abstarct book (ncsc 2015)

ABSTARCT BOOK

3rd National Computational Science Conference

(NCSC 2015) May 13-15, 2015

Jointly Organized by: Pakistan Society for Computational Biology (PSCB), Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad & Government College University - Faisalabad

Partners:

3rd National Computational Science Conference, Venue: Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad on May 13-15, 2015

3rd National Computational Science Conference (NCSC 2015) May 13-15, 2015 Jointly Organized by: Pakistan Society for Computational Biology (PSCB), Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad & Government College University - Faisalabad

CONFERENCE PROGRAM May 13, 2015 0800-0900

REGISTRATION

0900-1030

OPENING CEREMONY - Recitation from Holy Quran - Na’at Shareef - Welcome Address (Prof. Dr. Qamar ul Islam, Chairman, Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Space Technology,Islamabad.) - Address by Prof. Dr. Ihtzaz Qamar, Professor, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad - Conference Introduction (Dr. Asma Haque, President, PSCB) - Address by Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro, President, ECO Science Foundation, Islamabad - Address by Guest of Honor, Engr. Imran Rahman, Vice Chancellor, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad - Address by Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ali, Vice Chancellor, Government College University, Faisalabad

1030-1100

TEA BREAK

PLENARY SESSION VENUE: AUDITORIUM, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Chair: Prof. Dr. Ihtzaz Qamar, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Co-Chair: Dr. Tahsin Gulzar, GC University, Faisalabad 1100-11:20

Plenary Lecture-I Importance of Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) at Schools for Career Development and Economic Growth Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro, President, ECO Science Foundation

-1-


1120:1205

Plenary Lecture-II

Identification of Abiotic Stress Tolerant Genes in Plants 1205:1250

1250-1400

Prof. Dr. Tayyab Husnain, Director, National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), Lahore Plenary Lecture-III On the Road to Computational Chemistry-A Travelogue Prof. Dr. Farzana Latif Ansari, Advisor, Pakistan Council for Science & Technology LUNCH & PRAYER BREAK

Technical Session-I (Health Sciences) HALL – I (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Prof. Dr. Altaf Karim, COMSATS, Islamabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Muhammad Qasim, GC University, Faisalabad 1400-1425

1425-1437

1437-1449

1449-1501

1501-1513

1513-1525

1525-1537

Keynote Lecture: COMPUTATIONAL PARADIGM IN THE 21ST CENTURY: AN ENTERPRISE OF MAKING DISCOVERIES Prof. Dr. Altaf Karim COMSATS, Islamabad GLOBAL DIVERSITY OF DENGUE VIRUS: IN SILICO ANALYSIS BASED ON CONSERVED GENE Ayyiah Khan Sani, Kinza Khalil, Usman Hussain, Mazhar Qayyum, Sobia Kanwal Department of Zoology and Biology, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi MP3D: MEDICINAL PLANTS DATABASE FOR DRUG DESIGNING Arooj Mumtaz, Usman Ali Ashfaq, Muhammad Tahir ul Qamar, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Faisal Gulzar, Farooq Anwar, Nazamid Saari Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF), Faisalabad-38000, Punjab, Pakistan BIOINFORMATIC AND COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF MUTANT ALLELES OF MEN1 ON ITS STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND STABILITY. Muhammad Aamir Hassan, Muhammad Qasim, Aqib Zafar Khan, Muhammad Shareef Masoud, Muhammad Rizwan Javed Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan PHYTOCHEMICAL INHIBITOR OF P53-MDM2 INTERACTION TO REACTIVATE P53 FUNCTIONING Erum Yasmeen, Muhammad Riaz Department of bioinformatics and biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad PREDICTION OF RESPONSIBLE FACTORS IN REGULATING EXPRESSION OF IL-28RA AND THEIR ROLE IN CRITICAL SNPS Hashaam Akhtar, Ole Jensen Hamming, Samar Akhtar, Ayesha Nawaz, Sophie MyHang Tran, Saleha Resham, Rune Hartmann, Hajra sadia Atta-Ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, H-12 Sector, 44000, Islamabad, Pakistan. POTENTIAL OF PHYTOCHEMICALS AS STAPHYLOCOCCAL DNA GYRASE INHIBITORS THROUGH MOLECULAR DOCKING

-2-


1537-1549

1549-1601

Quratulain Tariq, Muhammad Shareef Masoud, Namrah Noor, Muhammad Qasim, Muhammad Rizwan Javed, Mahmood-ur-Rahman and Usman Ali Ashfaq. Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. VIRTUAL SCREENING, COMPLEX BASED PHARMACOPHORE MODELING AND MOLECULAR DOCKING OF POTENTIAL COMPOUNDS FROM ZINC DATABASE FOR INHIBITION OF DENGUE NS3 PROTEASE Muhammad Tahir ul Qamar, Amna Ali, Arooma Maryam, Usman Ali Ashfaq, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Farooq Anwar, Faisal Gulzar Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University (GCUF), Faisalabad-38000, Pakistan ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE PATTERN OF BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM FRESH FRUIT JUICES Saima Muzammil, Javeria Saeed, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique, Muhammad Saqalein, Sinha Liaqat Department of Microbiology, Government College University Faisalabad-Pakistan

Technical Session-I (Computational Chemistry & Physics) HALL – II (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Prof. Dr. habil. Shamsul Qamar, COMSATS, Islamabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Usman Ali Ashfaq, GC University, Faisalabad 1400-1425

1425-1437

1437-1449

1449-1501

1501-1513

1513-1525

Keynote Lecture: INVESTIGATION OF DYNAMICS IN FIXED-BEDS PACKED WITH CORESHELL PARTICLES: DERIVATION AND APPLICATION OF ANALYTICAL AND NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS Prof. Dr. habil. Shamsul Qamar Head, Department of Mathematics, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan THE FIRST PRINCIPLE STUDIES OF STRUCTURAL, ELECTRONIC AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF CUBIC PEROVSKITES XCoO3(X=Pr,Nd) A. Iftikhar, A. Ahmad, S. Naseem COE in Solid State Physics, University of the Punjab, Lahore ANALYSIS OF REACTION KINETICS USING CURVE EXPERT SOFTWARE Muhammad Saeed, Mohammad Ilyas Department of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan STRUCTURAL AND ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF BARIUM SILICIDE UNDER PRESSURE FROM FIRST PRINCIPLE CALCULATIONS Najm-ul-Aarifeen, A Afaq Centre of Excellence in Solid State Physics, University of the Punjab SYNTHESIS PHARMACOLOGICAL EVALUATION, MOLECULAR DOCKING AND CYTOTOXICTY STUDIES ON SOME N-SUBSTITUTED 5-[(4CHLOROPHENOXY)METHYL]-1,3,4-OXADIAZOLE-2YL-2-SULFANYL ACETAMIDES Sabahat Zahra Siddiqui Department of Chemistry, GC University-Lahore-54000, Pakistan DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY BASED STUDY OF POLY(OAMINOPHENOL) AS A POTENTIAL HUMIDITY AND AMMONIA GAS SENSOR

-3-


1525-1537

1537-1549

1549-1601

1601-1620

Salma Bibi, Anwar-ul-Haq Ali Shah, Habib Ullah, Salma Bilal National Centre of Excellence in Physical Chemistry, University of Peshawar, 25120 Peshawar, Pakistan THEORETICAL INSIGHTS INTO STRUCTURAL, OPTICAL AND ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF HOMO/CO-OLIGOMERS OF O-PHENYLENEDIAMINE AND O-TOLUIDINE Sania Bibi, Anwar-ul-Haq Ali Shah, Salma Bilal National Centre of Excellence in Physical Chemistry, University of Peshawar, 25120, Pakistan A PARALLEL IMPLEMENTATION OF DFC ALGORITHMS FOR ANALYSIS OF AMMONIA CONCENTRATION Sameera Shah, Hanif-ur-Rehman, Salim Ullah Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF AL DOPING OF ZNO USING FIRST-PRINCIPLES CALCULATIONS Muhammad Kashif1, Javed Iqbal2, Shaukat Ali Shahid1, Ateeq ur Rehman1 1 Department of Physics, 2Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan TEA BREAK

Technical Session-II (Computational Biology in Health) HALL – I (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Rajoka, GC University, Faisalabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Muhammad Shareef Masoud, GC University, Faisalabad 1620-1645

1645-1657

1657-1709

1709-1721

Keynote Lecture: STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS IN DRUG DISCOVERY Muhammad Ibrahim Rajoka (S.I) Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, GC University, Faisalabad CHARACTERIZATION OF H5N1 INFLUENZA A VIRUS THAT CAUSED THE FIRST HIGHLY PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA OUTBREAK IN SAUDI ARABIA Ahmed A. Al-Qahtani, Muhammad Mubin, Fahad N. Almajhdi, Saud Alarifi, Damian M. Dela Cruz, Muhammad Shah Nawaz ul Rehman, Mahmoud Moussa Ismail, Nisar Ahmed, Mohamed H. Al-Blowi, Mohammed N. Al-Ahdal Virology Lab, Center of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan COMPUTATIONAL IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL MOLECULAR DETERMINANTS OF PTM MEDIATED EBOLA VIRUS ENTRY AND THERAPEUTIC IMPLICATIONS Zarrin Basharat, Azra Yasmin Microbiology & Biotechnology Research Lab, Fatima Jinnah Women University, 46000, Pakistan. STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF MUTATION IN GENES CAUSING CATARACT Fatima Bint Faiz, Urooj Azam, Irum Kanwal, Munir Ahmad Bhinder, Mahmood-urRahman, Muhammad Ashraf, Faiz ul Hassan Nasim, Muhammad Iqbal

-4-


1721-1733

1733-1745

1745-1757

1757-1809

1809-1821

Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, The Islamia University, Bahawalpur. NEPHROPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF LEAVES OF ALOE BARBADENSIS AGAINST TOXICITY INDUCED BY DICLOFENAC SODIUM Asra Iftikhar, Ijaz Javed, Bilal Aslam, Tanweer Khaliq, Wafa Majeed and Ahmad Raza Institute of Pharmacy, Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan HEPATITIS IS A SILENT TSUNAMI IN PAKISTAN; A REVIEW Faisal Siddique, Muhammad Shahid Mahmood, Iftikhar Hussain, Syied I. Ahmad and Asif Iqbal Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan PROTEOMICS AT CORE OF NUTRIGENOMICS AND PERSPECTIVES OF NUTRITIONAL HEALTH EFFECTS Fatima Sultana, Sadia Naeem Government College University Faisalabad. PROFILING OF DOMINANT BACTERIAL CONSORTIA IN ACTIVATED SLUDGE OF MEMBRANE BIOREACTOR HiraWaheed, Imran Hashmi Institute of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, H-12 Sector, Islamabad, Pakistan EVALUATION OF ANTIMUTAGENIC EFFECT OF HELIANTHUS ANNUS EXTRACTS BY AMES TEST Faisal Gulzar, Sajida Jamil, Javeria Arif, Qaiser M. Khan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha-Pakistan.

Technical Session-II (Computational Biology in Plants) HALL – II (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Dr. Muhammad Younas Khan, University of Baluchistan, Quetta Session Co-Chair: Dr. Farrukh Azeem, GC University, Faisalabad 1620-1645

1645-1657

1657-1709

Keynote Lecture: PROFILING AND ANNOTATION OF MICRORNAS AND THEIR PUTATIVE TARGET GENES IN CHILLI (CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.) Muhammad Younas Khan Barozai and Muhammad Din Department of Botany University of Balochistan Quetta Pakistan RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY (RSM) MODELING BASED CHARACTERIZATION OF REACTIVE RED-120 DECOLORIZING ABILITY OF A BACTERIAL STRAIN PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA STRAIN ZM24 ISOLATED FROM TEXTILE WASTEWATERS Zahid Maqbool, Tanvir Ahmad, Sabir Hussain, Faisal Mahmood, Naila Abbas Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF AQUAPORIN GENES FAMILY IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.) Athar Hussain, Umaira Kanwal, Sarfaraz Hussain, Kainaat Arif, Ijaz Rasul, Habibullah Nadeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Farrukh Azeem Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad

-5-


1709-1721

1721-1733

1733-1745

1745-1757

1757-1809

1809-1821

COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF DEFENSINS AND DEFENSIN LIKE PROTEINS IN CHICKPEA AND ARABIDOPSIS Salman Zahid, Amjad Abbas, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Kashif Riaz1, Rana Muhammad Atif and Shahbaz Talib Sahi Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF HD-ZIP TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS FROM ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA Muahmmad Shahid Javaid, Beenish Naz, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Sidra tul Muntaha, Bilal Saleem, Anum Arshad, Shaiq Sultan, Farrukh Azeem, Mahmood-ur-Rahman, Usman Ali Ashfaq Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad ARTEMISININ PRODUCTION IN ARTEMISIA ANNUA AND ARTEMISIA DUBIA FOLLOWING TRANSFORMATION WITH THE ROL ABC GENES AND ELUCIDATION OF THE SITES OF ITS SYNTHESIS Bushra Hafeez Kiani and Bushra Mirza Department of Biochemistry. Quaid-i-Azam University. Islamabad. Pakistan. DNA BARCODES OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN SPIDERS OF WHEAT AGROECOSYSTEM Gulnaz Afzal, Amer Jamil, Fatima Jalal, Shumaila Kirn, Akhtar Rasool, Naseem Muhammad Tayyib and Ghulam Mustafa National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PLANT ABIOTIC STRESSES Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad and Mahmood-ur-Rahman Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad NBS-LRRS AND MICRO RNAS: GAME PLANNERS OF HYBRID NECROSIS IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA Hafiza Masooma Naseer Cheema, Asif Ali khan, Sarwat Zahoor, Kirsten Bomblies Plant Genetic Resources Lab, department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan

May 14, 2015 PLENARY SESSION VENUE: AUDITORIUM, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Session Chair: Prof. Dr. Qamar ul Islam, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Asma Haque, President, PSCB 0900-0935 0935-1010

1010-1045

Plenary Lecture-I Prof Dr. Zabta Khan Shinwari, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad Plenary Lecture-II Biology going Digital: the dawn of Synthetic Biology Dr. Faisal Khan, CECOS University, Peshawar) Plenary Lecture-III

-6-


Strategy in the Identification of New and Novel Inhibitors: A Computational and Molecular Modelling Perspective Prof. Dr. Nasir Majeed Mirza, PIEAS, Islamabad 1045-1100

TEA BREAK

Technical Session-I (Computational Sciences) HALL – I (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Dr. Asif Mahmood Mughal, NESCOM, Islamabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Habibullah Nadeem, GC University, Faisalabad 1100-1125

1125-1137

1137-1149

1149-1201

1201-1213

1213-1225

1225-1237

1237-1249

1249-1301

1301-1313

Keynote Lecture: COMPUTATIONAL BIO-ENGINEERING IN CONTROL SYSTEM PARADIGM Dr. Asif Mahmood Mughal NESCOM, Islamabad HOW TO MODEL AND SIMULATE SOCIO-TECHNICAL SYSTEMS Kashif Zia Software Engineering Department, Behria University, Islamabad ESTIMATION FOR THE COMMENCEMENT OF MEAN EARLY AND DELAYED MONSOON Naeem Sadiq Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics, University of Karachi, Karachi MULTILEVEL THRESHOLD SEGMENTATION OF SKIN LESIONS USING ENTROPY Sheema Shuja Khattak, Gule Saman, Imran Khan, Abdus Salam Abasyn University Peshawar, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar, Pakistan. MECHANISM OF ELECTRON TRANSFER IN PEPTIDES Suniya Shahzad and Afzal Shah Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, 45320, Islamabad, Pakistan. ON THE BAYESIAN ANALYSIS OF EXPONENTIATED EXPONENTIAL DISTRIBUTION Syed Masroor Anwar, Muhammad Aslam and Syed Umair Gillani Department of Statistics, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir SOLUTION OF SET OF ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS Tallat Sohail, Rubina Nasir and Sikander M Mirza Department of Physics, Air University, Islamabad RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY: APPLICATION AND ANALYSIS OF BIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS Tanvir Ahmad Department of Statistics, GC University Faisalabad TOPIC BASED JOURNAL RANK Tehmina Amjad, Ali Daud, Atia Akram Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY (RSM) MODELING BASED CHARACTERIZATION OF REACTIVE RED-120 DECOLORIZING ABILITY OF A BACTERIAL STRAIN PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA STRAIN ZM24

