My experience as a Researcher

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My experience as a Researcher

• Pleasure is immeasurable

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Fruits of Golapjam and Jam
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Research at M.Sc. level

• Eugenia jambolana 2n 66
• E. jambolana var. caryophyllifolia 2n 44
• E. javanica 2n 44
• E. jambos 2n 45
• Correct name Syzygium

• Two varieties of jam. The one with bigger fruits
  is a hexaploid and that with smaller fruits is a
  tetraploid. Jamrul is also tetraploid but
  seedless golap jam is pentasomic

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B chromosome in Cyanotis axillaris
My First M.Sc student was Late Mr. Abdul Baten.
We published the following paper in Nature
reporting the presence of B chromosome in
Cyanotis axillaris (2n 24)
Islam, A.S Baten, A. (1952). Cytology of
Cyanotis. Nature, 169, 457.
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Astonishing observation by A. Baten

• Colchicine treatment for separation of somatic
  chromosomes at a certain concentration converted
  the chromosomes into meiotic like configurations
  e.g.chiasmata
• Could not believe my eyes so was the reaction of
  my student.
• I didnt have the courage to send it for
  publication for fear of criticism.
• SOMATIC CHROMOSOME REDUCTION in Sorghum SIMANTEL
  et al. J Hered.(1963) 54 221-228 .

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A colchicine-induced ata (Anona squamosa) 2n 28

• The objective was to produce artificially
  seedless triploid strain of ata by a cross,
  colchicine-induced teraploid X dioloid Anona
  squamosa
• The tetraploid flowered profusely but no fruit
  set was observed during 15 years said plant was
  under observation. Nor the crossed fruit with
  diploid produced any fruit.
• ISLAM AS (1960) Unproductivity in the
  colchicine-induced tetraploids of Annona squamosa
  L. Nature. 1960 Jul 23187343-4.

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My Ph.D. Work in Strawberry in Manchester
University

• Fragaria vesca 2n14 X F. grandiflora (male)
  2n56
• The majority of them were maternal with 2n 14.
• A haploid with 2n 7. I had no idea what a
  haploid was. It was a weak sterile plant with no
  pollen and no seed fertility.
• A hexaploid (2n 42) with limited fertility.
• An F1 plant F. vesca 2n14 X F. grandiflora
  (male) 2n56 with seedless fruits. Since
  strawberry propagates by runners this had a
  commerce potential

F1 (2n35,42 and a haploid)with 7 chromosomes
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A New Corchorus sp. in Miani Forest
C. olitorius X C. species
C. trilocularis X C. species
Semi-sterile hybrid
No fruit set
C. pseudoolitorius Islam Zaid recorded in Index
Kewensis
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Further confirmation of pseudoolitorius by
chromsome morphology using CMA and DAPI

• Confirmation at Prof. Shamims Lab through
  application of advanced technique e.g. DAPI and
  CMA.
• Distinct chromosome morphology (satellite)of the
  new species from those of rest of taxa.

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A Natural hybrid, C. olitorius x C. aestuans
A few seeds collected at BJRI premises were
mailed to MM Haque at Sind University. From
morphological similarities said plant was
considered to be putative hybrid, C. olitorius X
C. aestuans
BC1, C. olitorius x Tallest putative hybrid plants
BC1F1
Best plants selected
C.olitorius x best BC1F1
BC2F1
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Progress in developing jute cultivars Combining
desirable characters, C. olitorius x C. aestuans

• Seeds of backcross progeny were brought from Sind
  to Dhaka.
• Partially resistant to stem rot (BJRI) test. Stem
  color as red as C. aestuans
• Uniform diameter of stem at the top and bottom of
  the stem.
• Less lignin in the fiber.Field trial in the
  BARI Experimental field at Joydebpore.
• Islam AS, Imdadul Hoque M, Haque MM (1987)
  Prospects of utilizing interspecific hybrids in
  jute for commercial purpose. Phytobreedon
  3(1)2638

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Corchorus olitorius
C. capsularis
F1
F2
Nature 185, 258 - 259 (1960)
Islam, A. S. A. Rashid
Reciprocal cross, C. capsularis X C. olitorius
only successful through hormonal application an
embryo culture Islam, A. S. (1964) A rare jute
hybrid in a rare interspecific hybridization.
Nature, 192, 893-894.
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o
C. olitorius () regenerant ability
C. capsularis No regenerant ability
F1
Regenerating Ability Intermediate
F2
Trait segregating
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x
C. olitorius
C. depressus
F1
Tetrad, pentad, hexad, heptad and rarely
unreduced gametes
A few F2 Seeds from Sind- to Dhaka University
One plant with larger leaves, larger flowers,
fewer seeds
On chromosome counts it proved to be an
amphiploid with 2n 28.
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It was an exciting moment
I could hardly believe what I saw in the slide -
a few cells with well separated 28 chromosomes.
Chromosome counts on pollen mother cells also
confirmed that it was a tetraploid with
duplicated set of chromosomes contributed by each
species, namely, C. olitorius and C. depressus.
The excitement was short-lived because contrary
to what we expected the fiber quality
deteriorated with the two blunt ends of the fiber
and a wider lumen. The qualities e.g.
photo-insensitivity and drought resistance
inherited from from C. depressus were transmitted
although to a lesser degree
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A completely sterile hybrid, New world x old
world Corchorus spp.

