Axis tissues, root and shoot, of germinating pea seedlings actively synthesize sterol from [2-14C]mevalonate during the first 3 days of germination. In addition to the intermediates of sterol synthesis, cycloartenol and 24-methylenecycloartanol, these tissues also form the triterpene beta-amyrin. The cyclase catalysing the formation of cycloartenol from oxidosqualene is about four times as acti...

Saponins, a group of glycosidic compounds present in several plant species, have aglycone moieties that are formed using triterpenoid or steroidal skeletons. In spite of their importance as antimicrobial compounds and their possible benefits for human health, knowledge of the genetic control of saponin biosynthesis is still poorly understood. In the Medicago genus, the hemolytic activity of sap...

Plants prevent dehydration by coating their aerial, primary organs with waxes. Wax compositions frequently differ between species, organs, and developmental stages, probably to balance limiting nonstomatal water loss with various other ecophysiological roles of surface waxes. To establish structure-function relationships, we quantified the composition and transpiration barrier properties of the...

The crude ethanol extracts (stem and fruits), their fractions and two triterpenes, β-Amyrin and 12-Oleanene 3β, 21β-diol, isolated as a mixture from the chloroform soluble fraction of an ethanolic extract of Duranta repens stem, were evaluated for antibacterial, antifungal activities by the disc diffusion method and cytotoxicity by brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The structures of the two comp...

A structural analysis of phytochemical constituents present in the ethanolic extract Mangifera indica fresh leaves were investigated to assert presence bioactive compounds corresponding reported antioxidant, antibacterial, antihyperglycemic, antidiabetic and anthelmintics properties plant. Extraction was carried out on homogenised using conventional soxhlet apparatus, with ethanol chosen select...

BACKGROUND Panax japonicus C. A. Mey. is a rare traditional Chinese herbal medicine that uses ginsenosides as its main active ingredient. Rice does not produce ginsenosides because it lacks a key rate-limiting enzyme (β-amyrin synthase, βAS); however, it produces a secondary metabolite, 2,3-oxidosqualene, which is a precursor for ginsenoside biosynthesis. RESULTS In the present study, the P. ...

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is well known for its diverse pharmacological properties and has been widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various ailments. Although a variety of secondary metabolites with potent biological activities are identified, our understanding of the biosynthetic pathways that produce them has remained largely incomplete. We studied transcriptional ch...

Five terpenoids were tested by the macrodilution broth method to determine their inhibition activity on cariogenic bacterial growth. In general, α-, β-amyrin and α-amyrin phenylacetate proved to be active, reducing the bacterial viability to less than 20%.