Mutagenic Potentials of the Sterilizing Fluid – Puritil on Root Tip Mitosis of Allium cepa

The mutagenic potentials of puritil which is used for sterilizing babies feeding utensils were assessed using the Allium cepa root meristem assay. The sterilizing fluid was found to exhibit both mitoclassic and chromatoclassic effects and thus induced a number of abnormalities. These abnormalities included disturbed interphase involving nuclear lesions and nuclear dissolutions, micronuclei and binucleate cells, sticky metaphase, disturbed anaphase involving unequal distribution of chromosomes and sticky bridges, and precocious chromosomes. These increased with increase in concentration and duration of treatment. Thus the mutagenic potentials of puritil exist and it should be of great concern since babies are exposed to it for at least the first two years of life. Keywords: Mutagenic, Potentials, Puritil, Root Tips, Allium cepaBio-Research Vol. 6 (1) 2008: pp. 293-29

Genetic variability assessment of accessions of Corchorus olitorius L. using sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

Corchorus olitorius is one of the neglected indigenous leafy vegetables in Nigeria. Majority of the accessions of this species stored at the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Nigeria, have only been characterized morphologically. To provide further information on the extent of genetic diversity, this study was initiated to assess the genetic variabilities among 14 accessions of the species using sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Seven polypeptide bands were obtained ranging from 9.73 to 88.79 KDa thus depicting variations in the banding patterns of the accessions. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean algorithm (UPGMA) dendrogram grouped the 14 accessions into two clusters and five groups with 50% of the accessions in one group. Accession 3 which was obtained from Lagos state was observed to be a very distant relative of the other accessions and so could be combined in a breeding programme with any of the others.Keywords: Genetic, variability, Corchorus olitorius, accessionsAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(19), 2004-200

Tissue culture in Pinus caribaea Mor. var. Hondurensis barr. and golf. II: Effects of two auxins and two cytokinins on callus growth habits and subsequent organogenesis

The growth habits of calluses of Pinus caribaea Mor. were investigated to determine their correlation with organogenesis for micropropagation purposes. Two forms of callus growth habits were observed;friable and compact calluses. Their development occurred over a range of auxin-cytokinin combinations. In naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) x 6-furfuryl amino purine (kinetin) cultures, 100% friable calluses were obtained while in NAA x 6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP) cultures, 100% friable callus was formed only with 1:2 NAA/BAP ratio. Many compact calluses were also formed by the various combinations of NAA and BAP. Friability of calluses was further promoted by the interaction of indole butyric acid (IBA) and BAP, but organogenesis was not achieved. However, different degrees of greening were observed in some of the cultures (both compact and friable type). Thus, greening wasnot associated with a particular type of callus growth habit. Anatomical studies indicated that the differences between the compact and friable calluses were in the distribution of the meristematic cells.The histological studies also revealed some important and unexpected features. These were the presence of embryo-like structures, tracheary elements, lignification and starch-grain like structures. These results have further demonstrated the potential totipotency of callus cells of P. caribaea

A preliminary cytology of root tips and callus cells of Pinus caribaea Mor. Var. Hondurensis Barr. and golf grown in the tropics

No Abstract.Bio-Research Vol. 3(2) 2005: 93-10