Khalid Alghamdi

King Abdulaziz University · Department of Biological Science

Salinity is one of the most concerning ecological restrictions influencing plant growth, which poses a devastating threat to global agriculture. Surplus quantities of ROS generated under stress conditions have negative effects on plants’ growth and survival by damaging cellular components, including nucleic acids, lipids, proteins and carbohydrates...

This study explored the role of exogenous α-Toc (0.5 mM) and Asc (1 mM) in alleviating the damaging effects of salt stress in rapeseed plants (Brassica campestris cv. BARI Sarisha-17). Exposure of 21-day-old plants to different levels of salt stress (75 mM and 150 mM NaCl) resulted in the higher accumulation of sodium ions (Na+), reduced potassium...

Crops are susceptible to a variety of stresses and amongst them salinity of soil is a global agronomic challenge that has a detrimental influence on crop yields, thus posing a severe danger to our food security. Therefore, it becomes imperative to examine how plants respond to salt stress, develop a tolerance that allows them to live through higher...

Fish supply people with long-term benefits, including food and the direct financial benefits of providing employment, profits, and saving money. More indirect but equally valuable benefits of fish and aquatic ecosystems include recreational boating, sport fishing, swimming, and relaxation. Consumption of seafoods has taken place from ancient times....

Contamination of heavy metals is a serious threat, which causes threats to the environment. Our study aimed to determine the role of endophytic bacteria in Cd phytoremediation and heavy metal ATPase gene expression. Cadmium (Cd) resistant endophytic bacteria were isolated from Solanum nigrum on LB agar plates, contaminated with 0–30 mg/L Cd. The ph...

Photorhabdus is lives in a mutualistic association with nematodes from the family Heterorhabditis. Bacteria of the Photorhabdus can survive independently and cause toxicity in a larger variety of insects. In the present study, insecticidal activity of non-portentous heat-stable metabolites of Photorhabdus luminescens was evaluated against Galleria...

The productivity of plants is a direct variant of the countless biotic and abiotic stresses to which a plant is exposed in an environment. This study aimed to investigate the capabilities of leguminous plant garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) to resist water deficit conditions in arid and semi-arid areas when applied with varied doses of sludge for grow...

Genus cChrysomya plays a very important role in the forensic entomology. Chrysomya belongs to family Calliphoridae and subfamily Chrysomynae. Calliphoridae distributed and found in all geographical areas of the world. In the present study, two very important Chrysomya species C. albiceps and C. marginalis were collected from different areas of Jedd...

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a highly infectious zoonotic virus first reported into the human population in September 2012 on the Arabian Peninsula. The virus causes severe and often lethal respiratory illness in humans with an unusually high fatality rate. The N-terminal domain (NTD) of receptor-binding S1 subunit of...

In this research, a simple and green approach towards preparation of biogenic gold nanoparticles on cotton cloth (AuNPs-CC) was developed. It was found that the hydroxyl functional groups of the cellulose macromolecules, abundantly available in cotton, slowly reduced the Au ions to nanoparticles. To help accelerate the kinetic process of AuNPs form...

Order Diptera of class insecta is of immense importance for the public and animal health and hygiene. Many dipteran flies are potential vectors of dreadful diseases. Therefore, it is required to have a simple characterization method and identification key for the field workers and entomol-ogists. The present study fulfill the need and focus on the...

The seven-spotted ladybird, Coccinella septempunctata L. (Coleoptera : Coccinellidae) was released for one time, in early-February on alfalfa plants during 2012 and repeated in 2013, at Jeddah City at rates of 30, 60 and 90 eggs/m2. On alfalfa plants (lucerne) Medicago sativa L.: during the fi rst season (2012), the reduction percentages in the pop...

Dengue disease (DENV) is the purpose behind dengue fever. It is a mosquito-borne single positive-stranded RNA contamination of the family Flaviviridae; sort Flavivirus. Dengue illness is a mosquito-borne making or re-rising pathogen. Its positive sense RNA genome has a top at the 5'- end and no poly(A) tail at the 3'- end. The viral RNA encodes a s...

Background: Studying human skin-associated bacterial communities is crucial to understanding human diseases, disease progression, and their role in maintaining human health. Objectives: This study aimed to identify normal (healthy) skin microbiome signatures of eight individuals living in Jeddah, Makkah Al-Mukarramah region, Saudi Arabia. Methods:...

Minichromosome maintenance complex component 7 (MCM7) belongs to the minichromosome maintenance family that is important for the initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication. Overexpression of the MCM7 protein is relative to cellular proliferation and responsible for aggressive malignancy in various cancers. Mechanistically, inhibition of MCM7 signific...

The red palm weevil(RPW),Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae) is one of the most threatening pests of date palm trees in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Which considered as category Iinsect pest in the Gulf region and the Middle East, according toFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Therefore, this research was planne...

Background Jasmonic acid (JA) is a signal transducer molecule that plays an important role in plant development and stress response; it can also efficiently stimulate secondary metabolism in plant cells. Results RNA-Seq technology was applied to identify differentially expressed genes and study the time course of gene expression in Rhazya stricta...

