BACKGROUND AND AIMS Anthurium is an important horticultural crop from the family Araceae, order Alismatales, a lineage considered to have diverged from other monocots prior to the cereals. Genome size and its distribution in Anthurium were investigated to gain a basic understanding of genome organization in this large genus and to forge a firm foundation for advancement of molecular approaches ...

All abiotic and biotic stresses induce or involve oxidative stress to some degree, and the plant ability to control oxidant levels is highly correlated with stress tolerance. Polyamines (PAs) have antioxidant properties and their induction in response to stress is well known. Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L., Thellungiella halophila Mey., Plantago major L. and Geum urbanum L. plants were grown ...

From the fresh leaves or twigs of Aptenia cordifolia, a total of 29 compounds were isolated, including the new tetranoroxyneolignan 18, the new dilignan 19, and the beta-ionone derivative 27, previously only known as a synthetic compound, together with 26 known compounds. The structures of the new products were determined by (1)H-, (13)C-, and 2D-NMR, as well as HR-MS analyses. The phytotoxic e...

Three Apium graveolens (L.) varieties and cultivars within varieties were evaluated for host plant suitability to two polyphagous lepidopteran herbivores: the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hiibner), and the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hiibner). Overall, there were no significant differences in survivorship, developmental time, and pupal weight of S. exigua or T. ni reared on the two va...

The cacti are one of the most celebrated radiations of succulent plants. There has been much speculation about their age, but progress in dating cactus origins has been hindered by the lack of fossil data for cacti or their close relatives. Using a hybrid phylogenomic approach, we estimated that the cactus lineage diverged from its closest relatives ≈35 million years ago (Ma). However, major di...

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. plants shift the mode of carbon assimilation from C(3) to Crassulacean acid metabolism when stressed by high salinity. A prerequisite for Crassulacean acid metabolism induction is the synthesis of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCase). A moderate increase in the abundance of PEPCase transcripts and activity is observed in 7-week-old, well-watered plants. Thi...

Plants with crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) are increasing their abundance in drylands worldwide. The drivers and mechanisms underlying the increased dominance of CAM plants and CAM expression (i.e., nocturnal carboxylation) in facultative CAM plants, however, remain poorly understood. We investigated how nutrient and water availability affected competition between Mesembryanthemum crystalli...