Polyoxin Resistance of Reddish Brown Laboratory Mutants of Cochliobolus heterostrophus

Six reddish brown polyxin-resistant mutants of Cochliobolus heterostrophus were isolated after ethyl methanesul-phonate and N-nitroquinoline oxide mutageneses followed by selection on polyoxin. All the mutants were highly resistant to polyoxin (MIC > 1600 μg/ml). When mutants were crossed with the wild-type strain, all crosses had a 1 : 1 ratio of mutant (reddish brown pigmentation and polyoxin resistance) : wild type (non-reddish brown pigmentation and polyoxin sensitivity), indicating that the phenotypes in these strains were due to alteration at a single gene locus in each strain. Allelism tests revealed the existence of two loci, Pol2 and Pol5. The results of the crossing and mutation-rate studies suggest that the each gene was pleiotropic for the reddish brown color and polyoxin resistance. Received 19 September 2001/ Accepted in revised form 25 December 2001     

Newly synthesized palm esters for cosmetics industry

Palm esters were synthesized through enzymatic transesterification of various palm oil fractions with oleyl alcohol using Lipozyme RM IM as the catalyst. At the optimized alcoholysis reaction condition, after 5 h reaction time all palm oil fractions exhibited a high percentage yields of esters (>80%). Simultaneous differential scanning calorimeter-thermal gravity analysis showed a high thermal stability profile of palm esters. Other physicochemical properties of palm esters such as refractive index, density, surface tension, slip melting point, saponification value, iodine value and acid value were analyzed following standard test methods modified from the American Oil Chemists’ Society standards. The dermal irritation assay of palm oil esters shows the non-irritancy of the esters with a Human Irritancy Equivalent (HIE) score below 0.9. Furthermore, an increase in skin hydration of 40.7% after 90 min after application in an acute moisturizing test, has proven the suitably of palm oil esters to be used in the cosmetics formulation.     

Phenology of desert plants from an arid gravel plain in eastern United Arab Emirates

Phenological events for desert plants were recorded and rainfall and temperature data were gathered over a three-year time scale at a gravel plain in the eastern region of the United Arab Emirates. Variations of phenological periods were analyzed and correlations between phenological periods and climate factors were discussed. The study showed that the growth and flowering of therophytes were significantly correlated with air temperature. The timing and abundance of rainfall came to be another factor significantly correlated with the onset and duration of chamaephyte flowering as well as the duration of therophyte growth and flowering. The variation in rainfall did not affect the onset of flowering in phanerophytes. Peak growing seasons were from November to March and flowering from November to December(also February to March depending on the availability of rainfall). Flowering in phanerophytes and chamaephytes occurs 4–6 weeks and in therophytes 4–8 weeks after rain. The results showed that variations in growth and phenology between species were correlated with environmental factors, such as temperature and rainfall or, maybe, differences in life form and photosynthetic pathways, each being adapted for utilizing a particular phase of the seasonally and yearly variable rainfall. The sequence of flowering for the species under study was more or less constant despite the difference in the amount of rainfall. The fruiting patterns of most of the species were also found parallel to their flowering patterns. Our results emphasized the need to study multiple species at many sites for the understanding and forecast of regional changes in phenology.     

Sugar-Starch Metabolism and Antioxidant Potential in Potato Tubers in Response to Different Antisprouting Agents During Storage

Single applications of different antisprouting agents like hot water treatment, spearmint oil and clove oil were carried out on potato cultivar “Lady Rosetta” to compare their efficacy with that of synthetic chloro isopropyl N-phenyl carbamate (CIPC). The tubers were stored at ambient storage conditions (25?±?2 °C) for 81 days to assess changes in their sugar-starch concentrations and antioxidant potential. Antioxidant potential in the tubers was assessed as their total phenolic concentrations and radical scavenging activities. In addition, the enzymatic activities were also determined in order to evaluate the possible depletion of these antioxidants as substrate during storage. Results revealed significant response of stored potatoes to all antisprouting agents compared with the control (P?≤?0.05). CIPC and clove oil applications maintained tuber dormancy almost twice as long (81 days) as observed in the control (45 days). Application of spearmint oil and hot water treatment maintained tuber dormancy for almost 2 months. However, it was associated with an increased percentage sprouting during the last weeks of storage. At the end of storage, the highest starch (16.83%) and lowest sugar (0.99%) concentrations were estimated after CIPC application and maximum total phenolic concentration (143.57 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g), and highest antioxidant activity (39.73%) were found after clove oil application. Enzymatic activities were not statistically different between CIPC and clove oil application during most of the storage period. Results showed that efficient replacement of CIPC with clove oil in the premium potato cultivar might be useful; this may avert related food safety and environmental issues and would also ensure organic potato storage.     

