Somatic antigens of Bradyrhizobium japonicum, Rhizobium sp. (Cicer arietinum) and Rhizobium sp. (Leucaena leucocephala) were prepared as standard, single-species type from cultured cells. Equal numbers of the cells of these rhizobia were then combined to obtain a mixed-rhizobial-species antigen preparation. Rabbits were immunized either with the standard, single-species type or with the mixed-r...

Double haploid technique is not routinely used in legume breeding programs, though recent publications report haploid plants via anther culture in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The focus of this study was to develop an efficient and reproducible protocol for the production of double haploids with the application of multiple stress pre-treatments such as centrifugation and osmotic shock for gen...

A pectin (CAP) was extracted from the husk of Cicer arietinum L. Monosaccharide analysis of CAP revealed the dominance of galacturonic acid and smaller amounts of galactose, arabinose, rhamnose, glucose, xylose and mannose. Viscosimetric analysis showed that the intrinsic viscosity ([η]) and the molecular weight (MW) of CAP were 296 mL/g and 105 kDa, respectively. The degree of esterification (...

In a previous work, a Cicer arietinum cDNA clone (CaXTH1) encoding a xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XTH1) protein was isolated and characterized. CaXTH1 showed an expression pattern specific to growing tissue: mostly epicotyls and the upper growing internodes of adult stems. CaXTH1 mRNA was not detected in any other organs of either seedlings or adult plants, suggesting an involveme...

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum), a cool season grain legume grown on a surface of 11 million ha with worldwide production of about 9 million tons [1], is cultivated in more than 45 countries throughout the world including Iran where it is grown mostly in rainfed areas and on marginal lands in the province of West Azarbayjan. Ascochyta blight is perhaps the most frequent and damaging disease of chick...

The WD-repeat proteins are found in eukaryotes and play an important role in the regulation of a wide variety of cellular functions including signal transduction, pre-mRNA processing and cytoskeleton assembly. In this study, a cDNA encoding a WD repeat-containing protein 13 (GbWDR13) was cloned by PCR from Ginkgo biloba. The length of GbWDR13 gene is 1500 bp, encoding 496 amino acids. The predi...

A set of 14 plant lectins was screened in a binary choice bioassay for inhibitory activity on cowpea weevil Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) oviposition. Coating of chickpea seeds (Cicer arietinum L.) with a 0.05% (w/v) solution of plant lectins caused a significant reduction in egg laying. Control experiments with heat inactivated lectin and BSA indicated that the observed deterrent effects are s...