Journal of Genetic Resources
Volume:9 Issue: 2, Summer-Autumn 2023

The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential toxicity of acetonic and methanolic extracts derived from the Euphorbia esula L. plant on various cell lines of human colorectal cancer (HCT116 and SW480), human embryonic kidney normal cells (HEK293), Artemia salina larvae, and its bactericidal effects. The cytotoxic effect of E. esula extracts on cell lines was performed using the MTT assay. In vitro toxicity and biocompatibility of extracts were also evaluated on A. salina and red blood cells by hemolysis test, respectively. The ability of the extracts to inhibit bacterial growth was examined by using the disc diffusion method, as well as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) using the microtiter broth dilution method. Results showed acetonic extract contains the highest concentration of flavonoid (16.17 µg Qu/mg) and phenol (34.84 µg GA/mg) compared to methanolic extract. The anti-proliferative effects of acetonic extract had the highest effect on HCT116 and HEK293 with IC50 of 64.80 µg/mL and 47.82 µg/mL at 72h, respectively. The hemolysis degree of the methanolic extracts was <2% at 400 μg/mL. LC50 for the acetonic and methanolic extracts exhibited moderate and low toxicities on the brine shrimp larvae, with LC50 of 381.969 µg/mL and 1905.77 µg/mL, respectively. The bactericidal effect of 50 mg/mL acetonic extracts showed a clear zone inhibitory growth on Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae with 34 mm and 35mm at the MIC and MBC values of 1000 and 2000 mg/mL, respectively. These findings could help to elucidate the anti-tumor, anti-bacterial, and toxic properties of E. esula extracts.

Salinity is one of the important stresses affecting the growth and yield of crops. Using rhizobacteria to reduce the harmful effects of salinity stress on plants is an effective and promising method. This research aims to isolate and screen siderophore-producing rhizobacteria that tolerate salt stress. After transferring the soil sample to the laboratory and applying heat treatment, rhizobacteria were cultured on nutrient agar. Then, the ability to produce siderophores by isolated rhizobacteria was measured using a liquid CAS assay. Consequently, the best siderophore-producing strains were selected and their ability to produce siderophores under 1.2% and 1.8% salinity stress conditions was investigated. The data obtained from the isolation of all siderophore-producing rhizobacteria were analyzed based on a completely randomized design (CRD) and the data collected from examining the ability to produce siderophore under salt stress were analyzed as a factorial based on a completely randomized design. Duncan's multiple range tests were used to compare the means. All data were analyzed using Excel and SAS software. The results showed that all isolated rhizobacteria strains could produce siderophores. K (0.933) and L (0.925) strains had the highest siderophore units, respectively. Additionally, strains F, H, L, and K produced more than 94% siderophore units under 1.2% salt stress. The findings of this study showed that there is a high diversity in terms of siderophore production in Iranian native strains. Moreover, strains F, H, L, and K can potentially be considered plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria under salinity due to their ability to produce siderophores under salt stress.

The honeybee is one of the most important insect species for mankind due to its role in the pollination of crops and products that it makes. Western honeybee Apis mellifera is a cosmopolitan species due to human beekeeping practices. The geometric morphometric method was used to investigate the differences in wing size and shape of worker honeybee populations collected from 8 locations and apiaries from Isfahan and Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari provinces. Fore and hindwing shape and size variations were investigated based on 16 homologous landmark coordinates. In terms of wing size, data showed that Khansar's honeybees have the largest and Shahrekord honeybees have the smallest fore and hindwings. In terms of wing shape, more than half of the pairwise compared populations showed significant differences in both fore and hindwings. Also, allometry is not seen, meaning that variations in wing size and wing shape were independent from one another. This study provides information on the diversity of honeybee populations in the study area.

