Dr. Nisar Ahmed
@uet.edu.pk
Research Officer
University of Engineering and Technology Lahore
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Signal Processing
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
M.I. ZAHID
Society for the Advancement of Breeding Research in Asia and Oceania
Avena sativa L. is a quick-growing, highly nutritious fodder of cool climates, grown for various purposes, and can meet feed demands in scarce periods. The study aimed to identify potential genotypes that offer higher fodder yields. Over three years (2018–2020), 225 genotypes collected from the USDA and FRI were analyzed for genetic diversity based on morphological and yield-related characteristics. The experiments followed an alpha lattice design, with data recorded before panicle emergence. The assessment revealed significant genetic variability among the accessions for the studied traits. The principal component analysis demonstrated that three primary components explained the bulk of the total variability each year. Genotypes with high green fodder yield, tillers per plant, leaves per plant, and plant height acquired positions in the right quadrants of the biplots for 2018 and 2020. Positive correlations observed between tillers per plant and leaves per plant and among plant height, tillers per plant, leaves per plant, and green fodder yield. Exotic and local genotypes were widely distributed across all four quadrants, indicating substantial genetic diversity. The cluster analysis classified 225 oat genotypes into 10 groups based on phenotypic characteristics. Clusters II, VIII, IX, and X displayed higher mean values for most studied traits. Clusters with maximum inter-cluster distances, such as Clusters II and X in 2018, I and X in 2019, and III and VIII in 2020, could be useful in future hybridization programs. Genotypes 198 (Mustang) and 219 (Boppy) provided superior fodder yield than standard checks. These genotypes need further evaluation in different locations for sustainable performance and recommendations for general cultivation.
Asima Siddiqa, Sabtain Haider, Irum Abid, Saima Farooq, Nisar Ahmed, Srosh Fazil, and Sara Qaisar
Informa UK Limited
Adnan Malik, Muhammad Ali, Faisal S. Alsubaei, Nisar Ahmed, and Harish Kumar
Computers, Materials and Continua (Tech Science Press)
Uzma Naureen, Ahmed Nawaz Khosa, Muhammad Azfar Mukhtar, Fazul Nabi, Nisar Ahmed, and Muhammad Saleem
Hindawi Limited
Genetic variations (mutation, crossing over, and recombination) act as a source for the gradual alternation in phenotype along a geographic transect where the environment changes. Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) predicted modifications successfully in different and the same species of living organisms. Protein diversity of living organisms is predicted by PTMs. Environmental stresses change nucleotides to produce alternations in protein structures, and these alternations have been examined through bioinformatics tools. The goal of the current study is to search the diversity of genes and posttranslational modifications of protease serine endopeptidase in various strains of Sordaria fimicola. The S. fimicola’s genomic DNA was utilized to magnify the protease serine endopeptidase (SP2) gene; the size of the product was 700 and 1400 base pairs. Neurospora crassa was taken as the reference strain for studying the multiple sequence alignment of the nucleotide sequence. Six polymorphic sites of six strains of S. fimicola with respect to N. crassa were under observation. Different bioinformatics tools, i.e., NetPhos 3.1, NetNES 1.1 Server, YinOYang1.2, and Mod Pred, to search phosphorylation sites, acetylation, nuclear export signals, O-glycosylation, and methylation, respectively, were used to predict PTMs. The findings of the current study were 35 phosphorylation sites on the residues of serine for protease SP2 in SFS and NFS strains of S. fimicola and N. crassa. The current study supported us to get the reality of genes involved in protease production in experimental fungi. Our study examined the genetic biodiversity in six strains of S. fimicola which were caused by stressful environments, and these variations are a strong reason for evolution. In this manuscript, we predicted posttranslational modifications of protease serine endopeptidase in S. fimicola obtained from different sites, for the first time, to see the effect of environmental stress on nucleotides, amino acids, and proteases and to study PTMs by using various bioinformatics tools. This research confirmed the genetic biodiversity and PTMs in six strains of S. fimicola, and the designed primers also provided strong evidence for the presence of protease serine endopeptidase in each strain of S. fimicola.
Memoona Khalid, Hafiz Mamoon Rehman, Nisar Ahmed, Sehar Nawaz, Fozia Saleem, Shakeel Ahmad, Muhammad Uzair, Iqrar Ahmad Rana, Rana Muhammad Atif, Qamar U. Zaman,et al.
