The genus Ziziphora belongs to Lamiaceae family being known as an aromatic medicinal plant. The Lamiaceae family has several species which are of great importance in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industry, as well as in traditional and modern medicine. In this manuscript we analyzed the chemical composition of the essential oils (EOs) isolated from the aerial flowering organs of cultivated Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam. and Z. tenuior L. using GC and GC–MS methods for the first time. In total, 17 and 21 compounds (comprising 99.7 % of total EO) were identified in Z. clinopodioides and Z. tenuior, respectively. The major identified compounds identified in essential oil analysis reported as pulegone (70.4 %) and menthone (11.5 %) for Z.

The effects of abiotic stresses on medicinal plants metabolism are well known, but how plants respond to the interaction of these stressors is little understood. Therefore, the current experiment was aimed to investigate changes in growth and concentration of various primary and secondary metabolites of A. vera grown under water deficit and different light intensity conditions. A split-plot in time research was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications in a research greenhouse. The factorial combination of four irrigation regimes (irrigation after depleting 20, 40, 60, and 80% of soil water content) and three light intensities (50, 75, and 100% of sunlight) were considered as the main factors. Sampling time was c

The aromatic heterocyclic compound indole is widely spread in nature. Due to its floral odor indole finds application in dairy, flavor, and fragrance products. Indole is an inter-and intracellular signaling molecule influencing cell division, sporulation, or virulence in some bacteria that synthesize it from tryptophan by tryptophanase. Corynebacterium glutamicum that is used for the industrial production of amino acids including tryptophan lacks tryptophanase. To test if indole is metabolized by C. glutamicum or has a regulatory role, the physiological response to indole by this bacterium was studied. As shown by RNAseq analysis, indole, which inhibited growth at low concentrations, increased expression of genes involved in the metabolism

Metabolic engineering is an integrated bioengineering approach, which has made considerable progress in producing terpenoids in plants and fermentable hosts. Here, the full biosynthetic pathway of artemisinin, originating from Artemisia annua, was integrated into the moss Physcomitrella patens. Different combinations of the five artemisinin biosynthesis genes were ectopically expressed in P. patens to study biosynthesis pathway activity, but also to ensure survival of successful transformants. Transformation of the first pathway gene, ADS, into P. patens resulted in the accumulation of the expected metabolite, amorpha-4, 11-diene, and also accumulation of a second product, arteannuin B. This demonstrates the presence of endogenous promiscuo

A significant progress has been made in the expression profiling of living organism with invention of real time PCR, because this method is one of the suitable methods for evaluating the gene expressions. In this method, it is crucial to control the error observed between samples. Normalization with a housekeeping gene is widely utilized to check the errors observed among samples in this method. In the current study, expression patterns of 10 housekeeping genes under salinity stresses were evaluated. eight-week old plants were evaluated under salinity stress at concentrations of 0, 200 and 400 Mm. Leaves and roots Samples were collected from the treated plants at 0, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hour post treatment. Expression analysis of the obtain

The therapeutic properties of complex terpenes often depend on the stereochemistry of their functional groups. However, stereospecific chemical synthesis of terpenes is challenging. To overcome this challenge, metabolic engineering can be employed using enzymes with suitable stereospecific catalytic activity. Here we used a combinatorial metabolic engineering approach to explore the stereospecific modification activity of the Artemisia annua artemisinic aldehyde ∆11(13) double bond reductase2 (AaDBR2) on products of the feverfew sesquiterpene biosynthesis pathway (GAS, GAO, COS and PTS). This allowed us to produce dihydrocostunolide and dihydroparthenolide. For dihydroparthenolide we demonstrate that the preferred order of biosynthesis of

Guaianolides are an important class of sesquiterpene lactones with unique biological and pharmaceutical properties. They have been postulated to be derived from germacranolides, but for years no progress has been made in the elucidation of their biosynthesis that requires an unknown cyclization mechanism. Here we demonstrate the isolation and characterization of a cytochrome P450 from feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), kauniolide synthase. Kauniolide synthase catalyses the formation of the guaianolide kauniolide from the germacranolide substrate costunolide. Unlike most cytochrome P450s, kauniolide synthase combines stereoselective hydroxylation of costunolide at the C3 position, with water elimination, cyclization and regioselective deproton

