A biostimulant is any microorganism or substance used to enhance the efficiency of nutrition, tolerance to abiotic stress and/or quality traits of crops, depending on its contents from nutrients. Plant biostimulants like honey bee (HB) and silymarin (Sm) are a strategic trend for managing stressed crops by promoting nutritional and hormonal balance, regulating osmotic protectors, antioxidants, and genetic potential, reflecting plant growth and productivity. We applied diluted honey bee (HB) and silymarin-enriched honey bee (HB- Sm) as foliar nourishment to investigate their improving influences on growth, yield, nutritional and hormonal balance, various osmoprotectant levels, different components of antioxidant system, and genetic potential of chili pepper plants grown under NaCl-salinity stress (10 dS m‒1). HB significantly promoted the examined attributes and HB-Sm conferred optimal values, including growth, productivity, K+/Na+ ratio, capsaicin, and Sm contents. The antioxidative defense components were significantly better than those obtained with HB alone. Conversely, levels of oxidative stress markers (superoxide ions and hydrogen peroxide) and parameters related to membrane damage (malondialdehyde level, stability index, ionic leakage, Na+, and Cl− contents) were significantly reduced. HB-Sm significantly affects inactive gene expression, as a natural biostimulator silencing active gene expression. SCoT primers were used as proof in salt-treated or untreated chili pepper plants. There were 41 cDNA amplicons selected by SCoT-primers. Twenty of them were EcDNA amplicons (cDNA-amplicons that enhanced their genes by one or more treatments) representing 49% of all cDNA amplicons, whereas 7 amplicons for ScDNA (whose genes were silenced in one or more treatments) represented 17%, and 14 McDNA (monomorphic cDNA-amplicons with control) amplicons were represented by 34% from all cDNA amplicons. This indicates the high effect of BH-Sm treatments in expression enhancement of some inactive genes and their silenced effect for expression of some active genes, also confirming that cDNA-SCoT markers succeeded in detection of variable gene expression patterns between the untreated and treated plants. In conclusion, HB-Sm as a natural multi-biostimulator can attenuate salt stress effects in chili pepper plants by remodeling the antioxidant defense system and ameliorating plant productivity.
The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of ethanolic extract and phenolic compounds extract of Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and Oregano (Oreganum vulgare) plants were studied; the phenolic content and the relationship between these compounds and the above activities were also investigated. The results showed that the Lemon balm had the highest phenolic content (56.5% mg g) and the phenolic content of Oregano was twice lower than Lemon balm. Lemon balm has the highest antioxidant activity which causes lipid peroxidation inhibition activity of linoleic acid (90.5%), this activity was more than ?-tocopherole antioxidant activity (79.3 %). It was found that the main source of antioxidant ac
... Show MoreABSTRACT The antibacterial and antbiofilm activities of water extract of Calendula officinalis flowers against some of enteropathogenic bacteria was studied, also phytochemical screening and determination of antioxidant activity of the extract has been investigated. The results showed that the water extract of C. officinalis exhibited a good antibacterial activity against all pathogenic bacterial isolates (Salmonella, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei and E. coli) especially at concentration 100 µg/ml in contrast with the control cefotan antibiotic. S. sonnei was more sensitive to extract than other bacteria with highest inhibition zone (23 mm). The preliminary phytochemical tests results indicated the presence
... Show MoreSYNTHESIS, AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY STUDIES OF BINUCLEAR COMPLEXES CONTAINING SCHIFF BASE LIGAND
The medicinal plants (Astragalus species) have been used traditionally as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and Anti-diabetics. The current research investigates the phytochemistry and some biological activity of methanol extract of different parts of Astragalus bruguieri Bioss., a wild medicinal plant grows on Safeen mountain, Erbil, Iraq. The methanol extracts of A. bruguieri were analyzed for total phenolic, flavonoid, and saponin contents. In-vitro antioxidant activity was analyzed by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays. Furthermore, the plant extracts were examined for in-vitro enzyme inhibitory activity and in-v
... Show MoreOsteoporosis (OP) is asymptomatic disease until the experience of falls or impacts that cause broken bones or fractures happened. Estrogen deficiency, abnormality in bone matrix components and interleukins expression can impact on bone homeostasis which gradually paved to osteoclastogenesis over activation leading to bone loss. A current case-control study was designed to explain the alteration in certain biochemicals, bone matrix components, immunological and molecular parameters that which accompanied with OP in the postmenopausal women. The period of study's investigation was from December 2022 to July 2023. All participants provided written informed consent, and the study was approved by Department of Biology, College of Science, U
... Show MoreRice (Oryza sativa) is a fundamental food for the majority of world population. Cyclin Dependent Kinase -A (CDKA) accelerates transition through different stages of cell cycle and contributes in gametes formation. In the present investigation, a CDKA encoding gene along with the corresponding protein were characterized in O. sativa Indica Group, O. glaberrima, O. barthii, O. brachyantha, O. glumipatula, O. longistaminata, O. meridionalis, O. nivara, O. punctata and O. rufipogon using in silico analyses. The results reflected little variation in most species except O. longistaminata and O. brachyantha. Compared with the remaining species, O. longistaminata
... Show MoreTuberculosis (TB) still remains an important medical problem due to high levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A series of innate immune mechanisms that create a cytokine network control the pathogenesis of tuberculosis and this response has the capacity to modify the host genomic DNA structure through epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation which could constantly alter the local gene expression pattern that can modulate the metabolism of the tissues and the immune-response. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine regulator of the innate immune response to TB. This study aims to determine DNA methylation patterns of INF-γ gene promoter and measure serum IFN- γ level in newly diagnosed TB patient
... Show MoreA total of 45 voucher specimens of falcons which are deposited in the bird's collection of the Iraq Natural History Research Center and Museum (INHM) were reviewed. Mummified falcons were preserved as voucher study specimens and tagged with museum collection labels. In the current study, morphometrics of six species of the genus Falco Linnaeus, 1758: Lanner falcon F. biarmicus Temminck, 1825; Sacker Falcon F. cherrug Gray, 1834; Lesser Kestrel F. naumanni Fleischer, 1818; Peregrine Falcon F. peregrines Tunstall, 1771; Eurasian Hobby F. subbuteo Linnaeus, 1758 and Common Kestrel F. tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758 were documented. These species were recorded previously in the ornithological literatures by several authors and deposited in t
... Show MoreA total of 45 voucher specimens of falcons which are deposited in the bird's collection of the Iraq Natural History Research Center and Museum (INHM) were reviewed. Mummified falcons were preserved as voucher study specimens and tagged with museum collection labels. In the current study, morphometrics of six species of the genus Falco Linnaeus, 1758: Lanner falcon F. biarmicus Temminck, 1825; Sacker Falcon F. cherrug Gray, 1834; Lesser Kestrel F. naumanni Fleischer, 1818; Peregrine Falcon F. peregrines Tunstall, 1771; Eurasian Hobby F. subbuteo Linnaeus, 1758 and Common Kestrel F. tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758 were documented.
These species were recorded previously in the ornithological literatures by several authors and deposited in the
Background: Dental erosion is a common oral condition which results due to consumption of high caloric and low pH acidic food such as carbonated drinks and fruit juices. It is expected that these food types can cause irreversible damage to dental hard tissues and early deterioration of the dental restorations. So, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the erosive potential effects of orange fruit juice and Miranda orange drink on the microhardness of an orthodontic composite material. Materials and methods: Thirty discs with a thickness of 2 mm and a diameter of 10 mm were prepared from orthodontic bonding composite. The prepared discs were equally divided into three groups (n=10). Microhardness analysis was carried out both prior to
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