Recent Research Advances in Biology Vol. 7

Morphological characteristics of nine wild Tephrosia PERS species growing in Saudi Arabia were extensively studied in order to support diversity and simplify identification of these species. The macro and micro morphological features of the stem, leaves, flowers, and pods were studied. The most important characteristics used to make a distinction Saudi Arabia Tephrosia species were pod shape, colour, size, dehiscence and number of seeds per pod, inflorescence position, flower opening, shape of the upper 2 teeth of calyx, shape of sepals apex, shape of wings, length of hairs on ovary, direction of staminal tube tip, leaflets shape and surface, stem habit form and life spin. A key for the identification of the investigated species based on these morphological features is provided. Plant morphology has served largely for systematics, using morphological characteristics to carve up diversity into its systematic sub-units.

Study of performance of water treatment plant (WTP) is essential to be assessed with all aspects and considerations including physical, chemical and bacteriological so as to determine its efficiency and to produce quality water to the consumer. Performance of any WTP is a crucial parameter to be evaluated to understand its operation, working, and efficiency. The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of Ifraz 2 WTP units, and to discover the problems of the efficiency in the units with providing appropriate solutions. Water samples were collected for six months from raw water, after clarification, after filtration, and storage tank. Turbidity removal efficiency for each unit and the whole WTP were calculated and presented. Results revealed that there is a wide variation of the raw water turbidity values which ranged from 51.8 NTU to 1978 NTU. Average removal efficiencies for the sedimentation unit, filtration unit, and the entire Ifraz 2 WTP were 92.25%, 64.99% and 97.54%, respectively. The efficiency of coagulation and flocculation processes are fluctuated due to the absence of optimum dosage of coagulant. In the filtration process, due to the little depth of filter bed, this makes the filtration process in low quality. For improving the process of filtration, an adequate adding of filter media is very necessary to improve filter efficiency. After disinfection and storage, the turbidity values of the treated water were increased in half of the samples due to availability of solids in the storage tank. A great part of solids removed after coagulation-flocculation and sedimentation tanks.

The Cycas circinalis was first officially introduced into Nigeria by the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), Benin City. Cycas circinalis has adapted well as an ornamental crop in Nigeria. It belongs to the Division: Cycadophyta, Class: Cycadopsida, Order Cycadales, family Cycadaceae and genera Cycas. It was first recognized as a separate species in 1995. It is also known as Sago palm, Fern palm, Cycad or Starch palm. The floral biology of the plant is cone like as other cones in the Order Cycadales, the cone has the whorl of premature pinnate fronds embedded within the cone. This cone opens up and spreads out as the inflorescence reaches anthesis revealing the whorl of young leaves that will form the new generation crown. The mean number of fully formed fruits per stalk is 9.0 average fruit length is 5.24 cm, fruit circumference ranged from 8.6-9.6 cm while the average circumference is 9.03. Fruit weight range between 19.2 – 22.10 g (mean = 21.6 g), the length of dehusked fruit vary from 4.1 – 5.0 cm, while the circumference of the dehusked fruit range between 7.1 – 8.0 cm. The average circumference of dehusked fruit was 7.53 cm. The weight of the dehusked fruit range between 9.7– 18.6 g, with a mean weight of 13.9 g.

Alkylguanine-DNA-alkyltransferases (AGTs) have a natural role in the protection of DNA from mutations caused by alkylating agents. Their peculiar irreversible self-alkylation reaction led to the development as new tools in the modern biotechnology. SNAP-tag^® is a powerful enzyme for the specific labelling of protein/enzymes by using benzyl-guanine (BG) derivatives as substrates. This technology has some limitations, as the mesophilic nature of the tag (an engineered variant of the human enzyme) and the needs of purify each substrate. Recently, the SNAP-tag^® technology was successfully implemented by the employment of thermostable “SNAP-tag-like” variants from (hyper)thermophilic sources, and by the utilization of BG-substrates containing an azide group to be combined with DBCO-derivatives by azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition. The introduction of these new actors on the scene made possible the expansion of the methodology to in vivo and in vitro harsh reaction conditions, as well as the utilization of more chemical groups in the overall reaction enzyme labelling.

Culture potentialities of the hybrids from crosses between Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Sarotherodon melanotheron (Rüppel, 1852) were assessed in breeding design through morphological features using geometric morphometric approach. The crosses and rearing procedure, that lasted six months, are performed into a concrete pond at Layo Aquaculture Station. The morphological studies were undertaken with morphometric biomarkers such as average body shape and components of developmental homeostasis (canalisation and developmental stability). Average body shape between groups was investigated using Relative Warps Analysis (RWA) and Canonical Variates Analysis (CVA), whereas canalisation and fluctuating asymmetry were evaluated from ANOVA Procrustes. The results showed that the body shape of the hybrids is intermediate between those of the two parental species and that the reciprocal hybrids of first generation exhibit heterosis in size. Heterosis effects also seem affect positively fluctuating asymmetry and canalisation levels, which mirror developmental compatibilities between hybridising taxa. This hybrid vigor appeared more on the hybrids resulting from crosses between S. melanotheron males and O. niloticus females. In a general way, the morphology of the head of the hybrids is similar to that of the parent O. niloticus and their fins resembled to those of the parent S. melanotheron. Moreover, fluctuating asymmetry in shape does not vary between parental species and hybrids, contrary to fluctuating asymmetry in size, which is lesser in latter. Canalisation was found to be smaller in the hybrids compared to the parental ones. So, these results revealed that the hybrids could benefit from most of accrued advantages of parental species.

