Biology subjects

Ali, W.

Publications and source records attributed to Ali, W..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Carbon Dots and Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes Enhances Maize Shading Stress Tolerance

Low sunlight availability/shading stress is one of the major abiotic stresses, limiting plant photosynthesis and biomass production. Maize is a C4 species and requires more sunshine for efficient photosynthesis rate. Thus, maize is a highly shade-sensitive species. We used carbon dots (CDs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as a foliar application to enhance maize photosynthesis under no-shading and shading stress. The results revealed that under shading stress, the higher concentration of CDs and SWCNTs reduced the MDA (Malondialdehyde) content and increased the expression level of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) genes. Moreover, under shading stress, CDs and SWCNTs increased the average thickness of leaf lamina, vascular bundle, mesophyll, and epidermis. CDs and SWCNTs reduced the damaging effects of shading stress on the chloroplast (Ch) formation. CDs and SWCNTs upregulated Rubisco and related genes under shading stress. The chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, including the efficiency of quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv/Fm), electron transport rate (ETR), non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ), and photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) were improved with the foliar application of CDs and SWCNTs under shading stress. Higher stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration, transpiration, and net photosynthesis were observed in maize plants treated with CDs and SWCNTs under shading stress. The results of our study suggest that using higher concentrations of CDs and SWCNTs can enhance plant growth and photosynthesis under shading stress conditions. However, to avoid nanotoxicity, great care is recommended when selecting different concentrations of nanomaterials based on the growing conditions.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2023

Population level gene expression can repeatedly link genes to functions in maize

Transcriptome-Wide Association Studies (TWAS) can provide single gene resolution for candidate genes in plants, complementing Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) but efforts in plants have been met with, at best, mixed success. We generated expression data from 693 maize genotypes, measured in a common field experiment, sampled over a two-hour period to minimize diurnal and environmental effects, using full-length RNA-seq to maximize the accurate estimation of transcript abundance. TWAS could identify roughly ten times as many genes likely to play a role in flowering time regulation as GWAS conducted data from the same experiment. TWAS using mature leaf tissue identified known true positive flowering time genes known to act in the shoot apical meristem, and trait data from new environments enabled the identification of additional flowering time genes without the need for new expression data. eQTL analysis of TWAS-tagged genes identified at least one additional known maize flowering time gene through trans-eQTL interactions. Collectively these results suggest the gene expression resource described here can link genes to functions across different plant phenotypes expressed in a range of tissues and scored in different experiments.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Phytochemical and antibacterial analyses of Onychium japonicum (Thunb.) Kunze.

In clinical practice bacterial resistance against antibiotics has become a serious health problem, thus using alternative approaches such as natural products as the supplementary drug could solve it. Therefore, the current study was conducted to thoroughly investigate the enrichment of phytochemicals and antibacterial potential of O. japonicum. The fronds samples of O. japonicum prepared in different solvents were used against MDR bacterial strains and phytochemical analyses. The analyses of data revealed that O. japonicum was enriched with flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, glycosides, carotenoids, terpenoids, phlobatanins, phenols, and coumarins while quantitatively this plant has a significantly higher content of phenols(1100.91{micro}M/g) followed by sugar contents (748.67{micro}M/ml), ascorbic acid (426.12mM/g), flavonoids (160.65mg/g), anthocyanin (101.06{micro}M/g) and proline (80.58{micro}M/g). On the other hand, the organic extracts of O. japonicum were highly active against all bacterial strains while hydric extract was inactive against selected bacteria. Specifically, O. japonicum was highly active against S. aureus in all organic extracts (chloroform=16.66{+/-}0.33, ethyl acetate=15{+/-}0.57, methyl alcohol= 14{+/-}0.57, N-hexane=20.33{+/-}0.33) followed by K. pneumonia (chloroform=14.33{+/-}0.33, ethyl acetate=4.33{+/-}4.33, methyl alcohol=3.66{+/-}3.66, N-hexane=16.66{+/-}0.33) and P. aeruginosa (chloroform= 8.33{+/-}4.17, ethyl acetate=8.33{+/-}4.17, methyl alcohol=6{+/-}3.00, N-hexane=9.33{+/-}4.66), while E. coli (chloroform=0{+/-}0.00, ethyl acetate=7{+/-}3.51, methyl alcohol=3.33{+/-}3.33, N-hexane=4{+/-}4.00). Based on current findings it is concluded that O. japonicum is enriched in many useful phytochemicals that could be use as a supplement with other traditionally used antibiotics.

microbiology↗