Honeybees play a vital role in the world’s food supply by acting as essential pollinators in the agricultural fields. Interestingly, more than one third of the world’s essential crops are honeybee’s dependant. The adult honeybeeworkers harbour a simple specific bacterial spectrum in their guts with vital role in bees’ health. Gut microbial diversit...

With rational water management programs, Saudi Arabia should not be an ideal place for mosquito problems due to its geographical location, weather conditions and, a small amount of exposed water for mosquito population buildup. The aimed to obtain an overview of the biodiversity of Mosquito strains and their bio-control. COI gene-based analyses wer...

The widespread of the screwworm Chrysomya albiceps in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has begun to be alarming, and that controlling it and limiting its infestation to more animals has become a very important matter, and in this study, the level of sensitivity to some of the compounds used in the control programs in Jeddah by feeding and immersion meth...

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common disorder in childhood. Early identification and appropriate antibiotic use are essential to avoid long-term sequels. The trial objective is to identify the prevalence of URI in children, and the risk factors. Methods: This is an analytical cross-sectional study conducted in the Saudi Arabia, from April 4th....

p> Background: Bed bugs are small insects that feed on animal blood at all stages of their life cycle, with the most common species, Cimex lectularius , preferring to feed on human blood. In recent years, it has reappeared in many countries around the world. Methods: Samples of bed bugs were collected from Jeddah governorate neighbourhoods from 4...

We report a case of 40-year-old female who is known to have systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) presenting with severe cognitive impairment with lymphopenia, proteinuria, and evidence of SLE serological activity. Initially, she was managed as a case of neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) with Cyclophosphamide and pulse steroids. Ho...

Phoresy is a biologically mechanical phenomena where an immobile organism hitches on a other mobile organism to translocate. This behaviour is not studied very well on the field level especially between two important parasites infesting the same host. Parasite/parasite interaction is rarely studied through most biological host-parasite systems. Her...

In this study the production of high surface area silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are reported from the Dodonaea viscosa plant species under controlled condition. The reaction was completed at 40 °C within 5 h and the product was characterized by several advanced techniques such as PXRD, FTIR, TGA, FESEM, XPS, DRS, BET, and UV-Vis. The prepared AgNPs...

Azadirachta indica is a very common plant used very frequently due to its medicinal significance. The antibacterial activities of 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1.0 and 10 mg/mL of the plant extract were determined against different pathogenic bacteria. Concentration of 0.01 mg/mL killed the E. coli, E. aerogenes, P. stuartiiand 10, 1.0 and 0.1mg/mL were very e...

This study was focused to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNps) from the aqueous extract of Bistorta amplexicaule and to evaluate their antimicrobial, antifungal, and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) degradation potential. The AgNps from B. amplexicaule were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, X...

Available antiulcer medications reveal partial efficacy and numerous adverse reactions. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) was known for its potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and angiogenic properties. The aim of current study was to investigate the potential gastroprotective effect of TMP against indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in rats with possi...

Pseudomonas bacteria are entomopathogenic that can naturally infect and kill insects upon ingestion. The insecticidal and plant growth-promoting roles of the bacteria were assessed by applying Pseudomonas IUK001 to insects and plants. The culture extract (CE) of IUK001 at the concentration of 1 mL/cm ³ of an artificial diet was used as a treatment...

The present study was designed to isolate petroleum hydrocarbon degrading bacterial strains from crude oil contaminated sites near the ARAMCO (Jazan, Saudi Arabia). The main aim was to identify a novel microbial comminutes that possess high degradation potential under variant environmental conditions. Total 43 crude oil degrading bacterial consorti...

Photorhabdus spp. has a high molecular weight Tc toxin with insecticidal activity. These toxins have been suggested as an alternative to BT toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis. Herein, we constructed a cosmid library with the genome of M1021 and screened the Escherichia coli clones showing insect toxicity by injecting each clone into Galleria mellone...

The study underpins barcode characterization of insect species collected from Saudi Arabia and explored functional constraints during evolution at the DNA and protein levels to expect the possible mechanisms of protein evolution in insects. Codon structure designated AT-biased insect barcode of the cytochrome C oxidase I (COI). In addition, the pre...

Biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles has been always remained important because the process does not involve any synthetic harmful agent. In this research work, silver (Ag) nanoparticles were prepared using fresh peel juice of the Citrus sinensis fruit. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized using spectroscopic techniques of field emission...

ABSTRACT Background: The occurrence of dengue fever plagues has expanded significantly in the course of the most recent couple of decades. Be that as it may, no immunization or antiviral treatments are accessible. In this manner, the requirement for protected and successful antiviral medications have turned out to be essential. Aim: Methyltransfera...

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) binds to EGF activating tyrosine phosphorylation through receptor dimerization prompting uncontrolled multiplication. Domain organization, secondary structure combinations in motifs and interactome define such transitory changes responsible for the multi-functionality of human EGFR. We report the predicted ph...

