Yusmin Mohd-Yusuf

• University of Malaya

Mature coconut water (MCW) has been demonstrated to contain bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties. In vivo research showed that MCW supplementation increased semen quality in rats, suggesting that it may boost reproductive performance. This study investigated the impact of MCW on the reproduction of Boer bucks. Two groups of 12 sexually m...

Agriculture, including horticulture, can support and provide food for the global population, meeting both nutritional and economic needs. However, plant diseases induced by phytopathogens result in enormous losses in horticultural crop production through decreasing yields and the quality of crops. Notably, fungal phytopathogens are responsible for...

In the era where food security is one of the challenges caused by global food demand, understanding the strategies needed is a must. Chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides have been used over decades to increase crop production. This practise however causes detrimental effects to human and environment in the long run. To replace the dependen...

Secreted in Xylem (SIX) are small effector proteins released by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) into the plant’s xylem sap disrupting the host’s defence responses causing Fusarium wilt disease resulting in a significant decline in banana crop yields and economic losses. Notably, different races of Foc possess unique sets of SIX genes respons...

Histamine widely involves in local immune responses, physiological function in the gut, and acting as a neurotransmitter in the brain. Scientist also found the importance of histamine in the reproductive systems. The present study aimed to determine the existence of histamine receptor subtypes; H1R, H2R, H3R, and H4R on mouse oocytes through immuno...

Microbial‐based fertilizer has been widely used as a healthier and better alternative to agrochemical products. However, the effects of biofertilizers on the rhizospheric microbiota has rarely been investigated. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of symbiotic fungus Trichoderma asperellum SL2‐based inoculant on the soil bact...

Boesenbergia rotunda (Zingiberaceae), is a high-value culinary and ethno-medicinal plant of Southeast Asia. The rhizomes of this herb have a high flavanone and chalcone content. Here we report the genome analysis of B. rotunda together with a complete genome sequence as a hybrid assembly. B. rotunda has an estimated genome size of 2.4 Gb which is a...

Increased agricultural activities driven by rising food demand have led to environmental problems mostly arising from the high levels of external inputs and resources that are required. Additionally, environmental changes, such as global warming, can lead to various biotic and abiotic stresses, which have negative impacts on crop production. Numero...

The extraction of intact RNA from oocyte is quite challenging and time-consuming. A standard protocol using commercial RNA extraction kit, yields a low quantity of RNA in oocytes. In the past, several attempts in getting RNA for gene expression study ended up with a few different modified methods. Extraction of high-quality RNA from oocyte is impor...

Metroxylon sagu Rottb. or locally known as sago palm is a tropical starch crop grown for starch production in commercial plantations in Malaysia, especially in Sarawak, East Malaysia. This plant species accumulate the highest amount of edible starch compared to other starch-producing crops. However, the non-trunking phenomenon has been observed to...

To date, there is no standardized Fusarium bioassay protocol established owing partly to the wide variety of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) isolates and banana cultivars present. Thus, validation of the infection parameters is deemed essential prior to each bioassay experiment. In the current study, a simple standardized workflow was devel...

Purpose: To assess the effects of thymoquinone (TQ) on the integrity of sperm DNA in nicotine-induced sperm impairment in rats. Methods: Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were randomized into four equal groups: control group received normal saline orally for 60 days; nicotine group was subcutaneously injected with 5 mg/kg/day nicotine for 30 days and...

The expression profile of pathogenesis related genes are signatures of an infection response in plant cells. Pathogenic infections can increase or reduce gene expression in a plant system in a relatively specific pattern. These expression patterns can be used as standards in pathogenicity studies and, where phenotypic expression is normally used to...

Fusarium oxysporum is one of the most adaptive and pathogenic fungus that causes wilting in banana. It is regarded as one of the economically destructive fungus and control of this disease is always ineffective once the disease becomes established in banana plantations. Various researches have been carried out, but sustainable solution is yet to ac...

PR-10 is a member of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes elicited by the plant’s defense mechanism during pathogen attack. Elevated expression of PR-10 upon different pathogen invasions has been observed in many plant species suggesting its role as an anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal gene. However, the effect of PR-10 in mitigating the infect...