Bioenergetics, in biochemistry, is defined as the study of the continuously energy transformation in biological systems. It is considered a branch of cell biology, biochemistry, and biophysics. Bioenergetics can be defined as field in biochemistry that concerns energy flow through living organisms and systems.  So far, respiration, that is considered necessary for the survival of plants and animals, supposedly, cell uses oxygen to break down molecules, and during that process, complex organics molecules are broken down into simpler inorganic compounds and thus energy is released. The complex organic molecules and oxygen, needed for respiration and therefore for life, are replenished through the process of photosynthesis. In nature, the only continuously available source of radiant energy is sunlight. Thereby, in photosynthesis, this radiant energy is converted into chemical energy, with oxygen produced as by-product. Theoretically, only chlorophyll- containing plants and relative pigments, are able to convert solar energy into photochemical energy. However, our finding about the intrinsic property of melanin to transform visible and invisible light into chemical energy through the dissociation of the water molecule, breaks old paradigms creating new ones.

Life originated in anoxia, but paradoxically many organisms came to depend upon oxygen for survival, independently evolving diverse respiratory systems for expel CO₂ and acquiring oxygen to and from the environment, respectively. Thereby, Oxygen, a vital gas, and a lethal toxin, represents a trade-off with which all organisms have had a conflicted relationship. Oxygen is Essential to sustain life. Inhaled oxygen is absorbed by blood; dissolved oxygen reacts with food (present in the body as sugars) to produce energy and heat - metabolism. The study of oxygen movements in the tissues of the human body has been a matter of great interest ever since centuries. In the beginning of the past century, Dr. Christian Bohr and August Krogh’s work on respiratory physiology and capillary modelling using mathematical models to calculate molecular transport in microcirculation, trying to determine the negative impact of lack of oxygen transport to tissues. Supposedly, computer simulation allowed investigation of the dynamic and non-linear characteristics of the systems. But the results have been and are contradictory. In Germany, Dietrich Werner Lubbers (1917-2005) obtained several patents related to designs for the study of gases in tissues. The aim of Dietrich Lübbers’ research was to understand the entire pathway and regulation of oxygen transport from the blood into the mitochondria. Assessment of pO₂ histograms on most organs, revealed a remarkable similarity under physiological conditions: a Gaussian distribution always with less than 5% of values less than 5mmHg. Other studies detected changes in the concentrations of oxy- ([HbO₂]) deoxy- ([HHb]) and total haemoglobin ([HbT]=[HbO₂]þ [HHb]) measured using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) [1]. It has been shown that diabetic rats have markedly decreased oxygen availability in the kidney, supposedly resulting from increased oxygen consumption [2].

Progressive Recent Memory loss is the main complaint in Alzheimer’s disease patients. There is not a simple or congruous explanation yet due to highly complex mechanisms by which the Central Nervous System store and organize experiences every day, developed along 4 billion years of evolution; thereby learning and memory are poorly understood bio-logical processes. The finding of the unsuspected intrinsic property of melanin to transforms light into chemical energy through water dissociation, as chlorophyll in plants; opens a new and wider horizon in the form in which the CNS generate and distribute chemical energy transporting it through molecular hydrogen produced by substantia nigra of mesencephalon and other pigmented structures. The mechanisms by which human modifies their behavior through learning and memory remain a mystery despite several decades of research. However, the unexpected role of melanin molecule bioenergetics of first order, very above the chlorophyll and glucose, indicates that the study of the fascinating processes involved in learning and memory several levels, needs to be started with the study of the generation and distribution of energy neuro-melanin -releasing to all the brain. Glucose is the universal precursor of any organic matter in our body, but cannot provide the energy that its own metabolism requires.  In this article, we explain succinctly, the way hydrogen molecular (H₂) -gas-, from the dissociation of water by the neuro melanin, moves from its source and permeates easily through the different structures of the Central Nervous System, as well as be the smaller atom, does not combine with water, moving through it in accordance with the laws of the simple diffusion. Molecular hydrogen is the main carrier of energy that nature uses in the entire universe, so that, once the neuro melanin separates it from the water, this displaces transporting its precious cargo of energy and its remarkable antioxidant capacity capable of reduce oxygen and form water.