-7-


ISOLATED FROM TEXTILE WASTEWATERS Zahid Maqbool, Tanvir Ahmad, Sabir Hussain Faisal Mahmood Naila Abbas Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad

Technical Session-I (Computational Biology in Health) HALL – II (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Dr. Ali Raza Awan, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore Session Co-Chair: Dr. Saima Muzammil, GC University, Faisalabad 1100-1125

1125-1137

1137-1149

1149-1201

1201-1213

1213-1225

1225-1237

Keynote Lecture: WHOLE TRANSCRIPTOME ANALYSES THROUGH NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING Ali Raza Awan Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF MOXIFLOXACIN AND NONSTEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS (NSAIDS) IN PHARMACEUTICAL DOSAGE FORMULATIONS AND HUMAN SERUM BY RPHPLC Mahwish Akhtar, Najma Sultana, M. Saeed Arayne, Somia Gul and Sana Shamim Dow College of Pharmacy, Dow University of Health Sciences, ROLE OF AGENT BASED MODELING AND SIMULATION FOR ADMINISTRATION OF CANCER TREATMENT Muhammad Adeel, Uzair Ahmad, Muhammad Asif Habib, Muhammad Asif Department of Computer Science, National Textile University, Faisalabad Pakistan EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND BACTERIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF WATERBORNE BACTERIAL PATHOGENS ASSOCIATED WITH GASTROENTERITIS IN DISTRICT FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN Maida Manzoor, Iftikhar Hussain, Muhammad Shahid Mahmood, Faisal Siddique and Sidra Hafeez Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan EMERGENCE OF GENETICALLY VARIANT HEPATITIS C VIRUS POPULATION IN RESPONSE TO INCREASED ANTIVIRAL DRUG PRESSURE, PAKISTAN Muhammad Ali, Irshad ur Rehman, Muhammad Idrees Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF DIFFERENT ESSENTIAL OILS IN SYNERGY WITH AMOXICILLIN AGAINST CLINICAL ISOLATES OF METHICILLINRESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS Naheed Niaz, Nimra Naeem, Bushra Uzair, Riffat Tahira International Islamic University, Islamabad COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EMERGING BACTERIAL AND VIRAL FOOD BORNE PATHOGENS; A REVIEW Sidra Hafeez, Muhammad Shahid Mahmood, Iftikhar Hussain, Faisal Siddique and Maida Manzoor

-8-


1237-1249

1249-1301

1301-1313

Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan EFFICACY OF PLANT EXTRACTS TO FORM ANTIBACTERIAL SILVER NANOPARTICLES Sumera Javad, Bareera obaid, Arusa Aftab, Shagufta Naz, Shabnam Shaheen Dept. of Botany, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore. GASTROPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF BERBERIS VULGARIS (ZERESHK) SEEDS AGAINST GASTRIC ULCER INDUCED BY ASPIRIN IN MALE ADULT ALBINO MICE Wafa Majeed, Tanweer Khaliq, Faqir Muhammad, Bilal Aslam, Asra Iftikhar Institute of Pharmacy, Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad RNAi: THERAPEUTIC STRATEGY AGAINST VIRAL DISEASES Sobia Idrees, Usman Ali Ashfaq Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

POSTER SESSION 1313-1400

LUNCH & PRAYER BREAK

Technical Session-II (Computational Sciences) HALL – I (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Prof. Dr. S. Wilayat Husain, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Matloob Hussain, GC University, Faisalabad 1400-1424

1424-1436

1436-1448

1448-1500

1500-1512

1512-1524

Keynote Lecture: Dr. Nasir Shah Gilani National Centre for Physics, Islamabad DEPLOYING UNINTERRUPTED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS BY USING SOFTWARE DEFINE COGNITIVE RADIOS (SDCR) AND TIME DIVISION DUPLEX (TDD) TRANSMISSION TECHNIQUES A. Qaddus Bahria University, Islamabad, Pakistan HARDWARE ORIENTED CYBER THREATS Anam Shaukat Shaheed zulifqar Ali Bhutto institute of Science & Technology, Islamabad CLASSIFICATION USING MACHINE LEARNING METHODS Sarish Abid Department of Computer Systems Engineering, Mirpur University of Sciences & Technology A.K, Pakistan ANALYSIS OF SIR EPIDEMIC MODELS Muhammad Hanif Durad, Muhammad Naveed Akhtar Department of Computer and Information Science (DCIS), Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied, Sciences (PIEAS), P.O. Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan ACCELERATING BIOINFORMATICS APPLICATIONS ON FUTURE MANYCORE HETEROGENEOUS SYSTEMS Salim Ullah, Laiq Hasan, Asif Ali Khan, Amaad Khalil, Sameera Shah Department of Computer Systems Engineering, UET Peshawar

-9-


1524-1536

1536-1548

1548-1600

1600-1612

A BODY SENSOR NETWORK OF MAN-MACHINE COMMUNICATION: QUANTUM COGNITIVE FRAMEWORK FOR CANCER DIAGNOSIS AND RESPONSIVE THERAPEUTICS Tariq Mahmood, Zeeshan Iqbal, Muhammad Ramzan, Manwar Hussain, Maqsood Ahmed Centre for Computational Sciences and Intelligence, Lahore, Pakistan DESIGN OF AN ORGANIC MATERIAL BY DFT CALCULATIONS WITH HIGH OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE OF 1.0 V FOR AN ORGANIC SOLAR CELL Javed Iqbal, Muhammad Kashif, Ijaz Ahmad Bhatti Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF SUBSTITUTED BENZOISOTHIAZOLE (HALOGEN) DERIVATIVES USING AB INITIO, HF AND DFT CALCULATIONS. Asim Mansha1*, Sadia Asim2, Muhammad Zahid2, Imran Jameel1, Matloob Ahmad1, Ameer Fawad Zahoor 1 1 Department of Chemistry, Govt. College University Faisalabad, 38000-Faisalabad, Pakistan 2 Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, 38040-Faisalabad, Pakistan. PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF DENGUE VIRUS IN PAKISTAN: RESULT OF A 2014 PREVALENCE STUDY. Irfan Hussain1*, Naveeda Akhtar Qureshi2, Muhammad Afzal3, Nargis Shaheen4, Alamgir Khan5 1,2,3,4,5 Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan.

Technical Session-II (Computational Biology in Plant) HALL – II (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Prof. Dr. S. Wilayat Husain, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Usman Ali Ashfaq, GC University, Faisalabad

1400-1425

1425-1437

1437-1449

1449-1501

Keynote Lecture: CIS REGULATORY ELEMENTS AND PROMOTER ANALYSIS IN PLANTS Muhammad Amjad Ali Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture (UAF), Faisalabad-38040, Punjab, Pakistan CALIBRATION AND EVALUATION OF NITROGEN CATCH CROP IN REDUCING THE NITRATE LEACHING Faisal Mahmood, Sabir Hussain, Muhammad Zulqurnain Haider, Hatem Belhouchette Department of Environmental Sciences, GC University Faisalabad, Pakistan MOLECULAR CHARATERIZATION OF MESTA YELLOW VEIN MOSAIC VIRUS ISOLATED FROM (SONCHUS OLERACEUS) Fasiha Qurashi, M. Saleem Haider, Muhammad Shafique, Muhammad Ilyas Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore. THE EFFECT OF SMOKE SOLUTION AND PGPR PRIMING ON RICE UNDER CADMIUM STRESS

- 10 -


1501-1513

1513-1525

1525-1537

1537-1549

1549-1601

1601-1613

1613-1630

Gulmeena Shah, Mehmood Jan, Muhammad Jamil, Sadaf Masood, Sehrish Riaz Khattak, Mehvish Riaz Khattak and Muhammad Naeem. Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat 26000, Pakistan HYDROGEN PEROXIDE PRIMING STIMULATES SEED GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF (ORYZA SATIVA L.) RICE Mehmmod Jan, Gulmeena Shah, Muhmmad Naeem, Amir Atlas, Sadaf Masood and Muhammad Jamil Lab of Plant stress Molecular Biology, Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan. LOW TEMPERATURE AFFECTS BIOCHEMICAL, METABOLIC AND ANTIOXIDANTS ENZYME OF (ORYZA SATIVA L.) RICE SEEDLING Mehmmod Jan, Gulmeena Shah, Muhammad Naeem, Muhammad Hafeez, Sehrish Raiz, and Muhammad Jamil Lab of Plant stress Molecular Biology Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan. EFFECT OF SOME BOTANICAL EXTRACTS ON MAJOR INSECT PESTS OF ROSE PLANT Mehar Ul Nissa Rais, Raheela Memon, Abdul Ghani Lanjar, Abdul Waheed Solangi, Department of Agriculture Economics, SAU, Tandojam MOLECULAR DETECTION OF CURVULARIA SP ISOLATED FROM DISEASED RICE PLANT SAMPLES Ruqeyah Abdul Majeed, Ahmad Ali Shahid and M. Zafar Saleem Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore. Pakistan THRIPS-MEDIATED IMPACTS FROM BT RICE ON ECOLOGICAL FITNESS OF NON-TARGET PREDATOR ORIUS TANTILUS (HEMIPTERA: ANTHOCORIDAE). Zunnu Raen Akhtar Department of Entomology and Center for Advanced Studies in Food Security Agriculture (PCAS-FSA) GENETIC SEQUENCE ALIGNMENT: AN INEXPENSIVE, SCALABLE AND SWIFT SOLUTION ON MULTI-CORE MACHINES Asif Ali Khan, Laiq Hasan and Salim Ullah Department of Computer Systems Engineering, UET Peshawar Pakistan TEA BREAK

Technical Session-III (Modeling & Simulations) HALL – I (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Prof. Dr. Naveed Durrani, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Usman Ali Ashfaq, GC University, Faisalabad 1630-1654

1654-1706

Keynote Lecture: Prof. Dr. Naveed Durrani, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad VACCINATION STRATEGY TO CONTROL EPIDEMIC OUTBREAK IN A

- 11 -


1706-1718

1718-1730

1730-1742

1742-1754

1754-1806

1806-1818

POPULATION Bushra Zafar, Uzair Ahmad National Textile University, Faisalabad COMPUTER SIMULATION OF MICROSCOPIC PROPERTIES OF YUKAWA COMPLEX SYSTEMS (DUSTY PLASMAS) Aamir Shahzad, Arffa Aslam and Mao-Gang He Department of Physics, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF), Allama Iqbal Road, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan CATALYTIC STRATEGY OF TWO PHOSPHATE HYDROLYZING ENZYMES: ECORV AND THE MOLECULAR MOTOR MYOSIN. Farooq Ahmad Kiani, Stefan Fischerb Research Center for Modeling and Simulation (RCMS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan BINDING INTERACTIONS OF ANTINEOPLASTIC DRUGS ON MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR LEVEL IN THE ABSENCE AND PRESENCE OF ASCORBIC ACID Fouzia Perveen Research Centre for Modeling and Simulation, Natural University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan SATTSOC (SEQUENCE ANALYSIS TOOL FOR THE TERMINAL SUGARS OF OLIGOSACCHARIDE CHAINS) Jawaria Munir, Zeeshan Iqbal, Wajahat Mehmood Qazi, Nasir Uddin Institute of Molecular Sciences and Bioinformatics, Lahore. EXPLORING BINDING INTERFACES OF IL-4/IL-4R COMPLEX VIA COMPUTATIONAL MICROSCOPE: A BIOMOLECULAR SIMULATION APPROACH Sehrish Naz and Zaheer Ul Haq Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi NON-LINEAR RADIOACTIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN THE BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW OF WATER-BASED NANOFLUID Ammar Mushtaq, Meraj Mustafa, Junaid Ahmed Khan Research Centre for Modeling and Simulations (RCMS), NUST, Islamabad

Technical Session-III (Computational Biology in Health) HALL – II (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Session Chair: Dr. Farrukh Azeem, GC University, Faisalabad Session Co-Chair: Dr. Amjad Abbas, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 1630-1650

1650-1702

Keynote Lecture: GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS OF POTASSIUM TRANSPORT CHANNELS IN CHICKPEA Farrukh Azeem, Waqas Ali, Rana Muhammad Atif, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC University Faisalabad COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF DEFENSINS AND DEFENSIN LIKE PROTEINS IN CHICKPEA AND ARABIDOPSIS Salman Zahid, Amjad Abbas, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Kashif Riaz, Rana Muhammad Atif and Shahbaz Talib Sahi

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1702-1714

1714-1726

1726-1738

1738-1750

1750-1802

1802-1814

Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan HIGH RATES OF MUTATION AND RECOMBINATION IN COTTON LEAF CURL GEMINIVIRUSES Muhammad Shah Nawaz-ul-Rehman, Muhammad Mubin, Huma Saleem, Sara Shakir, Ghulam Murtaza, and Sehrish Ijaz University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan EXPLORING FLOWERING GENE NETWORKS IN SOYBEAN THROUGH AN RNASEQ BASED TRANSCRIPTOME ANALYSIS Waseem Haider, Brian Price, Faqiang Wu, Mathew Hudson and Yoshie Hanzawa. COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad Pakistan. IMPACT OF WEEDING ON POPULATION OF WHITEFLY, BEMISIA TABACI (GENN.) ON TOMATO CROP Abdul Waheed Solangi, Abdul Ghani Lanjar, Mehar Ul Nissa Rais, Aslam Bukero, Riaz Ali Buriro Department of Entomology, SAU, Tandojam GENETICS OF FLOWERING TIME IN BREAD WHEAT Israr Ahmad, Habib ahmad, Inamullah, Bushra Gul, Ikram Muhammad Department of Genetics, Hazara University, Pakistan OPTIMIZATION OF THE GROWTH CONDITIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLLETOTRICHUM CAPSICI CAUSING ANTHRACNOSE OF CHILIES Aleena Mushtaq, Muhammad Atiq, Shahbaz Talib Sahi, Muhammad MohsinRaza, Fatima Nasir and Iqra Mubeen Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad IDENTIFICATION OF MORPHOLOGICAL SIMILAR FUNGAL SPECIES ON THE BASIS OF ITS REGIONS Fatima Jalal, Farooq Latif and M. Ibrahim Rajoka Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan

May 15, 2015 Plenary Session VENUE: AUDITORIUM, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Chair: Prof. Dr. Qamar ul Islam, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad Co-Chair: Prof. Dr. Ihtzaz Qamar, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad 0900-0945

Plenary Lecture – I: Multi-Scale Modeling of Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities for Pakistan Prof. Dr. Muhammad Hamid Zaman, Boston University, USA

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Technical Session-I (Molecular Docking) (AUDITORIUM: Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Chair: Dr. Zaheer Qasmi, University of Karachi, Karachi Co-Chair: Dr. Tahsin Gulzar, GC University, Faisalabad 0945-1010

1010-1022

1022-1034

1034-1046

1046-1058

1058-1110

1110-1122

1122-1134

1134-1146

1146-1158

Keynote Lecture: STRATEGY IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF NEW AND NOVEL INHIBITORS: A COMPUTATIONAL AND MOLECULAR MODELLING PERSPECTIVE Zaheer Qasmi University of Karachi, Karachi STRUCTURAL MODELLING AND MOLECULAR DOCKING OF FABH: A DRUGGABLE TARGET OF RICKETTSIA PROWAZEKII Amen Shamim, Syed Sikander Azam Computational Biology Lab, National Center for Bioinformatics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan MOLECULAR DOCKING AND ANTI-HIV-1 ACTIVITY OF PYRAZOLOBENZOTHIAZINE DERIVATIVES Matloob Ahmad, Sana Aslam, Usman Ali Ashfaq and Muhammad Muddassar Department of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan MOLECULAR MODELING AND DOCKING STUDIES OF NOVEL THERMOSTABLE CYCLOMALTODEXTRINASE TK1770 FROM THERMOCOCCUS KODAKARENSIS (KOD1) Ramzan Ali, Hira Javaid and Muhammad Imtiaz Shafiq Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of the Punjab, Lahore-54590 Pakistan. COMPUTER GUIDED SYNTHESIS AND EVALUATION OF NOVEL IMMUNOMODULATORY COMPOUNDS Ruqaiya Khalil, Saman Usmani and Zaheer Ul-Haq Computational Chemistry Unit , Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Design , International Center for Chemical and Biological Center, University of Karachi DISCOVERY OF NOVEL INHIBITORS TARGETING AURORA KINASE B: A CHEMOINFORMATIC APPROACH Sajda Ashraf & Zaheer Ul-Haq Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical & Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Pakistan CAMELS: IN SILICO PREDICTION OF CALMODULIN INTERACTIONS Wajid Arshad Abbasi and Fayyaz ul Amir Afsar Minhas Department of Computer and Information Sciences (DCIS), PIEAS PROTEIN-PROTEIN INTERACTIONAL STUDY OF STEM RUST RESISTANT GENES IN WHEAT BY USING MODERN BIOINFORMATICS TOOLS. Waseem Akhtar Shamsheri, Mahmood-ur-Rahman, Shazia A. Bukhari Department of Biochemistry; Government college University; Faisalabad NITRATE REDUCTASE, MOLYBDENUM OR TUNGSTEN CONTAINING ENZYME: A DFT STUDY Uzma Habib and Matthias Hofmann Research Center for Modeling and Simulation (RCMS), NUST DECISION MAKING FOR NUTRITIOUS FORAGE SELECTION: A MATHEMATICAL APPROACH

