Sayed A. M. Amer

Preliminary molecular identification of a predatory bug, Orius albidipennis, collected from ornamental plants

Abstract Orius albidipennis (Reuter) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) is a generalist predator used for biological control of insects attacking ornamental plants. Molecular identification of this species using internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) of ribosomal DNA was conducted for the first time. The complete sequence of ITS1 and fragments of its flanking 18S and 5.8S rDNA genes are reported herein. The estimated length of ITS1 of O. albidipennis was 305 bp. This spacer was nearly identical to its counterpart of Orius sp-Taif strain in spite of the difference in their length. The phylogentic relationships were determined using the maximum-likelihood method supported with strong bootstrap probabilities clustering of both taxa together. Further molecular markers could be useful to identify the Taif strain and support its sister relationship to the Egyptian O. albidipennis.

Protective Role of Some Antioxidants on Arsenic Toxicity in Male Mice: Physiological and Histopathological Perspectives

The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of some natural and artificial antioxidants on the hepato-renal injuries induced by arsenic toxicity. Sixty adult male albino mice weighing 30-40 g were subjected to a sub-lethal dose of sodium arsenate (40 mg/kg body weight) to investigate hematological, biochemical and histopathological alterations resulting from arsenic-induced hepato-renal toxicity. Arsenic-exposed mice were also co-treated with different antioxidants including green tea, garlic and vitamin C to reveal their potential protective role. The antioxidants induced normalization of all blood parameters that showed significant declines by arsenic toxicity. ALT and AST activities were significantly increased in sodium arsenate treated group compared to all other groups. The enzymatic activities did not acquire insignificant differences in antioxidants-treated groups compared to the control mice. Creatinine and urea levels were significantly increased in arsenate treated mice and become normal in mice co-treated with different antioxidants. Histolopatholgical findings in liver sections from arsenate treated mice were represented by venous congestion, sinusoidal dilatation, mononuclear cell infiltration and periportal fibrosis. Simultaneously, renal sections from mice in the same groups revealed interstitial hemorrhages and mononuclear cell infiltration, glomerulonephritis and proximal tubular necrosis. The hepatic and renal histopathological alterations were greatly reduced particularly in groups received combined antioxidants treatment. In conclusion, the antioxidants used in this study exhibited potential protective capacity for the hepato-renal induced arsenic toxicity in male mice.

Efficient Newly Designed Primers for the Amplification and Sequencing of Bird Mitochondrial Genomes

In the present study, 27 mitochondrial genomes of diverse avian supra-orders were collected from the Genbank database and their genes were aligned separately. From the alignments, the conserved sequences were selected to design novel conserved primers for amplification and sequencing of the different mitochondrial genes. The reproducibility of these primers was tested in the amplification and sequencing of diverse avian supra-order mitochondrial genomes and was confirmed. This method helped in designing a new set of primers to accelerate both the amplification and the sequencing of bird mitogenomes. It also aids in building mitogenome markers in studying the genetic framework of endemic birds as a preliminary strategy for conservation management of them.

Molecular variability of Chrysoperla Steinmann, 1964 (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) inhabiting western Saudi Arabia

Abstract. The large ribosomal RNA subunit (16S rRNA) and cytochrome C subunit 3 (CO3) genes have been partially amplified and sequenced for the species of Chrysoperla Steinmann, 1964 (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) inhabiting the western part of Saudi Arabia to examine their molecular variability. Insect samples were collected from three distant localities, which were Tabouk in the north, Jeddah in the middle and Jazan in the south of the country. The concatenated sequences (904 bp) have been manipulated by three analytical methods (maximum-parsimony, neighbor-joining and maximum-likelihood) producing one fixed tree. The tree topology divided, with strong statistical supports, Saudi Arabian Chrysoperla into two clusters. Jeddah and Tabouk samples clustered (BP = 100%) with both Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens, 1836) and Chrysoperla nipponensis (Okamoto, 1914), while Jazan samples grouped (BP = 100%) with Dichochrysa tacta (Navás, 1921). Both pairwise genetic distances obtained from the concatenated data and amino acid substitution in CO3 gene supported this division. It could be concluded that Saudi Arabian Chrysoperla constitutes a species complex and requires further molecular investigation.

Mitochondrial DNA Variability within Uromastyx ornata philbyi (Agamidae: Squamata) from Southwestern Saudi Arabia.

Approximately 2.4 kbp of mitochondrial DNA was sequenced from 9 individuals of Uromastyx ornata philbyi originating from Taif, Namas, Al-Baha, and Jazan in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The sequenced regions cover eight tRNA genes (tRNAGln, tRNAIle, tRNAMet, tRNATrp, tRNAAla, tRNAAsn, tRNACys, and tRNATyr) and two protein-coding genes (NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and cytochrome b). U. ornata philbyi had an insertion of 170 bp length between tRNAGln and tRNAIle genes. The first 128 bp of this insertion was similar to the one identified earlier in U. ornata ornata and can be folded into a stem-and-loop structure, which was less stable in U. ornata philbyi than in U. ornata ornata, or the second tRNAGln gene. The next 42 bp of the insertion was unique in U. ornata philbyi and additionally retained a stable stem-and-loop structure. Most base substitutions found in the sequenced genes were synonymous transitions rather than transversions. Tree analyses supported the sister group relationship between the two U. ornata subspecies and divided U. ornata philbyi into two groups: Taif+Namas group in the east of Sarawat and Al-Baha+Jazan group in the west of Sarawat. These molecular data are in agreement with current classification of U. ornata.