Objective: Termites (Macrotermes gilvus Hagen) are the social insects with colonies divided into ‘castes’ that include workers, soldiers, winged adults, a queen and a king. Queen of termites were analyzed for amino acid content.

Methods: Amino acid analyses were carried out on the part reproductive termites to determine the nutrient composition. The queen termites were collected from palm plantation, Taluak Kuantan, Riau, Indonesia. They were opened from nest, freeze-dried to fine powder. Amino acids were determined using ultra pressure liquid chromatography (UPLC).

Results: Freeze-dried termites queen showed that crude protein contain the essential amino acid. The highest content of amino acid was lysine, while the least content of amino acid was tryptophan.

Conclusion: The queen of termites was the nutrient-rich insects that can supply adequate quantities of the various amino acids for pharmaceutical nutrient. The study confirms the fact that termites are indeed a good source of protein and amino acids.

One of the ways to assess cellular metabolism is through the AgNOR technique. Since NORs are related to protein synthesis, they are increased in number according to the increase in cell metabolism, which occurs when the cell enters the cell cycle. NORs are involved with active transcription during Leishmania spp infection and their activation can result in histopathological lesions depending on clinical status. Thus, AgNOR marker must be sought that can differentiate Leishmania-infected dogs with a higher risk of body impairment. The aim of this study was to revise the relations among histological lesions, AgNORs expression and clinical manifestations.

There are by now direct observations of the complex colloid properties and phase-transition behaviour of cells; and observations of coherent behaviour. This compels to abandon the still reigning ‘membrane-pump-theory’ altogether, with all its ramifications, because it is based on the untenable physics of diluted solutions with a ‘steady state non-equilibrium’ bioenergetics as a result. It should be replaced by a new physiology founded on the physics of colloids, which enables coherent behaviour, a new ‘colloid-coherence’ view with a ‘low-entropy driven equilibrium thermodynamic’. Fortunately, such view exists already: it is fully elaborated in G.N. Ling’s ‘association-induction hypothesis’. This hypothesis quantitatively describes protoplasmic processes through a deeper understanding of how ensembles of protein, water, ions and controlling ligands operate as functional coherent ’nano-protoplasmic units’. This review is the first attempt to find out if this very general well-formulated hypothesis is also applicable to DNA and RNA.

Birds can use the geomagnetic field for compass orientation. Behavioral experiments, mostly with migrating passerines, revealed three characteristics of the avian magnetic compass: (1) it works spontaneously only in a narrow functional window around the intensity of the ambient magnetic field, but can adapt to other intensities, (2) it is an “inclination compass”, not based on the polarity of the magnetic field, but the axial course of the field lines, and (3) it requires short-wavelength light from UV to 565 nm Green. The Radical Pair-Model of magnetoreception can explain these properties by proposing spin-chemical processes in photopigments as underlying mechanism. Applying radio frequency fields, a diagnostic tool for radical pair processes, supports an involvement of a radical pair mechanism in avian magnetoreception: added to the geomagnetic field, they disrupted orientation, presumably by interfering with the receptive processes. Cryptochromes have been suggested as receptor molecules. Five types of cryptochromes are found in the eyes of birds. Cry1a, the most likely candidate, is located at the membranes of the disks in the outer segments of the UV-cones in chickens and robins. Immuno-histochemical studies show that it is activated by the wavelengths of light that allow magnetic compass orientation in birds. Within the cryptochrome photocycle, the radical pair formed during re-oxidation appears to be the crucial one for magnetoreception.

The present study assessed the percentage of survival and metamorphosis of larval stages of Caligus rogercresseyi [1] nauplius I to nauplius II, and nauplius II to copepodite, conducting bioassays in triplicate with 50 larvae each, nauplius I or nauplius II, at temperature of 12°C, 15°C and 18°C; salinity 20, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33 and 35 g/L and oxygen saturation with ranges between 30-60%, 90-100% and 190-200%. Bioassays were performed in station Quillaipe of Fundación Chile, Puerto Montt, Chile. It is concluded that the temperature is inversely proportional to the time of metamorphosis and survival of the larvae of Caligus rogercresseyi. In salinity is observed that increased this, greater is the percentage of survival and metamorphosis is faster, while the larvae do not survive less than 20 g/L. Oxygen saturation ranges indicate that the larvae do not survive at saturations between 30-60%, and it had no differences between 90-100% saturation and 190-200%.

The Cauvery River is the main water source for many places in Tamil Nadu. It is highly polluted in Erode district due to improper management of textile effluents. This study was carried out to analyse the phytoplankton diversity of the Cauvery River in Erode district, Tamil Nadu, India. Planktons are the basic food source of the aquatic ecosystem. Phytoplankton diversity is one of the most important ecological indicators for the assessment of water quality. This study was designed to analyse the phytoplankton during the period of July 2017 to June 2018 and the results were recorded periodically. The results revealed that the diversity of Phytoplankton is good indicators for the river ecosystem and influenced by the quality of river water.