As. Pac. J. Mol. Biol. & Biotech., Jun 2017 Vol. 1, 18-30

Genetic diversity among different accessions of maize (Zea Mays L.) determined using microsatellite markers

A. A. Abdel Sattar¹, R. M. Esmail¹, Sherin A. Mahfouze¹*, Heba A. Mahfouze¹, M. A. Abou-Ellail²

¹National Research Centre, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Division, Genetics and Cytology Department, Dokki, 12622, Egypt ²University of Aswan, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Genetics , Aswan, Egypt.

* Author for correspondence: Sherin A. Mahfouze
National Research Centre, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Division, Genetics and Cytology Department, Dokki, 12622, Egypt.
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract.

Maize (Zea mays L.,) is the second most crucial cereal crop after wheat in Egypt and the world. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic variability among different accessions of maize by Simple sequence repeat (SSR) analysis and inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers. Six SSR and four ISSR markers were used to assess the genetic variability among 15 maize accessions. A genetic similarity (GS) matrix was produced on the basis of Nei and Li’s coefficients. The coefficients were applied to make clusters using an un-weighted pair group method of arithmetic means (UPGMA) which separated the 15 accessions into three main groups based on SSR and ISSR combination: (I) DTMA-252, DTMA-257, DTMA-261 and DTMA-269; (II) DTMA-52, DTMA-103, DTMA-107, DTMA-125, DTMA-207, DTMA-210, DTMA-216 and DTMA-217; and (III) DTMA-2, DTMA-13 and DTMA-79. GDs among the 15 accessions ranged from 0.67 to 0.89. The maximum genetic distance (GD) value (0.89) was recorded between accessions DTMA-210 and DTMA-216, and the lowest (0.67) between accessions DTMA-2 and DTMA-207. SSR and ISSR techniques were shown to be adequately credible genetic tools for determination of genetic distances among 15 maize accessions.

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As. Pac. J. Mol. Biol. & Biotech., Jan 2015 Vol. 1, 2-9

Role of Hydrogen Peroxide on Viability, Morphology and Antioxidant Enzyme Activity in Callus Cells of Catharanthus roseus L.

Raziyeh Keshavarz¹, Majid Mahdiyeh¹, Mohamad Hosein Abnosi¹, Mohamad Reza Amirjani¹ and Mansour Ghorbanpour²*

¹Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Arak University, Arak, Iran
²Department of Medicinal Plants, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, Iran

* Author for correspondence: Mansour Ghorbanpour
Department of Medicinal Plants, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, 38156-8-8349, Iran.
Tel.: +98-9113927299, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a representative reactive oxygen species (ROS), molecules that readily damage biological molecules including DNA and proteins, and which can eventually lead to apoptotic or necrotic cell death. In this experiment, the influence of H2O2 on viability, morphology and antioxidant enzyme activity in cell suspension culture of Catharanthus roseus was investigated. For callus induction, leaves of Catharanthus roseus seedlings were incubated on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Following callus culture, the liquid medium was supplemented with sucrose, vitamins such as thiamin, pyridoxine, nicotine and macro and micro elements and hormones including 2-4-D, Kin, IAA. In addition, the calluses were treated with different concentrations of H2O2 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 µm) for 1, 3 or 6 days. The viability of these cells was investigated by a method using trypan blue and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). Additions of 1, 5 or 10 µm H2O2 at day 6 were selected as the treatments most suitable for further research. Callus morphology was studied using coloring Hoechst and acridine orange. Furthermore, antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activities were measured. Results indicated that H2O2 leads to a significant decrease in viability of treated Catharanthus roseus calluses compared to a control. Activity of the antioxidant enzymes SOD, POD and CAT showed a significant increase in treated cells when compared to the control and were related to H2O2 concentration. Furthermore, oxidative stresses caused generation of H2O2 and resulted in significant enhancement of antioxidant enzyme activity and intensified intracellular H2O2 content as well.

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As. Pac. J. Mol. Biol. & Biotech., Jun 2017 Vol. 1, 31-

Effect of aqueous Senecio biafrae leaf extract on the antioxidant status and histology of selected tissues of Alloxan-induced diabetic rats

B.O. Ajiboye*

Department of Chemical Sciences, Biochemistry Programme, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

* Author for correspondence: SB.O. Ajiboye
Department of Chemical Sciences, Biochemistry Programme, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel.: +2347039027683.

Abstract.

This study aimed to assess the effect of Senecio biafrae leaf extract on lipid peroxidation, activity of antioxidant enzymes and histology of liver, heart, kidney, pancreas and brain tissues on alloxan-induced diabetic rats after 21 days of oral exposure. Alloxan-induced diabetic rats were treated orally (by gavage) with 200 and 400mg/kg body weight of Senecio biafrae aqueous leaf extract for fifteen days after which activity of malondiahdehye (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase was assessed in the serum. Histology of liver, heart, pancreas, brain and kidneys were also studied. 400mg/kg body weight produced no significant difference (p<0.05) in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, as was also true with superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities when compared with the control, while 200mg/kg body weight produced a significant difference (p>0.05). This result was supported by histology examination. The results suggest that the Senecio biafrae leaf extract possesses some degree of in vivo antioxidant activity, hence it may possibly exert its antidiabetic effect via antioxidant action.

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As. Pac. J. Mol. Biol. & Biotech., Jan 2015 Vol. 1, 10-19

A Reliable Protocol for Micropropagation of Gloriosa superba L. (Colchicaceae)

Kuldeep Yadav, Ashok Aggarwal and Narender Singh*

Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Haryana 136119, India.

* Author for correspondence: Dr. Narender Singh
Professor and Head, Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-136119, Haryana, India.
Tel.: +91- 1744- 238410, Fax: +91- 1744- 238277, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract.

An efficient, rapid and improved in vitro plant regeneration protocol has been established for large scale multiplication of Gloriosa superba, an endangered ornamental and medicinal plant with limited reproductive capacity. Shoot tip explants from mature plants were sterilized using different concentrations (0.5- 1.0 w/v) of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and then cultured on BAP or Kn (0.5-2.0 mg/l) alone or in combination with NAA (0.5 mg/l) at 25±2°C under a 16/8 hour light/dark photoperiod cycle. The most effective sterilization was achieved using 1.0% NaOCl treatment for 8 minutes. The highest regeneration frequency (76.6%) and average number of shoots (1.2) were obtained on MS medium fortified with BAP (2.0 mg l-1) + NAA (0.5 mg l-1). A high frequency of rooting (66.6%) with early root initiation (20.2 days) and maximum growth response was obtained when in vitro shoots were sub-cultured onto half strength MS medium supplemented with NAA (1.0 mg l-1) + IBA (0.5 mg l-1) at 3% (w/v) sucrose. Simultaneously, a successful attempt was made to acclimatize the tissue culture-raised plants of G. superba using different organic manures as hardening media. Among all the combinations tried, sand: soil: vermicompost (1:2:1) produced the highest percentage survival (93.3%) upon transplantation of plants to the field conditions, followed by sand: soil: farm yard manure (1:2:1) which produced 86.7% survival. The hardened plantlets were successfully acclimatized in the greenhouse and transferred to open field conditions. Parameters including plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area, root length and tuber length were also monitored periodically. The protocol can be successfully applied for the mass multiplication of this valuable threatened taxon as well as to facilitate experiments involving its genetic modification.

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