Seedling, seedling parts and callus cultures of onion were tested for their antidiabetic activity by feeding the tissue-extracts to diabetic rats. The results indicated much higher antidiabetic activity in callus cultures as compared to natural bulbs of onion. These results may be of pharmaceutical significance since the callus can be used as an alternative source for the isolation of antidiabe...

Processing and stabilising onion wastes (residues and surpluses of onion) could solve the environmental problem derived from a great onion wastes disposal. Moreover, obtaining stabilised onion by-products as natural antioxidant food ingredients could be advantageous to food industry, not only to improve the use of onion wastes but also to obtain new natural and functional ingredients. The aim o...

This study investigated the cytotoxic activity of Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) aqueous extract on the cell cycle of Allium cepa. To this end, crude aqueous leaf extracts at four concentrations, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.08 mg/mL, were tested on A. cepa meristematic root cells, at exposure times of 24 and 48 h. Slides were prepared by the crushing technique, and cells analyzed throughout th...

Polyphenolic compounds present in rosemary were found to have antioxidant properties, anticarcinogenic activity, and to increase the detoxification of pro-carcinogens. The aim of the study was to determine the effect the aqueous extract of rosemary (AER) on mutagenicity induced by methylmethane sulfonate in meristematic cells of Allium cepa, as well as to describe its mode of action. Anti-mutag...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are mainly thought to facilitate phosphorus uptake in plants, but they can also perform several other functions that are equally beneficial. Our recent study sheds light on the factors determining one such function, enhanced plant protection from root pathogens. Root infection by the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum was determined by both plant susceptibility...

The onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the most widely cultivated and consumed vegetable crops in the world. Although a considerable amount of onion transcriptome data has been deposited into public databases, the sequences of the protein-coding genes are not accurate enough to be used, owing to non-coding sequences intermixed with the coding sequences. We generated a high-quality, annotated onio...

The rising global demand for palm oil and its associated products has led to increased numbers of palm oil refineries with its attendant effluent discharge. Many researches have confirmed the ecological disruptive potentiality of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), still further attention has to be directed at POME’s potential genotoxicity. The present study has made physico-chemical and genotoxicit...

Antimicrobial activity of different concentrations (50, 100, 200, 300 and 500ml/l) of essential oil extracts of three type of onions (green, yellow and red) and garlic against two bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmomella Enteritidis, and three fungi, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium cyclopium and Fusarium oxysporum, was investigated. The essential oil (EO) extracts of these Allium plants (garl...

Lachrymatory factor synthase (LFS) catalyzes the formation of lachrymatory factor, one of the most distinctive traits of bulb onion (Allium cepa L.). Therefore, we used LFS as a model for a functional gene in a huge genome, and we examined the chromosomal organization of LFS in A. cepa by multiple approaches. The first-level analysis completed the chromosomal assignment of LFS gene to chromosom...

Food preservatives are unswervingly being used for prolonging the shelf life of food, often to increase aroma, taste and quality by food packaging industry. These pivotal in protecting from degradation deterioration micro-organisms. Two most commonly preservatives, viz. sodium nitrite (NaNO2) Monosodium glutamate (MSG) have been evaluated using root tips Allium cepa. Cytological studies plants ...