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Background: Asthma is the main reason of disability, health resource exploitation and low quality of life for those who are affected. It is estimated that nearly 300 million people in the world are suffering from asthma. Studies have identified 18 genomic regions and more than 100 genes associated with asthma. Among these candidate genes, IL-17F plays a very interesting role in asthma. This study was conducted to predict the conformational and functional impact of asthma-associated IL-17F polymorphisms on protein product of the corresponding gene using Phyre2, PolyPhen2 and SIFT softwares. Methods: In the present study, 10 significant missense SNPs (rs763780, rs144576902, rs11465553, rs368500268, rs141798304, rs2397084, rs146083682, rs200163061, rs376671742, and rs373228601) were taken from Ensembl Genome Browser database. Polymorphism-induced protein structural changes were predicted using Protein Homology analogY Recognition Engine V2.0 (PHYRE2) program. The possible impact of an amino acid substitution on the function of protein was analyzed using PolyPhen-2 (Polymorphism Phenotyping Version2) and SIFT (Sorting Intolerant From Tolerant) tools. Results: The analysis revealed mutant proteins having structural changes in the number of atoms, H-bonds, turns and helices. While wild copy has 82 H-bonds, 5 helices and 20 turns, the mutant types show considerable changes. At functional level also, substantial changes were observed between the wild protein and the mutant one. Conclusion: A single nucleotide polymorphism in the gene sequence can lead to the substantial structural and functional variations in the protein product of the gene, a process that may account for etiology of a number of complex diseases including asthma.

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To investigate the root anatomy and hydraulic conductivity of wheat cultivars, including Shiraz, Bahar, Pishtaz, Sistan, and Yavaros, a series of controlled environment (growth chamber) experiments were hydroponically conducted at University College of Dublin (UCD), Ireland in 2010. Bahar, Pishtaz and Sistan cultivars were employed as tolerant to drought and Shiraz and Yavaros as sensitive. Twelve plants from each wheat cultivar in three replications were compared in a completely randomized design. Seminal roots had four to five cortical cell layers, and typically one large central metaxylem and 5±1 (in Bahar) to 7±1 (in Yavaros) smaller and circularly arranged peripheral metaxylem vessels. Stellar cells were less lignified in adventitious roots, as compared with seminal roots, and mature xylem vessels of seminal roots of Shiraz and Yavaros cultivars had more lignified walls compared to the other cultivars of the 18 day old plants. Lateral roots of Shiraz cultivar showed the most lignified walls compared to the other cultivars. The highest root hydraulic conductivity in seminal roots was observed in Bahar with the lowest surface area and lignified cell walls. Type of cultivar had also a noticeable effect on flow rate of seminal roots and varied from 2.81 in Shiraz to 3.76×10^-10 m s^-1 in Bahar cultivar. With respect to flow rate and osmotic driving force of seminal and adventitious roots, Bahar and Sistan cultivars had the highest hydraulic conductivity. It was concluded that at the early growth stage of wheat cultivars (3^rd leaf stage), root anatomical structures of Bahar and Sistan were more efficient in water uptake and this might be attributed to the less lignified cell wall of the peripheral and central metaxylem zones of the roots in these cultivars.

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To identify the important features of triticale that contribute to improving grain and biomass Water Use Efficiency (WUE_g and WUE_b, respectively), grain yield, and Nitrogen (N) remobilization, a 2-year side-by-side experiment was carried out on triticale with different nitrogen sources and water regimes, in a typical Mediterranean environment of Iran. There were two levels of water regimes: Normal Irrigation (IR_N) and irrigation cut off after anthesis stage (IR_MD). Rain-fed treatment (IR₀) was included in the second year. Four N sources including Azospirillum brasilense (Bio), Azospirillum brasilense+75 kg N ha^-1 as urea (Bio+N₇₅), 150 kg N ha^-1 as urea (N₁₅₀), and control unfertilized (N₀) plots were used. This study showed that the highest grain yield (6,258 kg ha^-1) was achieved by chemical N fertilizer application (N₁₅₀) under IR_N. In contrast, the application of Bio+N₇₅ resulted in the highest grain yield as compared with the other N sources under IR_MD (4,409 kg ha^-1) and IR₀ (2,960 kg ha^-1) conditions. Water stress significantly increased WUE_b at all N sources. However, WUE_g slightly increased by IR_MD and then sharply decreased by IR₀ in all N sources, except N₁₅₀ plots, where WUE_g drastically decreased by water stress imposed by IR_MD and IR₀. The Bio+N₇₅ treatment had the highest N remobilization. Although N remobilization was not affected by IR_MD in dryer year, it increased by IR_MD (8.4%) in the relatively wet year. Totally, for a more sustainable farming system in arid Mediterranean conditions, integration of biofertilizer and chemical N fertilizer could be successfully used for increasing grain yield, WUE, and N remobilization of triticale, especially under deficit irrigation regimes.

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 To remain viable in facing with increasing costs, farmers need to increase irrigation Water Productivity (WP) and save Virtual Water (VW). To evaluate the WP and VW for five barley cultivars (Reyhan, Nimrooz, Valfajr, Zehak, and Yusof) under different irrigation regimes [well-watered (100% Field Capacity; FC), mild water stress (75% FC), severe water stress (50% FC), and extremely severe water stress (25% FC)], a two-year field experiment was laid out in Darab, Fars Province, Iran, during 2014 and 2015 growing seasons. Results showed that change in moisture stress from well-watered to extremely severe water stress, was associated with a significant increase in WP and Economic Water Productivity (EWP) for straw and biological yield. A positive linear relationship was found between grain yield and VW, and the lowest VW was found in the range of 3,314 to 3,451 kg ha^-1 of grain yield. Interestingly, for all irrigation regimes, Zehak and Yusof cultivars had greater WP for the grain yield. Furthermore, VW for biological yield of Yusof cultivar sharply decreased from 0.410 m³ kg^-1 in well-watered treatment to 0.164 m³ kg^-1 under extremely water stress conditions in both years. Comparison of Zehak and Yusof cultivars with Reyhan, Nimrooz and Valfajr showed that under water stress conditions, the first two cultivars showed significantly lower VW for the grain yield than the other cultivars. Indeed, Yusof and Zehak cultivars showed the lowest Economic Virtual Water (EVW), which was in the range of 0.054 to 0.091 m³ 1,000 Rials^-1, under extremely water stress conditions. Thus, to achieve optimum EWP and EVW and attaining stable yields under semi-arid conditions, suitable barley cultivars such as Zehak and Yusof could be irrigated with less water (i.e. 25 to 50% FC).