Fungal infections are an evolving public health challenge due to their antimicrobial resistance and the growth of immunocompromised populations. Aquatic environments, the largest ecosystem on earth, are recently considered as a source for the production of bioactive compounds. Marine actinomycetes are considered for their potential to produce novel bioactive metabolites like antifungal compounds. In this study, strain ADR10 was obtained from the sediment sample of the Caspian Sea and its 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis suggested that the isolate belongs to Streptomyces albidoflavus. The preliminary cross-streak and double-layer agar screening revealed that the isolate has potent activity against pathogenic fungi, i.e. Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Fusarium oxysporum, and Penicillium crustosum. One-factor-at-a-time and Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to evaluate the effects of six parameters (carbon source, initial pH, inoculation volume, NaCl concentration, nitrogen source, and temperature) on the production of antibiotics in the basal starch casein broth medium. The maximum antibiotic activity was achieved at the initial pH 7.05, sucrose 1.17 g l-1, malt 0.2 g l-1, temperature 30 ºC, inoculation size 5.0% v/v, and NaCl 1% w/v after 121.1 hours. Through the optimization experiments, antifungal activity was enhanced 2.7-fold.  Ethyl acetate showed the highest antibiotic extraction capacity from the fermentation media compared with dichloromethane, hexane, and chloroform. The preliminary purified antibiotic by thin layer chromatography (ethyl acetate/ mobile petroleum phase) showed a more significant growth inhibition zone than nystatin (100 μg mL-1) against Candida albicans. This study underlines the potential of the marine actinomycete for the identification of novel antifungal agents.

Artemia, commonly known as brine shrimp, constitutes a globally distributed halophilic zooplankton organism, occupying hypersaline environments including inland lakes, salterns, and coastal salt lagoons. The genus Artemia encompasses regional endemic species and a diverse array of parthenogenetic lineages, which are characterized by various ploidy levels and distributed across Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The aim of the study is to investigate and determine the taxonomic status of an unusual mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) sequence among 14 different populations of Artemia franciscana Kellogg, 1906, collected from Cancun saltern in Mexico. DNA extraction and mtCOI gene amplification were conducted and taxonomic classification was achieved via BLAST analysis. A phylogenetic tree, constructed using Maximum Likelihood methodology, revealed the phylogenetic relationship between Mexican parthenogenetic Artemia and other parthenogenetic lineages of varying ploidy levels. The results unequivocally confirm the presence of parthenogenetic Artemia in Cancun saltern, aligning with sequences from Asia and Europe. Phylogenetic analysis positions revealed the Mexican specimens within the clade of diploid parthenogenetic lineages. The competitive vigor and reproductive capabilities of A. franciscana appear to have limited the expansion of parthenogenetic Artemia in North America. Further research endeavors are essential to unravel the enigmatic biogeography of parthenogenetic Artemia in North America and shed light on its potential native or introduced status.

The commercial and economic importance of the mangrove oysters in the Lagos Lagoon provokes a great deal of biotic investigation, which provides a convincing justification for sequencing an oyster genome. Differentiating oysters based on their morphological characteristics for species identification and taxonomy is highly challenging because of the high intensity of phenotypic changes they exhibit. The genomic resources available for the mangrove oysters are incomparable to resources for any other bivalve invertebrates.  In this study, unidentified mangrove oysters were collected from three different mangrove swamps off the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria. Molecular procedures were used to identify the oysters genetically while pairwise and multiple alignments of mitochondrial DNA gene sequences of representative oyster strains within the clusters were used to relate them phenotypically to other oysters from various locations. Genetic diversity present in the selected mangrove oyster samples based on cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene sequences reveals that the unidentified species at the three locations are Crassostrea gasar (Adanson, 1757) and were shown to be more like Brazilian oysters (Crassostrea brasiliana) with 99.55% similarity but clustered in a different clade of mangrove oysters in the GenBank. Similarities in the genetic makeup can principally be accredited to high levels of constant gene flow that are aftermaths of dispersal facilitated by a relatively long pelagic larval stage while the morphological differences can be primarily attributed to ontogeny with environmental conditions. A phylogenetic tree was constructed. The significance of these existing resources for a broad range of evolutionary and environmental sciences will be critically leveraged by having a recent or current genome sequence. The information obtained from this report is crucial to the understanding of diversity, systematics, and population genetics of mangrove oyster species of the Lagos Lagoon.

