Zinc oxide nanoparticles: Biosynthesis, characterization, antifungal and cytotoxic activity.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) are multifunctional oxide metal nanoparticles that have been considered by many due to their unique properties including UV filtration, semiconducting, antimicrobial, antifungal, and photocatalytic activity. In the present study, ZnO-NPs have been synthesized from Zn(SO4)·7H2O through the use of "green synthesis" method that utilizes Prosopis farcta aqueous extract. The characterization of synthesized ZnO-NPs have been performed by UV-Vis absorption, Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman, Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Results have illustrated that the synthesized nanoparticles contain a hexagonal shape and sheet form with sizes of 40-80 nm. The antifungal activity of ZnO-NPs against Candida albicans has shown that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) were 128 and 256 µg/ml, respectively. The cytotoxicity activity of synthesized nanoparticles was tested on breast cancer cells (MCF7), while the IC50 was calculated to be 90 µg/ml.

Genetic Mapping and Validation of Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for the Grain Appearance and Quality Traits in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) by Using Recombinant Inbred Line (RIL) Population.

Rice grain shape and nutritional quality traits have high economic value for commercial production of rice and largely determine the market price, besides influencing the global food demand for high-quality rice. In order to understand the genetic components of grain appearance traits in paddy, brown, and head rice, 15 traits were evaluated by using 157 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between two Iranian rice cultivars Ali-Kazemi (A) and Kadous (K). A significant variation was observed and showed transgressive segregation among the RILs. Correlations between the visual appearances of grain traits were studied. A linkage map with 65 polymorphic SSR markers was constructed, which covered 1517.32 cM of the rice genome. A total of seven QTLs were identified on four chromosomes, 1, 6, 9, and 12, associated with four traits, which are explained by the total phenotypic variation of 44.27% and LOD score of 32.77 in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Among these, four QTLs for two traits were consistently flanked by RM23904 and RM24432 on chromosome 9. Single QTL for head grain length (HGL) expressed in both the years on chromosomes 1 and 9. A major QTL for seed weight was detected on chromosome 9, which explained 10.18% of the phenotypic variation. The additive effect of all the QTLs was positively contributed by Ali-Kazemi allele, except one QTL on chromosome 6 (qBGL_6) that showed a negative additive effect being contributed by the Kadous allele. The study also validated the identified QTLs with the polymorphic SSR markers that were previously reported. Novel QTLs were identified on chromosomes 6 and 9, and many of the polymorphic markers were found to be associated with milling processing of grain quality, cooking, and nutraceutical properties of rice by extensive literature and database analysis. Therefore, these validated QTLs and marker information could be utilized in the marker-assisted selection to improve grain appearance and nutritional grain quality traits in rice.