Galanthamine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor marketed as a hydrobromide salt (Razadyne®, Reminyl®) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), is obtained from Amaryllidaceae plants, especially those belonging to the genera Leucojum, Narcissus, Lycoris and Ungernia. The growing demand for galanthamine has prompted searches for new sources of this compound, as well as other bioactive alkal...

Neutral sugar, free amino acid, and anthocyanin levels and vacuole/extravacuole distribution were determined for Hippeastrum and Tulipa petal and Tulipa leaf protoplasts. Glucose and fructose, the predominant neutral monosaccharides observed, were primarily vacuolar in location. Glutamine, the predominant free amino acid found, was primarily extravacuolar. gamma-Methyleneglutamate was identifie...

Evolutionary chromosome change involves significant variation in DNA amount in diploids and genome downsizing in polyploids. Genome size and karyotype parameters of Hippeastrum species with different ploidy level were analysed. In Hippeastrum, polyploid species show less DNA content per basic genome than diploid species. The rate of variation is lower at higher ploidy levels. All the species ha...

An in vitro experiment was conducted to find out the optimum hormonal supplement and sucrose level for the bulb production of Hippeastrum. Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with different hormone concentrations of BAP (0.0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0 and 8.0 mg/L) and CCC (0.0, 125, 250 and 500 mg/L) and sucrose levels (30, 60, 80, 90 and 110 g/L) were used in this study. Sucrose level at 90 g/L produ...

Correction In the article 'Genome empowerment for the Puerto Rican parrot – Amazona vittata. GigaScience 2012 1:13' [1] the leadership of avian phylogenomic project [2] mentioned in commentary should have been Guojie Zhang, Erich Jarvis, and Tom Gilbert [2]. We regret this omission. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is prope...

In the context of the study on plant defensive compounds we have isolated the main alkaloid from Hippeastrum puniceum (Amaryllidaceae), 3-O-acetyl-narcissidine (1), and its biological activities tested against two divergent insect species and several plant species. 1 was isolated from the bioactive alkaloidal fraction of H. puniceum. Its chemical structure was established by spectroscopic analy...