دی

Zagros vegetation zone is one of the most important forest regions in Iran, which consists of a diverse group of arboreal species, especially oaks (Quercus spp.). Ilam province located in west of Iran and in Zagros vegetation zone which has 641000 ha of oak forests that its dominant species is Persian oak (Q. brantii). Oak trees decline is a complicated phenomenon that may result from different kinds of agents such as fungi. In order to study on fungi associated with oak trees decline, different parts of symptomatic Persian oak trees were sampled in different regions of Ilam province during the summer and autumn of 2014–15. Fungal species were identified according to either morphological or molecular characteristics obtained from ITS of ribosomal DNA. Eleven species of eight fungal genera were identified that all of them are reported for the first time as Persian oak-associated species. Also three species including Immersidiscosia eucalypti, Petriella sordida, and Neocamarosporium obiones are reported and fully described here as new records to mycobiota of Iran.

The gene 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase (DXS) and TcGLIP multifunctional genes are two key genes involved in pyrethrins biosynthetic pathway, which retain insecticidal properties. DXS gene in the MEP pathway produces 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate using pyruvate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. TcGLIP gene is involved at the last steps of pyrethrins biosynthesis pathway and integrates chrysanthemyl-CoA and pyrethrolone, which are produced in the MEP pathway and lipoxygenase pathways, respectively to yield pyrethrin I. Based on the significances of pyrethrins, further identification and studies are needed on these metabolites. The aim of this study was to isolate DXS gene in pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium Vis.) from the Asteraceae, as well as expression analysis of these two genes under methyl-jasmonate treatment. In the present work, the nucleotide sequences of 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase gene of different plant species were obtained from NCBI database and subsequently aligned with ClustalW online software. Specific primers were designed from the conserved regions of aligned sequences. The polymerase chain reaction product with 715bp length showed that the specific primers had high efficiency to isolate DXS. In addition, gene expression analysis under methyl-jasmonate treatment showed that both DXS and TcGLIP were up-regulated in response to methyl jasmonate elicitor. Our data showed that methyl jasmonate treatment in seedling stage could be used as a suitable elicitor to increase pyrethrin production.

During the study on endophytic fungi of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.), 655 fungal isolates were obtained and studied taxonomically. Based on morphological and ITS sequences data, 15 species belonging to 10 genera including Alternaria brassicicola, A. chlamydospora, A. malorum, A. atra, Arthrinium phaeospermum, A. sacchari, Aspergillus nidulans, A. wentii, Beauveria bassiana, Cheatomium elatum, Epicoccum nigrum, Geosmithia pallida, Paecillomyces variotii, Cytospora punicae,and Verrucobotrys geranii are introduced as endophytic fungi of grapevine. Grapevineis as matrix nova for all mentioned species in Iran. Also, all identified species except A. phaeospermum, B. bassiana, and E. nigrum are reported for the first time as endophytic fungi of grapevine worldwide. Four species viz. A. sacchari, C. punicae, G. pallid, and V. geranii are introduced and described for the first time from Iran.

Zosimia absinthifolia (Vent.) Link.is a permanent herb that belongs to Umbelliferae family and grows wild in Iran. The plant materials were collected from Alshtar in North of Lorestan province at three stages including before flowering, full flowering and fruiting stages and subjected to hydrodistillation using a Cleavenger type apparatus for 3h. Yields of essential oil were 0.4%, 0.6% and 0.8% w/w before flowering, full flowering and fruiting stages, respectively. Fourty seven, thirty eigth and thirty seven compounds were identified in oils before flowering, full flowering and fruiting stages, respectively. n-octanol, germacrene-D, β-caryophyllene, octyl acetate, caryophyllene oxide, α-pinene and limonene were the main components of essential oil of different growth stages.

In order to study the effect of plant growth regulators on quantity, quality and yield of sweet lime fruits, this research was carried out in two different experiments. For this purpose, GA3, 2, 4-D and NAA were sprayed in different levels and different times on 5 years old sweet lime trees. At the harvesting time, quantity and quality characteristics included of weight of single fruits, fruit volume, fruit density, total soluble solid, vitamin C, total acid, fruit juice density, peel flesh ratio, leaf chlorophyll content and yield were measured. Results show that, some of characteristics were significantly changed as compared to control and others were not significantly changed. Yields of treated plants were higher as compared to control plants and the highest yield were achived in plants treated with 2, 4-Dat concentration of 20 ppm.