MDPI AG
Abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, heat, cold, and heavy metals, are associated with global climate change and hamper plant growth and development, affecting crop yields and quality. However, the negative effects of abiotic stresses can be mitigated through exogenous treatments using small biomolecules. For example, the foliar application of melatonin provides the following: it protects the photosynthetic apparatus; it increases the antioxidant defenses, osmoprotectant, and soluble sugar levels; it prevents tissue damage and reduces electrolyte leakage; it improves reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging; and it increases biomass, maintains the redox and ion homeostasis, and improves gaseous exchange. Glutathione spray upregulates the glyoxalase system, reduces methylglyoxal (MG) toxicity and oxidative stress, decreases hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde accumulation, improves the defense mechanisms, tissue repairs, and nitrogen fixation, and upregulates the phytochelatins. The exogenous application of proline enhances growth and other physiological characteristics, upregulates osmoprotection, protects the integrity of the plasma lemma, reduces lipid peroxidation, increases photosynthetic pigments, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and amino acids, and enhances stress tolerance, carbon fixation, and leaf nitrogen content. The foliar application of glycine betaine improves growth, upregulates osmoprotection and osmoregulation, increases relative water content, net photosynthetic rate, and catalase activity, decreases photorespiration, ion leakage, and lipid peroxidation, protects the oxygen-evolving complex, and prevents chlorosis. Chemical priming has various important advantages over transgenic technology as it is typically more affordable for farmers and safe for plants, people, and animals, while being considered environmentally acceptable. Chemical priming helps to improve the quality and quantity of the yield. This review summarizes and discusses how exogenous melatonin, glutathione, proline, and glycine betaine can help crops combat abiotic stresses.
Hafiz Mamoon Rehman, Uzair Muhammad Khan, Sehar Nawaz, Fozia Saleem, Nisar Ahmed, Iqrar Ahmad Rana, Rana Muhammad Atif, Nabeel Shaheen, and Hyojin Seo
MDPI AG
Populus trichocarpa (Black cottonwood) is a dominant timber-yielding tree that has become a notable model plant for genome-level insights in forest trees. The efficient transport and solubility of various glycoside-associated compounds is linked to Family-1 UDP-glycosyltransferase (EC 2.4.1.x; UGTs) enzymes. These glycosyltransferase enzymes play a vital role in diverse plant functions, such as regulation of hormonal homeostasis, growth and development (seed, flower, fiber, root, etc.), xenobiotic detoxification, stress response (salt, drought, and oxidative), and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Here, we report a genome-wide analysis of the P. trichocarpa genome that identified 191 putative UGTs distributed across all chromosomes (with the exception of chromosome 20) based on 44 conserved plant secondary product glycosyltransferase (PSPG) motif amino acid sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of the 191 Populus UGTs together with 22 referenced UGTs from Arabidopsis and maize clustered the putative UGTs into 16 major groups (A–P). Whole-genome duplication events were the dominant pattern of duplication among UGTs in Populus. A well-conserved intron insertion was detected in most intron-containing UGTs across eight examined eudicots, including Populus. Most of the UGT genes were found preferentially expressed in leaf and root tissues in general. The regulation of putative UGT expression in response to drought, salt and heat stress was observed based on microarray and available RNA sequencing datasets. Up- and down-regulated UGT expression models were designed, based on transcripts per kilobase million values, confirmed their maximally varied expression under drought, salt and heat stresses. Co-expression networking of putative UGTs indicated their maximum co-expression with cytochrome P450 genes involved in triterpenoid biosynthesis. Our results provide an important resource for the identification of functional UGT genes to manipulate abiotic stress responsive glycosylation in Populus.
Nisar Ahmed, H. M. Shahzad Asif, Abdul Rauf Bhatti, and Atif Khan
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Saira Saleem, Muhammad Kashif, Rizwana Maqbool, Nisar Ahmed, and Rubina Arshad
MDPI AG
One hundred and five (105) bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes, including five commercial checks, were screened for stripe rust resistance at seedling and adult plant stages. Seedlings grown under controlled conditions were screened for disease resistance after 12 days concerning disease incidence percentage after inoculation. K-means cluster analysis divided the genotypes into five different classes according to the presence of virulence/avirulence profile, i.e., class 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The same set of genotypes was grown under field conditions for adult plant resistance. Data for disease scoring and different yield and yield-related parameters was recorded. A comparison of breeding lines indicated that all studied traits were negatively affected by disease incidence. Further cluster analysis ranked the genotypes into three distinct groups with Group I and III being the most diverse. Thirteen stripe rust resistance lines were identified using seedling and adult plant resistance strategies. Correlation analysis indicated a negative association between stripe rust incidence and yield and yield-related traits, particularly grains per spike, grain weight per spike, thousand-grain weight, and grain yield per plant. These findings suggested that stripe rust resistance negatively affects yield and yield related traits. The breeding programs aiming at the development of high yielding varieties must also focus on stripe rust resistance.
