Determination of Genetic Relationships among Phalaenopsis Spp. Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA and In Vitro Propagation of Phalaenopsis Gigantea

Phalaenopsis, with long arching sprays of flowers, is among the most beautiful flowers in the world. Phalaenopsis is an important genus and one of the most popular epiphytic monopodial orchids, grown commercially for production of cut flowers and potted plants. Most of them have different and interesting morphological characteristics which have different value to the breeders. Study was carried out using molecular characterization through Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses for 20 species of Phalaenopsis was conducted to determine their genetic variation and relationships. Among the 20 primers used for these analyses, 10 showed polymorphism, with 26 to 54 DNA fragments amplified per primer. A total of 414 polymorphic fragments were generated by these 10 primers and then they were used for correlation grouping analysis. The highest value of Similarity index was 0.28 between Phalaenopsis violacea malaysia and Phalaenopsis violacea witte. The dendrogram resulting from UPGMA hierarchical cluster analysis separated the species into three groups: the first group consisted of five species of Ph. violacea blue, Ph. belina, Ph. violacea malaysia, Ph. violacea witte, and Ph. gigantea; the second group included Ph. lamelligera, Ph. amabilis, Ph. parishii, Ph. labbi nepal, Ph. speciosa, Ph. lobbi yellow, Ph. venosa, Ph. hieroglyphica, and Ph. maculata; the third group consist of Ph. Minho Princess, Ph. Leopard prince, Ph. mannii, Ph. modesta, Ph. cornucervi and Ph. pantherina. RAPD markers can thus be successfully applied to this economically important group of orchids to determine relationship between species of these orchids. Phalaenopsis gigantea one of the most difficult to grow and has the potential of producing beautiful hybrids was selected for further study in developing a rapid and efficient in vitro propagation technique, this technique can also be tested for other species in the future. Ripe capsules of Phalaenopsis gigantea were collected and sterilized. Seed germination was conducted using Vacin and Went (VW) medium supplemented with coconut water (CW) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and kinetin (KIN). Protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) were successfully induced and plantlets were produced after 60 days. BAP at 1 mgL-1 in combination with 2 mgL-1 KIN produced the highest number of plantlets followed by treatment 1 mgL-1 BAP and 1 mgL-1 KIN. Protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) were successfully induced from leaf segments using New Dogashima medium (NDM) with BAP, Thidiazuron (TDZ), and KIN, each at 0.01, 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mg/L alone and in combination with naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), at 0.01, 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mgL-1, within 6-8 weeks of culture. The highest percentage of callus formation (100%) was obtained from treatment containing 1 mgL-1 NAA in combination with 0.1 mgL-1 TDZ followed by treatment supplemented with 1 mgL-1 NAA and 0.5 mgL-1 TDZ (76.56%).Plant regeneration from PLBs was achieved in PGR-free NDM basal medium. There was no PLB observed on full and half-strength MS media supplemented with different concentrations of 2, 4-D, BAP and TDZ. Similarly, no PLB was observed on VW and ½ MS media supplemented with different concentrations and combinations with 2, 4.-D, BAP, TDZ and CW or NAA. No PLB was also observed on NDM medium with different concentrations and combinations with BAP and NAA. However multiplication of PLB was observed in liquid media of basal MS, VW, and NDM with or without sucrose. The highest fresh weight of PLBs was obtained from VW medium supplemented with CW

Some Properties of Realcompact Subspaces and Coarser Normal Spaces

In this work we obtain results in two areas of topology, normal condensations of products and size of realcompact subspaces of a space. In 2000 Swardson proved that every uncountable compact space has a realcompact subspace of the same cardinality as the first uncountable cardinal. In the first chapter the work of Swardson is continued to prove that realcompact spaces with pseudocharacter no greater than the first uncountable cardinal have realcompact subspaces of the same size as the first uncountable cardinal. Under continuum hypothesis, a consequence is that every uncountable realcompact space has a realcompact subspace of the same size as the first uncountable cardinal. We also prove that every realcompact right-separated set of size larger than continuum has a realcompact subspace of size of any cardinal less or equal to continuum. A corollary is that every compact set of size bigger or equal to continuum has a realcompact subset of size less or equal to continuum, answering a question by Professor William Fleissner. In 1997 Buzjakova proved that for a pseudocompact space X, there exists an ordinal such that the product of X and that ordinal condenses onto a normal space if and only if X condenses onto a compact space. In the third chapter, we extend Buzjakovas's method to prove that for a Tychonoff space X, there exists an ordinal such that if the product of X and that ordinal condenses onto a normal space, then X condenses onto a countably paracompact space

Normal Images of a Product and Countably Paracompact Condensation

In 1997, Buzjakova proved that for a pseudocompact Tychonoff space X and λ = | βX|+, X condenses onto a compact space if and only if X×(λ+1) condenses onto a normal space. This is a condensation form of Tamano\u27s theorem. An interesting problem is to determine how much of Buzjakova\u27s result will hold if pseudocompact is removed from the hypothesis. In this talk, I am going to show for a Tychonoff space X, there is a cardinal λ such that if X×(λ+1) condenses onto a normal space, then X condenses onto a countably paracompact space

Mycoflora of fungal contamination in wheat storage (silos) in golestan province, north of Iran

Background: Cereal products are susceptible to mould damage during pre- and post-harvesting stages of the production. The regional specificity of Golestan province in the northern region of of Iran, with its high temperature and high relative humidity, acts as a leading factor for the growth of aflatoxin-producing fungi. It is well known that contamination of starch-based ingredients with mycotoxigenic fungi is a risk factor among the consumers due to its aflatoxins. Objectives: This survey was carried out to determine the extent of fungal contamination of wheat in three silos of Golestan province in Iran. Materials and Methods: 34 samples from three active silos were collected in order to clean the polyethylene bags. Wheat analyzed for fungal contamination and aflatoxins extracted by immunoaffinity column chromatography, and measured by HPLC method. Results: The most common moulds isolated were Alternaria spp. 26.7%, Aspergillus niger 21.4%, Fusarium spp. 17.8%, Aspergillus flavus 10.7%, Cladosporium spp. 10.7%, Penicillium spp. 8.9%, and Rhizopus spp. 3.5%. The screening of aflatoxin, B1, B2, G1 and G2 was carried out. 10(29.4%) samples of wheat had traces of aflatoxin, but in a level lower than the standard levels [Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIR< 15 ng/g)]. Conclusions: Despite the lower detected aflatoxin levels (lower than the ISIR level), the fungal contamination rate could not be neglected. Since the isolated mycotoxigenic fungi such as Aspergillus spp. and Fusarium spp. are important in food industry, it would be possible that the increased retention time of samples might have raised the detected contamination rate. © 2013, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences