Publications by authors named "Mohammad-Reza Ghaffari"

Article Synopsis
  • * It found that 56% of the identified CRISPR-Cas systems belong to subtypes I-E/I-C, 23% to III-A/III-D, and 17% to II-A, with specific plasmids targeted by distinct systems.
  • * The research concluded that strains with type-I CRISPR-Cas systems have a wider range of phage targets, highlighting the critical role of these systems in protecting against viral infections.
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This study focuses on the genetic diversity and population structure of Prunus dulcis (almond tree), a crucial agricultural component with widespread cultivation and commercial importance, particularly in Iran, a region with a longstanding tradition of almond cultivation. The diverse almond collection in Iran encompasses many local varieties, breeding selections, rootstocks, and international cultivars. This diversity necessitates advanced genotyping techniques to gain insights into genetic diversity, population structure, and linkage disequilibrium (LD).

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The remobilization of stored assimilates from stems to seeds plays a pivotal role in augmenting barley yield, particularly under water stress conditions. This study examines the molecular mechanisms underlying stem reserve utilization by conducting a comparative analysis of the proteome and metabolome across three barley contrasting genotypes: Yousef, Morocco, and PBYT17. Evaluations were performed at 21 and 28 days after anthesis (DAA) under both water stress and control conditions.

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Cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKX), responsible for irreversible cytokinin degradation, also controls plant growth and development and response to abiotic stress. While the gene has been studied in other plants extensively, its function in cotton is still unknown. Therefore, a genome-wide study to identify the gene family in the four cotton species was conducted using transcriptomics, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and bioinformatics.

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Background: The cuticular wax serves as a primary barrier that protects plants from environmental stresses. The Eceriferum (CER) gene family is associated with wax production and stress resistance.

Results: In a genome-wide identification study, a total of 52 members of the CER family were discovered in four Gossypium species: G.

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Potato is considered a key component of the global food system and plays a vital role in strengthening world food security. A major constraint to potato production worldwide is the Potato Virus Y (PVY), belonging to the genus Potyvirus in the family of Potyviridae. Selective breeding of potato with resistance to PVY pathogens remains the best method to limit the impact of viral infections.

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In our ongoing project, which focuses on the introgression of Booroola/FecB gene and the myostatin (MSTN) gene into purebred Moghani sheep, we assessed the performance of second-generation Moghani crossbreds such as second crossbreds (F2) and initial backcross generation (BC1). These crossbreds were generated through different mating systems, including in-breeding, outcrossing, first paternal backcrossing (PBC1), and first maternal backcrossing (MBC1). Notably, F2 strains exhibited lean tail, woolly fleece and a higher percentage of white coat color compared to BC1.

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Article Synopsis
  • Preserving genetic diversity is crucial for genetic improvement and adaptation, and this study analyzes seven Iranian horse breeds to pinpoint key genetic variants like SNPs, INDELs, and CNVs.
  • The research utilized whole-genome resequencing, generating a large amount of sequence data, with varying mapping rates to the horse reference genome, which revealed over 2.9 million SNPs, predominantly in intergenic regions.
  • The study highlighted Caspian horses as genetically distinct, showing fewer shared SNPs with Turkoman horses and a unique genetic profile that influences their sensory and reproductive traits, providing insights for their management and conservation.
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Given emerging food supply challenges for the world population, Genetic Modified Organisms (GMOs) are referred to as a solution to the upcoming food security crisis. Besides technological advancement, other significant components such as public Awareness play an important role in national and international scientific regulations. Towards this, this study evaluated Tehranian consumers' Awareness (a sample including 946 respondents) about GMOs' risks and benefits, trust in governmental regulation, and the ways to obtain information about GMOs.

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Sunn pest (Eurygaster integriceps Puton) is major wheat pest causing economic damage. Neuropeptides and their receptors, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), are involved in the regulation of insect physiology and behavior. Herein, a transcriptome-wide analysis was conducted in order to identify genes encoding neuropeptides, and putative GPCRs to gain insight into neuropeptide-modulated processes.

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Background: The mechanisms underlying rice root responses to drought during the early developmental stages are yet unknown.

Results: This study aimed to determine metabolic differences in IR64, a shallow-rooting, drought-susceptible genotype, and Azucena, a drought-tolerant and deep-rooting genotype under drought stress. The morphological evaluation revealed that Azucena might evade water stress by increasing the lateral root system growth, the root surface area, and length to access water.