Potential Antiviral Agents from Marine Fungi: An Overview

Biodiversity of the marine world is only partially subjected to detailed scientific scrutiny in comparison to terrestrial life. Life in the marine world depends heavily on marine fungi scavenging the oceans of lifeless plants and animals and entering them into the nutrient cycle by. Approximately 150 to 200 new compounds, including alkaloids, sesquiterpenes, polyketides, and aromatic compounds, are identified from marine fungi annually. In recent years, numerous investigations demonstrated the tremendous potential of marine fungi as a promising source to develop new antivirals against different important viruses, including herpes simplex viruses, the human immunodeficiency virus, and the influenza virus. Various genera of marine fungi such as Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Fusarium were subjected to compound isolation and antiviral studies, which led to an illustration of the strong antiviral activity of a variety of marine fungi-derived compounds. The present review strives to summarize all available knowledge on active compounds isolated from marine fungi with antiviral activity.     

Pollination Services of Mango Flower Pollinators

Measuring wild pollinator services in agricultural production is very important in the context of sustainable management. In this study, we estimated the contribution of native pollinators to mango fruit set production of two mango cultivars Mangifera indica (L). cv. ‘Sala’ and ‘Chok Anan’. Visitation rates of pollinators on mango flowers and number of pollen grains adhering to their bodies determined pollinator efficiency for reproductive success of the crop. Chok Anan failed to produce any fruit set in the absence of pollinators. In natural condition, we found that Sala produced 4.8% fruit set per hermaphrodite flower while Chok Anan produced 3.1% per flower. Hand pollination tremendously increased fruit set of naturally pollinated flower for Sala (>100%), but only 33% for Chok Anan. Pollinator contribution to mango fruit set was estimated at 53% of total fruit set production. Our results highlighted the importance of insect pollinations in mango production. Large size flies Eristalinus spp. and Chrysomya spp. were found to be effective pollen carriers and visited more mango flowers compared with other flower visitors.     

Sawfish exploitation and status in Bangladesh

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“Space Obesity”: The Effect of Remoteness on County Obesity

We test if remoteness of a county is one of the environmental factors that contribute to obesity. First, we employ geographically weighted regressions (GWRs) that allow us to observe local or regional patterns. We find that county obesity rate is spatially non‐stationary, remoteness affects county obesity rates, and there are spatial heterogeneities in how distance affects county obesity rates. Next, we refine our estimates of the effect of remoteness on county obesity rate using a random effect model that accounts for county‐level unobserved heterogeneity. Even after accounting for these heterogeneities and state fixed effects, we find measurable impact of remoteness on county obesity rate. Splitting the sample into metro and non‐metro counties, we find that remoteness matters more for the obesity rates in the metro counties.     

Tissue distribution of hepatopancreatic parvo‐like virus of shrimp in freshwater rice‐field crab,Paratelphusa hydrodomous (Herbst)

An attempt was made to determine the replication efficiency of hepatopancreatic parvo‐like virus (HPV) of shrimp in different organs of freshwater rice‐field crab Paratelphusa hydrodomous (Herbst) using bioassay, PCR, RT‐PCR, ELISA, Western blot and q‐PCR analyses. Another attempt was made to use this crab as an alternative to penaeid shrimp for the large‐scale production of HPV. This crab was found to be highly susceptible to HPV by intramuscular injection. The systemic HPV infection was confirmed by PCR and Western blot analyses in freshwater crab. The expression of capsid protein gene in different organs of infected crab was revealed by RT‐PCR analysis. Indirect ELISA was used to quantify the capsid protein in different organs of the crab. The copy number of HPV in different organs of the infected crab was quantified by q‐PCR. The results revealed a steady decrease in C_T values in different organs of the infected crab during the course of infection. The viral inoculum that was prepared from different organs of the infected crab caused significant mortality in post‐larvae of tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon (Fabricius). The results revealed that this rice‐field crab could be used as an alternative host for HPV replication and also for large‐scale production of HPV.