Assessment of salt tolerance in Algerian oasis wheat landraces: An examination of biochemical, physiological, and agronomical traits

Wheat landraces cultivated in the oases of Algeria are are know for their resistance to abiotic stresses as a result of the extreme environmental constraints of the Sahara. As such, these landraces represent valuable breeding material for improving abiotic stress tolerance in wheat. This study was conducted to evaluate salt tolerance of bread and durum wheat from the Algerian oases. Ten wheat landraces from the Algerian oases were grown under prolonged salinity stress (150 mM NaCl) in greenhouse conditions. Data were assessed for 19 physiological, biochemical, and agronomical traits. The wheat landraces exhibited considerable variation in their salinity stress tolerance. The membership function value of salt tolerance identified Oum RokbaElhamra, Khellouf and Zeghlou as the most tolerant landraces while Bourione was identified as sensitive. The salt-tolerant and moderately tolerant wheat landraces maintained stable yields under conditions of salinity stress. Regression models constructed from MFVS and salt tolerance coefficients showed that for bread wheat, amino acid content and grain yield accounted for most of the variation in MFVS, while for durum wheat, the number of grains per plant and Na+ content explained the majority of observed differences in MFVS. Correlation analysis showed that the MFVS was significantly associated with grain yield, selectivity between K+ and Na+, and plant height. The results confirm that Algerian oasis wheat landraces are a valuable source given their salt tolerance and could be utilized in breeding programs seeking to improve salinity stress resilience in wheat

Dicamba Degradation Using a Low-Cost Chlorine/Ferrous-Based AOP: ANN-PSO Model Development, Intermediate Identification, and Toxicity Assessment Using Microalgae

In this study, the degradation of Dicamba methyl ester (DME) was investigated using a low-cost chlorine/ferrous process. The degradation yield was determined by examining the influence of several factors, such as NaClO concentration, dicamba concentration, FeSO4 catalyst mass, and initial solution pH, over a 15 min period. To determine the optimal conditions for DME degradation, an artificial neural network (ANN) model with 4-5-1 architecture was developed. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was then utilized in conjunction with the ANN model to identify the optimal factor levels predicted yield of 88%. The following optimal conditions were identified: [NaClO] = 422.3 μM, [Dicamba] = 4.4 mg/L, [FeSO4] = 9.5 mg/L, and a pH of 2.56. GC/MS analysis was conducted to identify the byproducts that were generated during DME degradation. Benzene, 1,2,4-trichloro-3-methoxy DME-BP (m/z 210) was the only identified byproduct that contained chlorine in its structure. A proposed reaction pathway for the DME degradation was suggested based on the obtained mass spectra. In the final stage of the study, total organic carbon (TOC) removal was analyzed using a Fenton-like process under optimized conditions for a duration of 195 min. To confirm the effectiveness of DME and its byproduct degradation, toxicity assessments were performed using the Chlorella vulgaris microalgae as a model organism. The results indicated a low toxicity of 20% when the DME mineralization reached 62.52%. These findings provide strong evidence that support the effectiveness of the proposed low-cost system for DME removal.This research was financially supported by the Directorate-General for Scientific Research and Technological Development (DGRSDT) Algeria. This research was funded by the Korea Environment Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI) through National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (no. 2022R1A2C2011252) and supported by the Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program (1415186317, 20010276) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea).Peer reviewe

Tyrosinase Inhibitory Ability and In Vitro, In Vivo Acute Oral and In Silico Toxicity Evaluation of Extracts Obtained from Algerian Fir (<i>Abiesnumidica</i> de Lannoy ex CARRIERE) Needles

This study was designed to evaluate the tyrosinase inhibitory effect, in vitro, in vivo, and in silico toxicity of fractions isolated from A. numidica de Lannoy needles. The cytotoxicity of extracts was examined against Artemia salina larvae, while the toxicity of these extracts was tested by acute oral toxicity in mice; by administration of a dose of 2000 mg/kg b.w A. numidica leaves extracts. The blood samples were collected from the eye orbital sinus for further analysis of biochemical parameters. The absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity (ADMET) properties were identified by the pkCSM web server. The data stated that ethyl acetate (EA) presented strong anti-tyrosinase apt. The results reported that ethyl acetate extract exhibited a strong inhibitory capacity against A. salina larvae with LD50 of 75.004 µg/mL. The data also showed that no mortality occurred, and no toxicity symptoms were observed in mice. The biochemical parameters revealed that both extracts significantly affected the hepatic profile by increasing ALT, AST, and alkaline phosphatase. Histopathological tests also confirmed that both fractions were toxic at this concentration on hepatic and renal tissues, with necrosis observed. The toxicity of molecules in silico revealed no effect on all examined biomolecules.It can be concluded that this plant was toxic on the liver and renal profiles and tissues at the dose studied

