Perbandingan ciri anatomi daun Tetrastigma rafflesiae (Miq.) Planchon dan Tetrastigma pedunculare (Wall. ex Laws.) Planch. di Semenanjung Malaysia

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan kajian terhadap ciri anatomi daun Tetrastigma rafflesiae (Miq.) Planchon dan Tetrastigma pedunculare (Wall. ex Laws.) Planch. yang merupakan perumah kepada bunga pakma dan pakma tikus di Semenanjung Malaysia. Sampel daun diperoleh daripada habitat asal iaitu Gunung Bubu, Gerik, Perak. Teknik piawai dalam anatomi tumbuhan digunakan dan imbasan adalah menggunakan mikroskop cahaya dan mikroskrop imbasan elektron (SEM) dengan pemerhatian dilakukan meliputi bahagian petiol, tulang daun, lamina, epidermis dan peruratan daun. Hasil menunjukkan kehadiran trikom dan sel arenkima hanya terdapat pada T. pedunculare sahaja. Bilangan berkas vaskular medula pada T. rafflesiae adalah tunggal, manakala T. pedunculare adalah tiga. Oleh itu, ketiga-tiga ciri ini dapat membezakan dengan jelas kedua-dua spesies

Rafflesia tuanku-halimii (Rafflesiaceae), a new species from Peninsular Malaysia

Rafflesia tuanku-halimii, a new species from Peninsular Malaysia, is herewith described and illustrated. It is related to R. azlanii and R. sharifah-hapsahiae by coalesced warts on it lobes. Rafflesia tuanku-halimii is different from them in having window covered by almost united rings and these rings almost wholly covering the window

Rafflesia tunku-azizahiae (Rafflesiaceae), a new species from Pahang, Malaysia

A new species of Rafflesia (Rafflesiaceae) from Mt. Benom Forest Reserve, Ulu Dong, Raub, Pahang, Rafflesia tunku-azizahiae Adam, Aizat-Juhari & Wan is described and illustrated. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis showed that R. tunku-azizahiae and R. tuanku-halimii are closely related morphologically, characterized by perigone lobes covered by rows of very closely spaced coalesced white warts, and windows wholly covered by very closely rings of coalesced white warts. Score plot and bi-plot showed that R. tunku-azizahiae differs from R. tuanku-halimii by larger flower diameter, broader diaphragm and disc diameter, larger aperture diameter and longer ramenta

Potensi pelancongan di Matu-Daro, Sarawak: persepsi komuniti lokal

Industri pelancongan merupakan salah satu industri yang menyumbang kepada ekonomi negara dan pembangunan setempat. Pembangunan pelancongan di sesebuah kawasan memberikan impak positif terhadap komuniti lokal itu sendiri menerusi penglibatan secara langsung dan tidak langsung iaitu dapat meningkatkan kualiti hidup serta kesejahteraan masyarakat. Justeru itu, pengenalpastian potensi pelancongan di sesebuah kawasan dapat membantu mewujudkan pelbagai peluang pembangunan menerusi industri pelancongan di kawasan tersebut. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti persepsi komuniti lokal Melanau mengenai potensi pelancongan di kawasan Matu-Daro, Sarawak. Kaedah tinjauan melalui temubual berdasarkan satu set kaji selidik terhadap 150 orang responden di daerah Matu-Daro. Hasil kajian mendapati tiga jenis pelancongan yang berpotensi di perkembangkan iaitu pelancongan warisan dan kebudayaan, agro-pelancongan dan ekopelancongan. Potensi pelancongan warisan dan kebudayaan boleh diperkembangkan dengan adanya Rumah Panjang Melanau Islam yang tertua di dunia, Makam Orang Kaya Segunim, dan Pesta Kaul. Seterusnya agropelancongan menerusi pengusahaan pembuatan sagu dan penanaman padi yang dijalankan secara tradisional. Ekopelancongan juga boleh diketengahkan iaitu keunikan kawasan hutan paya bakau dan menyelami nilai estetika di Sungai Rajang. Secara kesimpulannya, Daerah Matu-Daro mempunyai potensi untuk dikomersilkan menerusi sektor pelancongan