Xiangfei Meng, Zhaoxuan Zhu, Nisar Ahmed, Qianhui Ma, Qi Wang, Bihua Deng, Qiusheng Chen, Yu Lu, and Ping Yang
Frontiers Media SA
The dermal microvascular unit (DMU) is a perivascular functional unit in the dermis. It is composed of microvascular and capillary lymphatics surrounded by immune cells. In this study, jet needle-free injection system was used to injected biocompatible carbon nanoparticles into the cervical skin of domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) and assessed the morphological distribution of DMUs by hematoxylin erythrosine staining, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and TEM was also used to observe the ultrastructural changes of DMUs after jet needle-free injection. Following our study, we identified DMUs in the dermis stratum papillare and similar structures in the dermis stratum reticulare, but the aggregation of CD68+ and CD1a+ cells in the dermis stratum papillare of DMUs by IHC confirmed that DMUs act as reservoirs of dermal immune cells, while similar structures in the dermis stratum reticulare should not be considered as DMUs. Ultrastructure of DMUs was revealed by TEM. Marvelous changes were found following xenobiotics attack, including the rearrangement of endothelial cells and pericytes, and the reactivity of immune cells. Novel interstitial cell telocyte (TC) was also identified around the microvasculature, which may have been previously known as the veil cell. Our results successfully identified the distribution of DMUs in the skin of domestic pigs, which might act as reservoirs of immune cells in the skin and play a role in immune surveillance and immune defense.
Muhammad Shah Nawaz ul Rehman
Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences
Citrus fruit production is largely affected by different bacterial and fungal pathogens. In Pakistan bacterial diseases like citrus bacterial canker (CBC) pose severe risk to citrus economy. Diagnoses of such diseases could be helpful to avoid the epidemics in nurseries or orchids. In 2011-12, citrus canker symptoms i.e., callus-like outgrowths on leaves and fruits of grape fruit (Citrus paradisi), Washington naval (Citrus sinensis), Kaghzi Limon (Citrus aurantifolia swingle), lemon (Citrus Limon) and pomelo (Citrus maxima) were noticed in Sargodha district of Punjab, Pakistan. Bacteria i.e., yellow mucoid, Xanthomonas- like isolates, were isolated from these lesions. Bacteria isolated from these lesions were cultured and total DNA was isolated. A diagnostic fragment of 581 bp based on rpf genes of Xanthomonas citri pv. citri was amplified, cloned and completely sequenced. BLAST and evolutionary analysis revealed that these isolates show 100% sequence similarity and group with Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri from Argentina (CP023285) and Reunion (CP018858), (CP018854). To our knowledge, this is the first formal report of X. campestris pv. citri pathotypes A on Citrus paradise, Citrus sinensis, Citrus maxima, Citrus Limon and Citrus aurantifolia swingle in Pakistan
Hassan Khalid, Dr. Muhammad Ali, and Nisar Ahmed
Elsevier BV
Nisar Ahmed, Hafiz Muhammad Shahzad Asif, and Hassan Khalid
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
M.M. Shahzad, S. Bashir, S.M. Hussain, A. Javid, M. Hussain, N. Ahmed, M.K.A. Khan, M. Furqan, I. Liaqat, T. Rafique,et al.
