 groups in comparison with the control. Blood glucose increased in response to ghrelin administration, and total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations decreased in the two samples in response to higher ghrelin dosage (p?<?0.01). In conclusion, the peripheral administration of ghrelin in turkeys may increase levels of serum corticosterone, glucose and T₄. Therefore, total cholesterol and triglyceride may decrease in birds following ghrelin administration. Ghrelin may increase metabolic rate (due to increases in T4) and regulate lipogenesis in poultry species such as turkey.     

Harnessing Bioinformatic Approaches to Design Novel Multi-epitope Subunit Vaccine Against Leishmania infantum

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the most important vector-borne protozoan disease and a life-threatening problem in the...     

Novel Predicted B-Cell Epitopes of PSMA for Development of Prostate Cancer Vaccine

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers around the world. Vaccines are a new hope for prevention of this cancer. In the case...