Anatomi dan mikromorfologi Tetrastigma rafflesiae (Vitaceae)

Kajian anatomi dan mikromorfologi telah dilakukan ke atas Tetrastigma rafflesiae (Miq.) Planchon, perumah kepada bunga pakma di Perak, Pahang dan Kelantan. Penglibatan kajian ini merangkumi anatomi keseluruhan tumbuhan ini, iaitu bahagian daun, batang, sulur paut dan akar kerana kajian anatomi masih dangkal di Malaysia amnya dan dunia khasnya. Sampel tumbuhan ini diperoleh dari Sungai Bongor, Grik, Perak, Sungai Yol, Raub, Pahang dan Lojing, Kelantan. Teknik piawai dalam anatomi tumbuhan digunakan dan ini melibatkan penggunaan mikroskop cahaya dan mikroskrop imbasan elektron (SEM). Hasil kajian anatomi menunjukkan T. rafflesiae mempunyai corak bekas vaskular dengan sistem tertutup pada petiol, tulang daun, batang dan akar; hablur didapati hadir pada petiol, tulang daun, lamina, peruratan, batang dan akar dan dinding antiklin abaksial dan adaksial adalah daripada lurus ke melengkung. Hasil mikromorfologi memperlihatkan spesies ini mempunyai stomata homostomatik dan hipostomatik daripada jenis diasitik. Lilin epikutikel berbentuk lembaran dan lapisan filem pada bahagian adaksial manakala berbentuk granul, lapisan filem dan lembaran pada bahagian abaksial. Hasil kajian ini dapat digunakan sebagai perintis kepada kajian anatomi spesies Tetrastigma yang lain

RNA-seq data from different developmental stages of Rafflesia cantleyi floral buds

Rafflesia cantleyi, known as one of the world's largest flowers, is a specialised holoparasite due to dramatic morphological modifications. It possesses highly reduced vegetative structure and only appears as a flower for sexual reproduction. Moreover, it has an unusual life cycle in that its floral bud development takes up to nine months. In order to fully understand the highly modified floral organ structure and long life cycle of R. cantleyi, we used Illumina sequencing technology (HiSeq) for sequence generation followed by de novo assembly of sequence reads. We obtained the RNA-seq data from three different stages of floral bud, representing the early, mid and advanced developmental stages. These data are available via BioProject accession number PRJNA378435. More than 10.3 Gb raw sequence data were generated, corresponding to 102,203,042 raw reads. Following removal of low-quality reads and trimming of adapter sequences, a total of 91,638,836 reads were obtained. De novo assembly of these sequences using Trinity resulted in 89,690 unique transcripts with an N50 of 1653 bp. The obtained transcriptomic data will be useful for further study to understand the molecular interactions that result in R. cantleyi floral development

Transcriptome landscape of Rafflesia cantleyi floral buds reveals insights into the roles of transcription factors and phytohormones in flower development.

Rafflesia possesses unique biological features and known primarily for producing the world's largest and existing as a single flower. However, to date, little is known about key regulators participating in Rafflesia flower development. In order to further understand the molecular mechanism that regulates Rafflesia cantleyi flower development, RNA-seq data from three developmental stages of floral bud, representing the floral organ primordia initiation, floral organ differentiation, and floral bud outgrowth, were analysed. A total of 89,890 transcripts were assembled of which up to 35% could be annotated based on homology search. Advanced transcriptome analysis using K-mean clustering on the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was able to identify 12 expression clusters that reflect major trends and key transitional states, which correlate to specific developmental stages. Through this, comparative gene expression analysis of different floral bud stages identified various transcription factors related to flower development. The members of WRKY, NAC, bHLH, and MYB families are the most represented among the DEGs, suggesting their important function in flower development. Furthermore, pathway enrichment analysis also revealed DEGs that are involved in various phytohormone signal transduction events such as auxin and auxin transport, cytokinin and gibberellin biosynthesis. Results of this study imply that transcription factors and phytohormone signalling pathways play major role in Rafflesia floral bud development. This study provides an invaluable resource for molecular studies of the flower development process in Rafflesia and other plant species