Graphical AbstractThis review summarized heat stress-mediated morphological and physiological changes in maize and elucidated the molecular mechanisms responsible for maize response to heat stress. Furthermore, plausible approaches to dissecting the regulatory network associated with heat stress response and improving maize adaptation to global warming have been discussed. This figure was made using BioRender.

Barley production is essential in Egypt. In the present study, 15 different six-rowed Egyptian barley cultivars were studied. To differentiate between the different cultivars under study in terms of morphological characteristics and ISSR, molecular characterization reactions were carried out. Moreover, four cultivars (Giza 123, Giza 126, Giza 136, and Giza 138) were selected for further studies using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Computational analysis of the DNA barcoding sequences of the two plastid markers rbcL and matK was executed, and the results were deposited in the NCBI database. The morphological traits showed low statistical significance among the different cultivars under study via the data collected from two seasons, suggesting that the mean field performance of these Egyptian cultivars may be equal under these conditions. The results showed that the phylogenetic tree was divided into four groups, one of which contained the most closely related genotypes in the genetic distance, including Giza 124, Giza 130, Giza 138, Giza 136, and Giza 137, which converge in the indicative uses of farmers. The seed coat of the studied cultivars was “rugose”. The elevation folding of the rugose pattern ranged from 11 ± 1.73 µm (Giza 126) to 14.67 ± 2.43 µm (Giza 123), suggesting variation in seed quality and its uses in feed and the food industry. According to the similarity matrix of ISSR analysis, the highest similarity value (93%) was recorded between Giza 133 and Giza 132, as well as between Giza 2000 and Giza 126. On the other hand, the lowest similarity value (80%) was recorded between Giza 130 and (Giza 133 and Giza 132), indicating that these cultivars were distantly related. Polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.26 for the primer ISSR UBC 835 to 0.37 for the primers ISSR UBC 814 and ISSR UBC 840. The current study showed that the matK gene is more mutable than the rbcL gene among the tested cultivars.

Background Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces a group of δ-endotoxin proteins designated as cry toxins. No doubt that Bt isolates are excellent potential candidates for biological control strategies. Results The present study showed that 12 Bt strains were isolated and characterized at morphological, biochemical, and molecular levels. All the tested 12 Bt strains were gram-positive, endospore-forming, and possessing typical Bt crystal structures under the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Universal primers direct and reverse of five pairs were used to detect five Cry-type genes (Cry1, Cry2, Cry3, Cry4, Cry7, and Cry8) by the PCR sizes produced from the studied Bt strains. The 16S rRNA PCR technique, 16S gene primer, DNA template, dNTPs, and Taq polymerase produced unique and distinguishable restriction patterns used for the molecular characterization of the studied Bt strains. Based on the PCR products, the frequency of Cry-gene distribution among the tested strains was Cry1 100%, Cry4 85%, and Cry3 62%, and Cry2 and Cry7 frequency was 54%. Based on the activity of insecticidal of the tested Bt strains, Bt1, Bt9, Bt10, and Bt11 were extremely pathogenic; their pathogenicity ranged from 93 to 100% against dipteran and lepidopteran larvae, compared to the other Bt isolates. The nucleotide sequences of amplified 1500 bp conserved region of 16S rRNA genes of four strains blasted using NCBI database compared to NCBI database sequences, and they were reported as native strains of Bt showing high homology with the known Bt strains (99–100%). The nucleotide sequences of Bt1, Bt9, Bt10, and Bt11 were placed in the GenBank database under accession numbers MN860017, MN843958, MN843959, and MN843960, respectively. Conclusion The strategies of enhancing the sustainability of crops and vegetables that are targeted by a large number of pathogenic insects require a great effort of exploring novel species and strains of Bt. Herein, native strains of Bt were documented from the eastern province of Saudi Arabia that displayed bio-insecticidal action on larvae of Diptera and Lepidoptera.

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The Main aim of this study was determine the effect of different croton (Codiaeum variegatum) genotypes (Gold Dust and Petra) and growth hormones on callus induction, micro propagation and antibacterial activities. Murashige and skoog (MS) medium with four compositions of growth hormones for callus induction, mursh M1 (2 mg/l 2, 4 Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2, 4-D), M2 (3 mg/l 2, 4-D), M3 (2mg/l 1-Naphthalen acetic acid (NAA), M4 (1mg/l 2, 4-D + 1 mg/l NAA) were used. For micro propagation, four different hormone balance were used, i.e., M1 (1 mg/l Benzyl adenine (BA) + 25 mg/l peptone), M2 (1mg/l BA + 50mg/l peptone), M3 (3mg/l BA + 25mg/l peptone), M4 (3mg/l BA + 50mg/l peptone).For rooting induction the combinations of growth regulators were used as follows, Mr1 (1mg/lIndolbuteric acid(IBA), Mr2 (2mg/l IBA), and Mr3 (1mg/l IBA+ 1mg/l NAA). Results showed that the highest genetic response for callus induction frequencies were seen for Petra genotype (91.25%) followed by Gold Dust. Medium M3 showed the highest response for callus induction frequencies (82.4%) followed by M1.Interaction between genotypes and media each alone were highly significant in callus fresh weight character. Regarding the micro propagation, Petra genotype gave highly genetic response followed by Gold Dust, also medium (M1) gave highly response for micro propagation followed by M2. In vitro roots were successfully induced by (1 or 2) mg/l of IBA which gave longest and few roots, while 1mg/l NAA gave shorter and more root number. Plants with roots were moved to the green house for acclimatize in pots contain sand /farmyard manure (8:2VN). Alkaloids extracted from callus for both genotypes were detected for antibacterial activities against Gram positive and negative bacteria. Alkaloids extracted from calli for media M1 and M2 were gave a highest antibacterial activity. Finally the present results gives scientific evidence on the ideal composition of the media to product the alkaloid extracts from C. variegatum (Gold Dust and Petra) as medicinal plants to be used as antibacterial agents against different pathogens.

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Aflatoxins are toxic and carcinogenic components produced by some Aspergillus species such as Aspergillus flavus. Polyketide synthases enzyme (PKS) plays a central role in aflatoxin s biosynthesis of in Aspergillus flavus , especially the product template (PT) domain, which controls the aldol cyclization of the polyketide forerunner during the biosynthesis of the aflatoxin pathway process. Here, we apply the in silico approaches to validate 623 natural components obtained from the South African Natural Compound Database (SANCDB), to distinguish the PT domain s prospected inhibitors. From the 623 compounds, docking results showed that there are 330 different compounds with energy binding lower than the natural substrate (palmitic acid or PLM) of the Product Templet domain (PT). Three factors were selected to determine the best 10 inhibiting components; 1) energy binding, 2) the strengthen chemical interactions, 3) the drug-likeness. The top ten inhibiting components are kraussianone 6, kraussianone 1, neodiospyrin, clionamine D, bromotopsentin, isodiospyrin, spongotine A, kraussianone 3, 14β-Hydroxybufa-3,5,20,22-tetraenolide and kraussianone 7. The chemical interactions between 3HRQ domain and the natural substrate in the active site amino acids are highly similar to the 3HRQ with the top ten components, but the main differences are in the binding energy which is the best in the top ten ligands. Those ten components give successful inhibition with PT domain which will lead to the formula to be used for inhibition and control aflatoxin contamination of agriculture crop yields and lessen the degree of harming and sicknesses that are coming about because of acquiring measures of aflatoxin.