Ethylene perception has been studied using Arabidopsis and tomato as model plants during last two decades. Arabidopsis has been an ideal model system for gene identification and subsequent functional analysis of the identified gene. On the other hand, tomato is not only the model of choice to study climacteric fruit ripening but also crops of agronomic importance and hence has been at the foref...

Ethylene is a plant hormone that has an essential role in fruit ripening (Yang and Hoffman, 1984; Kende, 1993). ACC synthase (S-adenosyl-L-methionine methylethioadenosine-lyase, EC 4.4.1.14), which is encoded by a multigene family, plays a regulatory role in ethylene production. Severa1 genes for ACC synthase have been isolated from tomato (Rottmann et al., 1991), mung bean (Botella et al., 199...

BACKGROUND Profilins are highly cross-reactive allergens which bind IgE antibodies of almost 20% of plant-allergic patients. This study is aimed at investigating cross-reactivity of melon profilin with other plant profilins and the role of the linear and conformational epitopes in human IgE cross-reactivity. METHODS Seventeen patients with melon allergy were selected based on clinical history...

BACKGROUND Although beneficial to health, dietary phytonutrients are bitter, acid and/or astringent in taste and therefore reduce consumer choice and acceptance during food selection. Momordica charantia, commonly known as bitter melon has been traditionally used in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine to treat diabetes and its complications. The aim of this study was to develop bitter melon-containi...

abstract the pythium spp. are known as the principle agents of seedling blight, damping-off and root rot of cucurbits. this study was performed for determination of pythium species involved in this diseases as well study their pathogenecity on different cucurbits. the numerous samples were taken at cultivation seasons 2006- 2007 from the fields of cucumber, tomato, egg plant, muskmelon, cucurbi...

Fopius arisanus and Psyttalia fletcheri are egg and larval parasitoids, respectively, of tephritid fruit flies including the melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae. We investigated the consequences of parasitization when eggs or larvae of melon flies were exposed to F. arisanus or P. fletcheri alone, or to both in succession. In addition, we evaluated the effect of fruit substrates on host preference...

BACKGROUND Several studies reported the clinical features of IgE-mediated hypersensitivity after ingestion of melon. Melon allergy is a common IgE-mediated fruit allergy in Iran. This prompted us to investigate immunochemical and molecular properties of the major allergen in melon fruit, to compare the IgE-binding capacity of the natural protein with the recombinant allergen, and to determine c...

background: several studies reported the clinical features of ige-mediated hypersensitivity after ingestion of melon. melon allergy is a common ige-mediated fruit allergy in iran. this prompted us to investigate immunochemical and molecular properties of the major allergen in melon fruit, to compare the ige-binding capacity of the natural protein with the recombinant allergen, and to determine ...

Studies on harvesting robots with manipulator were started with the tomato fruit harvesting robot since 30 years ago by Prof. Kawamura, Kyoto University [1]. The robot consisted of a 5 DOF manipulator, a harvesting end-effector, a color TV camera which was used for stereo vision, and a battery car for traveling in the ridges as shown in Figure 1. Following the harvesting robot, the robotic tech...

Background: Melon (Cucumis melo) allergy is one of the most common food allergies, characterized by oral allergy syndrome. To date, two allergen molecules, Cuc m 1 and Cuc m 2, have been fully characterized in melon pulp, but there are few reports about the molecular characteristics of Cuc m 3. Methods:The Cuc m 3 cDNA has been characterized by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE), which ...