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Zia-ur-Rehman Mashwani and Saleem Abdullah Department of Botany, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Technical Session-I (Computational Biology in Plant) HALL – I (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Chair: Prof. Dr. Jamil Ahmad, NUST, Islamabad Co-Chair: Dr.Ijaz Rasul, GC University, Faisalabad 0945-1010

1010-1022

1022-1034

1034-1046

1046-1058

1058-1110

1110-1122

1122-1134

Keynote Lecture: Jamil Ahmad NUST, Islamabad DNA MOTIF FINDING ALGORITHMS: CURRENT CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES Masroor Ellahi Babar, Muhammad Tariq Perez, Tanveer Hussain, Nasir Naveed Department of Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Virtual University of Pakistan IN-SILICO GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS OF HEAT STRESS TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS (HSFS) IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA Mohsin Ali Nasir, Samia Nawaz, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qamar, Amjad Abbas, Muhammad Amjad Ali Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF HD-ZIP TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS FROM ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA Muhammad Shahid Javaid, Beenish Naz, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Sidra tul Muntaha, Bilal Saleem, Anum Arshad, Shaiq Sultan, Farrukh Azeem, Mahmood-ur-Rahman, Usman Ali Ashfaq Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad FACTORS INFLUENCING CODON USAGE BIAS Najamuddin, Tauseef, Muhammad Rafique, Nazeer Ahmed Durrani Department of Biotechnology and Informatics, BUITEMS, Quetta. IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSES OF DNA-BINDING WITH ONE ZINC FINGER (DOF) TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR FAMILY IN MEDICAGO TRUNCATULA Rana Muhammad Atif, Richard Thampson, Sergio Ochatt Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan GENOME WIDE IN-SILICO COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CHICKPEA AND ARABIDOPSIS WRKY GENE FAMILIES Arslan Nawaz, Rezwan Tariq, Amir Maqbool, Syed Adeel Zafar, Haris Ahmed, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Rana Muhammad Atif Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan GENOMIC APPROACH TO SEARCH FOR ISOPROTURON DEGRADING GENES IN AN ISOPROTURON MINERALIZING BACTERIAL CULTURE ISOLATED FROM A FRENCH AGRICULTURAL SOIL Sabir Hussain, Faisal Mahmood, Naila Abbas, Zahid Maqbool, Marion DeversLamrani, and Fabrice Martin-Laurent Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Government College University,

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1134-1146

Faisalabad-Pakistan ANALYSIS OF AC1 GENE FROM DIFFERENT VARIANTS OF COTTON LEAF CURL VIRUS IN PAKISTAN USING BIOINFORMATICS TOOLS. Sadaf Mahmood, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Sultan Habibullah Khan Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Agriculture, 38030, Faisalabad

Technical Session-I (Computational and Mathematical Sciences) HALL – II (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) Chair: Dr. Khalid Saifullah, Centre for Advanced Studies in Pure and Applied (CASPAM) Mathematics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan Co-Chair: Dr. M. Husnain Siddique, GC University, Faisalabad 0945-1010

1010-1022

1022-1034

1034-1046

1046-1058

1058-1110

1110-1122

1122-1134

1134-1146

Keynote Lecture: Dr. Khalid Saifullah Centre for Advanced Studies in Pure and Applied (CASPAM) Mathematics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan Pakistan NEW TWO STEP FIXED POINT APPROACH FOR UNCONSTRAINED NONLINEAR OPTIMIZATION Nudrat Aamir, Aaysha Nawaz Department of Mathematics, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar NEW APPROACH TO RK TYPE METHODS Nudrat Aamir, Shumail Department of Mathematics, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar ESTIMATION OF FRACTAL DIMENSION OF NOISY TIME SERIES Tanveer Ahmed Siddiqui, Muhammad Saleem Khan Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi NEW THREE STEP ACCUMULATIVE SKIPPING APPROACH FOR UNCONSTRAINED NONLINEAR OPTIMIZATION Nudrat Aamir, Aneesa Zeb Department of Mathematics, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar STABILITY ANALYSIS AND DIAGNOSIS OF HOSPITAL ACQUIRED – METHICILLIN RESISTANCE STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS: A MATHEMATICAL MODELING APPROACH Anas Rashid, Aiman Rashid, Hamza Rashid, Usamah Rashid Qureshi, Sadaf Farooq Hamdard Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (HIPS), Hamdard University Islamabad Campus (HUIC), Islamabad, Pakistan STABILITY ANALYSIS OF INITIAL- BOUNDARY- VALUE- PROBLEMS BY MOL-RBF METHOD Nudrat Aamir, Farah Jafar Department of Mathematics, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar, Pakistan. NEW APPROACH TO THREE STEP FIXED POINT METHODS FOR UNCONSTRAINED OPTIMIZATION Nudrat Aamir, Tazkia Anwar Department of Mathematics, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar SOLUTION OF PDE'S WITH ALGEBRAIC BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEM WITH THE HELP OF MOL-RBF

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Nudrat Aamir, Farah Ja_ar, Noreen Shoukat Department of Mathematics, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar

1200-1230

BUSINESS MEETING – PAKISTAN SOCIETY FOR COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY

1230-1400

LUNCH & PRAYER BREAK

INFORMATION SEMINAR 1400-1500 1500-1530

1530-1630

Information Seminar on Graduate and Post-Doc Studies in USA Prof. Dr. Muhammad Hamid Zaman, Boston University, USA Question/Answer Session & Discussion Prof. Dr. Muhammad Hamid Zaman, Boston University, USA

CLOSING CEREMONY

- Recitation from Holy Quran - Na’at Shareef - Concluding Remarks (Prof. Dr. Abid Ali, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad) - Comments by Participants - Address by Guest of Honor - Address by Chief Guest - Prize & Certificate Distribution - Vote of Thanks (Prof. Dr. Ihtzaz Qamar, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad)

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Posters S. No. P001

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Poster Topic GENOME-WIDE IN SILICO COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF WRKY TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR FAMILY IN DIPLOID AND TETRAPLOID GOSSYPIUM SPECIES Adil Mahmood Khan, Rana Muhammad Atif, Naeem Akhter, Sabir Hussain, Rana Waqas, Ahmad Raza, Rakhshanda Jabeen, Afifa Jabeen, Farrukh Azeem Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, University College of Agriculture Sargodha, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan BIOMARKER SEARCH: IMMUNE RESPONSIVE GENES IN HBV INFECTED PATIENTS Ambreen Ayub, Asma Haque, Usman Ali Ashfaq, Waseem Akhtar Shamshari Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Allama Iqbal Road, 38000, Faisalabad, Pakistan PHARMACOGENOMICS: CANCER THERAPY AND US FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION Anam Aslam Khan, Shafaq Shakeel Government College for Women University, Sialkot. GENOME-WIDE IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF PHOSPHATE TRANSPORTER PROTEINS IN CICER ARIETINUM Aqsa Mushtaq, Ijaz Rasul, Ayesha Yaqoob, Maryiam Chaman, Narmeen Shafique,Warda Farooq, Habib Ullah Nadeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique, Farrukh Azeem Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad EFFECTS OF ADDED SUGAR, BEVERAGES AND SODA DRINKS ON HEALTH Aqsa Fiaz GC for Women University, Sialkot COMPARISON OF EMC/ERH EQUATION TO DETERMINE MOISTURE CONTENT OF MEDICINAL PLANTS Asba Ramzan, Zubaida Yousaf, Zahra Fazal and Arusa Aftab Department of Botany, Lahore College for Women university, Lahore Pakistan STUDY OF ANTIOXIDANT, DNA PROTECTION AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY PROPERTIES OF SELECTED SPECIES OF ARTEMISIA PLANT AND DETERMINATION OF THEIR TOTAL PHENOLIC AND FLAVANOID CONTENT. Asma Umer Khayam, Abdul Manan and Bushra Mirza, Quaid I Azam university, Islamabad. IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTORS (ERFS) IN MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.) Athar Hussain, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Farrukh Azeem, Habibullah Nadeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique, Mahmood-ur-Rahman, Shaiq Sultan, Amjad Abbas Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF ANION CHANNELS IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM) Athar Shafiq, Ijaz Rasul, Farwa Basit, Ibrahim Majeed, Fatima Wadood, Amna Afzal, Anam Saleem, Saima Muzammil, Habib Ullah Nadeem, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique

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Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan IN SILICO GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS OF CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDE-GATED ION CHANNELS IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM) Ayesha Ashraf, Ujala Afzal, Hamna Islam, Aniza Batool, Misbah Jabeen, Aqsa Muzammil, Habib ullah Nadeem, Ijaz Rasul, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan A DOCKING STUDY OF COPPER (II) CYSTEINE WITH PROTEINS Hamid Manzoor, Fatima Farooqi, Saeed Iqbal, Sumaira Rasul, Rehana Iqbal and Muhammad Ali. Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, 60800 Multan, Pakistan. EVALUATION OF CITRUS CULTIVARS TO FIND THE SOURCE OF RESISTANCE AGAINST CITRUS CANKER DISEASE BASED ON BIOCHEMICAL MARKERS Muhammad Atiq, Waqas Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Shahid, Iqra, Sadaf Latif, Zeeshan Asghar Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad CADD: A SAFARI TO DRUG FORMULATION Erum Yasmeen, Muhammad Riaz Department of bioinformatics and biotechnology, Government college university Faisalabad, Pakistan IN SILICO GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS OF PURPLE ACID PHOSPHATASES (PAPS) IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.) Farwa jameel, Hira Zia Awan, Shahzeena Akhtar, Shahwar Fatima , Sana Pervaiz, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Ijaz Rasul, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique, Habibullah Nadeem, Farrukh Azeem Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad EVALUATION OF CHEMICALS AGAINST FUSARIUM WILT DISEASE OF CHILLI CAUSED BY Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Capsici Fatima Nasir, Muhammad Atiq Iqra Mubeen, Khansa Ghfoor, Safdar Ali, Ahmad Zeeshan and Rizwan Bashir Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF AMINO ACID PERMEASE GENE FAMILY IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM) Ghulam Mustafa, Zunaira Kiran, Zeeshan Shahzad, Ruqiya Arshad, Sara Anwar, Aqsa Muzammil, Habib Ullah Nadeem, Ijaz Rasul, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan PHYSICAL AND ELECTRONIC TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF MONOATOMIC AU WIRES Hafsa Javed COMSATS, Lahore EFFECT OF FAST FOOD ON HEALTH OF PAKISTANI POPULATION Hira Naz GC for Women University, Sialkot ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF HONEY AND BLACK PEPPER ON VARIOUS

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HUMAN PATHOGENS Iffat Khisal, Naheed Afshan Department of Microbiology, Jinnah University for Women, Karachi DEVELOPMENT OF BIOCHEMICAL MARKER FOR OKRA GERMPLASM RESISTANT TO OKRA YELLOW VEIN MOSAIC VIRUS Iqra, Muhammad Atiq, Sadaf Latif, Zeeshan Asghar, Khalida Ameer, Muhammad Sajid and Rizwan Bashir and Waqas Ahmad Khan Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan EVALUATION OF VARIOUS CHEMICALS AND PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST FUSARIUM WILT DISEASE OF CUCUMBER CAUSED BY FUNGUS Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Cucumerinum Iqra Mubeen, Muhammad Atiq, Fatima Nasir, Ahmad Zeeshan, Waqas Ahmad Khan and Jahanzeb Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad ROLE OF RENIN IN REGULATION OF HYPERTENSION Iqra Rasheed Department of Zoology, Government College for Women University, Sialkot A PROTOCOL FOR MANAGEMENT OF CANTALOUPE DOWNY MILDEW Khalida Amee, Muhammad Atiq, M. Aamer Hussain, Zeeshan Asghar, Jahanzeb, Khansa Ghfoor and Syed Aftab Ali Bukhari Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad COMPARATIVE COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF SBP TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS IN ARABIDOPSIS AND DIPLOID COTTON (GOSSYPIUM RAIMONDII) Khush Bakhat Alia, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Ammara Hussain, Ammara Shahid, Farrukh Azeem, Rana M. Atif, Shaiq Sultan, Amjad Abbas, Habib Ullah Nadeem, and M. Hussnain Siddique Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad HUMAN GENOME PROJECT Komal Fatima GC for Women University, Sialkot. DRUG DISCOVERY Komal Ghafoor, Shafaq Shakeel GC for Women University, Sialkot. BENEFICIAL ROLE OF FUNGI ON PLANT GROWTH IN METAL CONTAMINATED SOIL Muhammad Jarrar Ahmed and Sundus Akhtar Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF NUCLEOBASE ASCORBATE TRANSPORTER GENE FAMILY IN CICER ARIETINUM Mavra Chouhdary, Sabir Hussain, Hafsa Shafique, Samra Latif, Yusra Baig, Nimra Qaiser, Habib ullah Nadeem, Ijaz Rasul, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF AMMONIUM TRANSPORTERS IN CICER ARIETINUM Mehak Azher, Nida Arif, Habib ullah Nadeem, Komal Jabeen, Iqra Afzal, Abdullah Chaudhary, Saima Muzammil, Ijaz Rasul, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique

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Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF SOME ANTIOXIDANTS Mehwish Huma Nasir , Rumana Qureshi Qauid_i_Azam University Islamabad SIGNIFICANT CHARACTARISTICS OF HONEY BEES IN DEVELOPING WORLD Memoona saleh GC for Women University, Sialkot IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF EQUILIBRATIVE NUCLEOSIDE TRANSPORTERS IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM) Muhammad Asim, Raheel Asghar, Aamer Bilal, Ahsan Ijaz, Aqeel Ahmad, Sabir Hussain, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Habib ullah Nadeem, Ijaz Rasul, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan EVOLUTION OF AP2 TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR SUB-FAMILY IN ORYZA SATIVA SSP. INDICA: A GENOME WIDE IN-SILICO ANALYSIS Sohaib Ahmed, Sajjad Akhtar, Muhammad Jawad, Zulfiqar Ali, Ihsan Khaliq, Rana Muhammad Atif Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS OF TRIHELIX TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR GENE FAMILY IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA Erum Yasmeen, Muhammad Riaz Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad IMPROVEMENT OF COTTON GERMPLASM THROUGH SYSTEMIC ACQUIRED RESISTANCE AGAINST BACTERIAL BLIGHT DISEASE M. Sajid, Shahbaz Talib Sahi, M. Atiq, Humaira Jamil, M. Ahmad Zeshan, M. Waqar Alam, Waqas Ahmad Khan and Fatima Nasir Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad STRUCTURE AND LIGAND BASED 3D-QSAR STUDIES OF QUINOLINE THIOSEMICARBAZIDE ANALOGS AS IKKΒ INHIBITORS Muhammad Tahir Ayub, Zaheer ul Haq Qasmi University of Karachi, Karachi A REVIEW ON DENGUE CONTROL DRIVE BY GENETICALLY MODIFIED AEDES AEGYPTI Muhammad Adil Sabir, Namrah Noor, Usman Ali Ashfaq Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan HUMAN GENOME PROJECT AND ITS IMPACTS ON LIFE Naima Murtaza, Shafaq Shakeel GC for Women University, Sialkot PHARMACOINFORMATICS APPROACH FOR INVESTIGATION OF ALTERNATIVE POTENTIAL HCV-NONSTRUCTURAL PROTEIN 5B (NS5B) INHIBITORS Muhammad Usman Mirza, Noor-Ul-Huda Ghori, Nazia Ikram, Abdur Rehman Adil, Sadia Manzoor Centre for Research in Molecular Medicine (CRiMM), The University of Lahore,

