Growing grafted vegetables was first launched in Japan and Korea in the late 1920s by grafting watermelons to gourd rootstock (Ashita, 1927; Yamakawa, 1983). After the first trial, the cultivated area of grafted vegetables, as well as the kinds of vegetables being grafted, has been consistently increased. At present, most of the watermelons [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai], Oriental...

Pseudoperonospora cubensis, the causal agent of cucurbit downy mildew (CDM), is known to exhibit host specialization. The virulence of different isolates of the pathogen can be classified into pathotypes based on their compatibility with a differential set composed of specific cucurbit host types. However, the genetic basis of host specialization within P. cubensis is not yet known. Total genom...

Iron (Fe) is an essential mineral that has low solubility in alkaline soils, where its deficiency results in chlorosis. Whether low Fe supply and alkaline pH stress are equivalent is unclear, as they have not been treated as separate variables in molecular physiological studies. Additionally, molecular responses to these stresses have not been studied in leaf and root tissues simultaneously. We...

The effect of growth regulators and culture conditions on the morphogenetic response of cotyledonary leaf discs was studied in popular cucumber variety (Cucumis sativus cv. Sheetal). Organogenesis was induced directly without any intervening callus phase on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with different concentrations of benzyladenine and indole propionic acid. Best results (93%) were o...

The kidneys are important organs which have many functions in the body, including the production of hormones, absorbtion of minerals and the filtration of blood, producing urine. Their failure can be fatal, therefore, to focus the study of such herbs which may be useful in treating renal disease is the need of hour. In Pakistan, Cucumis melo and Berberis vulgaris has been commonly used for rena...

The effect of leaf detachment on chlorophyll fluorescence was analyzed for Zea mays, Cucumis sativus, Phaseolus vulgaris, and Echinochloa crus-galli. Results clearly indicate that detachment hastens the decrease in chlorophyll fluorescence during the course of chilling experiments. For maize and bean, the activity of photosystem II of chloroplasts isolated from detached leaves is lower than tha...

Arabidopsis ATSIP2 has recently been suggested to be a raffinose synthase gene. However, it has high amino acid identity to functionally characterized alkaline α-galactosidases from Cucumis melo and Zea mays. Using the Sf9 insect cell expression system, we demonstrate that recombinant ATSIP2 is a genuine alkaline α-galactosidase with a distinct substrate specificity for raffinose, and not a raf...

Bacillus subtilis gene ypfP, which is located at 196 degrees on the genetic map, shows similarity to both the monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthase gene of Cucumis sativus, which encodes a galactosyltransferase, and the murG genes of B. subtilis, Escherichia coli, Haemophilus influenzae, and Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803, which encode N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases involved in peptidoglyca...