فصلنامه ایمنی زیستی
سال سیزدهم شماره 1 (بهار 1399)

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the major food source for the most of people of the world. In the last few decades, the classical, mutational and molecular breeding approaches have caused enormous increase in rice productivity with the development of novel rice varieties. Stagnation in rice yield has been reported in recent decade because of emergence of pests and phyto pathogens, climate change, and other environmental issues. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has all genome editing capabilities, e.g., knock-in, knockout, knockdown, and expression activation. Researchers have been successful in editing genes controlling traits such as number of panicles per plant, number of seeds per panicle, grain weight, rice maturity, plant hormone synthesizing genes, amylose content, gelatinization temperature, grain length and width, as well as resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. The shift of research toward the utilization of CRISPR/Cas9 systems for targeted mutagenesis could be a promising approach for overcoming the barriers to breeding of improved rice. In this review, the progress in rice by employing the CRISPR/Cas9 editing system and its famous applications have been discussed. It is seemed that the CRISPR/Cas9 and associated genome editing tools have taken in a revolutionary change in rice improvement which is very important for meeting the demands and ensuring the requirement of rice for future generations.

Nowadays, researchers need to produce eco-friendly nanoparticles through synthetic methods without using toxic and hazardous chemicals. Environmental pollutions, such as chemical and physical contaminants can be produced by various chemical and physical processes during nanoparticle production. Therefore, researchers have made many efforts to synthesize eco-friendly Nano-materials using enzymes, microorganisms, and plant extracts. In recent years, along with using genetic engineering for producing GM plants tolerant to pests, due to their low environmental risks and biosafety issues, synthesizing of Nano-metals using plant extracts has been considered by researchers. Plant extracts contain reducing agents that can reduce the metal salts to their ions. Moreover, the synthesis of nanoparticles using plant extracts could be considered as a simple, cost effective, and environmentally friendly approach. In the present review paper, we discuss various green and eco-friendly methods using different plant extracts to produce silver, gold, copper, and iron nanoparticles as antibacterial materials.

The sensor based analysis has various applications in different areas such as agriculture, food industry, pharmaceuticals, environmental matters and health care. In livestock sector, a sensor is an electronic device which can measure the physiological, immune and behavioral responses of domestic animals and different animal species. Sensors allow the construction of precise and accurate monitoring systems to measure single and multiple parameters as well as monitoring the physiology and environment of animals. All living organisms have biological sensors for measuring light, motion, temperature, humidity, vibration, pressure, nutrients, and so forth. Biological sensors are type of artificial sensor that are made by using biological susceptible sensors based on biological sensors and include tools that measure the potential of physiological and behavioral responses of domestic animals and animal species. New biological sensors can have major benefits in livestock manure management, diagnosis of disease and livestock isolation, health monitoring and diagnosis of the reproductive cycle, as well as monitoring physiological health through animal ecosystem analysis. Continuous and affordable monitoring systems can be developed by developing of integrated systems and network tools. Given the available data, sensors will improve sustainable agriculture by reducing the negative effects of the livestock industry on the environment. The purpose of this article is to review the advanced emerging technologies in animal health monitoring in order to achieve accurate animal husbandry. Biological sensors will revolutionize the livestock sector by introducing cost-effective new technologies, early detection and reducing the catastrophic effects of disease outbreaks in livestock farms.

Siderophores are low molecular weight organic molecules produced by microorganisms under iron-restricted conditions. These metabolites are responsible for the transport of iron into microorganisms and have a high affinity to bind to ferric iron (Fe3+) and produce iron chelates. Siderophores can be divided into three main groups: catechols, hydroxamates, and carboxylates, depending on the parts that bind to iron. Of course, siderophores that have more than one type of iron ligand group are classified into a mixed category. Siderophores are used in ecology, agriculture, bioremediation and medicine. In this article, the synthesis pathway and function of siderophores, their role as antibiotics and their use as non-antibiotic drugs have been investigated. Other applications of siderophore in various industries are also briefly mentioned.

Unlike animals, plants do not have mobile defense cells and their immune systems are not naturally capable of developing and adapting to pathogens. The innate immune system of plants is very complex and organized in two important layers and extensively depends on signaling pathways. Each layer is composed of many components, which timely play their roles, chemical and physical barriers preventing pathogens or oxidative bursts, pathogen-related proteins, and programmed cell death that induced after pathogen recognition are all parts of plant complicated immune system. Transcriptome analysis of the plant pathogen interaction and listing differentially expressed genes (DEGs) shed light on the plant complicated responses to pathogens. The high throughput RNA-seq technology, developed after Next-generation sequencing arrival, is of the most used techniques in DEG analysis. Here, the basics and steps of the RNA-seq technique to study of the plant defense responses were summarized.

Plants are usually attacked by several pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms. Different defense pathways in plants evolved in reaction to pathogens. It has been shown that plant defense responses to pathogens can be stimulated by plant processing at optimal concentration of glyphosate. In plant genetic engineering, the study of the effects of glyphosate in terms of herbicidal, fungicidal and antibacterial properties has been used to produce weed-resistant plants and to cure some fungal and bacterial diseases of plants. It has been shown that plants treated by glyphosate can react to phytopathogens by inducing an acquired resistance system and expressing of pathogenesis related genes and defense response genes. This article, reviewing studies, showed that, the treatment of plants by glyphosate not only eliminate weeds of farmland but can also induce a systemic acquired resistance to phytopathogens, specially to fungi and bacteria by expressing of proteins and defense response genes.

Exploitation of the mineral resources of the sea is a matter of concern for all states and their citizens. Exploitation of resources located in the Seabed Area is a matter of the requirements of the UNCLOS, which must be observed by its all member states. However, some provisions of the UNCLOS have general and ambiguous requirements for member states to support the performance of contractors in the Seabed Area. In this regard, states parties to the UNCLOS are concerned that, by supporting the economic activity of contractors in the Seabed Area, the obligation to compensate them for their damaging actions may not be incurred. Because these states are not in charge of exploiting the mineral resources of the Seabed Area. It is obvious that their economic income is small due to the support of the applicant contractors. Resolving the ambiguity of this concern is the issue of advisory opinion that has been requested from Seabed Disputes Chamber of the International Tribunal Law of the Sea to interpret the provisions of the UNCLOS. Judges of the Seabed Disputes Chamber interpret the main concepts set forth in chapters 11 and 12 of the UNCLOS, including due diligence, obligation to ensure, and obligation to achieve, argued that the sponsor statechr('39')s obligations to the sponsored contractor’s activities is obligation to ensure. The sponsor state advocating for the contractor to comply with the provisions of the UNCLOS and the contracting parties, use appropriate instruments and endeavor to achieve maximum results and achieve these goals. Under these conditions, the responsibility for the damage by sponsored contractor to the Area environment is not borne to state. This approach means that compensation for the damage to the marine environment remains unresolved or that it is compensated by the fund at the expense of the UNCLOS’s all states parties.