Elsevier BV
Muhammad Mudassar Shahzad, Syed Makhdoom Hussain, Majid Hussain, Muhammad Tariq, Nisar Ahmed, Muhammad Furqan, Fatima Khalid, and Tahir Rafique
Elsevier BV
Hong Chen, Yufei Huang, Ping Yang, Yonghong Shi, Nisar Ahmed, Tengfei Liu, Xuebing Bai, Abdul Haseeb, and Qiusheng Chen
Elsevier BV
Abia Younas, Hafeez Ahmad Sadaqat, Muhammad Kashif, Nisar Ahmed, and Muhammad Farooq
Wiley
BACKGROUND
Iron is one of the nutrients essentially required by human body. Despite the abundance of iron on earth crust, about two billion people in the world are affected by iron deficiency. Iron biofortification of wheat, instead of supplementation and food fortification, provides a pragmatic approach to solve the problem of iron deficiency. In this study, 144 diverse wheat genotypes were evaluated for grain iron and yield potential, to estimate the potential of iron biofortification of high yielding wheat varieties.
RESULTS
Genotypes did not differ significantly across the species but within species, the differences were significant for grain iron contents and phytate - iron molar ratio. T. aestivum had highest yield potential with more diversity compared to other Triticum species. Genotypes with high iron contents were crossed with high yielding genotypes in line × tester fashion to check the gene action controlling these traits. The combining ability analysis showed non-additive gene action controlling grain iron, grain phytate and grain yield. Heterosis manifestation also indicated some transgressive segregates with high specific combining ability effects.
CONCLUSION
There was considerable genetic potential for the improving grain iron contents in the germplasm to provide an economical and long-lasting solution to iron deficient population. T. aestivum (bread wheat) had highest variation and potential for iron biofortification. This study indicated the possibility of simultaneous improvement in grain iron and grain yield in the form of a new variety through continuous selective breeding. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Hong Chen, Yufei Huang, Tengfei Liu, Abdul Haseeb, Nisar Ahmed, Li Zhang, Xunguang Bian, and Qiusheng Chen
Elsevier BV
Nisar Ahmed and Hafiz Muhammad Shahzad Asif
Central Library of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
Perceptual quality assessment is a tough task especially in the absence of reference information. No-reference image quality assessment is more challenging than full-reference or reduced reference methods, as the system has to model the different image distortions in the form of a quality score. Most of the approaches are based on handcrafted features which are based on natural scene statistics and are specific to some distortion types. These approaches provide high correlation with human opinion score for datasets containing specific distortions, but they fail to generalize well in scenarios were multiple distortions or real-time distortions are present in images. Deep learning algorithms, on the other hand, demonstrated their abilities to learn expert features with better discriminatory power for various classification and regression tasks. It is a big challenge to use those deep learning methods for image quality assessment as the image datasets with human opinion score are very small and cannot be used effectively to train a deep learning algorithm. We experimented with activations of different deep layers of thirteen pre-trained models and checked for their suitability for the task of no-reference quality assessment. Fine-tuning of these models on quality assessment datasets provided even better performance. A Gaussian process regression model is trained on these activations to perform the quality assessment and it provided state-of-the-art performance. Cross-dataset validation demonstrated its performance further and also provided further prospects of research in this direction. 386 N. Ahmed, H.M. S. Asif
A. Younas, H. Sadaqat, M. Farooq, M. Kashif and N. Ahmed
Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum
Green revolution is a revolutionary landmark in history of mankind where high yielding wheat varieties were developed to tackle massive famines. However, the genetic base has become narrow in cultivated varieties with improved yields and less bioavailability of micronutrients. An experiment was conducted to check the change in yield production and micronutrients during previous breeding efforts. Land races (44), approved varieties (68) and advanced lines (32) were grown in field in triple test lattice design in experimental area of University of Agriculture Faisalabad during 2016. Statistical analyses revealed a significant difference in yield contributing traits and grain iron. Land races had broader range of all the traits compared to other two groups. Grain iron contents showed higher values in landraces, while grain yield were higher in varieties and advance lines. Correlation and path coefficient analysis revealed change in the relationship of traits and effects of yield contributors in all three groups. Some genotypes were selected and crossed. These selected genotypes and F1 were grown in the same field following year in randomized complete block design. The results showed that breeding program could rescue declining iron contents in modern wheat cultivars. In conclusion, domestication and green revolution has changed genetic makeup of wheat crop and narrowed its genetic base. However, grain quality and yield can be improved simultaneously by breeding strategies.
Nisar Ahmed, Hafiz Muhammad Shahzad Asif, and Hassan Khalid
Springer Singapore
Zamarud Shah, Safdar Hussain Shah, Gul Shad Ali, Iqbal Munir, Raham Sher Khan, Arshad Iqbal, Nisar Ahmed, and Asad Jan
Springer Science and Business Media LLC