Fatemeh Moosawi; Hassan Mohabatkar; Sasan Mohsenzadeh
Abstract
Flaviviridae are viruses that cause several diseases including Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Murray Valley encephalitis, Tick-borne encephalitis, West Nile encephalitis, Yellow fever and Hepatitis C Virus Infection. Members of this family have monopartite, linear, single-stranded RNA genomes of ...
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Flaviviridae are viruses that cause several diseases including Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Murray Valley encephalitis, Tick-borne encephalitis, West Nile encephalitis, Yellow fever and Hepatitis C Virus Infection. Members of this family have monopartite, linear, single-stranded RNA genomes of positive polarity, 9.6-12.3 kb in length. Here, we have analyzed the codon usage of 13 species of this family by using gene infinity pakage. Base and amino acid composition analysis was also performed by CAIcal server and PseAAC web-sever respectively. The results showed that the highest number of A, G and C bases were seen in the RNA genome of Dengue virus 2, Tick borne encephalitis virus and Hepatitis C virus respectively. Although the number of U base used in RNA genomes was very close, the highest U nucleotide amount was 23.77% in Wesselsbron virus. The lowest number of C, G, U and A bases was seen in Bovine viral diarrhea virus, Dengue virus 2, Tick borne encephalitis virus and Hepatitis C virus respectively. In this study, it is found that the complete genome of classical swine fever virus has a lower GC content and genome of Tick borne encephalitis virus, Hepatitis C virus and Powassan virus have a higher GC content than other species. We also classified the amino acids as rare (Phenylalanine, Cysteine, Histidine, Methionine, Asparagine, Glutamine, Tryptophan and Tyrosine), frequent (Alanine, Glutamic acid, Glycine, Leucine, Valine and Threonine), and intermediate (all others). The highest and the lowest number of preferred codons exist in Wesselsbron virus and West Nile virus, respectively.
Narjes Zamani; Manijeh Mianabadi; Ahmad Abdolzadeh
Abstract
Antioxidant activities protect the cell against oxidative agents that are constant metabolic by-products. The
aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between harvesting time of Thymus transcaspicus and its
antioxidant activities. The plant samples were harvested 5 times in different growth ...
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Antioxidant activities protect the cell against oxidative agents that are constant metabolic by-products. The
aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between harvesting time of Thymus transcaspicus and its
antioxidant activities. The plant samples were harvested 5 times in different growth phases from 17 April to 22
July 2008, and its antioxidant activity was studied using the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 1,1-
diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity, and β-carotene bleaching (BCB) assays.
The results of FRAP assay indicated that the reduction activity of the plant was in the highest level in stage 5
of sampling. The result of DPPH assay showed that the crude extract of the plant was more capable of DPPH
radical scavenging in stage 2. The highest level of gallic acid and quercetin in the crude extract of T.
transcaspicus was determined as 85.29 ± 6.22 mg and 18.88 ± 0.9 mg in stage 2, respectively. Therefore, stage
2 was the optimum time to harvest the T. transcaspicus.
Masood Ranjbar; Zahra Hajmoradi; Roya Karamian
Abstract
In the present paper, the cytogenetic study including meiotic chromosome number and behavior along with
pollen viability were performed in 4 populations of Trigonella spruneriana Boiss. This is the first cytogenetic
report of the taxon. All populations are diploid and possess 2n = 2x = 16 chromosome ...
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In the present paper, the cytogenetic study including meiotic chromosome number and behavior along with
pollen viability were performed in 4 populations of Trigonella spruneriana Boiss. This is the first cytogenetic
report of the taxon. All populations are diploid and possess 2n = 2x = 16 chromosome number, which is
consistent with the proposed basic number of x = 8. In addition, some meiotic irregularities observed in
different populations included chromosomes stickiness, B-chromosomes, chromosome bridges resulting from
stickiness, the occurrence of laggard chromosomes, formation of micronuclei in tetrad cells and cytomixis. The
highest and the lowest percentages of pollen viability were observed in populations SPR 658 and SPR 566,
respectively.
Maryam Moghaddam Matin; Morvarid Saeinasab; Saeideh Nakhaei-Rad; Mahdi Mirahmadi; Nasser Mahdavi Shahri; Mahmoud Mahmoudi; Ahmad Reza Bahrami
Abstract
Abstract
Regeneration is a biological phenomenon, which takes place via two main mechanisms: first,
dedifferentiation of mature cells followed by their differentiation into functional new cells and second,
activation of endogenous somatic stem cells for regeneration of damaged or lost tissues. One ...
