---

Yarrowia lipolytica, as a good cell factory to speed up the production of plant pharmaceutical components, has been considered to be one of the most important and attractive micro-organisms in recent years, due to its high secretion capacity, limited glycosylation, large range of genetic markers and molecular tools. Naringenin, as a central core of flavonoids production, plays important roles both in plants and in the treatment of different types of human diseases. For this purpose, specific naringenin biosynthesis genes from different origins were selected and introduced after comparative expression profiling in Y. lipolytica. This research indicated that chs plays the main role in the production of naringenin, so the increase copy number of this gene in each construct was investigated. The HPLC results confirmed that the construct with 5 copy numbers of chs resulted in 7.14 fold increase of naringenin extracellular titer to 90.16 mg/L in shake flask cultures. The results reported in this study demonstrated that sufficient knowledge of genes involved in the specific biosynthesis pathway, synthetic gene pathway and using Y. lipolytica as a capable and cheap host could help bioengineers to produce significant amounts of pharmaceutical components.
 
 

---

Coccidian (Apicomplexa: Coccidia) parasites have been reported in almost all groups of vertebrates. These parasites may cause serious ecological and pathological effects to their hosts. Reptiles were found the be the host of the parasites of the genera Schellackia and Lankesterella, as these parasites undergo their entire life cycle in the reptilian body, with an intermediate stage of dormancy in the tissues of a hematophagus transmitter (generally a mite or a mosquito), until the next reptilian host swallows the infected insect. However, very little is known about the prevalence and intensity of these parasites in most of their distribution area, which is the focus of the current study. To do so, the prevalence and intensity of these blood parasites in three species of lizards, including Ophisops elegans, Trapelus lessonae and Eremias monticola from Markazi Province of Iran were investigated. Samples of blood were collected from the caudal vein of 51 lizards of the aforementioned species by insulin syringes, then the blood smears were dried, fixed with methanol and stained with Giemsa solution. Prepared blood samples were then examined by means of light microscopy, using a 100× magnification objective lens. 41 percent of the 51 examined samples were found to be infected by haemococcidians blood parasites from the family Lankesterellidae. The mean intensity of parasites in the three species were between 0.03-0.05%. The investigation revealed a relatively high percentage of prevalence and intensity of blood parasites in lizards of central part of Iran. The results showed the presence of a complete set of various vectors for the spread of haemoparasites in the area. Therefore, future researches are strongly recommended to utilize genetic markers in order to obtain a better identification of the parasites.
 
 

---

Arceuthobium oxycedri is commonly known as dwarf mistletoe and grows on and infects cypress species. The semi-parasitic plant was observed in three locations of Juniper Reza Abad in Semnan Province, Chahar Bagh Area of Gorgan and Zanjan Province. In this study, the anatomical and micromorphological characteristics of the species were evaluated to facilitate the identification of this semi-parasitic species in Golestan province. The outcomes of the analysis indicated that the estimation of infestation rate in dwarf shrub trees is unattainable through factors such as canopy percentage, stand gender, slope percentage, and slope orientation. Examination of the stem's transverse section revealed that, across all three elevations, there were no variations in brain size between the semicircular cross-section and the sink's thickness. Analysis of pollen demonstrated that every pollen grain is classified as Monad, exhibiting three to five deep and asymmetric grooves of varying sizes (tricolpate). In regards to their morphology, they exhibit an oblatespheroidal shape adorned with sharp exine decorations. Overall, given the novelty of this study on dwarf mistletoe species, the discoveries hold significant systematic implications for the identification of analogous species documented in alternative juniper habitats within Iran.