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Using nutritionally valuable products is important as people taste is going toward varies foods. The use of pumpkin can provide nutritionally qualified and valuable product, diversity of products and higher customer choice because it contains helpful and therapeutic compounds. In the current research, different levels of modified starch (0.2, 0.15, 0.1 percentage) and micro-crystalline cellulose (1.5, 1, 0.5 percentage) were used in the production of fruit butter for improving the consistency and the texture properties including hardness, toughness, gummy, cohesiveness, chewiness,…. and color attributes including three factors of L, a and b were evaluated. The results showed that the cohesiveness, gummy and hardness decreased with increasing the micro-crystalline cellulose. Furthermore, with increasing the modified starch increased the hardness, toughness, cohesiveness, chewiness, L and b parameters, but it had no effect on gummy, significantly. The pumpkin can be used as a natural and also enrichment combination in the process of the productions such as fruit butter due to its functional properties.

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Vacuolar H⁺-translocation pyrophosphatase (V-PPase) and Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter (V-Na⁺/H⁺) are important transporters in plant cells and have essential roles against abiotic stresses. In this study, the effects of salt stress were surveyed on the transcription of V-PPase pump and Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter genes at early times of NaCl treatment in roots of halophytic grass Leptochloa fusca through the Real Time PCR. The first results showed that L. fusca has high ability for accumulating Na⁺ under saline conditions. Real-Time PCR analysis demonstrated that the expression level of V-PPase and V-Na⁺/H⁺ increased in response to different levels of NaCl treatment, but the transcriptional increase of V-Na⁺/H⁺ gene was higher than that of the V-PPase gene, indicating that V-Na⁺/H⁺ had a crucial role in salt tolerance in this plant. These results indicated that coordinate up-regulations of V-PPase expression and Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter expression were correlated with Na⁺ sequestering into vacuoles of L. fusca. It was also shown that increase e in the expression level of V-Na⁺/H⁺ and V-PPase was correlated with the accumulation of sodium in roots, suggesting a physiological role for these antiporters and pump in Na⁺ compartmentation during adaptation to high salinity.

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The influenza A virus is of global concern for the poultry industry, especially the H5 subtype as it has the potential to become highly pathogenic for poultry and mankind. Recently, plant expression systems have gained interest as an alternative for the production of vaccine antigens. The goal of the present study was to investigate the possibility of expressing the HA1 protein in Nicotiana tabacum via agroinfiltration. In this study, the Hemagglutinin type 1 (HA1) of a high pathogenic avian influenza virus of the H5N1 subtype was synthesized and transiently expressed in Nicotiana tabacum. To examine the possibility of expressing the HA1 protein in N. tabacum, a cDNA fragment encoding the HA1 gene was synthesized de novo, modified with a Kozak sequence, a C-terminal hexa-Histidine (6His) tag, and an endoplasmic retention signal (KDEL). The construct was cloned into vector and the resulting - HA1 plasmid was agro-infiltrated into N. tabacum. The relative gene expression of recombinant plant-produced HA1 was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Guided by the gene expression profile, HA1 protein was extracted at 3 dpi and subsequently purified utilizing the 6His tag. A recombinant HA1 protein was immunogenically detected by conjugated polyhistidine antibody in western blot, dot blot and ELISA assay. In order to verify the right conformation of HA1 produced in plants, western blot was also done using mouse monoclonal anti-influenza A virus (H5N1/HA1) [2B7]. The results of Real Time PCR assay indicated that the foreign gene was transcribed in transfected leaves. Migration size of protein was detected at 45 kD by Western blotting and demonstrated no discrepancy compared to the positive control (HA1). ELISA results showed that the HA1 was expressed in the transfected leaves in high level as the yield of recombinant protein was 8.8 % of TSP and the yield of purified HA1 was 0.16 g purified protein per kg fresh weight of leaves. This is the first research about the transient expression of the tobacco-made HA1 protein where a synthetic sequence was used for its expression. Here, the efficacy of agro-infiltration for expression of HA1 antigen in tobacco was illustrated. Agro-infiltration expedites the process of recombinant antigens expression in plant tissues. Accordingly, our results provide great opportunity for the exploration of transiently plant-manufactured HA1 as vaccine candidate.