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Lahore, Pakistan DEFEATING MRSA (A COMMON NOSOCOMIAL INFECTION) FROM THE HOSPITALS USING EFFICIENT TECHNIQUES. Nisha afzal, Ayesha idrees, Maria batool GC for Women University, Sialkot IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF SUCROSE TRANSPORTERS IN CICER ARIETINUM Nauman Ali, Anum Razzaq, Muhammad Bilal, Zaib Un Nisa, Iqra Munawar, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Habib ullah Nadeem, Ijaz Rasul, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan IMPACT OF SNPS ON THE ACTION OF ANTIHYPERTENSIVES Rabail Razi and Mehboob Ahmed Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan PROBIOTICS: A SMART WEAPON AGAINST HYPERTENSION AND ANTIHYPERTENSIVES Rabail Razi and Mehboob Ahmed Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan ROLE OF ACC DEAMINASE PRODUCING BACTERIA IN HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATED SOIL Rafia Hassan, Muhammad Shahid, Amjad Ali, Nadia Ahmed Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad IN SILICO PROMOTER ANALYSIS AND TISSUE SPECIFIC EXPRESSION PROFILING OF SHAKER POTASSIUM CHANNEL GENES IN CICER ARIETINUM L. Rao Waqas Ali, Rana Muhammad Atif , Fatima Rashid, Adil Mahmood Khan, Farrukh Azeem Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad TOWARDS AN ACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF INTACT PROTEIN MASS USING HIGH-RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY Rashad Hussain, Humnah Gohar Kabir, Safee Ullah Chaudhary Biomedical Informatics Research Laboratory, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan MOLECULAR BASIS OF CRANIAL SUTURE BIOLOGY OSTEOBLASTIC & OSTEOCLASTIC PERSPECTIVES IN ASIAN POPULATION Rimsha Zulfiqar, Rukhsar Hanif Department of Zoology, Government College Women University Sialkot ISOLATION AND EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF SHATTERPROOF MADS-BOX GENES IN CANOLA Romana Shahzadi, Muhammad Ramzan Khan, Ghulam Muhammad Ali National Institute for Genomics and Advanced Biotechnology, National Agricultural Research Center, Park Road, Islamabad, Pakistan COMPUTATIONAL BINDING MODE ANALYSIS OF NOVEL TRIAZOLE DERIVATIVES AS CHOLINESTERASE INHIBITORS Ruqaiya Khalil, Uzma Mehmood , Zaheer Ul-Haq and Amal Al-Aboudi Computational Chemistry Unit , Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Design, International Center for Chemical and Biological Center,

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University of Karachi, Karachi. IMPACT OF LEAF ROLL VIRUS (PLRV) ON IONIC CONTENT OF POTATO LEAVES Saba Saeed, Muhammad Atiq, Shahbaz Talib Sahi, Nazir Javed, Fatima Nasir, Khansa Ghfoor and Muhammad Rizwan Bashir Department of Plant Pathology University of Agriculture Faisalabad GROWTH RESPONSE OF FUSARIUM OXYSPORUM F. SP. LYCOPERSICI UNDER SIMULTANEOUS STRESS OF CHROMIUM IONS AND EXTRACTS OF CENCHRUS PENISETTIFORMIS Saba Khurshid, Amna Shoaib and Arshad Javaid Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan ACTIVATION OF TOMATO PLANT DEFENSE RESPONSE AGAINST THE FUSARIUM WILT DISEASE THROUGH THE PLANT ACTIVATORS AND CHEMICALS Sadaf Latif, Muhammad Atiq, Iqra, khalida Ameer, Khansa Ghafoor Iqra mubeen, FatimaNasir Department of Plant Pathology University of Agriculture, Faisalabad THE EFFECT OF CHEMICALS ON FOOD AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMANS Sadia iqbal, Shafaq Government College for Women University (GCWU), Sialkot DEFEATING MRSA (A COMMON NOSOCOMIAL INFECTION FROM THE HOSPITAL USING EFFICIENT TECHNIQUES) Samaya Azeem and Ujala Kainat GC for Women University, Sialkot RISK ASSESSMENT STUDIES OF TRANSGENIC Bt DIET ON RATS Ahmad Ali_Shahid, Sana_Khalid, Allah_Bakhsh, Tahir_Rehman Samiullah, Tayyab_Husnain and Sheikh_Riazuddin. National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, 87-West Canal Bank Road, Thokar Niaz Baig, Lahore, 53700, Pakistan1. GENOME-WIDE IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF PHO1 GENE FAMILY IN CICER ARIETINUM Sara Tanveer, Isra Shaheen, Saima Muzammil, Fariha Ijaz, Maryum Mehmood, Sana Asghar, Habib ullah Nadeem, Ijaz Rasul, Farrukh Azeem, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan IN SILICO DESIGN OF NOVEL FUNGICIDES AGAINST SUCCINATE DEHYDROGENASE TO CONTROL PHYTOPATHOGENIC FUNGI OF POTATO Sehrish Iftikhar, Ahmad Ali Shahid, Sobia Ahsan Halim Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A UNIQUE HYPOTHETICAL PROTEIN OF MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS: A BIOINFORMATICS APPROACH Sidra Rafi, Reaz Uddin Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi BIOINFORMATICS AND DIABETES MELLITUS Sidra Shabbir Government College for Women University, Sialkot INTEGRATION OF SIMULATION, QUALITY CONTROL AND ERGONOMICS TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF SEMI AUTOMATIC INDUSTRIES

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Muhammad Zahid Nadeem, Simab Irum UET, Taxila, Pakistan SOIL MYCO-PATHOGENIC DIVERSITY AND THERE CONTROL THROUGH FUNGICIDE Sundus Akhtar and Muhammad Jarrar Ahmed Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. GENOME WIDE ANALYSIS OF HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR (HSF) FAMILY IN CHICKPEA AND ITS COMPARISON WITH ARABIDOPSIS Syed Adeel Zafar, Haris Ahmad, Hafiz Ghulam Muhu-Din Ahmed, Iqrar Ahmad Rana, Faisal Saeed Awan, Bushra Sadia, Rana Muhammad Atif Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan EXPLORING SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISMS IN GOSSYPIUM ARBOREUM Tayyaba Shaheen, Yusuf Zafar, Mehboob-ur-Rahman Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad DEVELOPMENT AND UTILIZATION OF SHORT GSSRS FOR PHYLOGENETIC STUDIES IN G. ARBOREUM Tayyaba Shaheen, Yusuf Zafar and Mehboob-ur-Rahman Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC University, Faisalabad, Pakistan IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF HKT GENES FAMILY IN DIFFERENT PLANT SPECIES Tunjeena Rehan, Farrukh Azeem,Raazia Ayaz ,Adeela Naeeem ,Hafza Razzaq,Samia Akhtar,Aalia Saeed Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad NITRATE REDUCTASE, MOLYBDENUM OR TUNGSTEN CONTAINING ENZYME: A DFT STUDY Uzma Habiba and Matthias Hofmannb Research Center for Modeling and Simulation (RCMS), NUST CYCLIN-DEPENDENT KINASE-2 AS A TARGET FOR CANCER THERAPY: POTENTIAL OF MEDICINAL PLANT PHYTOCHEMICALS AGAINST CDK2 AS ANTI-CANCER AGENTS Wajahat Khan, Usman Ali Ashfaq, Muhammad Tahir ul Qamar 1 Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad HEPATITIS C Wajeeha Shahid, Shaffaq Shakeel GC for Women University, Sialkot GENOME WIDE IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF IRON TRANSPORTING GENES IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM) Waqar Abbas, Muhammed Umair Khan, Tanzeel-u-Rehman, Zahra Batool, Namra Siddique, Fatima Rashid, Rana Muhammad Atif, Farrukh Azeem Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad EVOLUTION OF DNA-BINDING WITH-ONE-FINGER (DOF) TRANSCRIPTIONAL FACTOR FAMILY IN DIPLOID COTTON GOSSYPIUM RAIMONDII Waqas Shafqat, Muhammad Jamshaid, Asif Saeed, Muhammad Tehseen Azhar, Amir Shakeel, Rana Muhammad Atif

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Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan EFFICIENT HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION OF LIGHTWEIGHT PSEUDORANDOM NUMBER GENERATORS Yusra Mehmood, Umar Mujahid, M.Najam-ul-islam DEFEATING MRSA (A COMMON NOSOCOMIAL INFECTION) FROM THE HOSPITAL USING EFFICIENT TECHNIQUES Zainab Ansar, Fatima Nazeer, Nausheen Javed Department of Zoology, Govt. College for Women University Sialkot, Pakistan BIOCHEMICAL BASE OF INDUCED RESISTANCE AGAINST FUSARIUM STALK ROT OF MAIZE Zeeshan Asghar, Muhammad Atiq, Shahbaz Talib Sahi, Amir Habib, Faima Nasir and Iqra Mubeen Department of Plant Pathology University of Agriculture, Faisalabad GENOME-WIDE IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF ARR GENE FAMILY IN CICER ARIETINUM Muhammad Zeeshan, Mehmood Elahi, Sumair Mmunir, Hamid Ali, Ijaz Rasul, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique, Habibullah Nadeem, Farrukh Azeem Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan HIGH PERFORMANCE PST EXTRACTOR FROM MASS SPECTROMETRY DATA Safee Ullah Chaudhary , Zohra bibi Computational Biology Lab, Lahore University of Management Sciences EFFECT OF MANNITOL INDUCED WATER STRESS ON REGENERATION IN WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM. L) Aisha Butt1, Nisar Ahmed1, Sehar Nawaz1, Muhammad Mubin1, Ihsan Khaliq2 and Shahnawaz ul Rehman1. Centre for Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad PARTIAL CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF UDP-3-OGLUCOSYLTRANSFERASE (UF3GT) GENE IN WHEAT. Anum Farooq1, Sehar Nawaz1, Nisar Ahmed1 and Aisha Butt1 1 Centre for Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad IN SILICO IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF ZINC TRANSPORTER GENES IN CHICK PEA (CICER ARIETINUM) Saba Iftkhar, Sahar Naeem, Sofia Safdar, Amna Aslam, Zeenat Ashraf, Farrukh Azeem* Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES ON THE CHARACTERIZATION OF (E)-4-(3BROMOBENZYLIDENEAMINO)-3-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID. Umar Draz, Asim Mansha, Syed Mujtaba Shah, Muhammad Usman Department of chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

CATALYTIC MECHANISM OF 6-PHOSPHOGLUCONOLACTONASE: THE SECOND ENZYME IN THE OXIDATIVE PENTOSE PHOSPHATE PATHWAY Tabeer Fatima,a Farooq Ahmad Kiania,b a Research Center for Modeling and Simulation (RCMS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan

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EFFECT OF EDGE DOPING ON GRAPHENE NANORIBBON BASED DEVICES Sumaira Yasmeen COMSATS, Lahore

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INVITED TALKS

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IMPORTANCE OF INQUIRY BASED SCIENCE EDUCATION (IBSE) AT SCHOOLS FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Manzoor Hussain Soomro President, ECO Science Foundation (www.eco4science.org), Islamabad-Pakistan Email: [email protected] The quality of science education is directly related to economic growth of a nation and has strong impact on the careers of researchers and innovators. By executing inquiry based science education (IBSE) at primary level in schools, the inquisitiveness of students can be accelerated. Being inquisitive is a prerequisite for researchers and innovators. IBSE emphasizes on boosting up thinking and investigative skills of the youth to enhance their positive effective contribution in the society and raise the living standards. The implementation can be achieved by initiating continuous professional training and skill development of the teachers who teach science. The students can learn effectively when they have opportunity of practicing their inert skills and innovative ideas. In this context, various organizations in the world have started different projects; some of the most activate among them are; Society for Science and the Public USA, China Association of Science and Technology, La main a la pate Foundation of France and Science Education Programme by Inter Academy Panel (IAP). ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF) for strengthening the base for S&T research and innovation led economic development, emphasizes on IBSE. In this regard, ECOSF is going to organize a Capacity Building Workshop on INQUIRY Based Science Education – La main a la pate for ECO region at Astana– Kazakhstan on 22-25 June 2015. The purpose of the workshop is to build capacity of at least two suitable scientific & educational persons from each member country of ECO region that after getting training will initiate IBSE in their own countries. One of the main objectives of the project is to increase number of students in science and engineering careers and improve quality of science classroom teaching practices.

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IDENTIFICATION OF ABIOTIC STRESS TOLERANT GENES IN PLANTS Bushra Rashid, Sameera Hassan, Muhammad Bilal Sarwar, Bahaeldeen Babiker Mohamed, Sania Riaz, Muhammad Nadeem Hafeez, Zarnab Ahmad, Aqsa Aslam, Rabia Faryad Khan National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab, Lahore E-mail: [email protected] Several abiotic stresses interrupt the growth of cotton crops, among them drought and salinity are worth mentioning. We are focusing on the isolation of stress tolerant genes GUSP1 and GUSP2 tagged with GFP which induce the production of Universal stress proteins, from G. arboreum and successfully transferring them into G. hirsutum to raise transgenic cotton with inbuilt stress resistant mechanism. For this purpose, Agrobacterium mediated plant transformation has been done followed by biochemical analysis through Real Time PCR, quantitative ELISA, SDS-PAGE and Western Blotting. The localization of genes was observed within cell membrane, trichomes, idioblast, xylem and phloem of the transgenic plants. Very few reports on the gene expression induced by salt stress in Gossypium hirsu tum are available. Gossypium hirsutum transformed with GaPGR5 gene were exposed to a number of abiotic stresses including Drought (PEG), Salinity (NaCl), Heavy metals (K, Mg, Cu, Co, Zn, Fe, Mn), both single and in combinatorial forms in lab as well as in green house. Plants were screened for different morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular parameters. Transgenic cotton plants exhibited better results under all of these stress conditions due to the presence of GaPGR5 gene as compared to control. These studies will provide insight into the role of GaPGR5 gene in the comprehensive molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance in agriculturally important crops. These abiotic stress responsive gene (s) identified in the study may be further used for genetic transformation of agriculturally important crops. Identification of the potential and novel transcripts responsible for salt and drought tolerance in Roselle, (Hibiscus sabdarifa) were identified by using differential display (DDPCR). Full length sequence of RMYB gene revealed that it belongs to MYB protein with resemblance of conserved domain of SANT superfamily of plants. The gene comprises of a single Open Reading Frame (ORF) of 229 amino acids with no intron region and predicted amino acid sequence shares with othet plant species. The spatial expression was carried out in leaf, stem and root tissues, by RT-PCR and quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Global expression analysis using microarrays now allows for simultaneous interrogation of the expression of thousands of genes in a high-throughput fashion and offers unprecedented opportunities to obtain molecular signatures of the state of activity of samples. Gene expression analysis of genes in Agave sisalana L. under drought stress was studied. Progeny development and optimization for induction of drought stress of varying periods in the experimental plants of Agave sisalana L. was done. cDNA library was prepared from drought stressed plants and 12000 clones were picked, replicate and amplified for sequencing and cDNA chip printing. Almost 900 clones have been subjected to sequencing randomly out of which 500 cDNA clones are submitted to NCBI after trimming through Vec Screen and Blast NR.

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WHOLE TRANSCRIPTOME ANALYSES THROUGH NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING Ali Raza Awan Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore Next-generation sequencing technology is a powerful tool for transcriptome analysis. Whole transcriptome analysis is of growing importance in understanding how altered expression of genetic variants contributes to complex diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease and genetic traits e.g. growth traits in livestock. Analysis of genome-wide differential RNA expression provides researchers with greater insights into biological pathways and molecular mechanisms that regulate cell fate, development, and disease progression. Dissecting the relationship between genotype and phenotype is one of the central goals in developmental biology, medicine and genetics. Transcriptome analysis is a powerful strategy to connect genotype to phenotype of a cell. This talk would help the participant to understand the gene annotation of previously uncharacterized genomes and to study to improve accuracy of gene annotation in reference genomes, discovery of novel transcriptional units and alternatively spliced forms, mapping of ESTs to a known reference genome or transcriptome for comparative analysis and discovery of fusion transcripts and detection of somatic genetic variations including SNPs and insertions/deletions.

