The presence of chloroplasts in guard cells from leaf epidermis, coleoptile, flowers, and albino portions of variegated leaves was established by incident fluorescence microscopy, thus confirming the notion that guard cell chloroplasts are remarkably conserved. Room temperature emission spectra from a few chloroplasts in a single guard cell of Vicia faba showed one major peak at around 683 nano...

Ecophysiological aspects of seed germination were investigated in four Mediterranean geophytes of the genus Muscari (Liliaceae): M. comosum (tassel hyacinth), M. neglectum (common grape hyacinth), M. commutatum and M. weissii. Experiments were performed at constant temperatures in the dark and under temperature and light conditions simulating those prevailing in nature during November–January, ...

The anther smut fungi in the ustilaginomycetous genus Antherospora (Floromycetaceae, Urocystidales) that infect monocots, are currently placed in nine species. Against the background of the generally observed high host specificity in smut fungi, the broad host range reported for some of the species suggests much higher diversity. Antherospora vaillantii s. lato includes anther smuts on differen...

Background: The study aimed to evaluate the impact of Calligonum extract and US radiation on sperm parametersof cryopreserved human semen samples.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, twenty-five semen specimens were obtained from healthy semendonors and incubated in human tubal fluid (HTF) medium supplemented with 10% human serum albumin (HSA) for45 minutes...

BACKGROUND Water influences various physiological and ecological processes of plants in different ecosystems, especially in desert ecosystems. The purpose of this study is to investigate the response of physiological and morphological acclimation of two shrubs Haloxylon ammodendron and Calligonum mongolicunl to variations in irrigation intervals. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The irrigation ...

Phenolic compounds constitute one of the most numerous groups of plant secondary metabolites. The interest in the bioactivity of phenolic compounds is due to the potential health benefits of these polyphenolic components and their involvement in important biological and industrial processes. Flavonoids can be found in fruits, vegetables, tea, wine and chocolate. The basic structure of flavonoid...