A study of the financially risk associated with cross border trading of equities and its effect to OSK investor / Nor Akmar Abdullah

This research studies on financially risk associated with cross border trading of equities and its effect to OSK investor. Foreign equities also known as foreign share is a cross border trades of securities or stock listing in the market beside home countries’ market. Foreign share offers wider choice of stocks and give greater opportunity to investor since it included ninety percent of the world’s total wealth in stock market. In the literature, there are many empirical studies to disclose the relationship between risk such as liquidity, investment, capital, exchange rate, market, currency, credit etc. and foreign equities. However, the scope of this study focuses on most common type of risk involves and its effect to OSKIB investor who trade beyond Malaysia stock exchange. This study will focus on financial risk that divide into translation and transaction risk. The objective of the study is to determine whether the risk involve in cross border trading of equities affect the investment return. As a result, this study found that financially risk of cross border trade affect return on investment of OSK investor. This outcome may improve the knowledge of financially risk of foreign share for OSKIB investor since this scope of study is new phenomenon in Malaysia

Identification of physical and biochemical characteristic of mandarin (Citrus reticulata) fruit infected by Huanglongbing (HLB).

This study was conducted on an infected 8 year old Citrus reticulata orchard in Terengganu, Malaysia. Huanglongbing (HLB) was successfully detected using conventional PCR in samples with blotchy mottling and midrib yellowing symptoms. Different treatments of antibiotic (Oxi-tetracycline), GA3 and foliar fertilizer were tested on the HLB-infected citrus plants. The chemical treatments were applied before flowering (February 2008) and during fruit set (June 2008). Changes in fruit quantity and quality parameters of Citrus reticulata were studied after harvesting. Low titratable acidity (TA) was measured on T7, T6 and a high rate of TA was achieved on T8 as control. High SSC percentage was recorded in T7 followed by T2 and T8. A high peel thickness percentage, fruit weight, was recorded on T7 and T2 while low values were observed on T8 and T5. High juice percentage was recorded on T2 followed by T7 and low juice percentage was recorded on control (T8). High pulp percentage was observed on T2 followed by T7 and a low rate was measured on T8.Finally, the best treatments were T7 and T4 to increase the HLB-infected fruit quantity and quality

Ultrastructures of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus and its damage in huanglongbing (HLB) infected citrus

Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus is not cultured in media and there is insufficient information on the movement of the pathogen in citrus plants. Samples were collected from infected citrus plants grown in Ulu Pakar, Terengganu, Malaysia and they show typical symptoms of the huanglongbing (HLB) disease. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specific primer pairs of OI1 and OI2c was conducted to assess the presence and to amplify the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in infected plants. The samples were then examined under transmission electron microscope for the determination and identification of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. The spherical and rod shaped particles of this agent were found in phloem cells. The length of the bacteria ranged from 594.57 to 1368.16 nm (mean 930.09 nm) and its width ranged from 201.68 to 811.15 nm (mean 410.61nm). Cell wall membranes were irregular in shape and were of different thickness. Damage was caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus penetrating through the cell wall and their movement between cells. This study was conducted to confirm the presence of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus pathogen in citrus plant using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and to identify the cell wall modifications of the phloem.Keywords: Citrus greening disease, huanglongbing, transmission electron microscopeAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(36), pp. 5897-5901, 6 September, 201

Metal inducible activity of the oil palm metallothionein-like gene promoter (MT3-A) in prokaryotes.

Reporter gene activity under the regulation of the oil palm metallothionein-like gene, MT3-A promoter was assessed in prokaryotes. Vector constructs containing MT3-A promoter with (W1MT3-A) and without (W2MT3-A) five prime untranslated region (5'-UTR) fused to ß-glucuronidase (GUS) gene in pCAMBIA 1304 vector were produced. 5'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) using mRNA isolated from Escherichia coli and Agrobacterium tumefaciens harboring W1MT3-A confirmed that fusion transcripts of MT3-A 5'-UTR-GUS were successfully produced in both bacteria. Competitive PCR and GUS fluorometric assay showed changes in the level of GUS gene transcripts and enzyme activity in response to increasing concentrations of Cu²+ and Zn²+. The application of Cu²+ increased GUS activity and GUS mRNA level in both bacteria. In E. coli, a high level of GUS activity driven by W1MT3-A and W2MT3-A was observed in treatment with 25 μM Cu²+ resulting in an increase in the GUS mRNA level to 7.2 and 7.5 x 10⁻⁴ pmol/μl respectively, compared to the control (5.1 x 10⁻⁴ pmol/μl). The lowest GUS activity and GUS mRNA level were obtained for W1MT3-A and W2MT3-A in the presence of 100 μM Cu²+ in both bacteria compared to the control (without Cu²+). The application of different Zn²+ concentrations resulted in a strong decrease in the GUS activity and GUS mRNA level in E. coli and A. tumefaciens. These findings showed that the oil palm MT3-A promoter is functional in prokaryotes and produced detectable GUS transcripts and enzyme activities. This promoter may potentially be used in prokaryotic systems which require metal inducible gene expression

An efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of strawberry cv. camarosa by dual plasmid system

An Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method was applied to introduce the luciferase reporter gene under the control of the CaMV35S promoter in the pGreen0049 binary vector into strawberry cv. Camarosa. The in vitro regeneration system of strawberry leaves to be used in the transformation was optimized using different TDZ concentrations in MS medium. TDZ at 16 µM showed the highest percentage (100%) of shoot formation and the highest mean number of shoots (24) produced per explant. Studies on the effects of different antibiotics, namely timentin, cefotaxime, carbenicillin and ampicillin, on shoot regeneration of strawberry leaf explants showed the best shoot regeneration in the presence of 300 mg/L timentin and 150 mg/L cefotaxime. Assessment of the different factors affecting Agrobacterium mediated-transformation of strawberry with the luciferase gene showed the highest efficiency of putative transformant production (86%) in the treatment with no preculture, bacterial OD600 of 0.6 and the addition of 150 mg/L cefotaxime in the pre-selection and selection media. The presence of the luciferase gene in the plant genome was verified by the luciferase reporter gene assay, nested PCR amplification and dot blot of genomic DNA isolated from the young leaves of each putatively transformed plantlet

Oil palm EgCBF3 conferred stress tolerance in transgenic tomato plants through modulation of the ethylene signaling pathway

CBF/DREB1 is a group of transcription factors that are mainly involved in abiotic stress tolerance in plants. They belong to the AP2/ERF superfamily of plant-specific transcription factors. A gene encoding a new member of this group was isolated from ripening oil palm fruit and designated as EgCBF3. The oil palm fruit demonstrates the characteristics of a climacteric fruit like tomato, in which ethylene has a major impact on the ripening process. A transgenic approach was used for functional characterization of the EgCBF3, using tomato as the model plant. The effects of ectopic expression of EgCBF3 were analyzed based on expression profiling of the ethylene biosynthesis-related genes, anti-freeze proteins (AFPs), abiotic stress tolerance and plant growth and development. The EgCBF3 tomatoes demonstrated altered phenotypes compared to the wild type tomatoes. Delayed leaf senescence and flowering, increased chlorophyll content and abnormal flowering were the consequences of overexpression of EgCBF3 in the transgenic tomatoes. The EgCBF3 tomatoes demonstrated enhanced abiotic stress tolerance under in vitro conditions. Further, transcript levels of ethylene biosynthesis-related genes, including three SlACSs and two SlACOs, were altered in the transgenic plants’ leaves and roots compared to that in the wild type tomato plant. Among the eight AFPs studied in the wounded leaves of the EgCBF3 tomato plants, transcript levels of SlOSM-L, SlNP24, SlPR5L and SlTSRF1 decreased, while expression of the other four, SlCHI3, SlPR1, SlPR-P2 and SlLAP2, were up-regulated. These findings indicate the possible functions of EgCBF3 in plant growth and development as a regulator of ethylene biosynthesis-related and AFP genes, and as a stimulator of abiotic stress tolerance

Differential expression of oil palm pathology genes during interactions with Ganoderma boninense and Trichoderma harzianum.

The expression profiles of Δ9 stearoyl–acyl carrier protein desaturase (SAD1 and SAD2) and type 3 metallothionein (MT3-A and MT3-B) were investigated in seedlings of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) artificially inoculated with the pathogenic fungus Ganoderma boninense and the symbiotic fungus Trichoderma harzianum. Expression of SAD1 and MT3-A in roots and SAD2 in leaves were significantly up-regulated in G. boninense inoculated seedlings at 21 d after treatment when physical symptoms had not yet appeared and thereafter decreased to basal levels when symptoms became visible. Our finding demonstrated that the SAD1 expression in leaves was significantly down-regulated to negligible levels at 42 and 63 d after treatment. The transcripts of MT3 genes were synthesized in G. boninense inoculated leaves at 42 d after treatment, and the analyses did not show detectable expression of these genes before 42 d after treatment. In T. harzianum inoculated seedlings, the expression levels of SAD1 and SAD2 increased gradually and were stronger in roots than leaves, while for MT3-A and MT3-B, the expression levels were induced in leaves at 3 d after treatment and subsequently maintained at same levels until 63 d after treatment. The MT3-A expression was significantly up-regulated in roots at 3 d after treatment and thereafter were maintained at this level. Both SAD and MT3 expression were maintained at maximum levels or at levels higher than basal. This study demonstrates that oil palm was able to distinguish between pathogenic and symbiotic fungal interactions, thus resulting in different transcriptional activation profiles of SAD and MT3 genes. Increases in expression levels of SAD and MT3 would lead to enhanced resistance against G. boninense and down-regulation of genes confer potential for invasive growth of the pathogen. Differences in expression profiles of SAD and MT3 relate to plant resistance mechanisms while supporting growth enhancing effects of symbiotic T. harzianum

