Background: Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea L.) is one of the most important medicinal plants. Hairy root culture of Echinace, represent a valuable alternative to field cultivation for the production of bioactive secondary metabolites. Objective: The present study investigates the effects of KNO3, CaCl2 and MgSO4 concentrations on growth and the biosynthesis of cichoric acid in Echinacea...

A tomato gene that is induced early after infection of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) with root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne javanica) encodes a protein with 54% amino acid identity to miraculin, a flavorless protein that causes sour substances to be perceived as sweet. This gene was therefore named LeMir (L. esculentum miraculin). Sequence similarity places the encoded protein in the so...

The expression of the ANR1 MADS-box gene was manipulated in transgenic plants to investigate its role in the NO(3)(-)-dependent regulation of root development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Constitutive overexpression of ANR1 in roots, achieved using GAL4 enhancer trap lines, resulted in more rapid early seedling development, increased lengths and numbers of lateral roots and increased shoot fresh we...

Propagation of some Olea europaea L. cultivars is strongly limited due to recalcitrant behavior in adventitious root formation by semi-hardwood cuttings. One example is the cultivar "Galega vulgar". The formation of adventitious roots is considered a morphological response to stress. Alternative oxidase (AOX) is the terminal oxidase of the alternative pathway of the plant mitochondrial electron...

Linum flavum hairy root lines were established from hypocotyl pieces using Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains LBA 9402 and ATCC 15834. Both strains were effective for transformation but induction of hairy root phenotype was more stable with strain ATCC 15834. Whereas similar accumulation patterns were observed in podophyllotoxin-related compounds (6-methoxy-podophyllotoxin, podophyllotoxin and de...

Nitrate reductase activity (NRA) was found in primary roots, but not in foliage of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) seedlings. Nitrate induced NRA:NH(4) (+) did not induce and slightly depressed NRA in older seedlings. Induction required 8 hours and, once induced, NRA decreased slowly in the absence of exogenous NO(3) (-). Seedlings were grown in perlite with a complete nutrient solution contain...

One of the reasons for the progressive yield decline observed in aerobic rice production is the rapid build-up of populations of the rice root knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola. These nematodes induce specialized feeding cells inside root tissue, called giant cells. By injecting effectors in and sipping metabolites out of these cells, they reprogramme normal cell development and deprive the...

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR, EC1.1.1.34), the key enzyme in isoprenoid biosynthesis, was purified from microsomes of potato tuber tissue, and a polyclonal antibody and two monoclonal antibodies against the purified enzyme were prepared. HMGR protein content was measured by immunotitration and radioimmunoassay using these antibodies. HMGR activity was very low in the fr...