Lectins are present in microorganisms, plants and animals and have attracted great interest due to their varied physiological roles in cell agglutination, anti-tumour, immunomodulatory, antifungal and antiviral effects. Legume lectins are important to the pharmaceuticals but they are produced in low amounts in the plant seeds. Moreover, the genes controlling these proteins are conditionally act...

Gum arabic is mainly produced from two Acacias that are found in the gum belt of Sub-Saharan Africa. These are Acacia senegal that produces high quality gum and Acacia seyal that produces low quality gum. In recent years the gum market structure has changed and Sudan lost its near monopoly position as Chad and Nigeria became important gum suppliers. In order to understand the competition betwee...

We explore here the occurrence of aggressive ants in an apparently symbiotic relationship with the savanna tree Acacia drepanolobium and their effects on giraffe herbivory on the Athi-Kapiti Plains, Kenya. Trees taller than 1.3 m were more likely to be occupied by aggressive ants in the genus Crematogaster than were shorter trees. Ants were concentrated on shoot tips, the plant parts preferred ...

Over the past few decades, scientists have paid special attention to studying novel and natural hydrocolloids due to the growing demand for ready meals, public awareness on the importance of natural fibers in daily diets, and their wide range of application, especially in foods, pharmaceuticals and herbal medicine. Moreover, natural hydrocolloids are preferred to biotechnologic ones (e.g., gell...

The western region of Saudi Arabia is a major vegetation diversity hotspot with wide range habitats and variant climatic topographical characteristics. in this has not been fully studied to monitor the changes that happen over time these habitats. This study aims identify floristic structure plant species invaded Arabia. A total 58 stands different (i.e., mountains, protected areas “ridge mount...