Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 8 (2), pp. 001-004, February, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Detection of mesocarp oleoyl-thioesterase gene of the South American oil palm Elaeis oleifera by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

Omorefe Asemota* and Farida Habib Shah

Department of Genetics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Malaysia.

Accepted 20 July, 2017

Abstract

The thioesterase enzyme functions in lipid synthesis by cleaving the acyl-ACP bond and liberating the fatty acid. Thioesterases have been isolated from a number of plant sources. The gene for this enzyme was detected in Elaeis oleifera by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), cloned and sequenced and found to have considerable sequence similarity with other previously cloned thioesterases. Its highest homology is to the Brassica napus oleoyl-ACP thioesterase, 72% at the nucleotide level over the coding region examined, and 83% identity (90% positives) at the amino acid level.

Key words: Elaeis oleifera, mesocarp, oleoyl-ACP thioesterase, RT-PCR.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 8 (2), pp. 001-007, February, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Expression of chimeric HCV peptide in transgenic tobacco plants infected with recombinant alfalfa mosaic virus for development of a plant-derived vaccine against HCV

A.K. El Attar^1,4*, A. M. Shamloul², A.A. Shalaby¹, B.Y. Riad³, A. Saad³, H.M. Mazyad¹ and J.M. Keith¹

¹Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt.

²Vaccine and Therapeutic Development Section, Fraunhofer Center for Molecular Biotechnology, Newark, DE, USA.

³Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

⁴National Institutes of Health, Vaccine and Therapeutic Section, Oral Infection and Immunity Branch, NIDCR, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Accepted 30 July, 2017

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the major etiologic agent of blood transfusion–associated and sporadic non-A non-B hepatitis affecting more than 180 million worldwide. Vaccine development for HCV has been difficult and there is no vaccine or effective therapy against this virus. In this paper, we describe the development of an experimental plant-derived subunit vaccine against HCV. Our subunit vaccine originates from a consensus HCV-HVR1 epitope (R9) that antigenically mimics many natural HVR1 variants. This HVR1 sequence was cloned into the open reading frame of a plant virus, Alfalfa Mosaic Virus (ALMV) coat protein (CP) . The chimeric ALMV RNA4 containing sequence-encoding R9 epitope was introduced into full-length infectious ALMV-RNA3 that was utilized as an expression vector. The recombinant chimeric protein is expressed in transgenic tobacco plants (P12) expressing ALMV RNA1 and 2. Plant–derived HVR1/ALMV-CP reacted with HVR1 and/or ALMV-CP specific monoclonal antibodies and immune sera from individuals infected with HCV. Using plant-virus based transient expression to produce this unique chimeric antigen will facilitate the development and production of an experimental HCV vaccine. A plant derived recombinant HCV vaccine can potentially reduce expenses normally associated with production and delivery of conventional vaccine.

Key words: Hepatitis C virus (HCV), transgenic tobacco plants (P12), consensus HCV HVR1 epitope (R9), and chimeric ALMV-RNA4.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 8 (2), pp. 001-003, February, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Short Communication

Electrophoretic characterization of crude leaf proteins in Lycopersicon and Trichosanthes cultivars

Azeez, M. A.¹* and Morakinyo, J. A.²

¹Department of Pure and Applied Biology,Ladoke Akintola University of Technology,Ogbomoso, Nigeria.

²Bioscience Department, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

Accepted 28 September, 2017

Abstract

Young leaves of three cultivars of Lycopersicon esculentum (Mill) and a cultivar of Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina (Haines) were freshly collected at 50% flowering. Crude leaf proteins were extracted from them and characterized using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Intercultivar qualitative as well as quantitative protein bands depict some degree of relationship among the Lycopersicon cultivars studied. The degree of variation in protein bands as a measure of genetic divergence between L. esculentum cultivars and T. cucumerina was discussed.

Key words: Electrophoresis, protein, Lycopersicon, Trichosanthes.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 8 (1), pp. 001-009, January, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

In vitro regeneration of lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.)

D. Puchooa

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius E-mail:[email protected].

Accepted 12 August, 2017

Abstract

In vitro plantlet regeneration in the main commercial variety of lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn. cv Tai So) in Mauritius was achieved from callus cultures derived from young, tender leaf explants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Callogenesis was obtained in all media supplemented with auxin, but was most prominent in media supplemented with 2,4 – D ( 1.5 mgL^-1) with or without benzylamino purine and kinetin. Nodular compact callus obtained in the 2,4 – D and BAP treatment proliferated and differentiated into shoots .When transferred to MS medium supplemented with BAP (2.0 mgL^-1) and IAA (3.0 mgL^-1). Regenerated shoots produced prominent roots when transferred to MS medium supplemented with IBA (2.0 mgL^-1). Regeneration was predominantly through organogenesis. Somatic embryogenesis was observed when callus growing on MS medium supplemented with 2,4–D (1.5 mgL^-1) was transferred to medium devoid of 2,4-D.

Key words: Litchi chinensis, micropropagation, somatic embyogenesis.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 8 (1), pp. 001-004, January, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Studies on improved Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in two indica rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Vinod Saharan¹, Ram C. Yadav², Neelam R. Yadav², Khushi Ram³

¹The Institutes for Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University, P.O.B. 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel.

²Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, CCS HAU, Hisar 125004 (Haryana), India.

³Rice Research Station, Kaul, (Haryana), India.

Accepted 19 September, 2017

Abstract

Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA 105 carrying binary vector pCAMBIA 1301 was used for transformation in two economically important highly recalcitrant indica rice cultivars HKR-46 and HKR- 126. High concentrations of acetosyringone in the Agrobacterium culture and co-cultivation medium proved to be indispensable for successful transformation. Embryogenic scutellar calli were used for transformation studies. Binary vector pCAMBIA 1301 have been proved efficient for transformation. The percent transient GUS expression found to be higher in cutivar HKR-126 (44.4%) as compared to HKR- 46 (28.9%). The percent recovery of hygromycin resistant calli after 4-6 weeks on selection medium was maximum in HKR-126 (52.6%).

Key words: Agrobacterium, indica rice, transformation, acetosyringone.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 8 (1), pp. 001-008, January, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Putting GM technologies to work: public research pipelines in selected African countries

Idah Sithole-Niang¹, Joel Cohen²*, and Patricia Zambrano²

¹Department of Biochemistry, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe.

²International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington DC, USA.

Accepted 14 September, 2017

Abstract

Can public policies and research institutions in African countries provide safe and useful genetically modified (GM) food crops? This is an urgent question, recognizing that advancing GM food crops can be difficult, affected by global debate, and various regulatory protocols. Reaching farmers has been achieved in several countries only for GM cotton for insect resistant while approvals for food and feed crops lag behind. To address this question, we identified and examined public research pipelines for GM crops in Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Genetic transformation events are reported for 21 crops. Findings are presented for events nearing final stages of development, analysis of the crops, traits and genes involved, and details regarding biosafety. The paper concludes with a summary offering various policies, institutional and regulatory suggestions.

Key words: Africa, biosafety, biotechnology, genetic modification, public research.