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COMPUTATIONAL BIO-ENGINEERING IN CONTROL SYSTEM PARADIGM Asif Mahmood Mughal NESCOM, Islamabad Bio-engineering systems are bridging the gap between two scientific domains by utilizing the mathematical strength of engineering systems and excellence of biological systems. Bioengineering systems are robust, intelligent, adaptive and most importantly energy efficient. There are numerous engineering systems which are currently studied in the perspective of bioengineering systems for development of better and optimal systems than the existing systems. Few examples are biomedical systems, bio-inspired robotics, autonomous system, rehabilitation systems, bio-fuels, sports biomechanics, bioinformatics, bionics, biometrics as well as biomaterials. In last century many engineers and scientist applied principal of mathematical theories to biological subjects and thus evolved new fields like biomechanics. A human biomechanical model which can mimic diverse 3D physiological movements is a challenging task. Hundreds of researchers obtained experimental data to study and analyze human movements. On the other hand, there are few researchers who provided analytical models for biological movements. Study of movement coordination of human neuro-physiologically controlled voluntary movements lead to better and optimal control design scheme as a solution to biologically inspired systems as well as solution for rehabilitation and prosthesis. In this talk, analytical modeling schemes to biomechanical movements, physiological motor control and combined musculoskeletal models with neurophysiologic controller to emulate muscle commands and joint torques will be discussed. An example of human sit to stand will be elaborated as a biological movement coordination problem through joint feedback torque with different analytical or control designs. The modeling and control framework for movement coordination problem holds great potential to study task specific applications in kinesiology, ergonomics, and rehabilitation robotics, biomedical engineering and experimental validation of human voluntary movements.

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STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS IN DRUG DISCOVERY Muhammad Ibrahim Rajoka SI Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF), Jinnah Town, Faisalabad-38000 With the rapid accumulation of high-throughput genomic and proteomic data, it is now being highly recognized to develop effective computational methods that can be used to mine useful structural information. These informations may support the development of biochemistry, biomedicine, and drug design. Furthermore, in order to understand the proteinprotein, protein-D/RNA, and other complex interactions, structural biology approaches are being frequently applied. Data thus obtained have helped us in lead optimization of drug of choice and target identification where they have been found to possess well established roles. They can now contribute to lead discovery, exploit high-throughput methods of structure determination that provide powerful approaches to screening of ligand binding. Effective drugs for the treatment of all fatal diseases may then be developed by applying material chemistry/biochemistry.

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PROFILING AND ANNOTATION OF MICRORNAS AND THEIR PUTATIVE TARGET GENES IN CHILLI (CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.) Muhammad Younas Khan Barozai and Muhammad Din Department of Botany University of Balochistan Quetta Pakistan The advent of 21 st century, in plant molecular biology there have been discovered a new class of RNAs are termed as microRNAs (miRNAs) which are ~ 18 to 24 nucleotides in length. These are generated endogenously and targeted mRNA genes by complimentary or near complimentary of base pairing to down regulate the said genes at post-transcriptional level. Since the very first discovery of the miRNA in animal is 1993. There are thousands of miRNAs revealed in diverse species of both animals and plants till to date. However, a few miRNAs have been reported in Capsicum annuum L., an economically important plant species of family Solanaceae. In the current project we explored 88 miRNAs belonging to 81 families of miRNA. There also found cluster of miRNAs in two families of the miRNA viz., miR-8019 and 8036. These newly discoveries accomplished by applying of comprehensive bioinformatics tools using Express Sequence Tags (ESTs) of Capsicum annuum L. These all putative predictions meet the stringent criteria for the annotation of miRNAs, i.e. hair-pin structure, minimum free energy (MFE), GC content, and maximum base pairing between both strands of miRNA/miRNA* in stem portion of the secondary structure. For these newly identified miRNAs families, there are 408 protein targeted genes excavated. These targets are classified as; metabolism, transcription factor, transporter, growth and development, disease and stress related. Moreover, the novel findings of the miRNAs in chilli will help us to modify the genome of the same plant in future. Key words: Bioinformatics tools, Capsicum annuum L., Express Sequence Tags (ESTs), Cluster microRNAs, Protein Targeted Genes.

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INVESTIGATION OF DYNAMICS IN FIXED-BEDS PACKED WITH CORE-SHELL PARTICLES: DERIVATION AND APPLICATION OF ANALYTICAL AND NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS Shamsul Qamar1,2 and Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern1 1 Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg, Germany 2 Department of Mathematics, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Due to their proven performance and improved availability, core-shell particles are increasingly applied for chromatographic separations [1]. Superficially porous beads offer advantages over fully porous beads. They allow for highly efficient and fast separations of complex samples at reasonably low back pressures. This is the results of a difficulty to analyze interplay between the different mass transfer processes in and around the particles [2]. This work is focused on deriving analytical solutions of a linear and numerical solutions of a nonlinear general rate model (GRM) for fixed-beds packed with core-shell particles. The model equations consider axial dispersion, interfacial mass transfer, intraparticle diffusion, and linear or nonlinear adsorption isotherms. In the case of linear isotherm, the Laplace transformation is used as a basic tool to derive analytical solutions. The first three statistical temporal moments are derived from solutions in the Laplace domain [3]. These analytical solutions are useful to predict elution profiles and to optimize column sizes and operating conditions. For nonlinear isotherms, numerical solution techniques are the only tools to get solutions. In this work, a semi-discrete high resolution flux-limiting FVS scheme is proposed to solve the nonlinear GRM [4]. The scheme is second order accurate in axial- and radialcoordinates. The resulting system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is solved by using a second-order TVD Runge-Kutta method. For the linear case both analytical and numerical solutions are in good agreement. In order to demonstrate the potential of the solutions, different case studies are considered devoted to quantify elution profiles as a function of the relative core size, axial dispersion, film mass transfer resistance and intraparticle diffusion resistance in the porous layer. References 1. J.J. Kirkland, F.A. Truszkowski, C.H. Dilks, G.S. Engel, Journal of Chromatography A, 890, 3-13, 2000. 2. F. Gritti, G. Guiochon, Journal of Chromatography A, 1252, 31-44, 2015. 3. S. Javeed, S. Qamar, W. Ashraf, G. Warnecke, A. Seidel-Morgenstern, Chemical Engineering Science, 90, 17-31, 2013. 4. S. Javeed, S. Qamar, A. Seidel-Morgenstern, G. Warnecke, Computers & Chemical Engineering, 35, 2294-2305, 2011.

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BIOINFORMATICS IN HEALTH SCISNCES

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GLOBAL DIVERSITY OF DENGUE VIRUS: IN SILICO ANALYSIS BASED ON CONSERVED GENE Ayyiah Khan Sani1, Kinza Khalil1, Usman Hussain1, Mazhar Qayyum1, Sobia Kanwal1* 1 Department of Zoology and Biology, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi *Email: [email protected] Dengue virus is a mosquito transmitted single stranded RNA virus belonging to genus Flavivirus. A study was conducted to explore the current state of knowledge about evolution of Dengue virus. The objective of this study was to track the evolutionary pattern of Dengue virus around the globe. MEGA 6 software was used to determine the phylogeny using sequences for conserved gene, selected from the data base. In-silico analysis of dengue virus serotype strain 1 has shown that it has undergone various diversifications in different regions indicating inconsistent pattern of evolution at nucleotide level. This study has provided the basic information about the phylogeny and phylogenetic relationship of dengue virus among different regions which help in future for developing and designing proper preventive measures of the fever caused by this virus and to control for the viral infection. Furthermore, the current findings will possibly help to better evaluate existing vaccines and to develop the next generation of noble vaccines.

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MP3D: MEDICINAL PLANTS DATABASE FOR DRUG DESIGNING Arooj Mumtaz 1,*, Usman Ali Ashfaq 1, Muhammad Tahir ul Qamar 1,2, Muhammad Amjad Ali 2,3, Faisal Gulzar 4, Farooq Anwar 5, Nazamid Saari 6 1 Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF), Faisalabad-38000, Punjab, Pakistan 2 Center of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture (UAF), Faisalabad-38000, Punjab, Pakistan 3 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture (UAF), Faisalabad-38040, Punjab, Pakistan 4 Department of Pharmcology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha (UOS), Sargodha-40100, Pakistan 5 Department of Chemistry, University of Sargodha (UOS), Sargodha-40100, Pakistan; Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharij, Sauid Arabia 6 Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University Putra Malaysia, UPM-43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia *E-Mail: [email protected] In the era of computer aided drug designing (CADD), medicinal plants are the main natural resources for discovery of new drugs. The information regarding attributes of medicinal plants is increasing day by day on online web resources like Google Scholar and PubMed. This requires the construction of database management system that allows data storage, retrieval and management with user friendly interface. An extensive database having information about classification, activity and ready-to-dock library of medicinal plant phytochemicals is therefore required to assist the researcher in the field of computer aided drug designing (CADD). Medicinal Plants Database for Drug Designing (MP3D) is an open access database of phytochemicals derived from medicinal plants that contains extensive information regarding the classification, genus, therapeutic activities, targets and literature references of various phytochemicals. Moreover, this database also provides free, ready-todock library to find out therapeutic potential of phytochemicals against different disease causing targets which are not reported previously. At present, MP3D contains information about more than 5000 phytochemicals from around 1000 medicinal plants with 80 different activities, more than 900 literature references and 200 plus targets in online and downloadable database. Both web-based and downloadable databases will save the time of researchers from searching and organizing the required information for docking of these phytochemicals. Database URL: http://bioinform.info Keywords: Medicinal Plants; Phytochemicals; Database Management System; Drug Designing; Ready to Dock Phytochemical Library

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BIOINFORMATIC AND COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF MUTANT ALLELES OF MEN1 ON ITS STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND STABILITY Muhammad Aamir Hassan, Muhammad Qasim, Aqib Zafar Khan, Muhammad Shareef Masoud, Muhammad Rizwan Javed Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan. E-mail: [email protected] Introduction:In-silico working in biology has revolutionized the examination of bulky tome of post-genomic data.The protein Menin encoded by MEN1 is involved in abundant cellular mechanisms such as transcription regulation, apoptosis, cell cycle control and DNA damage repair. Mutation in this gene has been reported for various malignancies such as parathyroid adenomas, duodenopancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, and pituitary adenomas. Materials and Methods: The study involved insilico structural and functional analysis of 10 selected mutant alleles of MEN1. Pathogenic variants P12L, L22R, E45K, G110E, F144V, I147F, G161D, C170R, E184D and V220M of MEN1were examined through different computational and bioinformatics tools to study their impact on the mutated protein structure and function. Structures of the mutated proteins were predicted through homology modelling. Effects of these pathogenic alleles on mutated proteins were analyzed through NetSurfP, IMutant, SNAP, Poly-Phen, IUPred and PrDOS. Results: This study revealed that these mutations cause conformational changes in protein leading to altered structure, stability and function. Damaging effects of these mutations on protein are high but has low disorder tendency. None of these mutations was found to hit the conserved region of protein. Conclusion: Bioinformatic and computational tools can play a prime role in prediction of the impact of mutation on protein structure and function. Key Words: MEN1, Bioinformatic and computational analysis

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PHYTOCHEMICAL INHIBITOR REACTIVATE P53 FUNCTIONING

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Erum Yasmeen1, Muhammad Riaz1 1 Department of bioinformatics and biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad The interaction between p53 and MDM2 plays a pivotal role in tumor genesis even when wild-type p53 is retained. Tumor suppressor p53 is a transcriptional factor involved in the regulation of several genes responsible for halting cell cycle at checkpoints, repairing DNA and performing apoptosis during cytotoxic and genotoxic stresses to prevent defective cell from proliferation. But its inhibition in stress conditions either due to mutations or by negative regulators results in tumor development. The p53 retaining its wild-type is inactivated by a negative regulator-mdm2, which adamantly interacts and binds to inhibit its transactivation. It initiate E3 ubiquitin ligase activity for proteosomal degradation and decreases the concentration of p53. The studies showed that DNA damage too results in MDM2 destabilization, it’s over expression causes p53 degradation even in stress conditions and form cancer. It is estimated that 7% of cancers are caused due to over expression of MDM2. Our study involves in-silico analysis of the crucial residues for exploiting the p53mdm2 interaction to reactivate p53 functioning. Structure-based approach was applied to screen phytochemicals through medicinal plants activities, phytochemicals and structural database against the therapeutic target p53 and hence are MDM2 antagonist consequently protect proliferation of normal cell and are antitumor. Keywords: p53, MDM2, phytochemicals

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PREDICTION OF RESPONSIBLE FACTORS IN REGULATING EXPRESSION OF IL-28RA AND THEIR ROLE IN CRITICAL SNPS Hashaam Akhtar1,4, Ole Jensen Hamming4, Samar Akhtar2, Ayesha Nawaz1, Sophie MyHang Tran3, Saleha Resham1, Rune Hartmann4, Hajra sadia1 1 Atta-Ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, H-12 Sector, 44000, Islamabad, Pakistan. 2 Ripha Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ripha International University, 7th Avenue, Sector G-7/4, Islamabad, Pakistan. 3 Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark 3Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark E-mail: [email protected] IL-28RA and IL10R collectively constructs a fully functional heterodimeric receptor for type III interferons (IFNs). IL-28RA is also called the private chain for type III IFNs because it has not been found to be involved in any other pathway and is specific to few cell types only, hence making type III IFNs specific in their function. The regulation of the expression of IL28RA at its molecular level is not fully known yet and needs to be scrutinized at primary levels. We have used various bioinformatics softwares like AliBaba2.1, TESS, Transfac, PMatch and MatrixCatch 2.7 in this study and found AP1-2, STAT 1-6, P-53, LyF-1 (lymphoid transcription factor), c-Jun, PU.1, CREB (cAMP response element-binding), PLAG (pleotropic adenoma gene), MYOD (myoblast determination protein 1), NOFL, KLFS to be preferred predicted transcription factors, whereas AP-2, c-Jun, LyF-1, STAT, NF-Y and P53 are already recently reported in literature. Interlinking among different ISGs are also not very clear and induction of one type of interferon can affect the efficacy of the other, we found that IFN-λ4 induction can increase the expression of IL-28Rα, similar to IFN-λ4 but opposite is the case with type I IFNs, which has either no effect on the expression of IL-28Rα or can down regulate its expression at higher concentrations. Keywords: Interferon Lambda, Interferon lambda receptor (IFNλRα), SNP, Transcription factors, expression

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POTENTIAL OF PHYTOCHEMICALS AS STAPHYLOCOCCAL DNA GYRASE INHIBITORS THROUGH MOLECULAR DOCKING Quratulain Tariq, Muhammad Shareef Masoud, Namrah Noor, Muhammad Qasim, Muhammad Rizwan Javed, Mahmood-ur-Rahman and Usman Ali Ashfaq. Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Staphylococcal infection has turned into a severe health alarm globally due to unavailability of proper treatment. The circumstances require an urgent progress of proficient and workable treatment to deal with Staphylococcus aureus. Phytochemicals present in medicinal plants, holds anti-bacterial activity and can be strong drug candidates against bacteria. DNA Gyrase subunit B is involved in its ATPase activity which ultimately leads to DNA replication and can be a strong target for anti-microbial screening of drugs against Staphylococcus aureus. Present study focuses on the recognition and identification of phytochemicals which can block Asp-81 site of DNA Gyrase subunit B to hinder DNA replication as Asp-81 site is mandatory for biological functioning of DNA gyrase. Molecular docking approach was applied and the results revealed that Six phytochemicals (Reserpic acid, Lycoricidinol, 5,7,4’trihydroxy-6-methoxyhomoisoflavanone, Candenatenin A, Mangostenone E and 2,4,4’trihydroxydihydrochalcone) had powerful and strong interactions with active site of DNA Gyrase subunit B. these phytochemicals blocked the Asp-81 site of DNA Gyrase subunit B and could be able to hinder the DNA replication. It can be concluded from the phytochemicals could serve as potential antibacterial drugs for Staphylococcal infections.

