Khushi Muhammad

Pollution Problem in River Kabul: Accumulation Estimates of Heavy Metals in Native Fish Species

The contamination of aquatic systems with heavy metals is affecting the fish population and hence results in a decline of productivity rate. River Kabul is a transcountry river originating at Paghman province in Afghanistan and inters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and it is the major source of irrigation and more than 54 fish species have been reported in the river. Present study aimed at the estimation of heavy metals load in the fish living in River Kabul. Heavy metals including chromium, nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead were determined through atomic absorption spectrophotometer after tissue digestion by adopting standard procedures. Concentrations of these metals were recorded in muscles and liver of five native fish species, namely, Wallago attu, Aorichthys seenghala, Cyprinus carpio, Labeo dyocheilus, and Ompok bimaculatus. The concentrations of chromium, nickel, copper, zinc, and lead were higher in both of the tissues, whereas the concentration of cadmium was comparatively low. However, the concentration of metals was exceeding the RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance of USA) limits. Hence, continuous fish consumption may create health problems for the consumers. The results of the present study are alarming and suggest implementing environmental laws and initiation of a biomonitoring program of the river.

Cloning, E. coli expression, and characterization of heart lactate dehydrogenase B from river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).

Lactate dehydrogenase is an enzyme of glycolytic pathway which catalyzes the interconversion of pyruvate and lactate. The present study describes cDNA cloning, E. coli expression and characterization of lactate dehydrogenase B (LDH-B) from the heart ventricles of river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). Total RNA was isolated from the heart tissue, a 1005bp cDNA encoding complete polypeptide chain of 334 amino acids was generated by reverse transcriptase reaction and analyzed for nucleotide sequence. The consensus sequence obtained from both strands has shown 84% to 98% homology with that of different mammalian species. The attributed gene was cloned, expressed in BL21 (DE3) RIPL Codon Plus strain of E. coli using pET21a (+) plasmid. The purified recombinant enzyme displayed a KM value of 50 µM for pyruvate, an optimum activity at 35°C and pH 7.0. The enzyme was found as a homotetramer of 140 kDa on FPLC based gel-filtration column. Molecular weight of a subunit of enzyme as determined by mass spectrometric analysis was 36530.21 Da. The present study describes the first ever report about the cDNA sequence and characteristics of recombinant LDH-B from River buffalo.

A Report on Incidence of Malarial Disease in Local Population of Barikot, Swat

| Present study was carried out in local population of Barikot, District Swat for incidence of malarial disease. For this purpose a total of 997 individuals were screened for malarial test in the study area and divided into four category of age i.e. (1-15), (16-30), (31-45), (46-onward), gender wise, union council (Kota, Barikot, Shamozo and Ghalegi) and month wise. It was concluded that out of 997 samples, 204 (20.46%) were found positive, in which mostly under positive, under 15 year of age (23.36%), whereas less cases were recorded in adult (46 and above) 22.64. Most of the positive cases were found in the month of November, 24 out of 67 (35.82%) and less cases were noted in the month of May which are 12 out of 106 (11.32%). Incidence of the cases were found in U.C Kota with 60 positive (26.08%) out of 230 blood samples and low prevalence in U.C Ghalaigai with 42 positive (13.12%) out of 320 samples. Gender wise prevalence of malaria disease shows male 106 (27.53%) out of 385 whereas female 98 (16.01%) out of 612. Article History Received: March 15, 2018 Revised: April 24, 2018 Accepted: April 24, 2018 Published: May 15, 2018 Authors’ Contributions MS was the principal investigater and SAM was Co-PI of the project. MA collected the dataand IA re-arranged it. SA, KS and KM reviewed the data.

Inv estigation of Genetic Diversity among Medicago species Using RAPD Markers

Aims: Medicago is known as the Queen of forage with potential economic importance to our society. The present study aimed at the use of RAPD-PCR DNA marker to identify the genetic fingerprints affinities of six species of Alfalfa. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Department of Genetics, Garden Campus, Hazara University, Mansehra Pakistan during February, 2011 to August, 2013. Methodology: In this study, six species of Medicago namely TWAL (Tetraploid Wisconsin Alfalfa Line), Medicago arborea, Medicago falcata, Medicago sativa, Medicago lupulina and Medicago polymorpha were used to explore the diversity of alfalfa. Seven out of 120 decamers produced 34 polymorphic loci with 100% polymorphism to identify the different species of Medicago crop. The Original Research Article Murtaza et al.; BBJ, 6(2):79-86, 2015; Article no.BBJ.2015.029 80 range of polymorphic loci was observed from 300 to 700 bp. Eleven species specific loci were generated by seven decamers. Primer B-18 generated single specific locus 700 bp against genomic DNA of M. lupulina and it is important to identify particular species of Alfalfa. The bivariate data were recorded as the presence of locus 1 and absence 0 and then this data was transferred into A and C respectively to make it suitable for DNAMAN software (version 5.2.2.0; Applied Biostatistics Inc). Moreover, cluster analysis was performed using sequence alignment and divergence function of the DNAMAN against the bivariate data collected from the products of decamers. All members clustered in a unique pattern except M. falcata and M. lupulina those shared 86% homology. Three distinct groups were observed during UPGMA (Unweighted pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean). During the phylogenetic study, TWAL was observed to have genetic diversity from other five species of Alfalfa. Conclusion: So, the present study is enabling us to discriminate different species of Alfalfa and it could be useful to identify and authenticate different species of the same genus of medicinal important plant from the Flora of Pakistan.