Urbanization alters plastic responses in the common dandelion Taraxacum officinale

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale and T mongolicum)

Common Names The English name dandelion is a corruption of the French dent de leon, meaning “lion’s tooth.” The herb is similarly named in many Indo-European tongues, also being called “lion’s tooth” in German (Löwenzahn) and Spanish (diente de leon). The name refers to the toothed margins of the leaves. In both modern French and English, the name for dandelion reflects its diuretic nature—bein...

Structural Diversity in the Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) Polyphenol Oxidase Family Results in Different Responses to Model Substrates

Polyphenol oxidases (PPOs) are ubiquitous type-3 copper enzymes that catalyze the oxygen-dependent conversion of o-diphenols to the corresponding quinones. In most plants, PPOs are present as multiple isoenzymes that probably serve distinct functions, although the precise relationship between sequence, structure and function has not been addressed in detail. We therefore compared the characteri...

The Physiological Action of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid on Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale.

A new subtilisin-like proteinase from roots of the dandelion Taraxacum officinale Webb S. L.

A serine proteinase from roots of Taraxacum officinale Webb S. L. was isolated by affinity chromatography and gel-filtration on Superose 6R using FPLC. The enzyme is a 67-kD glycoprotein containing 54% carbohydrate which we have named taraxalisin. The substrate specificity of taraxalisin toward synthetic peptides and oxidized insulin B-chain is comparable with that of cucumisin from Cucumis mel...

Biologically Active Substances and in Vitro Antioxidant Activity of Different Extracts from Dandelion (taraxacum Officinale) Roots

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale L. Weber ex F.H. Wigg.) roots were traditionally used in folk medicine worldwide due to its antidiabetic, choleretic, antirheumatic and diuretic properties. The aim of the current study was to determinate the biologically active substances in 95% ethanol and subsequent water extracts from dandelion roots and to evaluate their antioxidant activities. The carbohydr...