Enzymatic hydrolysis of oil palm biomass for fermentable sugar using polyethylene glycol immobilized cellulase

In this work, enzymatic hydrolysis using cellulase both in solution and immobilized form was studied to convert lignocellulosic biomass from empty fruit bunch into fermentable sugars. The cellulase was covalently immobilized with activated and functionalized polyethylene glycol via glutaraldehyde coupling. To determine sample enzyme activity, the equivalent reducing sugars released during hydrolysis reaction with free cellulase and immobilized cellulase respectively, were quantified using 3,5- dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method. As a whole, the immobilized cellulase displayed 50% higher efficiency over free cellulase, in reducing sugar recovery during hydrolysis reactions. From the kinetic study, it showed that Michaelis constant (Km) and limiting velocity(Vm«) of immobilized cellulase were 179.2 mg/ml and 33.5mg/ml.min respectively, whereas that of free cellulase were 171.8mg/ml and 34.5mg/ml.min respectively. The higher Km value of immobilized cellulase could be attributed to the polyethylene glycol interference with the binding of cellulase to expose substrate, and enables free interaction of cellulase to hydrolyse cellulose maximally

Mesocarp-specific metallothionien-like gene promoter for genetic engineering of oil palm.

Primers from within the coding region were used to capture the 5' regulatory sequence of the mesocarpspecific metallothionein-like gene, MT3-A, via PCR-based genome walking. The amplified 1040 bp genomic fragment was cloned and sequenced. The sequence of the genomic clone showed total homology with the MT3-A cDNA sequence within their overlapping regions. Rapid amplification of 5’-cDNA ends (5’-RACE) was used to determine the full length cDNA sequence and the putative transcription site of the gene. The adenine residue at the 5’-end of the RACE product was chosen as the likely transcription start site. The 986 bp promoter region upstream of the adenine contains putative regulatory elements including a TATA box, an ethylene responsive element in reverse orientation and two I-boxes. Functional analysis of the MT3-A promoter was performed using a transient assay system. Transient expression of ß-glucuronidase (GUS) examined using qualitative histochemical GUS assay can be detected in both oil palm mesocarp and leaf tissue slices bombarded with the pBI221 transformation vector which contains the GUS reporter gene under the control of the constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter. However, when the CaMV-35S promoter was replaced with MT3-A promoter in the transformation vector and used for bombardment, transient expression of GUS was detected in the oil palm mesocarp slices only and not in the leaf tissue. This suggests that the MT3-A promoter can be used to target specific gene expression into oil palm mesocarp tissues

Functional characterization of the oil palm type 3 metallothionein-like gene (MT3-B) promoter.

In silico analysis showed that the differentially expressed type 3 oil palm metallothionein-like genes MT3-A and MT3-B share at least 11 common putative promoter regulatory elements. The identified motifs include W-boxes, TATCCA element, binding element for cytokinin response regulators and pollen-specific elements. A high degree of conservation was observed in their genomic organisation where the coding regions are divided at two identical positions in both genes by two AT-rich introns. Promoter activity of the MT3-B gene was analysed using a transient assay by bombarding oil palm tissue slices with a β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene construct and a stable reporter assay by analysing GUS expression in transformed Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Transient expression analysis revealed MT3-B promoter activity in oil palm root tissues but not in fruit mesocarp at 12 weeks after anthesis and spear leaves. The T3 homozygous transgenic Arabidopsis plants, harbouring the MT3-B promoter/GUS construct, showed reporter activity in cotyledons and mature leaves with lower expression levels in root tissues. The expression levels in the roots of the T3 homozygous transgenic plants increased five- and 2.5-folds when treated with 80 μM of Zn2+ and Fe2+, respectively. Altogether, these results indicate that the MT3-A and MT3-B promoter activities may be regulated by a variety of abiotic factors and MT3-B promoter may potentially be manipulated for use in plant genetic engineering for induced synthesis of gene product