Aim:The aims of the study were to isolate and characterize the nematode trapping fungus, Arthrobotrys oligospora, to investigate the suppressive and predacious activities of the fungus against Meloidogyne incognita and to study the potentiality of A. oligospora in controlling root-knot caused by M. incognita on tomato plants. Methods and Results: Arthrobotrys oligospora (MRDS 300) was isolated from sandy soil samples collected from Al-Beheira, Egypt. In vitro experiments revealed a high efficiency of the fungus in capturing and suppressing M. incognita second juveniles (J 2 ). Microscopic observations showed that the fungus develops adhesive traps consisting of loops of hyphae. Moreover, an in vitro experiment showed that the culture filtrate of A. oligospora had a high toxic effect on the nematode. Pot experiments carried out in two seasons (2018-2019) showed that A. oligospora significantly suppressed root knot on tomato plants caused by M. incognita. The number of females, galls and nematodes in different developing stages were reduced significantly. The treatment with A. oligospora had a prominent effect on enhancing plant growth. Conclusion: Arthrobotrys oligospora had significant suppressive and predacious effects against root-knot nematode, M. incognita. The fungus developed different forms of trapping devices in addition to secreting toxic metabolites to M. incognita. The fungus had a plant-growth promoting effect. Significance and Impact of the Study: Arthrobotrys oligospora (MRDS 300) is a potential biological control agent that can be utilized in controlling the rootknot diseases caused by M. incognita.

strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is an economically important soft fruit crop with polyploid genome, which makes the breeding of new cultivars difficult. simple and efficient methods for transformation and regeneration are required for cultivars improvement in strawberries. In the present study, adventitious shoot regeneration has been investigated in three cultivated strawberry plants, i.e., Festival, sweet charlie, and Florida via direct organogenesis using the in vitro juvenile leaves as explants. explants were collected after sub-culturing on a propagation medium composed of Ms supplemented with 0.5 mg/l Ba; 0.1 mg/l Ga3 and 0.1 mg/l IBa. To select the suitable organogenesis, the explants of the three cultivars were cultured on Ms medium supplemented with different concentrations of TDZ (1, 2, 3, and 4 mg/l), then incubated at a temperature of 22 °c ± 2. Medium containing 2 mg/l TDZ revealed the best regeneration efficiency with the three cultivars (72% for Festival and 73% for sweet charlie and Florida). after 4 weeks the produced shoots were cultured on Ms medium with different concentrations of Ba and Kin to enhance shoot elongation. Results showed that the medium containing 1.5 mg/l Ba and 0.5 mg/l Kin revealed highest elongation efficiency (88% and 94%) for Festival and sweet charlie, respectively. On the other hand, medium media containing 1.5 mg/l Ba and 0.1 mg/l Kin showed highest elongation efficiency (90%) in Florida. elongated shoots were successfully rooted on Ms medium containing 1.5 mg/l Naa. Furthermore, transformation of the two cultivars, Festival and sweet charlie, has been established via Agrobacterium strain LBa44404 containing the plasmid pIsV2678 with gus-intron and bar genes. Three days post-cocultivation, GUs activity was screened using the histochemical assay. The results showed 16% and 18% of the tested plant materials had changed into a blue color for Festival and sweet charlie, respectively. Out of 120 explants only 13 shoots were developed on bialaphos medium for each cultivar, representing 10.8% bialaphos-resistant strawberry shoot. The presence of both the genes bar and uid a was detected by PcR and Northern, giving a transformation efficiency of 5%.

Photothermal therapy has recently gained a considerable attention particularly after the revolution of nanomaterials and nanotechnology. The aim of the present study is to assess the optimal photothermal response through investigating some effective parameters of spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), e.g., type, size, and concentration, as a preclinical study for efficient photothermal treatment. Tissue-simulating phantoms based on agar and water media incorporated with two different types of AuNPs, spherical Au particles capped with citrate or spherical Au core-silica shell NPs, were built. Heat evolution for each NP type was recorded in the phantom matrix with different particle sizes at various concentrations following exposure to low laser power (irradiance 35 mW/cm(2)) and emitting at λ = 532 nm. Our results demonstrated that AuNPs capped with citrate recorded higher temperature elevations than those capped with silica shell. Particles with smaller sizes produced more heating effect than those having larger sizes. Also, higher temperatures were recorded at a critical concentration of NPs. Exponential decay constants based on theoretical calculations demonstrated that laser attenuation increases with the continuous increase of particle size and concentration.