The face is an important visual stimulus in daily life and each face identifies a particular person. The bone structure of the skull along with various soft tissues and coloration influence perception of the face. Facial averageness, and bilateral symmetry are the two most commonly used criterion of facial attractiveness, yet, both may be perceived differently based on hormonal status of the person observed. Facial perceptions may also differ according to cultural norms. In this research, we examined variations in face-shape among Sundanese male and female adults aged 18 to 40. We applied geometric-morphometric methods to analyze the landmark-based morphological variations in the frontal and lateral views of subjects’ faces. We identified five types of female frontal face views and four of male. We also identified five types each of female and male lateral face views. The trichion, gonion and gnathion were three most variable landmarks among the face views in our study, and highly determined the shape of the individuals’ faces. Multiple face type variation may refer to many categories of attractive faces since there is no exactly perfect category in the assessment of facial attractiveness by the viewers. Therefore, we believe that the configuration of facial features cannot constitute the sole visual criterion of facial attractiveness.

Bacillus pumilus is a spore-forming bacteria that is rod-shaped, gram positive, and aerobic. B. pumilus produced pumilacidins, known to have toxic effects on epithelial cells. Antibiotics were usually used to treat the disease caused by bacteria. Antibiotic typing test of B. pumilus indigenous from sewage water showed that this isolate was resistant to ampicillin and clindamycin. An alternative way was by application of bacteriophages as biocontrol agents to reduce B. pumilus in environment. The aim of this study were to isolate and characterize B. pumilus bacteriophage isolated from Ciapus River in Bogor, West Java. Bacteriophages infecting B. pumilus were isolated from river water using the double agar overlay method. Phages were defined by plaque morphology, structure, host range, and characteristic of molecular weight protein phage. Phage FBa1, FBa2, and FBa3 had narrow host range and they were specific for infecting B. pumilus. Electron microscope observation showed that phage FBa1 had icosahedral head without tail (166.67 nm in diameter), so it is called phage-like particles. Characterization of phage FBa1 by SDS-PAGE showed five proteins band. Molecular weight of FBa1 proteins was 70.9, 54.9, 33.8, 28.3, and 21.4 kDa.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of dietary supplementation with recombinant growth hormone (rGH) on the growth and dietary utility of juvenile giant gourami. The rGH was mixed with chicken egg yolk and sprayed on to artificial feed with different protein levels (34, 28, and 21%; isoenergy). Each treatment group of gourami was paired with a control group that received feed of the same protein level, but without rGH supplementation. Juvenile of giant gourami (weight 15.83 + 0.13 g) were fed diets containing rGH, to apparent satiation, 2 times a week. Fish were reared from less than 2 months old  for 42 days in 100 L glass aquaria at an initial density of 10 fish per aquarium. At the end of this period, the biomass and daily growth rate (SGR) of the fish were measured and the feed conversion ratio calculated and compared. Our data showed that fish fed rGH-supplemented diets experienced higher growth than fish in the control groups and showed that fish with higher protein diets experienced higher growth than the groups with less protein diets. The group with the highest biomass gain, SGR, and lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR) was the group fed a 34% protein diet supplemented with rGH. Furthermore, biomass gain, SGR, and FCR in the rGH treatment group with a 28% protein diet matched the measurements of the non-rGH control group receiving a 34% protein diet (P > 0.05). We conclude that giant juvenile gourami given feed supplemented with recombinant growth hormone will experience increased growth and dietary utility compared with gourami given the same feed without supplementation.

Genus Arctornis is one of Tussock moths which are most diverse in tropics, particularly in Sundaland.Several species associate with cultivated plants and have potential to become pests.  The systematic of this genus is still in dispute, especially on the monophyly and the relationship within this genus due to the fact that it is very large genus (137 described species). To clarify the monophyly of the genus Arctornis, and to reveal the phylogenetic relationship among the Indonesian species, we analyzed ten species of Indonesian Arctonis involving seven other species distributed around the world based on a 600 bp region in the COI gene. The results showed that the monophyly of Arctornis was supported by a high bayesian partition test at Maximum likelihood tree building method. The relationship among groups was supported by moderate to high bayesian partition values. Indeed, COI gene was very useful to characterize Arctornis species, especially to distinguish member of Indonesian species. Nevertheless, this should be taken with precaution because more species and more conserved genes should be involved in the future analysis to test the validity of the proposed phylogeny.

Studies about lichens and pollution in South-East Asia are restricted because the lichens are poorly known. A research project about air quality bioindicator using epiphytic macrolichens in Bogor City was conducted from March 2012 until July 2013. Purposive sampling method was applied in 3 plots: plot 1 was in the centre of Bogor Botanical Garden (BBG) that far from busy roads, plot 2 was in a part of BBG adjacent to main and busy roads, and plot 3 was along busy roads and near a factory. In each plot, macrolichens were observed in 8 canary trees using 2 mini quadrats (32 x 20 cm2). The population conditions of epiphytic macrolichens were analyzed and to be used as bioindicator of air quality. Seven genera of macrolichens were found: Coccocarpia, Leptogium, Canoparmelia, Parmotrema, Dirinaria, Physcia, and Pyxine. Plot 1 was having Coccocarpia and Leptogium that were not found in other plots and therefore they can be used as sensitive bioindicators, none of Canoparmelia and Pyxine, a few and infrequent Dirinaria but with larger average coverage (AC = 6.15 cm2), and Physcia was found abundantly (sensitive bioindicator). Conversely, plot 2 and 3 were having none of Coccocarpia and Leptogium, few or many Canoparmelia and Pyxine and therefore appeared to be tolerant, many and frequent Dirinaria but with smaller AC (plot 2 = 2.85 cm2, plot 3 = 1.16 cm2), and few or none of Physcia was found. Being found in all plots, Dirinaria showed a clear pattern of increasing thallus number and decreasing AC from plot 1 to plot 3, so it can be used as tolerant bioindicator. Conversely, Parmotrema had unclear pattern of population condition. Similar researches on different trees are necessary to explore more details regarding epiphytic macrolichens population condition.

Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees is a medicinal plant which was reported to have anti HIV, anti pathogenic bacteria and immunoregulatory activities. The research purpose was to investigate the activity of Andrographis paniculata ethanol extract as antiviral and immunostimulant. A. paniculata leaves oven-dried, then grinded and macerated with ethanol 90%, and the extract then analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to determine the content of active compounds andrographolide. The antiviral activity of the extract was determined by observing its ability on inhibiting virus load in A549 cells transfected with Simian Retro Virus (SRV) by Real Time – Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. The immunostimulant activity of extract was determined by its ability to induce lymphocytes cell proliferation using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Our result indicated that the A. paniculata ethanol extract inhibited the SRV virus titer similar to the positive control Lamivudine, and it was not toxic to the A459 cell line. Furthermore, low concentration (1 μg/mL) of A. paniculata extract could stimulated lymphocyte cell proliferation about 38% compared to the control lymphocyte cell without any treatment.

Copra meal contained high polysaccharide mannan. Mannanase Streptomyces sp. BF3.1 efficiently hydrolyzed copra meal to mannooligosaccharides. This research determined the optimum conditions of enzyme mannanase Streptomyces sp. BF3.1 to hydrolyze copra meal. The results of the hydrolysis products were analyzed concentrations of reducing sugars, total sugars and the degree of polymerization. In order to determine the type of product, mannooligosaccharides  were analyzed by thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. The mannanase had an optimum condition at 70 °C and pH 6. Optimum conditions of hydrolysis was 10% copra meal concentration with incubation time of 5 h at 30 °C which able to produce a variety of mannooligosaccharides products. Under such conditions, the yield of reducing sugar was 3.83 mg/mL with polymerization degree of 4. Analysis of mannooligosaccharides by thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography revealed mannobiose, mannotriose, mannotetrose, mannopentose, and mannoheksose.

Plant breeding program consists of establishment of the population, selection, and evaluation. The study aimed to observe the variability of yield components, the heritability, and the distribution of the yield component characters in the F3 populations. The experiment was conducted at Muara Experimental Farm Bogor, from April to August 2012 on Latosol soil. The F3 populations derived from crosses of Bintang Ladang x US2, Gampai x IR77674, and Progol x Asahan and their parental were used as plant materials. Twenty one-day-old seedlings from each population were planted in plots of 2 x 12 m, with planting space of 20 x 20 cm and 3-5 seedlings per hole. Panicle length and weight were observed on 300 randomly selected plant samples from each population. The results showed that there was a variation of agronomic characters among genotypes. The heritability of characters, the panicle length and weight was low to high. Panicle length and weight were controlled by many genes with additive gene action in the Gampai x IR77674 derived population, while panicle weight was controlled by few genes with complementary epistatic additive gene action in both Bintang Ladang x US2 and Progol x Asahan derived populations. The more genes controlling a character, the more distribution classes formed and the greater variance among genotypes.

Coral diseases that have emerged since the early 1970s have caused significant regional ecological impacts. However, there has been a paucity of research into coral disease in South-East Asia, including Indonesia. This study provides baseline coral disease data in the Kepulauan Seribu Marine National Park. In this study we show a positive correlation between overall coral cover and the dominant reef building coral Montipora spp. and found two main diseases, black band disease (BBD) and WS, were highly prevalent throughout all reefs. Based on spatial location, the highest abundance of BBD (0.08 col./m2) was found at sites nearer (zone 1) to the mainland, whilst for WS (0.05 col./m2) highest abundance was found at middle sites (zone 2). According to the temporal data, the highest abundance of BBD (0.77 col./m2) was found during the transition period (between wet and dry seasons), whereas for WS higher abundance occurred within the dry season (0.07 col./m2). There was a significant difference in disease abundance among seasons which was correlated with increasing temperature and light intensity along with variations in total organic matters, nitrite and phosphate levels. Moreover, the middle sites experienced additional stress from the waste material originating from the mainland.

The research was conducted to study the metagenomic of actinomycetes based on 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and bacterial nifH genes in soil and roots of four rice cultivars. The denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profile based on 16S rRNA gene showed that the diversity of actinomycetes in roots was higher than soil samples. The profile also showed that the diversity of actinomycetes was similar in four varieties of rice plant and three types of agroecosystem. The profile was partially sequenced and compared to GenBank database indicating their identity with closely related microbes. The blast results showed that 17 bands were closely related ranging from 93% to 100% of maximum identity with five genera of actinomycetes, which is Geodermatophilus, Actinokineospora, Actinoplanes, Streptomyces and Kocuria. Our study found that Streptomyces species in soil and roots of rice plants were more varied than other genera, with a dominance of Streptomyces alboniger and Streptomyces acidiscabies in almost all the samples. Bacterial community analyses based on nifH gene denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis showed that diversity of bacteria in soils which have nifH gene was higher than that in rice plant roots. The profile also showed that the diversity of those bacteria was similar in four varieties of rice plant and three types of agroecosystem. Five bands were closely related with nifH gene from uncultured bacterium clone J50, uncultured bacterium clone clod-38, and uncultured bacterium clone BG2.37 with maximum identity 99%, 98%, and 92%, respectively. The diversity analysis based on 16S rRNA gene differed from nifH gene and may not correlate with each other. The findings indicated the diversity of actinomycetes and several bacterial genomes analyzed here have an ability to fix nitrogen in soil and roots of rice plant.