Saporin, a type I ribosome-inactivating protein produced by the soapwort plant Saponaria officinalis belongs to a multigene family that encodes its several isoforms. The saporin seed isoform 6 has significantly higher N-glycosidase and cytotoxic activities compared with the seed isoform 5, although the two have identical active sites. In the present study, we have investigated the contribution ...

The high Alpine plant Saponaria pumila is a survival specialist. It weathered the last ice age growing on ice-free mountain peaks, so-called nunataks exposed to constantly low temperatures and high levels of UV radiation. To cope with a harsh environment S. pumila developed adaption strategies, repair mechanisms and protective compounds. These precious substances have now become available for s...

QS-21 is a saponin extracted from Quillaja saponaria, widely investigated as a vaccine immunoadjuvant. However, QS-21 use is mainly limited by its chemical instability, significant variety in molecular composition and low tolerance dose in mammals. Also, this compound tends to form micelles in a concentration-dependent manner. Here, we aimed to characterize its conformation and the process of m...

Saponin fractions of Quillaja saponaria Molina (QS) have cytotoxic activity against cancer cells in vitro, but are too toxic to be useful in the clinic. The toxic effect was abolished by converting QS fractions into stable nanoparticles through the binding of QS to cholesterol. Two fractions of QS were selected for particle formation, one with an acyl-chain (ASAP) was used to form killing and g...

Copyright: © 2015 Zhu D, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. QS-21 is one of the active fractions of the bark of Chilean tree, Quillaja saponaria, purified using a reverse-phase chromatograp...

Three native Turkish medicinal and aromatic plants (Artemisia absinthum, Artemisia santonicum and Saponaria officinalis) were investigated to analyze their antioxidant activity, total phenolic content and antimicrobial activity. Their total antioxidant activity was determined by using a β-carotene bleaching assay and their antimicrobial activity was determined by utilizing an agar disc diffusio...