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Abstract
Regeneration is a biological phenomenon, which takes place via two main mechanisms: first,
dedifferentiation of mature cells followed by their differentiation into functional new cells and second,
activation of endogenous somatic stem cells for regeneration of damaged or lost tissues. One of the best
examples of healing process in mammals is the regeneration of damaged pinna in rabbits by blastema tissue.
The aim of present study was to investigate culture requirements, proliferative properties and expression of
some stemness factors in cells derived from regenerating blastema tissue obtained from rabbit pinna in vitro.
The regenerating tissues were obtained from male New Zealand white rabbits by double punching of the pinna
and cell culture conditions were set to derive and enrich the self renewing cells for further characterisation. The
cells were subjected to survival and growth examinations in vitro, and expression of several stemness factors
was studied in these cells using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results revealed
that the derived cells are rather immortal, as they have been growing for more than 120 passages in culture up
until this report. Furthermore, RT-PCR and flow cytometry analyses showed that these cells express a number
of stemness related genes including Oct4 and Sox2. In conclusion, in this study, stem like cells were derived
from blastema tissue of rabbit ears for the first time, showing great self renewing capacity, which provides a
suitable in vitro model for regeneration studies. Moreover, they could be considered as a good source of stem
like cells for future applications.
Najme Javanmardi; Abdolreza Bagheri; Nasrin Moshtaghi; Ahmad Sharifi; Abbas Hemati Kakhki
Abstract
Saffron (Crocus sativus) is the most valuable and indigenous crop in Iran. The stigmas of flower are used as
a popular natural flavouring, colouring and medicinal agent. However, the market suffers from frauds in this
plant such as mixing with safflower petals due to high profit. Identification of ...
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Saffron (Crocus sativus) is the most valuable and indigenous crop in Iran. The stigmas of flower are used as
a popular natural flavouring, colouring and medicinal agent. However, the market suffers from frauds in this
plant such as mixing with safflower petals due to high profit. Identification of these frauds with conventional
and biochemical methods is difficult and low sensitive. Therefore, application of molecular markers such as
random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)/sequence characterized amplified regions (SCAR) is being
considered as an alternative. In this study, DNA was extracted from dry stigmas of 5 Saffron accessions and
dry petals of 7 safflower cultivars. RAPD reactions with ten 15-mer random primers resulted in two specific
monomorphic bands (500 and 700 bp) for safflower, while they were absent in saffron accessions. PCR
analysis with specific SCAR primers amplified two specific bands (414 and 589 bp) for safflowers in different
combinations of saffron stigmas and safflower petals. This was the case with very low rates or 1% of
safflower. Therefore, this method seems to be suitable for fraud identification of safflower petals in
commercial saffron samples.
Mohammad Reza Nikravesh; Mehdi Jalali; Abbas Ali Moeen; Shabnam Mohammadi; Mohammad Hasan Karimfar
Abstract
Nicotine is an alkaloid by high level of addictive property that can quickly assimilate from smoker’s lung. It
passes from the placenta and gathers in the developing fetus. Our previous study showed that collagen type IV
plays a critical role in basement membrane of different embryonic organs. In ...
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Nicotine is an alkaloid by high level of addictive property that can quickly assimilate from smoker’s lung. It
passes from the placenta and gathers in the developing fetus. Our previous study showed that collagen type IV
plays a critical role in basement membrane of different embryonic organs. In this study the effect of maternal
nicotine was evaluated by collagen IV changes in lung of mice offspring during pre and postnatal period.
Pregnant Balb/C mice were divided into 2 experimental and 2 control groups. Experimental group 1 received 3
mg/kg nicotine intrapritoneally from day 5 of gestation to last day of pregnancy. Experimental group 2 received
the same amount of nicotine during the same gestational days as well as 2 first week after birth. The control
groups received the same volume of normal saline during the same periods. At the end of exposure times, all
newborns were anesthetized and their lungs were removed and immunohistochemical study for tracing
collagen was carried out. Our results showed that collagen reaction in the bronchial basement membrane
(BBM) and extra cellular matrix (ECM) of the lung parenchyma experienced a remarkable increase when
compared to the control ones. Cell necrosis definition in lung parenchyma of the experimental group 2 was the
other finding that our investigation revealed. These data indicate that maternal nicotine exposure may induce a
noticeable collagen increase with a reasonable amount in BBM and ECM of respiratory system of next
generation.
