The Effect of Anabasis articulata Stems Extract on Lowering Intraocular Pressure in the Glaucoma Rat Model(Conference Paper )#

High intraocular pressure (IOP) is a recognized risk factor for glaucoma and optic nerve injury, and it is one of the primary causes of vision loss globally. Anabasis articulata (AA) is a desert plant found in Iraq. The extract of AA is used to cure diabetes, fever, eczema, and kidney infections. The aim of the study is to evaluate the antioxidant effect of methanol extract of AA on intraocular pressure in the glaucoma rat model. Forty-two rats were allocated into seven groups, each with six animals:: group 1 (normal), group 2 (control), in which animals were induced to have elevated IOP by betamethasone suspension injection, groups 3,4 and 5 for evaluating the effect of 50,100 and 150 mg/kg/day of the tested extract, respectively, and the remaining two groups (group 6 and 7) for evaluating oral acetazolamide and topical timolol 0.5% respectively. Betamethasone was used for the induction. Measure the IOP every 2 days for 2 weeks. The daily dose of AA extract (50 mg/kg/day) for 6 days significantly reduces intraocular pressure (p ? 0.05), from (34.23± 0.58) to (32.83± 1.38) mmHg when compared with the control group. In group 4, IOP decreased significantly from (35.5±1.37) to (31.35±0.40) mmHg (p ? 0.05) after 1 week of treatment. In group 5, the significant (p? 0.001) IOP reduction from (35.66±0.39) to (31.88±0.74) mmHg started on day 6 and continued until the end of the experiment, reaching (24.53±0.53) mmHg (p? 0.001). The antioxidant and anti-angiogenic properties of AA make it a promising adjuvant treatment for glaucoma.

Integrated de novo Analysis of Transcriptional and Metabolic Variations in Salt-Treated Solenostemma argel Desert Plants

Solenostemma argel (Delile) Hayne is a desert plant that survives harsh environmental conditions with several vital medicinal properties. Salt stress is a major constraint limiting agricultural production around the globe. However, response mechanisms behind the adaptation of S. argel plants to salt stress are still poorly understood. In the current study, we applied an omics approach to explore how this plant adapts to salt stress by integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic changes in the roots and leaves of S. argel plants under salt stress. De novo assembly of transcriptome produced 57,796 unigenes represented by 165,147 transcripts/isoforms. A total of 730 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the roots (396 and 334 were up- and down-regulated, respectively). In the leaves, 927 DEGs were identified (601 and 326 were up- and down-regulated, respectively). Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes And Genomes pathway enrichment analyses revealed that several defense-related biological processes, such as response to osmotic and oxidative stress, hormonal signal transduction, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways are the potential mechanisms involved in the tolerance of S. argel plants to salt stress. Furthermore, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to detect the metabolic variations of the leaves and roots of S. argel under control and salt stress. 45 and 56 critical metabolites showed changes in their levels in the stressed roots and leaves, respectively; there were 20 metabolites in common between the roots and leaves. Differentially accumulated metabolites included amino acids, polyamines, hydroxycinnamic acids, monolignols, flavonoids, and saccharides that improve antioxidant ability and osmotic adjustment of S. argel plants under salt stress. The results present insights into potential salt response mechanisms in S. argel desert plants and increase the knowledge in order to generate more tolerant crops to salt stress.

Selection of the reference genes for quantitative gene expression by RT-qPCR in the desert plant Stipagrostis pennata

The desert pioneer plant Stipagrostis pennata plays an important role in sand fixation, wind prevention, and desert ecosystem recovery. An absence of reference genes greatly limits investigations into the regulatory mechanism by which S. pennata adapts to adverse desert environments at the molecular and genetic levels. In this study, eight candidate reference genes were identified from rhizosheath development transcriptome data from S. pennata, and their expression stability in the rhizosheaths at different development stages, in a variety of plant tissues, and under drought stress was evaluated using four procedures, including geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and RefFinder. The results showed that GAPDH and elF were the most stable reference genes under drought stress and in rhizosheath development, and ARP6 and ALDH were relatively stable in all plant tissues. In addition, elF was the most suitable reference gene for all treatments. Analysis of the consistency between the reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and RNA sequencing data showed that the identified elF and GAPDH reference genes were stable during rhizosheath development. These results provide reliable reference genes for assuring the accuracy of RT-qPCR and offer a foundation for further investigations into the genetic responses of S. pennata to abiotic stress.

Evaluation of The Efficiency of Some Desert Plant Extracts in The Growth of Agaricus Bisporus and The Inhibition of Some of Its Pathogens

Seven isolates of Pseudomonas spp. were isolated from the casing soil and 11 fungal isolates were isolated from the spent compost in the Mushroom Farm - College of Agriculture - Tikrit University. According to the pathogenicity test against Agaricus bisporus fruit bodies, the results showed that the highest infection rate was recorded in the bacterial isolate 1077by 77.45%, while the fungal isolate 1076 showed the highest pathogenicity against Agaricus bisporus fruit bodies by recording the highest infection rate reached to 81.23%. The pathogenic bacteria and fungi isolates were phenotypically identified to the species level as Pseudomonas tolaasii and Trichoderma harzianum, respectively. The results showed the alcoholic extracts of Atriplex tatarica and Haloxylon salicornicum were superior in the active substances compared to other extracts, the highest percentage of total alkaloids, tannins, saponins, phenols and flavonoids was 35.14, 44.79, 43.47, 32.05 and 31.66 mg/g in the alcoholic extract of A. tatarica, respectively, while the alcoholic extract of H. salicornicum had the highest percentage of glycosides, which amounted to 41.89 mg/g of the extract. The highest efficiency of A. tatarica alcoholic extract in inhibiting the pathogenic fungus T. harzianum, was recorded, as the colony diameter was 3.1 cm in concentration of 4 mg/mL compared to 8.9 cm in the control treatment, while the H. salicornicum alcoholic extract was superior in inhibiting the pathogenic bacteria at the same concentration, in which the inhibition zone was 15.67 mm compared to no inhibition in the control treatment. While there was little effect of alcoholic extracts of both plants on the growth of A. bisporus. The results of the dry powders effect for both plants showed that the highest inhibition against the pathogenic fungus T. harzianum was recorded by the A. tatarica powder at 2% concentration, reaching 5.01 cm, while the H. salicornicum powder showed the highest inhibition against the bacteria P.tolaasii at the same concentration in which the number of cells reached to 3.23 x 107 cells/mL compared to 6.6 x 107 cells/mL in the control treatment. The results also showed the highest growth of A. bisporus that reached 9 cm for all powdered concentrations of both plants.