Salinity is among the most important abiotic stresses affecting crop production throughout the earth. Halophyte plants can sustain high salinity levels, therefore elucidating molecular mechanisms underlying their salinity resistance is beneficial for crop improvement. Aeluropus littoralis, a halophyte weed, is a great genetic resource for this purpose. Isolated expressed sequence taq (EST) sequences from A.?littoralis under salinity stress, have given us the chance to find and analyze transcripts of genes involved in response to salinity. Transcriptome analyses indicated the expression levels of mRNAs corresponding to 10 of sequences were increased under treatments. All mRNAs were significantly induced under salt treatment with the highest

The product obtained in vitro from a diterpene synthase encoded in the genome of the bacterium Chitinophaga pinensis, an enzyme previously reported to have germacrene A synthase activity during heterologous expression in Escherichia coli, was identified by extensive NMR-spectroscopic methods as 18-hydroxydolabella-3, 7-diene. The absolute configuration of this diterpene alcohol and the stereochemical course of the terpene synthase reaction were addressed by isotopic labelling experiments. Heterologous expression of the diterpene synthase in Nicotiana benthamiana resulted in the production of 18-hydroxydolabella-3, 7-diene also in planta, while the results from the heterologous expression in E. coli were shown to be reproducible, revealing t

Application of bio-based edible coatings, which are in line with sustainable agriculture practices, has been a?hot topic in recent years. In order to evaluate the effect of Aloe vera L.?gel coating, on the store ability of peach fruits, a?30-day postharvest experiment with 10-day sampling intervals was performed. A.?vera gel coating had significant positive effects on the weight loss, color change, and sensory evaluation. The amount of weight loss, color change, Total Soluble Solids (TSS) and Titratable Acidity (TA) in coating was lower than control. Furthermore, our results showed that A.?vera gel coating can enhance visual properties, and could also lead in more favourable taste and texture. Regarding the obtained results,

Our lack of full understanding of transport and sequestration of the heterologous products currently limit metabolic engineering in plants for the production of high value terpenes. For instance, although all genes of the artemisinin/arteannuin B (AN/AB) biosynthesis pathway (AN-PW) from Artemisia annua have been identified, ectopic expression of these genes in Nicotiana benthamiana yielded mostly glycosylated pathway intermediates and only very little free (dihydro)artemisinic acid [(DH)AA]. Here we demonstrate that Lipid Transfer Protein 3 (AaLTP3) and the transporter Pleiotropic Drug Resistance 2 (AaPDR2) from A. annua enhance accumulation of (DH)AA in the apoplast of N. benthamiana leaves. Analysis of apoplast and cell content and apopl

Denaei Thyme (Thymus daenensis Celak.) is a perennial plant from Lamiaceae family. The plant's leaves possess biological attributes that provide it with the potential to be used for medicinal purposes and newly for suppressing the growth of herbaceous plants. In this study essential oil (EO) compositions and phytotoxic effects of four T. deanensis ecotypes (ECTPs) of T. deanensis were evaluated on Amaranthus retroflexus, Avena fatua, Datura stramonium and Lepidium sativum germination and related growth traits.For this purpose, thyme plants were collected from different ecological locations of Fars Province, Iran to identify EOs content and compositions and also their phytotoxic activity. Gas chromatography (GC) and GC-Mass spectrometry (GC-

The response of photosynthesis parameters, catalase, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activity, malondialdehyde, proline, chlorophyll, yield and yield components to foliar application of calcium and simulated acid rain in wheat were investigated. Foliar treatment of calcium led to significant increases in the photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, proline, chlorophyll, yield and yield components in plants subjected to acid rain. Antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation in the wheat leaves decreased because of calcium foliar application. Calcium hindered degradation of the rubisco subunits under acid rain treatment compared with water-treated plants. Results suggest that acid rain induces t