Insect pests are one of the major factors affecting crop production and accounts for destruction of 20-30% of world’s food resources (Oerke, 2006). Majority of these destructive insect pests belongs to order lepidoptera and 40% of chemical insecticides are used against the species of its subfamily Heliothine (Brook et al., 1999). But unfortunately majority of these chemical insecticides are proved to be hazardous because of their neurotoxic, carcinogenic and contaminants nature. Alternatively, the application of genetic engineering techniques in the form of transgenic crops capable of producing bioinsecticides can protect agriculture crops against these pests attack in environment friendly way as compared to the problems posed by agrochemicals. Bioinsecticides are being investigated as potentially more efficacious and safer alternatives to chemical insecticides. Bt toxin which is produce by gram positive, soil-dwelling bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis is most commonly used bioinsecticide (Bates et al., 2005). Bt cotton containing cry gene(s) from B. thuringiensis (Bt) is most rapidly adopted GM crop. However, variable expression of both Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac proteins was found in field plots of cotton (Benedict et al., 1996). Other potential sources of insecticidal toxins besides Bt have been used for the engineering of insect resistance crops; including esculentin from class amphibia, avidin from class animalia and plant proteases (Christeller et al., 2002; Ponti et al., 2003; Yoza et al., 2005; Abdeen et al., 2005). Spider venom toxins found to be one of the most interesting groups among naturally occurring chemicals due to their wide range of mechanisms of action. These toxins target insect potassium, sodium, and calcium ion channel (Skinner et al., 1992). Recently, insect resistance in tobacco expressing a poisonous toxin from the Australian funnel web spider Hadronyche versuta has been reported. Incorporation of synthetic version of ω -HXTX-Hv1a encoding gene into Nicotiana tabacum plants had markedly enhanced resistance to Heliothis armigera and Spodoptera littoralis because of surprising oral toxicity (Khan et al., 2006; Shah et al., 2011). After successful cloning and satisfactory results of the spider toxin in tobacco plants, this transgene (ω -HXTX-Hv1a) was transferred by the same group at NIBGE to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) plants. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is considered as backbone in Pakistan’s economy, but it is susceptible to 15 economically important insect pests. Pakistan is among 8 developing out of top 10 biotech countries, growing insect resistant Pak. J. Agri. Sci., Vol. 52(3), 685-690; 2015 ISSN (Print) 0552-9034, ISSN (Online) 2076-0906 http://www.pakjas.com.pk
Although thrips are globally important crop pests and vectors of viral disease, species identifications are difficult because of their small size and inconspicuous morphological differences. Sequence variation in the mitochondrial COI-5' (DNA barcode) region has proven effective for the identification of species in many groups of insect pests. We analyzed barcode sequence variation among 471 thrips from various plant hosts in north-central Pakistan. The Barcode Index Number (BIN) system assigned these sequences to 55 BINs, while the Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery detected 56 partitions, a count that coincided with the number of monophyletic lineages recognized by Neighbor-Joining analysis and Bayesian inference. Congeneric species showed an average of 19% sequence divergence (range = 5.6% - 27%) at COI, while intraspecific distances averaged 0.6% (range = 0.0% - 7.6%). BIN analysis suggested that all intraspecific divergence >3.0% actually involved a species complex. In fact, sequences for three major pest species (Haplothrips reuteri, Thrips palmi, Thrips tabaci), and one predatory thrips (Aeolothrips intermedius) showed deep intraspecific divergences, providing evidence that each is a cryptic species complex. The study compiles the first barcode reference library for the thrips of Pakistan, and examines global haplotype diversity in four important pest thrips.
There are different types of fishes based on feeding behaviour, some are carnivorous and some are omnivorous while others are herbivorous. To find out the feeding habit of wild Schizothorax plagiostomus, the gut contents have been analyzed. The fish samples were collected from River Swat at Different points (Mingora, Matta, Khwazakhela, Madyan, Bahrain and Baghderai). The fish were dissected by using different dissection tools for the isolation of the entire gut. The gut contents were examined through a microscope. In the gut contents, different things have been noted such as Spirogyra ellipsospora, Cladophaor crispate, Ulothrix, Calothrix parietina, Zygnema kashmirense, Anomoeoneis sphaeophora, Nitzschi linearis and Naviculoid Diatom. Besides all these food items, detritus, some unidentified plants, larvae and other materials were also observed. It has been concluded that S. plagiostomus is omnivorous.
Extensive dependence of textile and other industries on the synthetic dyes have made these chemicals a necessary evil nowadays. Among all classes of dyes, triphenylmethane dyes (TPMs) are most common and unfortunately most hazardous. The wastewater originated from various industries is usually found to contain a major portion of TPMs along-with other synthetic dyes, inorganic and organic contaminant which lead to serious environmental consequences. In this regard, microbial remediation of such synthetic chemicals seems to be a very robust, cost effective and environment friendly strategy. Microbial remediation exploits the enzymatic capabilities of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi or microalgae) to cope with recalcitrant synthetic dyes and other chemicals. The remediation of TPMs can occur either by the phenomenon of adsorption onto the microbial systems or through the degradation by the enzymatic or metabolic mechanisms of the microbe under optimized conditions. Both of the two ways convert the toxic chemicals to harmless and friendly products. Biodegradation or bioremediation of pollutants can be achieved through various living organisms such as plants and algae. But the current review only focuses on the remediation of TPMs by microbes such as bacteria, yeast and fungi. The factors such as pH, temperature, inoculum size, dye concentration etc. which have profound effect on optimization of degradation of TPMs, can never be neglected and hence they are discussed in detail in the present study. In this way we claim that the present article will provide deep insights into the current consequences of TPMs and related toxicants being added to our environment. Further, an emphasis on the implementation of bioremediation to get rid of such chemicals from our waters would be helpful to enhance the interest of researchers and scientists already working on the same theme.
Although Pakistan has rich biodiversity, many groups are poorly known, particularly insects.To address this gap, we employed DNA barcoding to survey its insect diversity.Specimens obtained through diverse collecting methods at 1,858 sites across Pakistan from 2010-2019 were examined for sequence variation in the 658 bp barcode region of the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene.Sequences from nearly 49,000 specimens were assigned to 6,590 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs), a proxy for species, most (88%) also possessing a representative image on the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD).By coupling morphological inspections with barcode matches on BOLD, every BIN was
The tape food is making through the fermentation process using yeast as a primary ingredient. A yeast supplement can be used to improve the fermentation process. In this study, the effect of garlic extract as a natural yeast supplement in making the yellow cassava tape was evaluated. A non-factorial completely randomized design with five treatments and four repetitions was performed as a research approach. The collected data were processed using an additive linear ANOVA model. The results show that a mixture with 3.0 g garlic extract highly improved the alcohol production for fermenting the yellow cassava tape. Based on the statistical analysis, Fcal (3.99) was higher than Ftab (2.90). The use of different garlic extract amounts exhibited a better improvement of the fermentation process than without the use of the garlic extract. An insufficient or excessive amount of yeast can affect alcohol production. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the exact garlic extract amount as the additional yeast supplement to produce cassava tape.
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