African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12480

Table of Content: June 2003; 2(6)

June 2003

Plant retroviruses: structure, evolution and future applications

  Retroelements, which replicate by reverse transcription, have been detected in higher plants, higher animals, fungi, insects and bacteria. They have been classified into viral retroelements, eukaryotic chromosomal non-viral retroelements and bacterial chromosomal retroelements. Until recently, retroviruses were thought to be restricted to vertebrates.  Plant sequencing projects revealed that plant...

Author(s): Essam A. Zaki 

June 2003

Bacillus pumilus BpCRI 6, a promising candidate for cellulase production under conditions of catabolite repression

  Cellulose degrading organisms have been used for the conversion of cellulolytic materials into soluble sugars or solvents in several biotechnological and industrial applications. In this report, a mutant of Bacillus pumilus was obtained after chemical mutagenesis and screened for cellulase production. This mutant named BpCRI 6 was selected for its ability to produce cellulase under...

Author(s): Kotchoni O.S.†, Shonukan O.O. and Gachomo W.E.

June 2003

Production of poly-b-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and differentiation of putative Bacillus mutant strains by SDS-PAGE of total cell protein

  In this study, the putative mutant strains of Bacillus megaterium Y6, B. subtilis K8, B. sphaericus X3 and B. firmus G2 were studied for their poly-b-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) production capacities. Mutations were induced by using UV light, acriflavin and 5-bromourasil. Total cell proteins were extracted from 59 strains and compared using SDS-PAGE. For...

Author(s):   Hikmet KatırcıoÄŸlu, Belma Aslım, Zehra Nur Yüksekdað, Nazime Mercan, Yavuz Beyatlı

June 2003

Cellulase Production by Aspergillus flavus Linn Isolate NSPR 101 fermented in sawdust, bagasse and corncob

  Bagasse, corncob and sawdust were used as lignocellulosic substrates for the production of cellulase enzyme using Aspergillus flavus after ballmilling and pretreatment with caustic soda.  From the fermentation studies, sawdust gave the best result with an enzyme activity value of 0.0743IU/ml while bagasse and corncob gave 0.0573IU/ml and 0.0502IU/ml respectively. The three lignocellulosics gave their...

Author(s): Ojumu Tunde Victor, Solomon Bamidele Ogbe, Betiku Eriola, Layokun Stephen Kolawole And Amigun Bamikole

June 2003

Detection of DNA alteration in abnormal phenotype of broiler chicken male by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

  RAPD technique was used in this study to detect DNA band variations between both normal and abnormal male of broiler chicken based on RAPD marker. DNA polymorphisms between normal and mutant birds were detected using fifteen oligonucleiotide primers. Using these primers, DNA band loss ranged from 25 to 75%. Data demonstrated that RAPD marker could detect DNA alterations.   Keywords: DNA...

Author(s): Bahy Ahmed Ali

June 2003

Amplification of 1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylic (ACC) deaminase from plant growth promoting rhizobacteria in Striga-infested soil

  Experiments were conducted in pots to determine the growth effect of different rhizobacteria on maize under Striga hermonthica infestation. Three bacteria were selected based on their plant growth promoting effects. Whole bacterial cells of the rhizobacteria were used to amplify 1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Each bacterial inoculation...

Author(s): Olubukola O. Babalola, Ellie O. Osir , Abiodun I. Sanni, George D. Odhiambo, and  Wallace D. Bulimo,

June 2003

In-vitro inhibition of growth of some seedling blight inducing pathogens by compost-inhabiting microbes

  Compost-inhabiting bacteria were studied for their effect on seedling blight inducing pathogens. Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma harzianum, Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis were the microbes found associated with cow dung, sawdust and rice husk composted soils. Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium oxysporum, Pythium aphanidermatum and Macrophomina...

Author(s): S. Muhammad and N. A. Amusa

June 2003

Isolation, characterization, and phylogenetic analysis of copia-like retrotransposons in the Egyptian cotton Gossypium barbadense and its progenitors

  We have used the polymerase chain reaction to analyze copia-like retrotransposons in the Egyptian cotton and its progenitors. All three cotton species studied contain reverse transcriptase fragments from copia-like retrotransposons. Sequence analysis of these reverse transcriptase fragments reveals that each is different from the others, with predicted amino acid diversities between 9 and 94%. The...

Author(s): Abdel Ghany A. Abdel Ghany and Essam A. Zaki