hojatolah saeidi

The genus Marrubium L. belongs to Lamiaceae family and Lamioideae subfamily. Itis present in Iran with 11 species from which only one is endemic (M. procerum Bunge). Most Marrubium species are distributed in steppes, arid and semiarid areas of Iran. In this research the trichomes of leaf and calyx surface were examined using Scanning Electron Microscope. Trichome micro-morphological characters in studiedspecies showed that the main hair type is stellate with unequal rays, one of the rays 3-15 times longer than the others. The general trichome shapes are similar but there are variations in stellate trichomes based on their long branches length, the short branches length and the number of short branches. The effect of environmental condition i.e. arid areas and altitude are important factors for morphological variations and density of trichomes.

Advanced maternal age (AMA) is an important factor in decreasing success of assisted reproductive technology by having a negative effect on the success rate of intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), particularly by increasing the rate of embryo aneuploidy. It has been suggested that the transfer of euploid embryos increases the implantation and pregnancy rates, and decreases the abortion rate. Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) is a method for selection of euploid embryos. Past studies, however, have reported different results on the success of pregnancy after PGS in AMA. Investigating the pregnancy rate of ICSI with and without PGS in female partners over 35 years of age referred to infertility centers in Tehran.
In this randomized controlled trial, 150 couples with the female partner over age of 35 were included. Fifty couples underwent PGS and the remaining were used as the control group. PGS was carried out using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y. Results of embryo transfer following PGS were evaluated and compared with those in the control group.
Implantation rates obtained in the PGS and control groups were 30 and 32% respectively and not significantly different (P>0.05).
PGS for chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y does not increase implantation rate in women over 35 years of age and therefore the regular use of PGS in AMA is not recommended.

The genetic diversity patterns of 54 natural populations and 40 individuals of wild barley from different localities in Iran were analyzed using 26 microsatellites markers. At population level, high levels of diversity (0.71), with an average number of 6.92 alleles per locus (ranging up to 17) and high level polymorphism with polymorphism rate averaging 0.67 were observed. Average number of alleles was 38.37 per population (ranged from 36.33 in the Northeast to 38.94 in the West) and 28.42 per individual (ranged from 28.11 in the West to 29 in the North). In dendrograms, accessions collected from the North and Northeast of Iran were grouped away from those collected from the West and Northwest, suggesting the presence of two different wild barley sub genepools in this country. The genetic diversity decreases from the West toward the East. Based on the results of this study the wild Iranian gene pool of barley represents high level of diversity and there is value to search for new useful alleles to incorporate to the breeding programs.