Tropical grasshopper glutathione-S-transferase and detoxification of plant allelochemicals in Calotropis procera

Poecilocerus bufonius inhabits Saudi Arabia and uses Calotropis procera as its main host plant. Cardenolids of this plant are used by this grasshopper as chemical defence against the natural enemies. The activity of enzyme detoxification in mid-gut wall for these allelochemicals has been determined in this study. Results indicate that the activity of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) was significantly higher after 24 hours of feeding on the main host plant but no difference has been found after one, two, four and five hours of feeding.

Genetic variability of the tropical grasshopper Poecilocerus bufonius in Saudi Arabia

Electrophoresis for SDS-proteins and isoenzymes was applied to investigate the genetic variability within the tropical grasshopper Poecilocerus bufonius, which inhabits Saudi Arabia. Samples were selected from different localities that are encompassing the Sarawat Mountains in the west and An-Nafud desert in the north and middle. A range of 2 to 14 protein bands were recorded in the studied samples as measured by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, from which only two were common. The maximum number of protein bands has been recorded in the samples from the west and the minimum number has been recorded in the samples from the north and middle. Six arbitrary chosen enzymes were examined by native-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. They were peroxidase (Px), aldehyde oxidase (Ao), acid phosphatase (Acph), alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh), á and â ePsterase (Est). Fourteen presumptive gene loci and 26 polymorphic alleles have been recorded with the highest number of alleles in Taif and minimum number of alleles in Qassim. Adh, Px and Acph have not been recorded in samples from the localities of An-Nafud desert. The samples from Taif (Sarawat Mountains) were more genetically variable than the samples from other localities. Most of alleles were monomeric but only the Px-1 showed trimeric alleles in samples from Taif.

Ameliorative Effect of Natural and Synthetic Antioxidants on Arsenic Toxicity in Male Mice: Biochemical and Histological Perspectives

The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of some natural and artificial antioxidants on the hepato-renal injuries induced by arsenic toxicity. Sixty adult male albino mice weighing 30-40 g were subjected to a sub-lethal dose of sodium arsenate (40 mg/kg body weight) to investigate hematological, biochemical and histopathological alterations resulting from arsenic-induced hepato-renal toxicity. Arsenic-exposed mice were also co-treated with different antioxidants including green tea, garlic and vitamin C to reveal their potential protective role. The antioxidants induced normalization of all blood parameters that showed significant declines by arsenic toxicity. ALT and AST activities were significantly increased in sodium arsenate treated group compared to all other groups. These enzymes did not acquire insignificant differences in antioxidants-treated groups compared to the control mice. Creatinine and urea were significantly increased in arsenate treated mice and become normal in mice co-treated with different antioxidants. Liver sections of arsenate treated mice showed venous congestion, sinusoidal dilatation, mononuclear cell infiltration and periportal fibrosis. Renal sections in the same groups revealed interstitial hemorrhages, mononuclear cell infiltration, glomerulonephritis and proximal tubular necrosis. Hepato-renal histopathology was greatly reduced, particularly, in groups received Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 13 July 2018 doi:10.20944/preprints201807.0235.v1

Physiological and molecular study on the anti-obesity effects of pineapple (Ananas comosus) juice in male Wistar rat

The present study was performed to assess anti-obesity effects of raw pineapple juice in high fat diet (HFD)-induced fatness. Based on food type, rats were divided into normal diet and HFD groups. When animals of HFD group become obese, they were given pineapple juice along with either HFD or normal diet. Blood biochemistry, liver and muscle gene expressions were analyzed. HFD induced significant elevations in body weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat accumulation, liver fat deposition and blood lipids while juice restored these parameters near to their normal values. Juice significantly decreased serum insulin and leptin while adiponectin was increased. Juice administration downregulated the increment of FAS and SERBP-1c mRNA expression in liver and upregulated HSL and GLUT-2 expressions. The muscular lipolytic CPT-1 expression was upregulted by juice treatment. Pineapple juice, therefore, may possibly be used as anti-obesity candidate where it decreased lipogenesis and increased lipolysis.

Amplification and sequencing of energy related mitochondrial genes for some domestic animals in Saudi Arabia

The sequences of mitochondrial genes encoding for cytochrome C oxidase subunits 1 and 2 (CO1 and CO2), ATPase synthase subunit 6 (ATP6) and cytochrome b (cytb) were collected from the Genbank database for some domestic animals and were aligned manually. The conserved regions were selected to design new primers for amplification and sequencing these genes. The designed primers produced positive amplification and sequencing results in spite of the high genetic variability shown among the studied animals. This method is expected to accelerate both amplification and sequencing domestic animals mitogenomes. This could aid to understand the domestic animals genetic framework necessary for conservation and breeding management.