RT-PCR was conducted for four genes implicated for salt tolerance, oxidative and osmotic stresses in Egyptian gray mangroves within Nabq protected area in South Sinai Governorate. The results showed over-expression of the mRNA of ferritin (amFer1) gene as very high expression, followed by increase in mRNA of superoxide dismutase (amSOD1) and ubiquitin conjugation2 (amUBC2). At the same time gene expression of catalase (amCAT1) decreased.

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Sugarcane (Saccharum sp. hybrids) is a C4 grass used as a major source of sucrose. Invertase enzymes hydrolyse sucrose into hexose sugars reducing the production markedly. Soluble acid invertase role is always a case of discussion for having a major or minor role in the breakdown process in sink tissues. Bio-deterioration is another serious problem accomplishes the sucrose production, the delay between harvest and milling of sugarcane cause enormous depreciation in cane tonnage as well as sugar recovery. Beside another many factors, it was improved that both neutral and acid invertase present in cane stalk and both have tendency to increase after harvest. In the present study, sugarcane cultivar G.99/103, Saccharum officinarium, was used to establish Inplanta transformation experiment for down-regulation of soluble acid invertase gene using siRNA application. The transgenic plants were examined chemically and genetically to estimate the percentage of silencing and its impact on the sucrose content. The enzyme activity showed reduction compared to control in most transgenic plants and consequently the decrease in expression level of soluble acid invertase increase the Brix value significantly in some of the transgenic plants.

In this study, anticancer activity of Zygophyllum album and Suaeda palastina extracts was evaluated. Dichloromethane, methanol and hot water were used as solvents for extraction. Results indicated that the highest half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) on human lung carcinoma (A549) cell lines was achieved by dichloromethane extracts of Z. album and S. palastina (70.48 μg/ml and 34.82 μg/ml respectively) compared to methanolic and hot water extracts. Furthermore, dichloromethane extracts of both plants had antiproliferative effect and highly cytotoxicity on human cancer cells. IC50 of Z. album was 27.74 μg/ml in the human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2), while IC50 of S. palaestina was 30.76 μg/ml with no cytotoxic activity on normal cell lines. In conclusion, these results suggest that Z. album and S. palaestina could be a good candidate species as a natural source of anticancer agents.

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