Dengue, West Nile and Zika virus belongs to the family flaviviridae and genus flavivirus. It is of interest to design and develop inhibitors with improved activity against these diseases. We used the helicases target to screen for potential inhibitors against these viruses using molecular docking analysis. NS3 helicases of flavivirus family of viru...

Dengue, West Nile and Zika virus belongs to the family flaviviridae and genus flavivirus. It is of interest to design and develop inhibitors with improved activity against these diseases. We used the helicases target to screen for potential inhibitors against these viruses using molecular docking analysis. NS3 helicases of flavivirus family of viru...

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of three types of IGRs and recording inhibition effect that leads to preventing larvae from reaching adulthood. This was carried out by exposing the 2 nd instar larvae flesh fly, Sarcophagadux to different concentrations of the tested IGRs using feeding and dipping methods. The results showed that Pyrip...

Aedes aegypti is one of the most important medical insect pest found in tropical and non-tropical areas of the world, and its relevance as a model system. This study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of different doses of extracted Avicennia marina and its silver nanoparticles against 4 th instar of Ae. Aegypti as a source of green nano insecti...

Bacteria produced maximum thermolabile alkaline lipase at 25°C after 96 h incubation in alkaline conditions. We tested the effect of different salts on its activity and found that CaCl 2 stimulated activity by 3766 U, whereas, the ZnSO 4 and FeCl 3 strongly inhibited the activity. A novel organic solvent stable alkaliphilic lipase enzyme (GenBank:...

Dengue disease (DENV) is the purpose behind dengue fever. It is a mosquito-borne single positive-stranded RNA contamination of the family Flaviviridae; sort Flavivirus. Dengue illness is a mosquito-borne making or re-rising pathogen. Its positive sense RNA genome has a top at the 5'- end and no poly(A) tail at the 3'- end. The viral RNA encodes a s...

This book provides an account of the major environmental contaminations present today, and offers detailed insights into their potential remediation through bio-based solutions. Bringing together the work of various international experts in this field, it contains comprehensive reviews on the mechanisms of bioremediation. Moreover, the book discuss...

The Final Flight trap was used to survey and identify flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae). This study was performed within one year, from March 2017 to February 2018 in Jeddah Governorate. Two species were identified; Wohlfahritia nuba and Sarcophaga dux. The populations of W. nuba was recorded in little numbers during irregular periods while the...

Dengue virus (DENV) is the public health threat worldwide. In fact, since 1994, Kingdome of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was reported dengue-free country. Later, outbreaks have been reported in Jeddah and Makkah and the dissemination of new DENV strains and serotypes into different localities could be attributed to the annual displacement of pilgrims from de...

Mosquitoes are the carriers of severe well-known illnesses such as malaria, Japanese encephalitis, dengue fever, chikungunya fever, West Nile virus, yellow fever, lymphatic filariasis and zika virus. These diseases produce significant morbidity and mortalities in humans and livestock around the world. The present research investigated the toxicolog...

Mosquitoes play a key role in the transmission of some important diseases. The need for controlling these insects is critical to reduce their risks to human and domesticated animals. Recently the trend to explore effective chemical compounds from local plants has begun as a safe means of control. The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-larval...

The diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum has been used as a model for cell biologists and ecologists for over a century. We have incorporated several new raphid pennates into a three gene phylogenetic dataset (SSU, rbcL, psbC), and recover Gomphonemopsis sp. as sister to P. tricornutum with 100% BS support. This is the first time a close relative has b...

Complete topology of ML phylogenetic tree of pennate diatoms in our three gene (nuclear SSU, rbcL, psbC) dataset. Terminal taxa are identified by name and strain number. Numbers associated with nodes are bootstrap support values. (TIF)

Strain identification and Genbank sequence numbers for newly accessioned material. (DOC)

Localities for diatom floristic survey to determine distribution of Gomphonemopsis cf. exigua. (XLSX)

Constraint trees used in hypothesis testing. All trees are in Newick format. (TXT)

Shrimp industry is one of the important sectors in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and it has shown steep production and economic values. WSSV is a major pathogen which causing 100% mortality and economic losses in world wide. In KSA two most important species such as Litopenaeus vannamei and Fenneropenaeus indicus were cultured widely. Due to the shee...

The main goal of this study was the monitoring of the population fluctuation of the prevalent dipterous fly species complex and to generate a baseline data in Jeddah Governorate and it’s surroundings using malaise and yellow sticky traps in animal pens including sheep, cow, cattle and vegetable market. Data recovered indicated the continued presenc...

Hepatitis C virus plays a significant role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) globally. The pathogenic mechanisms of hepatocellular carcinoma with HCV infection are generally linked with inflammation, cytokines, fibrosis, cellular signaling pathways, and liver cell proliferation modulating pathways. HCV encoded proteins (Core, NS3...

The present study was planned to use the ethanolic leaves extract of Juniperusprocera as a bio-factor to the reduction of silver nitrate to silver nanoparticles and evaluate the larvicidal activity of plant extracts only and plant extracts with silver nanoparticles against Aedes aegypti. UV-Vis spectrum, Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fouri...