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The post-harvest damage caused by several pests is a major problem in stored grain product industry. Recently, synthesizing NanoParticles (NPs) with plant extracts act as an alternative approach in reduction of this damage. An attempt was made to synthesize and test the mortality effect of green synthesized silver NanoParticles (AgNPs) with peels extract of sweet orange, Citrus sinensis (L.) (Rutaceae, Sapindales), against the adult tenebrionid beetle Tribolium confusum (Duval). The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized with UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction, and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Five bioassays were conducted by filter-paper residue and feeding methods with different concentrations of both green synthesizing and commercial AgNPs. Results showed that citrus extract by itself was not toxic against beetles, however, the green AgNPs showed 83-77% mortality in filter-paper residue and feeding methods. The impact of commercial AgNPs in both methods led to 75 and 40% mortality. The lowest LC50 and LT50 for green synthesized AgNPs were recorded (30.62 ppm and 9.92 day) for filter-paper residue tests. According to the results, the green silver nanoparticles, showed more efficiency than the commercial ones. This provides an evidence that green synthesized AgNPs have a great potential as an alternative option in stored products pest management.
 

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Vibrio cholerae is one of the important human pathogens that is transmitted through contaminated water and food. In Qom province, due to special weather conditions, diseases caused by Vibrio cholerae are endemic. The aim of this study was the prevalence of Vibrio cholerae in water and vegetables of Qom province and the presence of two virulence genes, hlyA and toxR. During two years (2020-2021), 120 samples of agricultural water (70) and vegetables (50) in Qom province were collected. The samples were cultured on specific media. Suspicious colonies were evaluated by Gram staining and biochemical tests and the serotype Vibrio cholerae was identified by serology test. Finally, Then, the presence of virulence genes was investigated by PCR method and also the antibiotic resistance pattern by disk diffusion method was evaluated in the isolates.  Vibrio cholera bacteria were isolated from 17 samples (16.14%), all of which were Non-O1. The rate of contamination of water and vegetables was 28.14% (10 cases) and 14.00% (7 cases), respectively. In molecular evaluation, the abundance of virulence genes including: toxR (88.32%), rtxA (58.82%), hlyA (47.05%), chxA (5.88%), and 100% of isolates did not have ctxA, ace and tcpA genes. The most antibiotic resistance is related to ampicillin and amoxicillin (34.29%), followed by cefuroxime (17.46%), imipenem (11.76%), and cefoxitin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (5.88%). The results of this study showed that Vibrio cholerae Non-O1 is present in water and vegetables of Qom province, and as an important source of disease for humans therefore, continuous health monitoring of water and vegetables and proper disinfection of these foods is very important.

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MADS-box genes play important roles in the regulation of floral organ development. In this gene family, AGAMOUS genes are responsible for stamen and carpel development. In the double-flowered form of Amaryllis, compared to its wild type, the stamen number is reduced to three, there is no pistil, and, in contrast, tepal numbers have increased. In this investigation, we examined the AGAMOUS (AG) gene function in these alterations. Therefore, we isolated one AGAMOUS coding sequence named AmAG. Then, the expression level of this gene in the wild form and double-flowered Amaryllis was evaluated using quantitative real-time PCR. The phylogenetic results showed that the partial AmAG gene has high homology with the sequences of AGAMOUS ortholog genes in the Amaryllidaceae family and plants close to this family. Also, there were no differences in the sequence of partial AmAG genes in wild and double-flowered forms. Real-time PCR revealed that, in wild form, AmAG gene expression was low in the first to third whorl and high only in the fourth whorl. While in double flowered form, AmAG gene expression in four whorls was low. The lower expression of AmAG in the fourth whorl of double-flowered form had caused such morphological alterations, the reasons for which should be determined in other experiments.
 

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