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VIRTUAL SCREENING, COMPLEX BASED PHARMACOPHORE MODELING AND MOLECULAR DOCKING OF POTENTIAL COMPOUNDS FROM ZINC DATABASE FOR INHIBITION OF DENGUE NS3 PROTEASE Muhammad Tahir ul Qamar 1,2,*, Amna Ali 1,2, Arooma Maryam 1, Usman Ali Ashfaq 1, Muhammad Amjad Ali 2,3, Farooq Anwar 4, Faisal Gulzar 5 1 Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University (GCUF), Faisalabad-38000, Pakistan 2 Center of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture (UAF), Faisalabad-38040, Punjab, Pakistan 3 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture (UAF), Faisalabad-38040, Punjab, Pakistan 4 Department of Chemistry, University of Sargodha (UOS), Sargodha-40100, Pakistan; Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharij, Sauidi Arabia 5 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha (UOS), Sargodha-40100, Pakistan *Correspondance: [email protected] Dengue, a vector borne disease has become an important global health concern. Over 40% of the world population is at risk of infection of this disease. Quest for a suitable dengue vaccine has been ongoing for the last few decades because any effective treatment or vaccine is yet not available. Efficient and practical treatment is required to overcome the devastating effects of dengue. Present work reports the complex-based pharmacophore modeling that reveals important pharmacophoric features which would be helpful for the inhibition of protease activity of NS2B/NS3 protein of Dengue virus (DV). A seven featured pharmacophore model of DV NS2B/NS3 protease was developed via crystal structure of NS2B/NS3 protease and its inhibitor complex in Molecular Operating Environment pharmacophore constructing tool. The generated pharmacophore model was validated by a test database of known published inhibitors. Validated pharmacophore model was then used to virtually screen the potential compounds from ZINC database. The screened compounds were filtered by Lipinski’s rule of five and further evaluated through molecular docking studies. Results of docking and interaction studies were validated through binding affinity analysis and ADMET profiling. Finally, 6 hits of different scaffolds having interactions with important active site residues were predicted as potential candidates. These candidates, with unique scaffolds, have strong likelihood to act as starting point in the development of novel and potent NS2B/NS3 protease inhibitors. Present research work reports the significant role of these hits blocking the replication of DV. Key Words: Pharmacophore Modeling, Dengue, NS3 Protease, ZINC Database, Molecular Docking, Virtual Screening

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SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF MOXIFLOXACIN AND NONSTEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS (NSAIDS) IN PHARMACEUTICAL DOSAGE FORMULATIONS AND HUMAN SERUM BY RP-HPLC Mahwish Akhtar1,2, Najma Sultana2, M. Saeed Arayne3, Somia Gul2,4 and Sana Shamim1,2 1 Dow College of Pharmacy, Dow University of Health Sciences, 2Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Karachi, 3Department of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270,4Jinnah University for Women, Pakistan A simple reversed phase HPLC method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of moxifloxacin (MOX) and diclofenac sodium, meloxicam, ibuprofen, flurbiprofen, naproxen and mefenamic acid in a relatively short time with high linearity in bulk material, pharmaceutical formulations and human serum. Purospher Start C18 (250 x 4.6mm, 5m) column was used. The mobile phase, methanol and water (90:10, v/v pH 2.75 adjusted by o-phosphoric acid), was delivered at a flow rate of 1.5mLmin-1, eluent was monitored using UV detector at 240 nm. The proposed method is specific, accurate (97.54103.91.2%), precise (intra-day and inter-day variation 0.013-1.88%) and linear (R2>0.999) with in the desired range 0.15625-25µgmL-1 concentration. The detection limit and quantification limit was 0.13µgmL-1 and 0.40µgmL-1 respectively. The statistical parameters were applied to verified results. The assay was successfully applied to the pharmaceutical formulations and human serum. There was no chromatographic interference from tablet excipients. There was also no significant difference between the amount of drug spike in human serum and the amount recovered. Thus human serum did not interfere in simultaneous evaluation. The anticipated method is applicable to routine analysis of MOX and NSAIDs in pharmaceutical formulations, human serum and interaction of MOX with NSAIDs in samples. Keywords Moxifloxacin, NSAIDs, HPLC, Method development, Simultaneous determination.

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ROLE OF AGENT BASED MODELING ADMINISTRATION OF CANCER TREATMENT

AND

SIMULATION

FOR

Muhammad Adeel, Uzair Ahmad, Muhammad Asif Habib, Muhammad Asif Department of Computer Science, National Textile University, Faisalabad Pakistan This review invites scientists, medical doctors, researchers and students to find and fill the research gap in the treatment of cancer by applying agent based modeling and simulation techniques. Keeping in view vivo and vitro experiments, it shows advantages and reasons of using Agent Based Modeling and Simulation (ABMS) technology in the prediction and visual exploration of bolus drug administration with pharmacokinetics complexities with chemo resistance and progression of cancerous cells. It also provides knowledge and overview of the research work done (some selected published work in peer reviewed Journals and conferences) for cancer treatment using ABMS techniques. This review concludes that we need to treat cancer using simulation tests’ results because of three reasons: 1) to avoid risk of life because of vivo experiments of a cancerous patient (may be human and even animal); 2) the number of vitro tests are limited whereas computer based simulation tests using ABMS can be multiple times more; 3) the concrete prediction can be obtained by applying big data analytical tools like simulators for ABMS technology. It is also concluded that we need visual exploration for drug effects and cancer resistance.

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CHARACTERIZATION OF H5N1 INFLUENZA A VIRUS THAT CAUSED THE FIRST HIGHLY PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA OUTBREAK IN SAUDI ARABIA Ahmed A. Al-Qahtani1,2,3, Muhammad Mubin4*, Fahad N. Almajhdi5, Saud Alarifi6, Damian M. Dela Cruz1, Muhammad Shah Nawaz ul Rehman4, Mahmoud Moussa Ismail7,8, Nisar Ahmed4, Mohamed H. Al-Blowi9, Mohammed N. Al-Ahdal1,2,10, Department of Infection and Immunity, Research Center, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia1; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia2; Liver Disease Research Center, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia3 ; Virology Lab, Center of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan4; Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia5; Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia6; Department of Clinical Studies, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources, King Faisal University, AlAhsa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia7; Department of Poultry Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt8; Animal Resources Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia9; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia10. Email: [email protected]

Saudi Arabia (SA) had experienced a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreak in domesticated birds in 2007. From this outbreak, we sequenced forty-three HA and forty-one NA genes of HPAI H5N1 viruses and performed phylogenetic analyses of completely sequenced genes to compare with other viral HA and NA gene sequences available in the public databases. Molecular characterization of the H5N1 viruses revealed two genetically distinct clades, i.e. 2.2.2 and 2.3.1, of H5N1 viruses circulating in the area. Amino acid sequence analysis of HA gene indicated that virus from 2.2.2 contained the sequence SPQGERRRK-R/G at the cleavage site while from 2.3.1 contained the sequence SPQRERRRK-R/G. Additionally, we identified a few mutations with amino acid substitutions like M226I mutation at N-link glycosylation site in two of the Saudi isolates, which could affect receptor specificity as well as viral pathogenicity. Amino acid sequence of NA gene showed a 20-amino-acid deletion (positions 49–68) in the NA stalk region, required for enhanced virulence of influenza viruses and its adaptation from wild birds to domestic chickens. Relaxed clock and Bayesian Skyline Plot analysis based on HA and NA genes of Saudi isolates and closely related global representatives indicated lower substitution rates (2.036 x 10 -3 and 2.072 x 10-3 substitutions/nucleotide/year) when compared with earlier reports (4.23 x 10 -3 and 4.27 x 10-3 substitutions/nucleotide/year). As close contact between humans and birds is unavoidable, there is a need of a thorough understanding of the virus epidemiology, factors affecting the spread of the virus and molecular characteristics like phylogeny and substitution rates of H5N1 viruses circulating in the region. Two genetically distinct clades are found to circulating in the country which could likely result in recombination and emergence of more virulent viral strains. These findings could be really helpful for the people devising control measures against these viruses. Key words: Influenza virus, Hemagglutinin, Neuraminidase, Phylogenetic analysis, Genetic clades, Saudi Arabia.

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COMPUTATIONAL IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL DETERMINANTS OF PTM MEDIATED EBOLA VIRUS THERAPEUTIC IMPLICATIONS

MOLECULAR ENTRY AND

Zarrin Basharat*, Azra Yasmin Microbiology & Biotechnology Research Lab, Fatima Jinnah Women University, 46000, Pakistan E-mail: [email protected] Ebola is a highly pathogenic enveloped virus responsible for deadly outbreaks of severe haemorrhagic fever. It enters human cell by binding a multifunctional cholestrol transporter Neimann-Pick C1 (NPC1) protein. Post translational modification (PTM) information for NPC1 is crucial to understand Ebola virus (EBOV) entry and action due to changes in phosphorylation or glycosylation at the binding site. It is difficult and costly to experimentally assess this type of interaction, so in silico strategy was employed. Identification of phosphorylation sites including conserved residues that could be possible targets for 21 predicted kinases was followed by interplay study between phosphorylation and O-β-GlcNAc modification of NPC1. Results revealed that only 4 out of 48 predicted phosphosites exhibited modulation of O-β-GlcNAc activity. Predicted outcomes were integrated with residue conservation and 3D structural information. Three Yin Yang sites were located in the α-helix regions and were conserved in studied vertebrate and mammalian species while, only one modification site S425 was found in β-turn region located near the N- terminus of NPC1 and was found to differ in pig, mouse and cobra and humans. Yin Yang sites did not appear to modulate attachment of virus to NPC1 whereas phosphosite S473 appeared vital for attachment and hence, entry of the Ebola virus. This information could be useful in addressing further experimental studies and therapeutic strategies targeting PTM events in EBOV entry. Key words: Ebola, NPC1, Post translational modification, in silico

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STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF MUTATION IN GENES CAUSING CATARACT Fatima Bint Faiz¹, Urooj Azam¹, Irum Kanwal¹, Munir Ahmad Bhinderᵌ, Mahmood Ansari4, Muhammad Ashraf¹´², Faiz ul Hassan Nasim¹´², Muhammad Iqbal¹ ¹Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan ² Department of Chemistry, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan ᵌDepartment of Human Genetics & Molecular Biology, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan 4Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology,Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan Email: [email protected] Any cloudiness of crystalline lens is defined as cataract. Cataract causes visual impairment in over 80 million people worldwide and blinds 18 million. Prevention of cataract is very crucial to control global blindness. One of the prominent causes of human blindness is congenital cataract. Congenital cataract occurs during the first year of life. It has the ability to inhibit visual development which can result in permanent blindness. There are different causes of congenital cataract but most common cause is genetic which shows wide phenotype and heterogeneity. Mutation in specific genes result posttranslational modifications in the human lens protein and protein-protein interactions take place among different lens crystallins during cataract formation. Protein sequences of cataract using OMIM database were retrieved and generated its various mutagenic structures using SWISS-MODEL and possible effects have been studied. The structural protein prediction has been done for the generated structures to understand the possible changes causing cataract. The following study shows the various types of proteins and their predicted functionality. Key Words: Congenital cataract, opacification, phototransduction, connexins, SWISSMODEL

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BIOINFORMATICS IN PLANT SCIENCES

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IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF AQUAPORIN GENES FAMILY IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.) Athar Hussain1, Umaira Kanwal1, Sarfaraz Hussain1, Kainaat Arif1, Ijaz Rasul1, Habibullah Nadeem1, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique1, Muhammad Amjad Ali2, Farrukh Azeem1* 1Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad 2Department of Plant Pathology & Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan *Corresponding author email: [email protected], [email protected] Aquaporin (AQP), also called water channels or major intrinsic proteins (MIP), are involved in transfer of water and some other small solutes across cell membrane. Members of this family were first discovered in mammals but a significant diversity of aquaporin was also found in plants. These proteins play important role in plant performance under normal and adverse environmental conditions. Current study involves a comprehensive in silico analysis of aquaporin gene family in Cicer arietinum (chickpea) and Arabidopsis thaliana. We identified 40 Aquaporin genes in chickpea genome. Present study comprises of phylogenetic analysis of AQP protein sequences of chickpea and A. thaliana, chromosomal localization, gene structure analysis, multiple sequence alignment of AQP domain for these AQP genes of chickpea and promoter analysis. A better understanding of AQP in chickpea will be crucial for the improvement of chickpea production under scarce water conditions. Key words: AQP gene family, Phylogeny, Multiple Sequence Alignment, Motif Analysis, Promoter analysis

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COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF DEFENSINS AND DEFENSIN LIKE PROTEINS IN CHICKPEA AND ARABIDOPSIS Salman Zahid1, Amjad Abbas1*, Muhammad Amjad Ali1, Kashif Riaz1, Rana Muhammad Atif2 and Shahbaz Talib Sahi1 1 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan 2 Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan * For corresponding [email protected] Plant defensins are low-molecular weight, highly stable, cysteine-rich, anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) that constitute a part of the innate immune system primarily directed against fungal pathogens Transgenic plants overexpressing different defensin proteins have shown enhanced resistance to fungal pathogens. This study was designed to determine the presence of AMPs in chickpea (Cicer aritenium). Plant defensins reported in Arbidopsis thailiana are Pdf1.1, 1.2a, 1.2b, 1.4, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6. Amino acid sequences of these proteins were obtained from Genbank (NCBI) website and BLAST of each sequence was individually performed with whole genome of Cicer aritenium. Then the sequences were further analyzed through Phylogenetic analysis, multiple sequence alignment, motif analysis, synteny analysis to obtain orthologues. Moreover, the information about chromosome allocation of a particular gene, molecular weight of the proteins with and without signal peptide, iso-electric point (PI), signal peptide cleavage region, number of amino acids constituting the signal peptide region, cDNA length, number of introns and exons and protein length was also gathered. These proteins are present in the plant but in small quantity. This study gives an important in silico information of different defensins and defensin like proteins in chickpea and their orthologues in Arabidopsis. This information could be used for enhancement of resistance in chickpea against various plant pathogens. Key words: Defensin, Antimicrobial peptides, Resistance, Chickpea, Arabidosis

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COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF HD-ZIP TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS FROM ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA Muahmmad Shahid Javaid1, Beenish Naz1, Muhammad Amjad Ali2, Sidra tul Muntaha1, Bilal Saleem1, Anum Arshad 1, Shaiq Sultan1, Farrukh Azeem1, Mahmood-ur-Rahman1, Usman Ali Ashfaq1 1 Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad 2 Department of Plant Pathology & Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Agriculture, 38040 Faisalabad, Pakistan Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] HD-ZIP proteins are a class of transcription factors family that have a conserved homeo domain that contains the homeo box. The homeo box is the most conserved part of the homeo domain which consists of 56 amino acids residues. This box is involved in plant development from formation pattern to differentiation into different tissues. We retrieved the protein sequence of the 48 HD-ZIP family transcription factors and performed genome wide analysis and grouped into four subfamilies. A comprehensive genome wide analysis in this study include mapping of all the transcription factors on 5 chromosomes of Arabidopsis thaliana, gene structure analysis by mapping introns and exons, multiple sequence alignment to find out conserved domain, phylogenetic analysis, promoter analysis by taking 1000bp genomic sequence upstream to the start codon for all these transcription factors and protein motif analysis using MEME suite. This classification and analysis further categorized the transcription factors of 4 HD-ZIP subfamilies into different clades which revealed a deep evolutionary relationship among them and thus help to explore further functions of these factors. The results help us to investigate functional homology among these factors on the basis of phylogenetic grouping, comparison of tree with motifs analysis as well as structure and number of exons and introns present in different HD-ZIP transcription factors.

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ARTEMISININ PRODUCTION IN ARTEMISIA ANNUA AND ARTEMISIA DUBIA FOLLOWING TRANSFORMATION WITH THE ROL ABC GENES AND ELUCIDATION OF THE SITES OF ITS SYNTHESIS Bushra Hafeez Kiani* and Bushra Mirza Department of Biochemistry. Quaid-i-Azam University. Islamabad. Pakistan. The rol ABC genes have been shown to enhance production of secondary metabolites in plants, possibly through stimulation of the defense pathway. This report examines the effect of transformation of A. annua and A. dubia with the rol ABC genes expressing in A. tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes. The artemisinin content, trichome density and expression of key genes in the biosynthetic pathway of artemisinin were measured. Artemisinin content was significantly increased in transformed material of both Artemisia species when compared to un-transformed plants. The artemisinin content within leaves of transformed lines was increased by a factor of ten, indicating that the plant is capable of synthesizing much higher amounts than has been achieved so far through traditional breeding. Expression of all artemisinin biosynthesis genes was significantly increased, although variation between the genes was observed. Cytochrome P450 (CYP71AV1) and aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) expression levels were higher than that of amorpha-4, 11 diene synthase (ADS). Levels of the trichome development and sesquiterpenoid biosynthetic gene (TFAR1) expression were also increased in all transgenic lines. Trichome density was also significantly increased in the leaves of transformed plants, but no trichomes were found in control roots or transformed roots. The detection of significantly raised levels of expression of the genes involved in artemisinin biosynthesis in transformed roots correlated with the production of significant amounts of artemisinin in these tissues. This suggests that synthesis is occurring in tissues other than the trichomes which contradict previous theories. This elucidation will help to increase production to meet the increasing demand of artemisinin because of its pharmacological importance.

