Effect of Chemical, Organic and Biological Fertilizers on Protein Concentration and Protein Electrophoretic Profiles of Wheat Plants Irrigated with Seawater (Published)
Wheat plants grown under 0%, 20% and 40% of seawater, 0, 100, 250 and 500 kg/ha of urea as chemical fertilizer; Rhizobium and Azotobacter as biofertilizer; and 0, 5, 10 and 20 kg/ha of humic acid as organic fertilizer. Soluble, insoluble and total proteins as well as RAPD-PCR were evaluated. To obtain reliable molecular markers for response to salinity in such genotype, RAPD banding patterns by using two primers. It was found that low concentration (20%) of seawater caused an observed increase in soluble protein. While, high concentration (40%) of seawater caused a significant decrease in soluble and insoluble proteins as well as total proteins. Biological and organic fertilizer treatments increased total proteins even at 40% seawater treatment as compared with unfertilized plants at the same level of seawater. The results of RAPD analysis showed that the two primers (OPUPC-75 and OPA18 could efficiently align genomic DNA of wheat. Approximately 88 bands (AF) were amplified under different treatments using the two primers. Monomorphic and polymorphic bands ware present in all individuals, and the mean percentage of polymorphic bands for all treatments was 76.2%, with molecular sizes ranging from 350 to 1900 pb. It was observed also that eight bands of the 88 commonly detected in all the samples, so it could be the specific genus bands of Triticum aestivum species. It seems that the extensive polymorphism detected among seawater and fertilizertreatments elevated the degree of change occurring in DNA sequences
Keywords: Salinity, Sorghum, chlorophyll., electrophoretic patterns, soluble proteins
EFFECT OF LIGHT INTENSITY ON THE PRODUCTION OF PIGMENTS IN NOSTOC SPP. (Published)
Cyanobacteria, especially the Nostoc and Spirulina genera, have been used for centuries as food, and currently their biotechnological potential is notable for the presence of several compounds relevant to the market, such as pigments and antioxidants. Cyanobacteria are appealing because of the increasing demand for natural pigments and antioxidants over the synthetic ones. Because cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms, one of the factors that most influences their metabolism is the level of incident light. However, the relationship between light intensity and the synthesis of bioactive compounds is not well understood in all species. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the influence of different light intensities on the yield of biomass and pigments present in Nostoc spp. isolates. Lower intensities were more advantageous in terms of the yield of phycobiliproteins and chlorophyll a. For the isolates examined in the present study, the content of light-absorbing pigments, such as chlorophyll a and phycobiliproteins, was higher when the light availability was low. When the light availability increased, the content of these pigments decreased as a strategy for prevention of photo-oxidative damage caused by the production of free radicals. However, with respect to carotenoids, after the content of light-absorbing pigments decreased, it increased again at higher irradiances, which reflects the function of these pigments as dissipaters of excess absorbed light energy and as antioxidants in the photosynthetic apparatus.
Keywords: Carotenoids, Cyanobacteria, chlorophyll., phycobiliproteins, pigments
