Yeasts are distributed in all environments and have been reported as potential biocontrol agents against various phytopathogenic fungi. To investigate their enzymatic and biological activities, 32 yeasts were isolated from 15 date vinegar samples. Evaluation of the antagonistic activities of isolated yeasts against the plant pathogens Fusarium oxysporium, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and Macrophomina phaseolina indicated that there are two yeasts had the highest inhibitory effect against plant pathogens, these yeasts identified as Kluyveromyces marxianus and Torulaspora delbrueckii using traditional and molecular methods. These yeast isolates were tested for fungal cell wall degrading enzymes (in vitro), and results indicated that the yeasts had strong protease and amylase enzyme activity and moderate chitinase and cellulase enzyme activity. The antagonistic activities of each yeast were evaluated using a dual culture technique. The results showed that K. marxianus inhibited the mycelial growth of F. oxysporium, S. sclerotiorum, and M. phaseolina by 70.5, 57.5, and 75.5%, respectively, whereas T. delbrueckii inhibited mycelial growth of F. oxysporum, S. sclerotiorum, and M. phaseolina by 55.3%, 66.2%, and 31.11%, respectively. The biofilm production assay indicated that the tested yeast could form biofilms as a mechanism of antagonistic activity against phytopathogenic fungi.
A total number of 33 isolates of Pseudomoans aeruginosa were collected from different clinical samples, such as: burn, wound and urine from patients attending Al-Yarmouk teaching hospital and some private clinical laboratories in Baghdad city through the period from October to December 2016. On the other hand, 21 isolates of P. aeruginosa were collected from 38 different food samples; such as: vegetables and fruits, from different local markets in Baghdad city during the period from November to December 2016. All isolates were identified by using different bacteriological and biochemical assays and confirmed by Vitek-2 identification system. The antimicrobial susceptibility test for clinical and food isolates towards 17 antimicrobial a
... Show MoreBackground: Toxin-producing Shiga Escherichia coli has been identified as a new foodborne pathogen that poses a significant health risk to humans. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli can be found in raw cow milk and its derivatives. A small number of Escherichia coli strains that produce shiga toxin are pathogenic. Aim of study: The study aimed to see if there were any virulence genes in 50 milk samples that were typical of Entero-haemorrhagic E. coli and evaluate the Myrtus communis effects on these bacteria. Materials and Method: Milk samples were used to isolate E. coli bacteria (n= 27), biochemically analyzed, and genetically screened for virulence genes using a multiplex (PCR). The hydro-alcoholic extraction of Myrtus communis leave
... Show MoreThe plants of genus Heliotropium L. (Boraginaceae) are well-known for containing the toxic metabolites called pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in addition to the other secondary metabolites. Its spread in the Mediterranean area northwards to central and southern Europe, Asia, South Russia, Caucasia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and over lower Iraq, Western desert. The present study includes the preparation of various extracts from aerial parts of the Iraqi plant. Fractionation, screening the active constituent, and identification by chromatographic techniques were carried out.Heliotropium europaeum
... Show MoreNaturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) contaminated sites at Al-Rumaila Iraqi oil fields have been characterized as a part of soil remediation project. Activity of radium isotopes in contaminated soil have been determined using gamma spectrometer High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe) and found to be very high for Al-Markezia, Al-Qurainat degassing stations and storage area at Khadhir Almay region. The activity concentration of samples ranges from 6474.11±563.8 Bq/kg to 1232.5±60.9 Bq/kg with mean value of 3853.3 Bq/kg for 226Ra, 843.59±8.39 Bq/kg to 302.2±9.2 Bq/kg with mean value of 572.9 Bq/kg for 232Th and 294.31±18.56 Bq/kg to 156.64±18.1 Bq/kg with mean value of 225.5 for 40K. S
... Show MoreThis paper experimentally investigates the heating process of a hot water supply using a neural network implementation of a self-tuning PID controller on a microcontroller system. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm employed in system tuning proved very effective, as it is simple and fast optimization algorithm. The PSO method for the PID parameters is executed on the Matlab platform in order to put these parameters in the real-time digital PID controller, which was experimented with in a pilot study on a microcontroller platform. Instead of the traditional phase angle power control (PAPC) method, the Cycle by Cycle Power Control (CBCPC) method is implemented because it yields better power factor and eliminates harmonics
... Show MoreThe increasing use of antiseptic compounds creates selective pressure cause emergence of antiseptic resistance among Staphylococcus aureus .Resistance mechanism of antiseptic is driven mainly by multi drug resistant (MDR) efflux protein.Sixty five isolates of S.aureuswere collected from different clinical sources and subjected to 11 antibiotics most of them are recognized by efflux systems as extruded substrates. Range of efflux activity was estimated using cartwheel method. Simultaneous discrimination of antiseptic coding genes (qacA/B, smr and norA)as well as nuc and mecA genes among multidrug resistantS.aureus(MRSA) isolates was preformed using multiplex PCR assay
... Show MoreThe objective of this investigation was to study the effects of a mixture of three arbuscular mycorrhizae (Glomus etunicatum, G. leptotichum and Rhizophagus intraradices) on the development of fusarium wilt disease in tomato plants in the presence and absence of organic matter (peatmoss). Results indicated an increase in mycorrhizal root dry weight especially in the presence of the organic matter, on the other hand this parameter was significantly decreased when Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Lycopersiciwas added simultaneously with the mycorrhiza, Moreover, mycorrhiza and organic matter significantly reduced the damping off seedling disease, disease severity and rate of infection of tomato leaves and roots caused by the pathogenic fungus, These
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