No abstract

Breastfeeding practice is common in Malaysia. However, sustaining the duration of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) practice for up to 6 months as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) is a problem for mothers. Numerous factors are associated with this good practice and one of the important ones is the socio-demographic factors. The study examined the association of socio-demographic factors and duration of EBF practice among mothers in Kuching, East Malaysia. A cross-sectional study among 159 mothers of children in the age group of 6-24 months through purposive sampling attending Maternal and Child Health (MCH) clinics in Kuching division was conducted between April and Mei 2009. Data was collected using a set of supervised self-completed questionnaire on EBF practice and mother's socio-demographic factors. Factors related to duration of EBF practice were analysed using logistic regression analysis. 88.1% of mothers reported that they initiated and breastfeed their child exclusively. Only 44.3% of mothers breastfeed their child exclusively till 6 months and the others were not. Being unemployed [

Potato virus Y (PVY) is a deadly environmental constraint that damages productivity of potato ( Solanum tuberosum ) around the globe. One of the major challenges is to develop resistance against PVY. Emerging clustered regularly short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas systems have the potential to develop resistance against PVY. In the current research, CRISPR-Cas13 has been exploited to target multiple strains of PVY N , PVY O , and PVY NTN . Multiple genes PI, HC-Pro , P3, Cl1, Cl2 , and VPg genes of PVY were targeted by CRISPR/Cas13a. Multiplex gRNA cassettes were developed on the conserved regions of the PVY-genes. Three independent CRISPR/Cas13 transgenic potato lines were developed by applying an optimized concentration of trans-ribo zeatin and indole acetic acid at callus development, rooting, and shooting growth stages. The level of resistance in transgenic plants was confirmed through double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and real-time quantitative PCR. Our results have shown that efficiency of PVY inhibition was positively correlated with the Cas13a/sgRNA expression. Finding provides the specific functionality of Cas13 with specific gRNA cassette and engineering the potential resistance in potato crop against multiple strains of PVY.

No abstract

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important staple food around the world, and potato virus Y (PVY) is a major constraint for potato production. The VPg protein of PVY interacts with the translation initiation factor eIF4E of the host that works as a susceptibility factor during infection. The interaction between eIF4E and VPg was disrupted by CRISPR/Cas9. The homozygous conserved region of eIF4E of the potato variety “Kruda” was mutated by CRISPR/Cas9. Tracking of insertion, deletion, and conversion events was performed by Sanger sequencing with ∼15% editing efficiency. Truncated and mutated eIF4E proteins were unable to interact with VPg, and the virus was not able to exploit the host machinery for replication and systemic spreading. Mutated eIF4E lines showed enhanced resistance to PVYO strain. DAS-ELISA and RT-PCR were used for validation of the observed resistance. PVY resistance in tetraploid lines via CRISPR/Cas9 provides a route to develop novel resistant potato cultivars.