COVID-19 emerged as a widespread worldwide ailment in 2019, with a continued breakdown of novel gamma and lambda variants. Given the high incidence of COVID-19 even in the vaccinated people, research is in progress to develop convenient used drugs to control coronavirus disease. Herein, to review the effectiveness and safety of the recent antiviral, antibacterial, and herbal medication utilized to treat COVID-19, electronic databases including Scopus, PubMed, and Cochrane Library were compiled from papers registered in clinical trials on COVID-19 from January 2021 to February 2022. Oseltamivir, remdesivir, ivermectin, casirivimab, imdevimab, sotrovimab, Tocilizumab, sarilumab, dexamethasone, methylprednisolon, paxlovid, fluvoxamine, molnupiravir, ruxolitinib, tofacitinib, baricitinib, favipiravir, molnupiravir, azithromycin, niclosamide, nitazoxanide, and tetracyclines are the most commonly used antiviral and antibiotics to control mild to severe COVID-19 illnesses in the clinic. Despite the efficacy of drugs solely and in combination, medicinal herbs and natural products were considered in some clinical trials due to the high cost and unwanted side effects. However, no substantial evidence has been reported to confirm the significant anti-COVID-19 impact of synthetic and herbal medicines. This scenario opens an exciting new perspective for the elucidation of convenient therapeutic pipelines.

Wheat is one of the most important strategic products in providing food security for the growing world population. The purpose of this research is to isolate and identify plant growth-promoting bacteria from the wheat rhizosphere and their inhibitory effect on the growth of the pathogenic fungus Fusarium sp. isolated from wheat. The initial screening of 100 bacterial strains isolated from wheat roots was done based on their ability to dissolve phosphate. The effective factors in plant growth and inhibition of fungal pathogens, such as the ability to produce IAA, siderophores, protease, biofilm, bacterial swarming motility, tolerance to salt, seed germination, and seed vigor tests, were investigated. In the initial screening, four bacterial isolates with the highest amount of phosphate dissolution were identified based on morphological and biochemical characteristics as well as the sequence of 16S rRNA region belonging to Curtobacterium sp., Arthrobacter sp., Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, and Cellulosimicrobium sp.; Curtobacterium sp. had the highest amount of IAA (6.14μg/ml), siderophore (2.25cm), protease (1.4cm), and the highest tolerance to salinity (20%) and phosphate dissolution (375.3mg/ml). In the swarming motility test, the highest values were related to Arthrobacter sp. and Curtobacterium sp. at 2.7 and 2.2cm, respectively. The highest amount of biofilm formation was associated with Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Curtobacterium sp. with an average absorption coefficient of 0.153 and 0.139, respectively. The highest and lowest average values of percentage inhibition of pathogenic fungus colony growth were evaluated in Curtobacterium sp. isolate with a value of 57.3%, and Cellulosimicrobium sp. isolate with 33%, respectively.

Whip smut, which is caused by Sporisorium scitamineum, is an important disease in areas where sugarcane is cultivated in Iran, particularly in the Khuzestan province. The pathogen significantly reduces sugarcane yield, and the use of resistant cultivars is the most cost-effective strategy for managing the disease. The present study characterized the S. scitamineum strains collected from five commercial sugarcane cultivars (CP69-1062, CP57-614, CP48-103, SP70-1143, and NCo310) based on their morphological and phylogenetic features. The sporidial cultures of the strains appeared in two growth forms: cottony colony and yeast-like. All strains were found to be identical based on the DNA sequences of ITS, COX3, GAPDH, and EF1α regions, and revealed that all strains were identical (100%) to the reference strain of S. scitamineum. The disease incidence of the cultivars varied from 5 to 43% during two consecutive years. Statistical analysis of the growth rates of the strains indicated significant differences. Combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) suggested that the effects of year, strain, cultivar, and the interaction effect of strain ´ cultivar were significant at a 1% probability level. Our results suggest that IRK310 was the most virulent among all cultivars, with different pathogenicity percentages, while the strain IRK70 had the lowest level of virulence among all strains. Among the tested cultivars, SP70-1143 and CP57-614 showed high resistance to smut. In this research, teliospore populations of whip smut were identified, and disease reactions of the cultivars were assayed. Screening and selecting smut-resistant cultivars can help reduce disease damage in cultivated areas and can serve as a basis for further research on plant disease management.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis has proven to be an excellent tool for studying the genetic ancestry of many populations. It is also helpful for forensic investigations because of its unique qualities, such as a high mutation rate, maternal mode of inheritance, a high quantity of copies in cells, and control region with specific genetic markers. Therefore, the present study is conducted to establish high-quality forensic data, as well as to assign predominant haplogroups by studying variations generated from mitochondrial DNA control regions among the south Indian Muslims. To this aim, 5ml blood samples were collected from 60 healthy unrelated Muslim individuals of Srirangapatna town in Karnataka state, South India. DNA extracted from the blood sample was amplified, and the sequence of the control region of mtDNA was determined by the Sanger method. Using these sequence data, 48 different haplotypes and 113 polymorphic positions were defined. Of the 48 haplotypes assessed, 40 were unique, and eight were observed in more than one individual. Diversity indices such as genetic diversity, power of discrimination, and random match probability were 0.9870, 0.9705, and 0.0294, respectively. The mean of pairwise differences was estimated at 14.671751 +/- 6.659951 and nucleotide diversity at 0.019229 +/- 0.009680. Consequently, the low random match probability and high genetic diversity were obtained from the present data, while previous studies suggest a high heterogeneity in the Indian Muslim population. The haplogroup pattern and its frequency were indicative of the composition of South Asian (52%), West Eurasian (28%), and West Asian (20%) genetic content in this population. The diversity indices and phylogenetic findings confirm the high potential of mtDNA control region polymorphisms in forensic investigation casework and phylogenetic studies.

