Despite vast diversity in metabolites and the matching substrate specificity of their transporters, little is known about how evolution of transporter substrate specificities is linked to emergence of substrates via evolution of biosynthetic pathways. Transporter specificity towards the recently evolved glucosinolates characteristic of Brassicales is shown to evolve prior to emergence of glucos...

Cooking vegetables in microwave bags is becoming a popular domestic cooking method, being relevant to know how this method affects health-promoting phytochemicals of staples such as broccoli. The aim work was study the effect bag versus conventional microwaving on bioactive compound content (glucosinolates and hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives) other quality parameters (such antioxidant capacity...

Glucosinolates are sulfur-rich, anionic natural products that upon hydrolysis by endogenous thioglucosidases called myrosinases produce several different products (e.g., isothiocyanates, thiocyanates, and nitriles). The hydrolysis products have many different biological activities, e.g., as defense compounds and attractants. For humans these compounds function as cancer-preventing agents, biope...

The Arabidopsis ref2 mutant was identified in a screen for plants having altered fluorescence under UV light. Characterization of the ref2 mutants showed that they contained reduced levels of a number of phenylpropanoid pathway-derived products: sinapoylmalate in leaves, sinapoylcholine in seeds, and syringyl lignin in stems. Surprisingly, positional cloning of the REF2 locus revealed that it e...

Studies on chemical ecology of host plant selection by herbivores were largely carried out to explain the diversity of secondary plant chemicals and host specialisation of herbivores. The glucosinolate – isothiocyanate system in Brassicaceae plants was considered as a plant defence and was known to influence the feeding behaviour of phytophagous insects such as the cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne br...

INTRODUCTION Brassica vegetables have been related to the prevention of cancer and degenerative diseases, owing to their glucosinolate and phenolic content. OBJECTIVE Identification of glucosinolates, flavonoids and hydroxycinnamic acids in representative varieties of kale, cabbage and leaf rape. METHODOLOGY One local variety of each crop was evaluated in this study using a multi-purpose ch...

Glucosinolates are a class of sulphur-containing plant compounds with diverse biological properties. They have been found exclusively in the Brassicaceae family plants and studied exhaustively in biosynthetic and application perspectives. The aim of this current study is to present a simple and updated method to quantify indole glucosinolate content in hairy root cultures of Chinese cabbage by ...

Meadowfoam ( Limnanthes alba ) is an oilseed crop grown in western Oregon. After extraction of the oil from the seeds, the remaining seed meal contains 2-4% of the glucosinolate glucolimnanthin. This study investigated the effect of fermentation of seed meal on its chemical composition and the effect of the altered composition on downy brome ( Bromus tectorum ) coleoptile emergence. Incubation ...

Selection pressure exerted by insects and microorganisms shapes the diversity of plant secondary metabolites. We identified a metabolic pathway for glucosinolates, known insect deterrents, that differs from the pathway activated by chewing insects. This pathway is active in living plant cells, may contribute to glucosinolate turnover, and has been recruited for broad-spectrum antifungal defense...