Showing 27 results for Ai
Golnaz Parvizi Fard, Lale Solouki, Mostafa Zakariazadeh, Hossein Haghaei, Somaieh Soltani,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2022)
Abstract
Human serum albumin is one of the most important blood proteins that has the ability to bind a wide range of compounds and different drugs. Hence, knowing how drugs bind to albumin is crucial to understand their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic properties. The binding of drugs to protein affects the drug's excretion, distribution and interaction in the target tissues. Nicotinamide (NA) is a safe and inexpensive medical supplement that used to prevent and treat vitamin B3 deficiency. In this research, the molecular mechanism of the interaction between nicotinamide and human serum albumin was studied by the utilization of spectroscopic and molecular docking methods. The effects of temperature, acidic/basic pHs, metal ions, urea, and glucose on the interaction between nicotinamide and human serum albumin were also investigated. The spectroscopic studies indicated that the interaction between nicotinamide and human serum albumin is mainly controled by hydrophobic forces and the interaction is spontaneous. The number of binding site and binding constant is 1 and 4.6×104 (L/mol), respectively, which were increased in the presence of glucose. The presence of metallic ions and basic pH decreased the binding constant of nicotinamide to albumin. The obtained results indicated that nicotinamide tend to binds to the similar sites wherever the molecules with acidic moieties bind. The results could be helpful to interpret the mechanisms of actions of nicotinamide in the various physiological phenomena in the human body.
Nasrin Farasat, Masoud Sheidai, Hossein Riahi, Fahimeh Koohdar,
Volume 9, Issue 3 (12-2022)
Abstract
The genus Ulva L. (Sea lettuce), one of the most valuable marine macroalgae, is found in shallow coastal areas and in brackish and fresh water around the world. Ulva species have nutritional and medicinal values in addition to other applications, and contain various compounds such as lipids, proteins and carotenoids. These species have high phenotypic plasticity and varied in response to different environmental conditions. In this study, 38 populations of 10 species of Ulva from the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, from different areas of Bushehr, Hormozgan and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces, were studied and identified on the basis of morphological and anatomical traits. Different populations showed variations in characteristics such as height, shape and color of thallus, number of pyrenoids and cell dimensions. Metabolites such as total protein, total oil, chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids contents were measured and compared among the different populations. The results should that the percentage of protein was highest in U. prolifera of Shif Island from Bushehr province as compared with the Ulva species studied, with about 26.5% of dry weight, and the percentage of total oil was lowest in U. flexuosa of Hakhamanesh region from Hormozgan province as compared with the species studied, with about 4.8% of dry weight. These results show that different environmental conditions affect the morphological and anatomical structure of species and the content of their metabolites. Due to the high-protein and low-calorie content of the Ulva genus and the importance of finding new and sustainable resources for food and pharmaceutical industries, the species of this genus have valuable potentials.
Shiva Tabatabaie Roodsati, Alireza Iranbakhsh, . Mansoureh Shamili, Zahra Oraghi Ardabili,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2023)
Abstract
Selenium, a non-essential element for plants, is essential for animals as well as human beings. Although the role of selenium in plants is yet to be properly understood, previous researches have shown that this element can affect plant growth and metabolism. In this study, the effect of foliar application of selenium nanoparticles (0, 5, 10, and 20 mg/L) and sodium selenate (0, 5, 10, and 20 mg/L) on the physiological and biochemical responses of bell pepper (Capsicum anumm L.) was investigated. The potential changes in various growth and biochemical indices were evaluated in response to the treatments. According to the results, selenium treatments at concentrations of 10 and 20 mg/L reduced the biomass accumulation in both roots and shoots. These treatments also increased the content of hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde. The foliar application of selenium led to the increase of the concentrations of soluble phenols, proline and thiols. The activity of antioxidant enzymes including catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase were increased in response to the selenium treatments. The protease activity displayed a similar upward trend following the selenium treatments.