Fusarium species are among the important factors in bean contamination worldwide, some of which cause wilting and rotting of crowns and roots in beans. Identifying Fusarium species is necessary to prevent wilting and root and crown rot diseases in bean fields. In this study, 60 fungal isolates showing disease symptoms were collected from the bean samples. The rhizosphere, including the Fusarium species complex of Fusarium solani, F. oxysporum, F. equiseti, F. acuminatum, and F. clamydosporum species with frequencies 41.6, 31.3, 16.6, 6.6, and 3.3%, respectively, were isolated from the bean fields of Selseleh County, Lorestan province. The isolates were morphologically identified using Leslie and Summerell’s identification key. In this study, 13 isolates of three Fusarium species, including F. oxysporum, F. solani, and F. equiseti were used to identify more precise with both morphological and molecular methods and also investigate their phylogenetic relationship with each other and with the reference species registered in the gene bank and ISTH. TEF-1α gene region was amplified using PCR, and the amplified fragments were sequenced. Nucleotide sequences were entered in Fusarium ID database for molecular identification of isolates based on the TEF-1α gene, and a phylogenetic tree was drawn. F. solani and F. oxysporum species were reported to be the most abundant and harmful Fusarium species causing bean root rot, which can be considered a limiting factor in bean cultivation in Selseleh County. Furthermore, the other species, which have low frequency and poor distribution, did not have a significant role in bean root rot in these fields.

Curcumin has many medical properties, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antioxidant, and anti-tumor activities. However, its hydrophobic nature results in less solubility and fast metabolism. Nowadays, designing a cargo based on nano-biotechnology is an efficient method to overcome these limitations of curcumin. This study synthesized graphene oxide/chitosan/sodium alginate (GCA) multilayer nanocomposites according to a layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly to load curcumin. Firstly, for graphene oxide/chitosan (GC) nanocomposite synthesis, graphene oxide (G) suspension was added to the chitosan (CS) solution dropwise during stirring. Then, sodium alginate (A) in water was added to the GC suspension drop wisely, centrifuged, and lyophilized. This GCA multilayer nanocomposite showed a layered structure with negative zeta potential. Though the drug loading efficiency of this GCA multilayer was not as high as graphene oxide, its curcumin release was pH-dependent. The highest drug release belonged to GCA due to the presence of curcumin in the hydrogel network without tight binding. This release was pH-dependent as the curcumin release after 24 h was 80% in pH 5 for GCA, while this amount was 60 % in pH 7 because of hydrogel network disruption in the acidic environment. The antibacterial results exhibited that this GCA multilayer did not show any antibacterial activity. It was significant that curcumin did not affect E. coli, though the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for S. aureus was 300 µg/ml. Ciprofloxacin has been used to investigate the effect of GCA nanocomposite’s synergetic release of curcumin and antibiotics. Results showed that ciprofloxacin increased the inhibition zone diameter for S. aureus, but this was not observed in E. coli. Overall, it can be concluded that the antibacterial activity of curcumin is not evitable. To explain this, the antioxidant activity of curcumin, which reduces the radicals due to ciprofloxacin activity, can be considered.