In Vivo Immunomodulatory Potential of Partial Purified Lectin from the Saffron Milk Cap Mushroom, Lactarius deliciosus (Agaricomycetes), against Colloidal Carbon Particles

Mushrooms compounds and biomolecules are known for their biological beneficial effect and dietary properties. Theirs molecules are using at immunology for the ability to stimulate immune cells and biotherapy of diseases. In this study, the immunomodulatory effect using carbon clearance test in vivo of partial purified lectins of Lactarius deliciosus using DEAE-Sephacyl column, with sugar affinity against galactose, methyl-B.D galactopyranoside and lactose, specify showed a significant effect on phagocytic activity and half time of life of carbon particles in mice with different concentrations (5, 10, 15 and 30mg/kg). The results showed that: the immunomodulatory effect increased in low doses and decreased after in high doses as compared with the control group p&lt; 0.0001. L. deliciosus lectin exerted a dose-dependent immunostimulant activity at the reticulo-endothelial system, phagocytic activity on macrophages and neutrophils in spleen and liver against the carbon colloidal

Purification and Biochemical Characterization of novel galectin from black poplar mushroom Cyclocybe cylindracea (Agaricomycetes) Strain MEST42 Grown in Algeria

In the present study, a new galectin designated Cyclocybe cylindracea lectin (CCL) was extracted from the fruiting bodies of the wild black popular mushroom C. cylindracea grown in Algeria. The protein was isolated using sepharose 4B as affinity chromatography matrix, and galactose as elutant. The purified galectin was composed of two subunits of 17.873 kDa each, with a total molecular mass of 35.6 kDa. Its agglutinant activity was impeded by galactose and its derivatives, as well as melibiose. Lactose showed the highest affinity, with a minimal inhibitory concentration of 0.0781 mM. CCL was sensitive to extreme pH conditions, and its binding function decreased when incubated with 10 mM EDTA, and it could be restored by metallic cations such as Ca2+, Mg2+, and Zn2+. CCL agglutinated human red blood cells, without any discernible specificity. Circular dichroism spectra demonstrated that its secondary structure contained β-sheet as dominant fold. In addition, bioinformatics investigation on their peptide fingerprint obtained after MALDI-TOF/TOF ionization using mascot software confirmed that CCL was not like any previous purified lectin from mushroom: instead, it possessed an amino acid composition with high similarity to that of the putative urea carboxylase of Emericella nidulans (strain FGSC A4 / ATCC 38163 / CBS 112.46 / NRRL 194 / M139) with 44% of similarity score

Characterization of Cytotoxic Lactose Binding Lectin from Sulphur Polypore, Laetiporus sulphureus (Agaricomycetes), from Algeria

Mushroom lectins have important biological and biomedical applications, most lectins purified from these organisms exhibit high toxicity in animal cells and towards microbial agents. They are able to induce cell growth inhibition and metabolism by their ability to interact with glyconjugate components (glycoproteins receptors, glycolipids) present in their membrane, after their binding to these membrane receptor, they induce cellular signalization chains in which gene expression is regulated and death cell program (apoptosis) is activated. In this work, a new multimeric lectin was characterized from the rare saprobic edible mushroom Laetiporus sulphureus strain TMES43 grown in Algeria forest; lectin was isolated by ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by an affinity chromatography on a sepharose 4B column, with specific activity and respectively yield 1204.7 UHA/mg and 35.55 %. The protein has tetrameric structure with molecular weight of 36 kDa for each subunit, with a total molecular weight approximately of 140 kDa. In addition, Mascote peptide fingerprint study on MALDI-TOF/TOF tandem fragment showed identity with Autophagy-related protein 16 from Meyerozyma guilliermondii (strain ATCC 6260/CBS 566/DSM 6381/JCM 1539/NBRC 10279/NRRL Y-324) (Expasy id: ATG16_PICGU) and no sequence similarity to known mushroom lectins. Its hemagglutination activity was reduced by 5 mM of lactose and 10 mM EDTA incubation, and recovered by metallic cations as CaCl2, MgCl2 and ZnCl2. Laetiporus sulphureus purified lectin (PSLec) hasn't human ABO groups specifity and shows low temperature and alkaline pH stabilities. MTT preliminary assay showed that Laetiporus sulphureus purified lecti