Mehri Farzadi, Reza Khakvar, Abolghasem Mohammadi, Thomas Rattai,
Volume 9, Issue 4 (3-2023)
Abstract
Urmia Lake is the largest lake in the Iranian plateau and the second largest Salt Lake in the world. This study was conducted to identify hypersaline bacteria in the lake through the screening with molecular markers. For the molecular study of the bacterial microbiome of the lake, samples were collected from water, sludge and soil of the different parts of the lake during different seasons of 2018 and 2019, and then transferred to the laboratory under standard conditions. Bacterial isolates were purified from the samples using universal culture media. ERIC molecular marker was used to study the species diversity. After clustering analysis of the species on the basis of their genetic markers, one bacterium from each cluster was selected as the representative of each cluster and then identified by DNA barcoding method using the 16srDNA. Biochemical tests were performed to confirm the molecular results. In total, 102 bacterial isolates were isolated and purified from the samples, of which only 29 isolates were extremely-halophilic. The molecular diversity of isolates, based on ERIC molecular marker, showed that isolates can be assigned to five different clusters. Five isolates selected from each cluster were selected and their 16SrDNA region were amplified and sequenced with 16SrDNA-specific primers. The results showed that the five selected isolates with 99% similarity belonged to the species Microbulbifer halophilus, Halomonas salina, Bacillus sonorensis, Salinivibrio costicola and Bacillus aquimaris. The results of molecular identification were consistent with the results of biochemical tests.
Elmira Shokoohi, Omid Sofalian, Ali Asghari, Saeid Khomari, Behrooz Esmaielpour, Hamed Aflatooni,
Volume 10, Issue 2 (9-2023)
Abstract
Chickpea is one of the most important plants of the legume family and is very important in the diet. In order to investigate the genetic diversity of chickpea, an experiment was conducted with 18 chickpea genotypes in the form of a completely to investigate the genetic diversity of chickpea, an experiment was conducted with 18 chickpea genotypes in the form of a completely randomized block design. After acclimatization of plants to cold, freezing treatment was applied at temperatures of -6, -8 and -10 and their 50% lethality temperature (LT50) was determined by probit transformation. Before and after the habituation stage, a leaf sample was taken and the relative content of leaf water, photosynthetic pigments, proline, soluble sugar, protein percentage, catalase, peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase and greenness index were measured. Genotype number 5 with the lowest LT50 (-8.86) and the highest survival percentage (80%) was the most resistant genotype and genotype 10 with the highest LT50 (-3.57) and the lowest survival percentage along with genotype 15 were recognized as the most sensitive genotypes. In order to evaluate genetic diversity, DNA extraction was utilized and 21 different ISSR primers were used in the investigation. The results showed the presence of polymorphism among the cultivars studied. A total of 101 clear bands were produced, of which 94 were polymorphic bands. Polymorphic information content (PIC) was in the range of 0.332 (initiator 7) to 0.049 (initiator 16). The amount of gene diversity was between 0.126 and 0.977 changes. Cluster analysis of genotypes was done using Jaccard similarity coefficient and UPGMA method
Atiqullah Sultani Ahmadzai, Hamid Ejtehadi, Mohammad Farzam, Maral Bashirzadeh, Farideh Attar, Mohammad Reza Joharchi,
Volume 10, Issue 3 (12-2023)
Abstract
The new species Onosma nuristanica is described and illustrated here on the basis of specimens collected from Parun in Nuristan and Chapa Dareh in Kunar, one of the eastern provinces of Afghanistan. An extensive review of the literature and a comparative study with specimens from several herbaria led to the determine of this new species. Our results represent significant divergence between studied specimens in terms of the most important morphological features, i.e., flower color, pedicel length, bract length filaments length, cauline shape and form. In this article, a detailed description of the new species and a diagnostic key for Onosma species thriving in Afghanistan are provided and the new species is compared morphologically with its closely related species. In addition, a distribution map is provided for the new species and its close relatives in the area.
Zeinab Mollaie, Leila Karami, Elham Rezaee, Gilda Karimi,
Volume 10, Issue 3 (12-2023)
Abstract
It has been found that the second isoform of COX enzyme known as COX-2 plays an important role in inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Thus, designing COX-2 inhibitors to treat inflammation is among the most important goals of researchers. In this study, the inhibitory effect of 3 new imidazole derivatives on COX-2 was evaluated by in silico approach. Molecular docking was done using Autodock Vina and the best binding mode of inhibitors was used as input of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. MD was performed using Gromacs software for 120 ns. Then, structural and thermodynamic analyzes (ΔGbinding) and prediction of physicochemical properties were performed. RMSD data showed the compounds reached a good equilibrium and had favorable stability during simulation. Also, the RMSF showed that due to binding of inhibitors, the fluctuations of complexes decreased and the active site residues had the lowest amount. Rg, SASA and DSSP analysis showed that the protein structure did not change significantly. It was also found that Ser530 and Tyr355 residues play a more effective role in hydrogen bond formation. Physicochemical parameters determined the good drug-likeness properties for all compounds. Structural and thermodynamic analyzes (MM-PBSA) and IC50 data indicate the favorable inhibitory effect of compound 5b.