Consumption the crop is one of the main sources of dietary exposure to toxic trace elements. In order to assess the level of toxic trace elements from selected herbs and to make an assumption on their consumption level of concern, fourteen elements in Zingiber zerumbet (lempoyang), Boesenbergia rotunda (temu kunci), Zingiber officinale var rubr...

Complete genome sequencing of cytoplasmically inherited chloroplast DNA provides novel insights into the origins of clonally propagated crops such as banana and plantain (Musa spp.). This study describes the structural organization of the chloroplast genome of M. balbisiana Colla and its phylogenetic relationship with other wild progenitors of the...

Calibration curves for (A) pinocembrin, (B) pinostrobin, and (C) panduratin A

Growth and morphological development of Boesenbergia rotunda grown in different soil mixture were considered to determine the suitable growing media for the species. B. rotunda or fingerroot ginger is a highly important medicinal plant belonging to Zingiberaceae family. The rhizome and fingerroot structure of this species contains several bioactive...

Flavonoids are secondary metabolites involved in several aspects of plant development and defence. These molecules have also been found to exhibit a variety of biochemical activities, including antiviral, antibacterial, estrogenic, antioxidant, anti-obesity, and anticancer activities. In this study, we analyzed the gene expression of native and phe...

Knowing 4-Coumarate: coenzyme A ligase (4CL) is one of the important enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of phenylpropanoid, we studied the gene expression profiles of 4CL and determined the production of selected flavonoids in different parts of Boesenbergia rotunda. The optimal growth conditions for B. rotunda cells were also investigated. In thi...

Growth and morphological development of Boesenbergia rotunda growing in the different soil mixture were considered to determine the suitable growing media for the species. B. rotunda or fingerroot ginger is a highly important medicinal plants belonging to Zingiberaceae family. The rhizome and finggerroot structure of this species contains several b...

Expression profiles of flavonoid-related gene, 4 coumarate: coenzyme A ligase, and optimization of culturing conditions for the selected flavonoid production in Boesenbergia rotunda

Papaya is an important medicinal crop which is used in industries and other healthcare products. This study was conducted to facilitate the selection of Papaya Ring Spot Virus (PRSV) resistant papayas in breeding programs by DNA fingerprint-ing method. By using Inter-Retrotransposons Amplified Polymorphism molecular markers, 5 out of 45 possible pr...

Panduratin A extracted from Boesenbergia rotunda is a flavonoid reported to possess a range of medicinal indications which include anti-dengue, anti-HIV, anti-cancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Boesenbergia rotunda is a plant from the Zingiberaceae family commonly used as a food ingredient and traditional medicine in Southeast As...

Basal stem rot caused by Ganoderma boninense is the most serious disease of oil palm in virtually all growing regions in South East Asia and listed as among the key challenges for this major oil crop. Plant pathogenesis related proteins and in particular PR peptides are an integral part of the activation of plant defense responses against fungal in...

Basal stem rot is a common disease that affects oil palm, causing loss of yield and finally killing the trees. The disease, caused by fungus Ganoderma boninense, devastates thousands of hectares of oil palm plantings in Southeast Asia every year. In the present study, root proteins of healthy oil palm seedlings, and those infected with G. boninense...

Sago plant stores its starch in the trunk. It is considered mature and ready to be harvested when reaches 6-8 years of growth. However, there are instances where sago palms in plantations remain stunted even after 10-14 years, thus devoid of starch in its trunk. This is known as non-trunking sago palm. The non-trunking phenotype of Metroxylon sagu...

We investigated the association of the HLA genes in Malaysian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and their associations with the clinical manifestations in 160 SLE patients (99 Chinese and 61 Malays) and 107 healthy control individuals (58 Chinese and 49 Malays) were studied. Sequence specific primer amplification (PCR-SSP) phototypin...

Basal stem rot disease (BSR) is a common and serious fungal disease of the oil palm caused by Ganoderma boninense. This fungal disease infects thousands of hectares of plantings in Southeast Asia every year causing not only yield but also tree losses. A natural plant self defence mechanism against fungal infection is the production of fungal resist...