• Cochcine-induced-4x olitorius x C. siliquosus

IAA treatment and embryo rescue gave rise to only
one sterile F1 hybrid. Flowers but no fruit
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Jassid Resistant American Cotton

• Gossypium hirsutum (4x) X G. anomalum (2x) - an
  African wild cotton resistant to pink boll worm.

A completely sterile triploid hybrid (2n 39)
Colchicine injection
A solitary Hexaploid with 2n 78
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A tetrasomic pink boll resistant resistant
American Cotton
Hexaploid backcrossed to American cotton, G.
hirsutum giving rise to a multidimensional
progeny with a varying number of chromsomes
Select Progeny with smaller chromosome No.
G. Hirsutum var. M4 X F1
BC1F2
Selected Progeny crossed to G. hirsutum
BC2F1
Progeny with a varying number of chromosomes. One
individual was found with 54 chromosomes, of
which 26 bivalents came from G. hirsutum and a
bivalent of smaller size from G. anomalum
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Publication in Genome
Afsari Sharif and A. S. Islam (1970)
CYTOGENETICAL Studies of some backcross
derivatives of Gossypium hirsum G. anomalum.
Genome 12(3) 454460. Our pleasure was
short-lived. In the following generation the
fertile tetrasomic plant with 27 II , 26 II from
G. hirsutum and a solitary bivalent from G.
anomalum produced 50 fertile progeny. So we
were very depressed and back to square
one. Meiotic analysis showed that translocation
took place between some chromosome bivalents of
G. hirsutum and the solitary pair of G. anomalum
chromosomes giving rise to 50 sterile pollen. 
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Acquired inheritance in an Australian sp. C.
pascuorum (1)
Flowered but no fruit set failure of pollen to
germinate
Pollen germinated when 25 of sugar solution was
applied on the stigma
In vitro germination of pollen experiment with
dif. conc. of sucrose
A mixture of 300 ppm of IBA 25 of sucrose on
the stigma prevented flower drop a small No. of
a few seeded fruits developed.
Ovary swelled but flowers dropped
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Acquired inheritance in an Australian sp. C.
pascuorum (2)
Seeds were germinated. A small population was
raised but this time fruits of smaller size
developed without any hormone and sucrose on
stigmatic surface.
In the next two generations for fruit development
no hormone and sugar were necessary
A. S. Islam and R. Mughal (1969) Corchorus
pascuorum Transmission of Chemically Induced
Fruit. Science 164 315 316.
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Origin of Obligate apomictic Cenchrus sp.
X C. pennisetiformis (facultative apomictic)
requires pollination for fruit setting) Aabbcc)
C. Biflorus (sexual) (aaBBCC)
C. setigerus an obligate apomictic (aabbcc)
The conclusion needed further confirmation by
repeating the crosses. It proved Powers
hypothesis that an obligate apomictic plant
originates through combination of three pairs of
recessive genes contributed by two parents.
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Four Full cDNA sequence.

• Wazni MW, Islam AS, Taliafero JM, Anwar N,
  Sathasivan K. (2007) ESTs from a Jute (Corchorus
  olitorius L.) cDNA Library Plant Tissue Cult.
  Biotech. 17(2) 173-182.
• Identification of new expressed sequence tags
  (ESTs) from a cDNA library of Corchorus olitorius
  L. var. O-4
• The sequence homology search in The Arabidopsis
  Information Resources (TAIR) using the WU-BLAST
  tool revealed four complete and ten partial cDNA
  sequences.
• The four complete cDNA sequences were V-ATPase
  subunit F.
• mitochondrial NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase,
  RuBisCO small subunit 1A and heat shock protein
  (HSP 60).

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10 partial cDNA encoding the following ESTs

• Based on similar homology results the partial
  cDNAs encode following proteins chaperonin,
  actin 7, RelA-spoT homology, 60s ribosomal
  protein L 36a, transport protein, chloroplast
  inner membrane import protein Tic22, formate
  dehydrogenase, serine hydroxy-methyltransferase,
  metallothionein 2B and tansmembrane kinase.
• These cDNA sequences are new additions to the
  ESTs that encode chitinase-like protein (Class I)
  and 60S acidic ribosomal protein reported
  earlier. All the available cDNA sequences
  including that for the chitinase-like protein
  have been registered with GenBank, bearing
  Accession Nos. EU024510 through EU024520 and
  EU092254, EU057193-95

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Thank you very much for your patience