Meconopsis Viguier (Papaveraceae) is an iconic genus of alpine forbs that includes medicinal and ornamental species. This study extends previous phylogenetic analyses of Meconopsis, using ITS sequences representing all the major Meconopsis clades. Phenotypic traits are also analysed for all described species. Our results show that Meconopsis evolved as a ≥ octaploid clade, with considerable int...

The Papaver L. plant (Papaver decaisnei) has ethnobotanical records in many countries including Iraqi Kurdistan. current study investigates the methanol (99.9%) extracts (10 μg/mL) of roots, leaves, and flowers decaisnei terms phytochemistry by gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry GC-MS, vitro antioxidant activity radical scavenging reducing power assays, finally, anticancer actions as IC5...

Opiates such as morphine and codeine are mainly obtained by extraction from opium poppies. Fermentative opiate production in microbes has also been investigated, and complete biosynthesis of opiates from a simple carbon source has recently been accomplished in yeast. Here we demonstrate that Escherichia coli serves as an efficient, robust and flexible platform for total opiate synthesis. Thebai...

Argemone mexicana Linn. (Linnaeus, 1753; Tournefort, 1694), is a herb of the Papaveraceae (poppy family) indigenous to the West Indies (Fig. 1). The study of this herb and its active principles is important, first to circumvent the serious epidemics of dropsy and glaucoma resulting from the unintentional ingestion of its seed oil in tropical countries; secondly to find a method of producing in ...

In this study, amount of morphine from poppy capsules (Papaver somniferum) was investigated using ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE). Response surface methodology was used to estimate effective experimental conditions on the content extraction of poppy capsules. For this purpose, solvent/solid ratio (10-20 mL/500 mg sample), pH (1-13), time (30-60 min), and temperature (30-50°C) were chosen a...

Weasels may be cunning, we might admire the intelligence of dogs and cats, but we can be forgiven for expecting the jumping spider, a diminutive predator with a brain not much bigger than a poppy seed, to be one of Descartes’ automatons. Yet, jumping spiders, also known as salticids, alternate between entertaining and alarming us by planning prey-capture tactics ahead of time, adjusting their h...

Varied medicinal plants are known as a source of natural phytochemicals with antioxidant activities that can protect organisms from oxidative stress and from various chronic diseases. Papaver rhoeas has a long history of medicinal usage, especially for ailments in adults and children. The possible cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and potential antioxidant effect of plant extract isolated from flowers...

The actin cytoskeleton is a key target for signaling networks and plays a central role in translating signals into cellular responses in eukaryotic cells. Self-incompatibility (SI) is an important mechanism responsible for preventing self-fertilization. The SI system of Papaver rhoeas pollen involves a Ca(2+)-dependent signaling network, including massive actin depolymerization as one of the ea...

The taxonomy and phylogeny of Asian Meconopsis (Himalayan blue poppy) remain largely unresolved. We used the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) and the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) trnL-F region for phylogenetic reconstruction of Meconopsis and its close relatives Papaver, Roemeria, and Stylomecon. We identified five main clades, which were well-supported in th...

Recently, the NADPH-dependent short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) salutaridine reductase (E.C. 1.1.1.248) implicated in morphine biosynthesis was cloned from Papaver somniferum. In this report, a homology model of the Papaver bracteatum homolog was created based on the x-ray structure of human carbonyl reductase 1. The model shows the typical alpha/beta-folding pattern of SDRs, including ...