Ethylene perception has been studied using Arabidopsis and tomato as model plants during last two decades. Arabidopsis has been an ideal model system for gene identification and subsequent functional analysis of the identified gene. On the other hand, tomato is not only the model of choice to study climacteric fruit ripening but also crops of agronomic importance and hence has been at the foref...

As fleshy fruits, two major melon genera are widely produced and consumed, including the watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai] and muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.). As different cultivars, cultivated them according to consumer and grower’s choice, and market conditions (i.e. seedless varieties, good shelf life, etc.). China is the world’s largest producer of melons, accounted for o...

Cantaloupe melons have a typical climacteric behaviour with ethylene playing a major role in the regulation of the ripening process and affecting the ripening rate. Crossing of Cantaloupe Charentais melon with a non-climacteric melon indicated that the climacteric character is genetically dominant and conferred by two duplicated loci only. However, other experiments made by crossing two non-cli...

The last step of ascorbic acid (AA) biosynthesis is catalysed by the enzyme L-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (GalLDH, EC 1.3.2.3), located on the inner mitochondrial membrane. The enzyme converts L-galactono-1,4-lactone to ascorbic acid (AA). In this work, the cloning and characterization of a GalLDH full-length cDNA from melon (Cucumis melo L.) are described. Melon genomic DNA Southern an...

Field-trapping evaluations of the new male attractant, formic acid 4-(3-oxobutyl) phenyl ester (raspberry ketone formate [RKF]) were conducted in Hawaii with wild populations of melon flies, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett (Diptera: Tephritidae), to determine its activity in the field and to evaluate new plastic matrix formulations. All tests were compared with the standard melon fly attractan...

BACKGROUND Recent studies have demonstrated a correlation between perceived stress and oxidative stress. As SOD is the main enzyme of the enzymatic antioxidant defence system of the body, we evaluated the effect of an oral daily intake of a proprietary melon juice concentrate rich in SOD (EXTRAMEL) on the signs and symptoms of stress and fatigue in healthy volunteers. METHODS This randomized,...

Iran is a part of the secondary centre of origin of melons, and therefore, there is a wealth of genetic variation of these species in this country. The Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) marker was applied to investigate the genetic variations among five major Iranian melon cultigens (Cucumis melo) and ‘Ananasi’ as a general well-known cultivar. Ten primer pairs were used on 90 indiv...

This paper describes our experimental testing of linear viscoelastic creep behaviours in HamiMelon. Experimental data shows that HamiMelon has complex viscoelastic property which cannot be well described by the standard model. Consequently, this study develops a fractional derivative model to describe such complex viscoelastic creep behaviours of Hami Melon. The analytical creep function of the...

This study investigated the phytotoxicity of herbicides applied singly or as mixtures to different crops under greenhouse conditions. Growth inhibition of the crops was taken as an indicator of phytotoxicity. Phytotoxicity of mixtures was estimated by calculating EC50 value in toxic units. EC50 (mg/kg soil) of Alachlor, Bromacil and/or Diuron were: 11.37, 4.77, 1.64, respectively, on melon; 0.1...

Purpose: To formulate self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS) based on melon oil and its admixture with a homolipid from Bos indicus (cow fat) for the delivery of indomethacin, a hydrophobic anti-inflammatory agent. Method: Melon oil and cow fat were extracted by standard methods and used in the formulation of SNEDDS based on either melon oil alone, or its admixture with cow fat by ...