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DNA BARCODES OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN SPIDERS OF WHEAT AGROECOSYSTEM Gulnaz Afzal*1,2, Amer Jamil3, Fatima Jalal4, Shumaila Kirn4, Akhtar Rasool1, Naseem Muhammad Tayyib1 and Ghulam Mustafa3 1 National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan 2 Departemt of Zoology, University of Gujrat, Pakistan 3 University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan 4 Departemt of Zoology, Government College University, Faisalabad--38000, Pakistan *E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Given the research present in the morphological features for taxonomic identification, systematic research often lacks resolution in the absence of molecular data. Taxonomic classification of spiders is no exception in this regard. In the present studies, Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit1 (CO1) gene sequences of 5 indigenous species of spiders were conducted. Phylogenetic trees were reconstructed using the NJ method with statistical values were estimated with 1000 bootstrap replicates. Sequences of indigenous species and their homologues were used for the phylogenetic tree reconstruction. Monophyletic clades were obtained for different families of spiders. Additionally, despite the very subtle morphological differences, molecular phylogenetic studies of CO1 gene sequences allow to distinguish between these species. Holistically, the data suggest the mitochondrial CO1 gene sequences provide enough data points to resolve species of spiders. The number of base substitutions per site from averaging overall sequence pairs was calculated as 0.19% with SE=0.01. Such outcomes establish the potential of CO1 as a rapid identification tool for phylogenetic relationships of spiders, despite being sympatric species their origin and diversification in wheat fields are remarkably distinguished which may help to overcome the taxonomic impediments of Araneid fauna. Keywords: DNA barcoding, Wheat, Spiders, CO1 gene, Phylogenetics

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CIS REGULATORY ELEMENTS AND PROMOTER ANALYSIS IN PLANTS Muhammad Amjad Ali Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture (UAF), Faisalabad-38040, Punjab, Pakistan Email: [email protected], [email protected] Transcription factors are DNA binding proteins which regulate the expression of a particular gene at the level of transcription. They execute this function single-handedly or in collaboration with other proteins to promote (as an activator), or suppress (as a repressor) the recruitment of RNA polymerase to regulate the expression of a gene. An important characteristic of transcription factors is that they have one or more DNA-binding domains which bind to very specific sequences of DNA called cis regulatory elements or cis regulatory motifs. The expression level of genes is regulated by interaction of transcription factors and their corresponding cis regulatory elements present in the promoter region of the genes which are regulated. This is why the analysis of cis regulatory elements in the promoter sequence is important to find out the chances of binding of various DNA binding proteins i.e. transcription factors, to the promoter. This study gives an overview of different publically available online tools for analysis of cis regulatory elements in the promoter sequences of many plant species. Moreover, various wet lab techniques used for analyzing these elements are also the topic of this study. For instance, AGRIS-AtcisDB, PlantCare, PLACE, PlantPAN, AthaMap, AtProbe, MEME suite and PlantTFDB: Plant Transcription Factor Database are important databases and tools to identify and study cis regulatory elements. This work gives an introduction of these tools and databases and the information that how these tools can be used for promoter analysis and identification of the regulatory elements. Moreover, promoter deletion analysis is also given in detail to find out cis elements involved in various processes. This information will be important to understand and perform promoter analysis aimed at finding of cis elements specific to various DNA binding transcription factors.

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NBS-LRRS AND MICRO RNAS: GAME PLANNERS OF HYBRID NECROSIS IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA 1*

Hafiza Masooma Naseer Cheema, 1Asif Ali khan, 1Sarwat Zahoor, 2Kirsten Bomblies Plant Genetic Resources Lab, department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan 2 department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, MA, USA *For correspondence: [email protected] 1

Intraspecific Postzygotic hybrid necrosis is an important phenomenon in maintaining the genome integrity of divergent genotypes and restrict the gene flow. It is an outcome of interaction of genes related to plant defense mechanism resulting in hypersensitivity response. In this work, the involvement of resistance gene analogues, like NBS-LRRs (nucleotide binding site leucine rich repeats) in necrotic phenotype of UK1xUK3 hybrid of A. thaliana was analyzed. This class of gene family has been reported to respond the biotic stresses in plants and comprises of resistance genes. The product of these genes plays a vital role in provoking the immune response against pathogens. In order to explore the role of NBS-LRR, Genvestigator, was used to retrieve the microarray data. Heat maps were generated to analyze the expression of all NBS-LRR genes in the UK1, UK3, UK1xUK3 hybrids, Cabbage Leaf Curl Virus (CaLCuV) infected samples, Turnip Mosaic Virus (TuMV) infected samples and Arabidopsis mutants with non-functional small RNA biogenesis machinery. The results showed the up-regulation of resistance genes in the necrotic hybrids and pathogen infected samples. Out of various NBS-LRR genes studied for change in expression profiling under various conditions, only five NBS-LRRs were further sorted, being up-regulated. Their expression was also explored on the available database of micro array at AtGenExpress against the infection of various pathogens. Both independent datasets came up with the same interpretation of their up regulation pointing their role in biotic stress response as well as in the hybrids showing necrosis. Q-PCR analysis was carried out for the upregulated NBS-LRR genes in the necrotic hybrid genotype along with the parents. Many fold expression was observed in the hybrid as compared to parents. Another key player of plant immune system is considered micro RNAs which modulate the gene expression of resistance genes. It was hypothesized that if micro RNA are playing vital role in modulating the NBS-LRR genes, there must be some micro RNAs interacting with these upregulated genes. Therefore all NBS-LRR genes of A. thaliana were checked bioinformatically for the target sites of miRNAs using TAPIR, it was found that most of the genes were targeted by AthMir 472. To determine the role of miRNA in regulating the hybrid necrosis our interest was to determine those miRNAs which were upregulated in microarray and Q-PCR studies. It was observed that AthmiR156j targeted the At4g33300 and miR5021 was targeting the At5g41740. The identified interaction of these R genes with micro RNA suggest their role in attenuating the gene expression profile of necrotic hybrids. Key words: Bioinformatics, resistance genes analogue, plant immune system

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COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PLANT ABIOTIC STRESSES Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad and Mahmood-ur-Rahman Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad Resistance to plant biotic and abiotic stress is the fundamental challenge for biologists to cope with the upcoming problems of food security. Computational biology has enabled the researchers to understand the molecular mechanism, identification of resistant genes and the nature of plant gene regulations in response to various abiotic stresses such as drought, salt, and temperature extremes. Such stress responses are being study at a global molecular scale using omics data (metabolome, proteome, transcriptome and more). Genes, proteins and metabolites can be classified, categorized and linked at a genomic scale, and network-based analysis of various biological processes is becoming reality. In order to gain a complete overview of all processes and active networks in each cell type of the plant at all developmental stages and under all types of abiotic stresses, data production needs to become feasible at a significantly more massive scale. Computational biology has enhanced the pace of molecular dissection of abiotic stress response mechanisms and developed the tightly linked molecular markers that can be employed to genetically improve crops through genetic engineering and marker-assisted selection breeding. However, the close linkage between system-level understanding and molecular level knowledge is possible only by making the progress in genomics, proteomics and establishing the methods to control cellular behaviours by external stimuli and to design genetic circuits with desired properties. These aims will be achieved only by combining computation, system analysis, new technologies for quantitative measurements, and highthroughput quantitative experimental data. This article reviews some recent advances in computational biology relevant to improvement of plant abiotic stresses and will be helpful to know about various tools being implemented for the understanding the mechanism of plant responses to different abiotec stresses at molecular levels. Keywords: Computational Biology, abiotic stress, QTL mapping, gene mapping, genomic analyses

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DNA MOTIF FINDING ALGORITHMS: CURRENT CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES Masroor Ellahi Babar1, Muhammad Tariq Perez2, Tanveer Hussain3, Nasir Naveed2 1Department of Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Virtual University of Pakistan 2Department of Computer Science, Virtual University of Pakistan 3Department of Molecular Biology, Virtual University of Pakistan Corresponding author: [email protected] One of the highly scrutinized research areas for biologists and computer scientists is to develop methodologies, algorithms and tools for Identification of binding sites in deoxyribonucleic acid for transcription factors. The short DNA regions that are conserved and act as binding sites are called motifs. Genome data availability on large scale and recent developments in high throughput gene expression analysis techniques have motivated for designing and development of novel algorithms and tools for finding motifs. Consequently, dozens of algorithms have been proposed and dozens of tools have been developed over the last few years. Most of these tools perform better for lower organisms. However, these tools’ performance becomes significantly poor when sequences are searched for known binding motifs in the sense that they predict several non-functional binding sites. Secondly, huge volume of genome data being produced on daily basis has the potential to improve our ability to develop far better approaches for motif finding. Out study presents a comprehensive comparison of DNA motif finding approaches, current challenges of these algorithms and their future perspectives

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IN-SILICO GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS OF HEAT STRESS TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS (HSFS) IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA Mohsin Ali Nasir1*, Samia Nawaz1*, Farrukh Azeem1, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qamar3, Amjad Abbas2, Muhammad Amjad Ali2,3* 1Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad 2Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, 38040 Faisalabad, Pakistan 3Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Agriculture, 38040 Faisalabad, Pakistan Emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Heat shock factors (HSF) are one of the most important regulators which control heat stress, damage and other biological processes. In HSF family, genes have been properly characterized in tomato and many other plants. In this study, the genome wide analysis of heat shock factors was performed in Arabidopsis thaliana family to understand the genomic information of HSF. Twenty-four members of HSF family were retrieved in Arabidopsis thaliana after structural characteristics and phylogenetic comparison. Twenty-four members of HSF divided into three subclasses according to conservation in structure. Plant Transcriptional factor database (TFDB) analysis was used to find out location of HSF in chromosome of Arabidopsis thaliana. The results showed that HSF genes unevenly distributed in five chromosomes of Arabidopsis thaliana. Amino acid's nature and diversity were characterized and found conserved motifs and domain in HSF family. TAIR tool was used for gene structure analysis, which indicated the intron/exon number and location information of all sequences of HSF. By the using of PLACE database promoter analysis has been done. Five cis-regulatory elements have been selected and then figured out on thousand base pairs of promoters. Depending upon this information, one would be able to understand the genomic information of HSF family in Arabidopsis thaliana and can be used for further comparison to other species. The whole study contains the knowledge about the genes of Heat Stress factors in the Arabidopsis thaliana, and it also elaborating that how the HSF works and plays an important role in the heat stress condition. Keywords: HSFs, HSPs, Arabidopsis thaliana, domain, genome wide analysis.

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COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF HD-ZIP TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS FROM ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA Muhammad Shahid Javaid1, Beenish Naz1, Muhammad Amjad Ali2, Sidra tul Muntaha1, Bilal Saleem1, Anum Arshad1, Shaiq Sultan1, Farrukh Azeem1, Mahmood-ur-Rahman, Usman Ali Ashfaq1 1 Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, 38000 Faisalabad 2 Department of Plant Pathology & Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Agriculture, 38040 Faisalabad, Pakistan Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] HD-ZIP proteins are a class of transcription factors family that have a conserved homeo domain that contains the homeo box. The homeo box is the most conserved part of the homeo domain which consists of 56 amino acids residues. This box is involved in plant development from formation pattern to differentiation into different tissues. We retrieved the protein sequence of the 48 HD-ZIP family transcription factors and performed genome wide analysis and grouped into four subfamilies. A comprehensive genome wide analysis in this study include mapping of all the transcription factors on 5 chromosomes of Arabidopsis thaliana, gene structure analysis by mapping introns and exons, multiple sequence alignment to find out conserved domain, phylogenetic analysis, promoter analysis by taking 1000bp genomic sequence upstream to the start codon for all these transcription factors and protein motif analysis using MEME suite. This classification and analysis further categorized the transcription factors of 4 HD-ZIP subfamilies into different clades which revealed a deep evolutionary relationship among them and thus help to explore further functions of these factors. The results help us to investigate functional homology among these factors on the basis of phylogenetic grouping, comparison of tree with motifs analysis as well as structure and number of exons and introns present in different HD-ZIP transcription factors.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING CODON USAGE BIAS Najamuddin1, Tauseef2, Muhammad Rafique1, Nazeer Ahmed Durrani1 1. Department of Biotechnology and Informatics, BUITEMS, Quetta. 2. Department of Microbiology, Hazara University, Manshera. Codon usage bias includes the use of alternative codons, the synonymous codons. These synonymous codons have strong role in shaping of evolutionary pathway and have several factors that influence the occurrence of synonymous codons in the genome such as Pattern of codon usage either genome is AT rich or GC rich, Natural selection, tRNA Accuracy, Efficiency and Fidelity, Horizontal gene transfer, Initiation and Termination codon and strand specific bias are discussed.

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IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSES OF DNA-BINDING WITH ONE ZINC FINGER (DOF) TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR FAMILY IN MEDICAGO TRUNCATULA Rana Muhammad Atif1,2,3*, Richard Thampson1, Sergio Ochatt1 1 INRA, UMR Agroécologie, pôle GEAPSI, 17 rue Sully, 21000 Dijon, France. 2 Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 3 Center for Advanced Studies in Food Security-Agriculture, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. *Corresponding author’s e-mail address: [email protected] DOF proteins are plant-specific transcription factors which have been implicated in diverse plant processes such as seed germination, seed development, carbohydrate and secondary metabolism, light mediated gene regulation, vascular tissue development, disease response, cell cycle regulation and hormone homeostasis. Owing to their importance in plant genomes, a systematic in-silico analysis was carried out to identify non-redundant genes encoding C2C2 DOF Zn-finger domain containing transcription factor family in the model legume M. truncatula genome. A total of 22 Dof genes encoding complete DOF domain were predicted and renamed as MtDof (Medicago truncatula Dof). Gene localization studies demonstrated that putative MtDof genes were localized over seven out of eight M. truncatula chromosomes. Exon/intron structure analysis has shown some intron-less Dof genes which might have resulted from intron loss during evolution. Evolutionary studies suggested that tandem duplications were predominantly responsible for the expansion of the DOF TF family during evolution in M. truncatula. The comparison of DOF DNA-binding domain in all the MtDOF proteins revealed a high level of residue conservation with 31 out of 52 amino acids being 100% conserved in all 22 proteins. A comparative phylogenetic tree of 69 DOF protein (from Arabidopsis, pea and M. truncatula) revealed six distinct groups of DOF proteins. A total of 26 different conserved domains has been identified in 69 DOF proteins, indicating the gene duplication events during the evolutionary process. Some of the groups in phylogenetic tree contain single or double conserved domains, while others contain multiple conserved domains. These computational studies paved the way for better understanding the molecular evolution and functional diversity of DOF TF family in M. truncatula. Keywords: Model legume, Zinc finger, Gene structure, Phylogenetic tree, Genome evolution,

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GENOME WIDE IN-SILICO COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CHICKPEA AND ARABIDOPSIS WRKY GENE FAMILIES Arslan Nawaz1, Rezwan Tariq 1, Amir Maqbool1, Syed Adeel Zafar1, Haris Ahmed 1, Muhammad Amjad Ali2, Rana Muhammad Atif1,3,* 1 Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 2 Department of Plant Pathology/CABB, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 3 Center for Advanced Studies in Food Security-Agriculture, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. *Corresponding author: [email protected] In plants, many biological processes are stringently regulated through transcriptional control of particular genes. The WRKY transcription factors have been implicated in multiple biological processes in plants, especially in defense mechanism against biotic and abiotic stresses. The recent release of the genome sequence of chickpea allowed us to identify and analyses WRKY TF family at whole genome level. In these studies, 64 non-redundant genes belonging to WRKY TF family were identified in chickpea. Chromosome localization of these identified genes revealed that CarWRKY genes were distributed on 7 out of 8 chickpea chromosomes, especially enriched on chromosome 2 and 7. The intron/exon based gene structure of putative WRKY genes demonstrated that the exons in all genes are interrupted by multiple intronic regions. The comparative phylogenetic analysis of chickpea and Arabidopsis WRKY proteins revealed 5 major groups. Some of these groups contain orthologous gene pairs while others contain paralogous genes. The domain analysis of all these WRKY proteins has shown the presence of various conserved domains besides principal WRKY DNA-binding domain. The WRKY proteins sharing the common domains in their protein sequence and having the similar gene structure indicate the possibility of their identical physiological function. This study will serve as a base for functional characterization of putative WRKY genes in important pulse crop, chickpea. Keywords: WRKY, Transcriptional factor, Comparative genomics, Genome-wide analysis, Phylogenetic tree, Cicer arietinum