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This study aimed to compare growth performance between Moghani sheep and crossbred lambs resulting from crossbreeding between Moghani pure breed ewes and the lines of rams e.g., Texel Tamlet, Texel Dalzell, Booroola Merino, and Booroola Romney.

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The hydrangea ( (Thunb). Ser.), an ornamental plant, has good marketing potential and is known for its capacity to change the colour of its inflorescence depending on the pH of the cultivation media.

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Background: Plant organelles are highly motile where their movement is significant for fast distribution of material around the cell, facilitation of the plant's ability to respond to abiotic and biotic signals, and for appropriate growth. Abiotic and biotic stresses are among the major factors limiting crop yields, and biological membranes are the first target of these stresses. Plants utilize adaptive mechanisms namely myosin to repair injured membranes following exposure to abiotic and biotic stresses.

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Sheep is a major contributor to global food production among livestock and one of the great sources of red meat for human consumption. Several QTL and numerous genes with major and minor effects have been identified in association with the muscle characteristics in sheep breeds worldwide. Understanding the genetic background of growth and carcass-related traits in sheep is a major factor in increasing muscle growth, muscle hypertrophy and, eventually, meat production.

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Drought is responsible for major losses in rice production. Root tips contain meristematic and elongation zones that play major roles in determination of root traits and adaptive strategies to drought. In this study we analysed two contrasting genotypes of rice: IR64, a lowland, drought-susceptible, and shallow-rooting genotype; and Azucena, an upland, drought-tolerant, and deep-rooting genotype.

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Trigonella foenum-graecum is widely distributed worldwide and grown under a wide range of climatic conditions. The current research was conducted to study the effects of the environmental variables on yield related traits and metabolite contents of 50 different Persian fenugreeks at various geographical locations. Accordingly, multivariate statistical techniques including canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), hierarchical clustering on principal components, and partial least squares regression (PLSR) were applied to determine important proxy variables and establish a relevant model to predict bioactive compounds in fenugreeks.

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Root system architecture (RSA) is an important agronomic trait with vital roles in plant productivity under water stress conditions. A deep and branched root system may help plants to avoid water stress by enabling them to acquire more water and nutrient resources. Nevertheless, our knowledge of the genetics and molecular control mechanisms of RSA is still relatively limited.

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Background: The Plant U-box (PUB), ubiquitin ligase gene, has a highly conserved domain in potato. However, little information is available about U-box genes in potato (Solanum tuberosum). In this study, 62 U-box genes were detected in the potato genome using bioinformatics methods.

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Every winter, temperate woody plants have to cope with freezing stress. Winter hardiness is of crucial importance for pomegranate survival and productivity. A comparative morphological and metabolic study was conducted on the stems and buds of 15 field-grown mature pomegranate genotypes in seven time-points during two developmental cycles.

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A novel thermostable/halotolerant metagenome-derived laccase (PersiLac2) from tannery wastewater was purified to remove textile dyes in this study. The enzyme was highly active over a wide temperature and pH range and maintained 73.35% of its initial activity after 30 days, at 50 °C.

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Salinity is one of the main abiotic stresses limiting crop productivity. In the current study, the transcriptome of wheat leaves in an Iranian salt-tolerant cultivar (Arg) was investigated in response to salinity stress to identify salinity stress-responsive genes and mechanisms. More than 114 million reads were generated from leaf tissues by the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform.

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Iran is one of the origins of some Salicornia species. Nevertheless, comprehensive research has not been conducted on genetic potential, distribution, selection of populations, and the economic utilization of Salicornia in Iran. In the current study, Salicornia was collected based on the previous data available for 26 different geographical locations of provinces in Iran.

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Reproductive stage is very sensitive to various forms of environmental stresses such as drought stress. The proteomic analysis of anther during pollen development in response to drought stress was performed using a label-free quantitative shotgun proteomic technique to define the underlying molecular principles in two contrasting wheat genotypes Shiraz (susceptible) and D-10 (tolerant). Drought stress resulted in around two-fold decline in seed setting capacity and pollen viability in the Shiraz genotype compared to D-10.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous non-coding RNAs in eukaryotes which regulate the expression of numerous genes post-transcriptionally, thereby playing critical roles in cells and organismal development. The high-throughput sequencing technologies enable the effective detection and annotation of miRNAs. Several miRNA variants with heterogeneous ends, lengths, and sequences can be generated from a single miRNA locus.

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