Phytic acid (Myo-inositol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 hexa-kisphophate) is a storage form of phosphorus and can accumulate to levels as high as 35% in the wheat kernel. Phytic acid acts as an anti-nutritional macromolecule (anti-nutrient) in the wheat kernel. Due to its inhibitory role, a high concentration of phytic acid is undesirable as it hinders the bioavailability of some essential nutrients such as Fe, Mg, Ca, Zn and Cu, etc. To see the inheritance of phytic acid in wheat, phytic acid concentration was initially determined in kernels of 10 wheat genotypes to identify two contrasting genetic groups for diallel analysis. Based on pre-screening results of 10 wheat genotypes, five wheat genotypes (3 with high and 2 with low phytic acid concentration) were crossed in all possible combinations during 2007-08 to generate a 5 × 5 full diallel set for studying the inheritance of phytic acid and other agronomic traits. All 20 F1 hybrids and five parental genotypes were planted using a completely randomized block design with 3 replications during 2008- 09 at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University, Peshawar. Variance analysis for all traits revealed significant differences, providing justification for diallel analysis. According to Hotelling’s t2 test and regression analysis, the model of additive-dominance was adequate for phytic acid, plant height, flag leaf area, tillers plant-1, grains spike-1, biological yield; partially adequate for days to heading, grain filling duration, spikelets spike-1,1000- grain weight, grain yield, harvest index and inadequate for plant maturity. Values of D greater than H1 and H2 for flag leaf area and plant height indicated their additive nature, whereas values of D less than H1 and H2 for grain filling duration, grains spike-1, 1000- grain weight, tillers plant-1, spike length, biological yield, grain yield, harvest index and phytic acid concentration accounted for non-additive control of these traits. The same results were confirmed by average degree of dominance calculations. The narrow and broad sense heritability estimates varied widely among traits - days to heading (0.07, 0.32), flag leaf area (0.31, 0.55), grain filling duration (0.24, 0.91), plant height (0.12, 0.28), spike length (0.17, 0.62), spikelets spike-1 (0.35, 0.74), tillers plant-1 (0.05, 0.52), grains spike-1 (0.05, 0.68), 1000-grain weight (0.25, 0.68), biological yield (0.10, 0.89), grain yield (0.13, 0.98), harvest index (0.09, 0.64) and phytic acid concentration (0.01, 0.86). The values for phytic acid concentration ranged from 0.56 to 3.43% among F1 hybrids and 1.06 to 3.67% for parental genotypes. The following F1 hybrids, Ps-2005 × Ghaznavi (0.56%), AUP-4006 × Ps-2004 (0.74%), Janbaz × Ps-2004 (0.89%) and Janbaz × Ps-2005 (1.01%), had the lowest concentration of phytic acid. This research confirms that F1 hybrids with low phytic acid concentration could yield desirable segregants.
اسد ملتانی گذشتہ ماہ نومبر میں جناب اسد ملتانی بھی کراچی میں وفات پاگئے۔مرحوم صاحب فن استاد سُخن تھے۔قدرت کلام کایہ عالم تھا کہ ہر صنف شاعری میں بے تکلف دادسخن دے سکتے تھے۔مگراُن کااصل میدان قومی شاعری تھا۔اس رنگ میں ڈاکٹر اقبال مرحوم کے متبع تھے ۔سرکاری نوکری کی مصروفیتوں کے باعث ان کو اپنے حوصلہ کے مطابق شاعری کازیادہ موقع نہیں ملا۔پھر بھی جتنا کچھ لکھ گئے ہیں صف اوّل کے شعراء میں اُن کانام زندہ رکھنے کے لیے کافی ہے۔طبعاً بڑے مخلص، منکسرالمزاج،مرنج ومرنجان قسم کے آدمی تھے۔الھم اغفرلہ وارحمہ [دسمبر۱۹۵۹ء]
Explanation of Hadith literature is a very significant academic contribution of Muhadditheen since the dawn of this sacred source. Sunan by Abu Dawod (d. 275 A.H.) has its well reputation in field Hadith codification and it has taken a perpetual attraction of Hadith scholars for its interpretation. Molana Saharanpuri (d.1927A.D.)is a famous sub continental Muslim scholar who contributed a voluminous interpretation titled ‘Bazl al-Majhood’ in which he comprehensively explores different aspect of Hadith. He has given an exploration of intellecttu-al solutions to various doubts and objection in very lucid way. The article has been rendered to focus on the same issue and intends to deal with the method-ology adopted by Saharanpuri while resolving the insinuations regarding Hadith literature.
Mushrooms have long been used as food and as a cure for many diseases since they form a low-caloric diet with great amount of proteins, vitamins and minerals. In particular, mushrooms are known to contain phytochemicals that could help in mitigating the development of many diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase is a first rate limiting enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis. Inhibition of this enzyme is the prime target of drugs used in the treatment of high serum cholesterol levels in humans. Various synthetic drugs being used in controlling hypercholesterolemia are mostly ineffective in vivo and have high cost of production. Further cholesterol-induced oxidative stress has been considered as a major contributor in the development of atherosclerosis, thus the antioxidant activity of the selected mushrooms (Phellinus baumii, Trametes versicolor, Pleurotus osteratus and Agaricus bisporus) was determined by using DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazy), H2O2 (Hydrogen peroxide) radical scavenging assays and the total phenolic content was determined by using Folin-Ciocalteu method. The results revealed that the P. baumii exhibited significantly higher scavenging activity against free radicals as compared to other mushrooms under study. Moreover, only a few works have investigated the isolation of compounds from mushrooms that are responsible for lowering blood cholesterol levels. In this regard, this work tested the extracts of the selected mushrooms for their ability to inhibit recombinant HMG-CoA reductase isolated from Drosophila melanogaster. To this end, the cDNA-fragment encoding the 54- kDa catalytic domain of Drosophila HMG-CoA reductase was cloned into a modified pET30b (+) vector, named pET30f using the EcoRI and XhoI sites in the 1 2 multiple cloning site. Expression in this modified vector was under the control of a T7 promoter. The expressed recombinant HMG-CoA reductase was purified by using Ni-NTA chromatography and the molecular weight of the purified enzyme was determined to be 115 kDa by gel filtration chromatography. As a result, it was concluded that this catalytically active HMG-CoA reductase enzyme is a dimer. Moreover, kinetic analysis of this recombinant enzyme revealed the KM values of 0.2 ± 0.02 mM for HMG-CoA and 0.14 ± 0.01 mM for the cofactor NADPH. Extracts from the four evaluated mushroom species showed considerable HMGR inhibitory activity, with P. baumii extract being the most potent (Ki = 0.89 ± 0.18 μg/mL), so further investigations were done on this mushroom for the purification of the compounds responsible for inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase by using silica column chromatography and reverse phase semi-preparative-high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The masses and molecular formulas of the purified compounds were determined through Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS), Tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS), Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) and Gas Chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The isolated compounds in the most active peak from semi-preparative HPLC were Benzamine, 2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-4 methoxy (259 m/z) identified by using GC-MS while the other two compounds with m/z 399.2 and 457.26294 were detected by using LC-MS and FT-ICR respectively. Thus this study successfully demonstrated the use of catalytic domain of the Drosophila HMGR as a potential tool to identify the inhibitors of enzymatic activity. These preliminary studies on P. baumii have indicated the presence of potential compounds in this mushroom that may be helpful against hypercholesterolemia. So, further studies should be done on the structure elucidation of these compounds as well as isolation of other compounds 3 from P. baumii that may contribute to the development of novel therapeutic agents for lowering blood cholesterol levels.