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GENOMIC APPROACH TO SEARCH FOR ISOPROTURON DEGRADING GENES IN AN ISOPROTURON MINERALIZING BACTERIAL CULTURE ISOLATED FROM A FRENCH AGRICULTURAL SOIL Sabir Hussain1,2, Faisal Mahmood1, Naila Abbas1, Zahid Maqbool1, Marion DeversLamrani2, and Fabrice Martin-Laurent2 1 Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad-Pakistan 2 INRA, Université de Bourgogne, UMR MSE, 17 rue Sully, BP 86510, F- 21065 Dijon Cedex, France. Phenylurea herbicide isoproturon, 3-(4-isopropylphenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (IPU), was found to be rapidly mineralised in a French agricultural soil previously treated with IPU. A bacterial culture able to metabolise IPU was isolated from this soil. This culture had the ability to mineralize only IPU and its known metabolites including 4-isopropylaniline but it could not degrade other structurally related phenylurea hebicides i.e. diuron, linuron, monolinuron and chlorotoluron as well as their aniline derivatives suggesting that the catabolic abilities of the strain SH are highly specific for IPU metabolism. IPU degrading ability of the culture was strongly influenced by the pH with the optimal degradation taking place at pH 7.5. In order to search for the genes coding for IPU degrading enzymes, a BAC clone library was established from the genomic DNA of the strain SH. PCR based genomic screening led to the identification of three positive BAC clones harbouring catA gene coding for 1,2-dioxygenase enzyme involved in the degradation of catechol which is considered as a key intermediate during the phenyl-ring cleavage of IPU. The positive BACs (about 20 kb in length) were fully sequenced by pyrosequencing using the Genome Sequencer FLX Titanium SystemTM (Beckman Genomics, USA) to target the gene clusters involved in biodegradation process. Annotation of the sequences using the bioinformatics tools indicated for the presence of a cat gene cluster putatively involved in lower metabolic pathway of isoproturon. Key words Isoproturon, Sphingomonas sp. SH, Mineralization, Phenylurea herbicides, BAC library, catA gene

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ANALYSIS OF AC1 GENE FROM DIFFERENT VARIANTS OF COTTON LEAF CURL VIRUS IN PAKISTAN USING BIOINFORMATICS TOOLS. Sadaf Mahmood, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Sultan Habibullah Khan Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Agriculture, 38030, Faisalabad Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) has been a major threat to cotton production in the southern parts of Pakistan for the last 20 years. It is caused by a Gemini virus and transmitted through whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) vector. Computational analysis of viral genes and their products is useful to design strategies to control this problem. The present study aims to characterize the DNA and protein sequence of the replicase gene (AC1) from different strains of cotton leaf curl virus currently prevailing in different ecological zones of Pakistan. The 3D structures of different proteins encoded by replicase genes will be predicted by I-TASSER. I-TASSER based modeling does not require homologous template structures as required in traditional homologous modeling. Functional annotation and characterization will be determined using PROSITE. DNA and protein binding sites will be determined using PiDNA. The major focus of this study will be to investigate DNA protein interactions which play critical role in the replication of viral DNA. The information generated so will help design transgenic strategies to inhibit the replication upon infection and its subsequent spread. This research will facilitate in applying newly emerged site directed gene technologies like engineered nucleases and Cas9/Crisper system to engineer cotton genome with resistance to cotton leaf curl disease.

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COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF DEFENSINS PROTEINS IN CHICKPEA AND ARABIDOPSIS

AND

DEFENSIN

LIKE

Salman Zahid 1, Amjad Abbas1*, Muhammad Amjad Ali1, Kashif Riaz1, Rana Muhammad Atif2 and Shahbaz Talib Sahi1 1 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan 2 Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan * For corresponding [email protected] Plant defensins are low-molecular weight, highly stable, cysteine-rich, anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) that constitute a part of the innate immune system primarily directed against fungal pathogens Transgenic plants overexpressing different defensin proteins have shown enhanced resistance to fungal pathogens. This study was designed to determine the presence of AMPs in chickpea (Cicer aritenium). Plant defensins reported in Arbidopsis thailiana are Pdf1.1, 1.2a, 1.2b, 1.4, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6. Amino acid sequences of these proteins were obtained from Genbank (NCBI) website and BLAST of each sequence was individually performed with whole genome of Cicer aritenium. Then the sequences were further analyzed through Phylogenetic analysis, multiple sequence alignment, motif analysis, synteny analysis to obtain orthologues. Moreover, the information about chromosome allocation of a particular gene, molecular weight of the proteins with and without signal peptide, iso-electric point (PI), signal peptide cleavage region, number of amino acids constituting the signal peptide region, cDNA length, number of introns and exons and protein length was also gathered. These proteins are present in the plant but in small quantity. This study gives an important in silico information of different defensins and defensin like proteins in chickpea and their orthologues in Arabidopsis. This information could be used for enhancement of resistance in chickpea against various plant pathogens. Keywords: Defensin, Antimicrobial peptides, Resistance, Chickpea, Arabidosis

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HIGH RATES OF MUTATION AND RECOMBINATION IN COTTON LEAF CURL GEMINIVIRUSES Muhammad Shah Nawaz-ul-Rehman1,*, Nazia Naheed2, Muhammad Mubin1, Huma Saleem1, Sara Shakir1, Ghulam Murtaza1, and Sehrish Ijaz1 1 Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Pakistan 2 Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, GC University, Faisalabad * Corresponding author: [email protected] The spread of cotton leaf curl disease in India, China and Pakistan is a recent phenomenon. With the available sequence data, it was determined that maximum diversity of cotton infecting geminiviruses exists in Pakistan. The phylogenetic analysis indicates that there are two major groups of viruses, namely cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMuV) and cotton leaf curl Kokharan virus (CLCuKoV), whose recombination lead to several viruses. By utilizing recombination detection programs and phylogenetic analysis, we found CLCuMuV and CLCuKoV as highly recombinant viruses. Indeed, CLCuKoV appeared to be a major donor virus for coat protein gene, while CLCuMuV donated Rep gene in majority of recombination events. Using the recombination free nucleotides datasets for CP and Rep genes, we inferred the nucleotides substitutions rates. We inferred similar nucleotides substitution rates in CLCuMuV-Rep gene (4.96X10-4) and CLCuKoV-CP gene (2.706X10 -4). While relatively high substitution rates were observed for CLCuMuV-CP and CLCuKoVRep gene. The combination of sequences with equal and relative low substitution rates, compared to high substitution rate seems to result in the viral isolates, which caused the epidemics in Pakistan and India. Our findings also suggest that CLCuMuV is spreading at alarming rate, which can potentially threat the cotton production in Asia. Key words: Geminiviruses, cotton, substitution rate, epidemic, recombination.

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EXPLORING FLOWERING GENE NETWORKS IN SOYBEAN THROUGH AN RNASEQ BASED TRANSCRIPTOME ANALYSIS Waseem Haider1,2, Brian Price1, Faqiang Wu1, Mathew Hudson1 and Yoshie Hanzawa1. 1: University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA 2: COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad Pakistan. Flowering is a key trait that determines plant’s survival and productivity. Maturity loci, E1 E7, are known to affect flowering time in a short-day flowering plant soybean (Glycine max). Transcriptome analysis was performed using Glycine max variety Clark and four NILs, polymorphic for E loci (E1, E2, E3, and E5) as well as the reference variety Williams 82 and a soybean ancestor, Glycine soja. Three day-length treatments were used; 3 weeks short day (SD: 10 hr light / 14 hr dark), 3 weeks long day (LD: 16 hr light / 8 hr dark), and a shift from 3 weeks LD to 5 days SD. Samplings were performed at three time points in a day: early morning (6:30), afternoon (14:30), and evening (22:30), with three biological replicas. Total 189 RNA samples were sequenced by Illumina. Using updated soybean transcripts from phytozome (v1.1) with 54,175 gene models, we found that 49,621 out of 54,175 (91.5%) genes expressed at an RPKM of 0.1 or more (in at least 1 sample). The number of genes expressed was higher under SD than LD with shift being intermediate. 32,428 (64.2 %) genes demonstrated rhythmic expression (FDR < 0.05). Differentially expressed genes (DEG) were higher in SD followed by shift and SD. Expression based clustering indicated conserved function of GI, CO and FT between Arabidopsis and soybean. The wild soybean Glycine soja exhibited higher number of rhythmically expressed genes than other genotypes. The comparison between LD and shift showed a stronger response than the comparison between shift and SD. We identified sets of genes under the control of E loci. Total 4,058 genes responded to the E loci and time points. E3 showed the highest DEG (2,162), followed by E2 (2,090), E1 (1,570) and E5 (1,333). E loci responded differently to photoperiod treatments. E2 showed highest DEG under SD, E3 showed a stronger effect under LD and E5 showed greater impact under shift. Functional analysis using DAVID and MAPMAN showed the enrichment of transcription factors that were related to photoperiodic flowering. Our results identified sets of candidate genes under the influence of photoperiods and E loci to be tested by molecular genetic experiments. In order to explore the network of interactions among soybean flowering genes, we performed the reconstruction of soybean flowering gene networks using our RNA sequencing data of two time series experiments: the Circadian Time Series consisting of three time points in a 24-hour period under long day (LD), shift and short day (SD), and the Developmental Time Series (DTS) consisting of three developmental time points upon the photoperiod shift from LD to SD. We examined two approaches: gene co-expression (using Pearson correlations) and Graphical Gaussian Models (GGM) (using partial correlations). To argument the obtained networks, we performed a comparative analysis with the known transcription factor – target information available from the Arabidopsis Gene Regulatory Information Server (AGRIS). Co-expression analysis identified more gene interactions (edges) conserved in the AGRIS data under flowering inductive SD than LD. Interactions between TOC1, GI, CO and FT

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appeared conserved in the soybean flowering gene network under SD, indicating that these genes play important roles in soybean flowering as demonstrated in Arabidopsis. We found that interactions among circadian clock genes, the core oscillators LHY/CCA1 and TOC1, were highly conserved between Arabidopsis and soybean. Developmental time series data revealed the conserved interaction of meristem identity genes and other development associated genes. GGM algorithm indicated SEP3 as an important hub in the soybean flowering gene network, influencing a large number of genes.

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BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES – HEALTH

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NEPHROPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF LEAVES OF ALOE BARBADENSIS AGAINST TOXICITY INDUCED BY DICLOFENAC SODIUM Asra Iftikhar*, Ijaz Javed, Bilal Aslam, Tanweer Khaliq, Wafa Majeed and Ahmad Raza Institute of Pharmacy, Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad38040, Pakistan This project has been designed to evaluate the nephroprotective effect of the leaves of Aloe barbadensis against diclofenac sodium (DS) induced toxicity in albino rabbits. Thirty six healthy albino rabbits were randomly divided in to six groups (n=6). Group 1 served as control on normal routine diet, group 2 was treated only with DS (50 mg/kg). Group 3 was given silymarin (SIL, 100 mg/kg) + DS (50 mg/kg). Group 4, 5 and 6 were treated 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg of A. barbadensis leaves extract, respectively, in combination with DS. Biochemical analysis; blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine showed significant (P 0.05) as compared to negative control values with and without rat liver fraction. However, virtually the methanolic extracts of flowers exhibited varying degrees of antimutagenic effect against known and positive mutagens. The inhibitory effect was observed in a dose dependent manner. The present investigation has confirmed the non-mutagenic, but reasonably antimutagenic activities of the Helianthus annus extracts, supporting its current use in traditional medicines. Key words: Helianthus annus, mutagenicity, antimutagenicity, Ames test

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ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE PATTERN OF BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM FRESH FRUIT JUICES Saima Muzammil*1, Javeria Saeed1, Muhammad Hussnain Siddique2, Muhammad Saqalein1, Sinha Liaqat1 1 Department of Microbiology, Government College University Faisalabad-Pakistan 2Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad-Pakistan *Corresponding author email: [email protected] Fresh juices are the major cause of the foodborne diseases i.e. diarrhea and cholera in humans. On the other side, extensive use of antibiotics leads to multidrug resistant pathogenic microorganisms. In this context, a study was conducted to isolate and identify the pathogenic bacteria from fresh fruit juices and determine their antibiotics resistance against commonly prescribed antibiotics. The samples of fresh fruit juices including Apple, Pineapple and Orange were collected from different hospital canteens. API-20E (analytical profile index) kit was used for the identification and confirmation of isolates. E-test was used for determining the antibiotic susceptibility pattern and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value. Finally, the data was analyzed by using different statistical tools. A total of 300 fresh fruit juices samples were collected. Among these juice samples, common isolated pathogens include P. aeruginosa (33.33%), S. aureus (23.80%), E. coli (19.04%), B. cereus (14.28%) and S. typhi (9.52%). Total viable count (TVC) for apple juice was 1.47×1010 cfu/ml. Pseudomonas bacterial isolates were found to be resistant against tetracycline, cotriamoxazole and erythromycin. This study revealed that the fresh fruit juices collected from hospital canteens were highly contaminated with P. aeruginosa due to unhygienic condition. Moreover, E. coli and Salmonella spp. were found to be resistant against chloramphenicol, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin. Key words: Antimicrobial activity, MIC, Fresh Juices

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EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND BACTERIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF WATERBORNE BACTERIAL PATHOGENS ASSOCIATED WITH GASTROENTERITIS IN DISTRICT FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN Maida Manzoor*, Iftikhar Hussain, Muhammad Shahid Mahmood, Faisal Siddique and Sidra Hafeez Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan Email: [email protected] Gastroenteritis is one of the hurricanes particularly in children less than five year of age globally. The percentage of mortality and morbidity is higher in under developed countries as compared to developed countries. It may be due to high level of sanitation and the accessibility of healthcare in developed countries. The main theme of my project was to isolate and characterized water-borne pathogens, evaluate associated risk analysis and examined resistance pattern of antibiotics. To fulfill my research needs, three hundred and eight four water samples were collected from eight towns of district Faisalabad. These samples were processed in Industrial Microbiological Laboratory of the Institute of Microbiology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. Results showed that 134 (35%) samples were positive for, Escherichia coli followed by 108 (28%) Salmonella typhi, 58 (15%) Shigella dysenteriae, 46 (12%) Staphylococcus aureus and 38 (10%) Cmpylobacter jejuni. Escherichia coli was resistant against ampicillin, tetracycline and doxycycline. Whereas Campylobacter jejuni against rifaximin; Staphylococcus aureus against methicillin, amikacin and vancomycin; Salmonella typhi againt sulfamethoxazole; and Shigella dysenteriae against ampicillin and tetracycline. Contaminated water, weakened immune system, poor sanitary conditions, aging and psychological factors were observed as common risk factors in the occurrence of gastroenteritis. Towards the end, we hope this study will help to control the epidemics of water-borne gastroenteritis particularly in children of Pakistan. Keywords: Contaminated water; Escherichia coli; Immune systems; Risk factor

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EMERGENCE OF GENETICALLY VARIANT HEPATITIS C VIRUS POPULATION IN RESPONSE TO INCREASED ANTIVIRAL DRUG PRESSURE, PAKISTAN Muhammad Ali* (1,2), Irshad ur Rehman (2), Muhammad Idrees (2) (1) Department of Sciences, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy (2) Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), University of the Punjab, Lahore,Pakistan The estimated hepatitis C virus (HCV) carriers are approximately 10 million in Pakistan which usually progresses to chronic hepatitis, with rare cases of spontaneous viral eradication. In our previous studies, we have found high prevalence of untypable HCV isolates in the patients administered with interferon plus ribavirin standard therapy, particularly in relapsers and non-responder patients [Inamullah et al. 2011, Virol. J. 2011;8:16, Ali et al. Virol. J. 2010:7:203]. However, very little is known about genetic diversity of HCV isolates prevalent in such patients. We have investigated genetic variability of HCV in patients non-responders to IFN plus ribavirin standard therapy with particular focus on isolates with low viral loads of 250 IU/mL) but untypable genotype. The present study report emerging clade of HCV-3a in patients with low viral loads of