Increase of Trigonelline in Trigonella persica Plant under Drought Stress

Trigonella persica is a valuable medicinal plant which comprises trigonelline that is secondary metabolite and important component in cosmetic and medicine. This research was conducted in order to evaluation the drought stress effect on growth parameters, root anatomical changes and trigonelline content in T. persica. Plants were grown under soil moisture corresponding to 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% field capacity for two weeks. The data showed that drought stress was significantly decreased fresh weight and dry weight of shoot and root. In addition, leaf area was declined due to drought stress. Interestingly, root length was enhanced by drought stress. Root microscopic study demonstrated that drought stress increased thickness of epidermal, endodermal, vascular bundle, central cylinder and parenchyma in T. persica. Drought stress caused a significant increment in alkaloid and trigonelline content in aerial parts and roots of T. persica. These results revealed that T. persica responded to drought stress by increasing the alkaloid and trigonelline, as well as the anatomical changes in root. Considering the importance of trigonline and alkaloids, this work may open prospects for production of the pharmaceutically valuable secondary metabolites thereby drought stress

Effects of Salicylic Acid on Carotenoids and Antioxidant Activity of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.), the most valuable medicinal food product, belongs to the Iridaceae family, which has been widely used as a coloring and flavoring agent. The stigmas contain three major compounds; crocins (carotenoid compound responsible for color), picrocrocin (responsible for taste) and safranal (responsible for odor). It has been used for medicinal purposes, as a spice and condiment for food and as a dye since ancient times. Numerous studies have shown crocins as main carotenoids of saffron to be capable of a variety of pharmacological effects, such as protection against cardiovascular diseases and inhibition of cancer cell development. Salicylic acid is a signaling molecule and a hormone-like substance that plays an important role in the plant physiological processes. Due to the importance of saffron as a valuable product, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of salicylic acid application (0.01, 0.1 and 1 mM) on crocin and safranal content and antioxidant activity of stigmas. The results showed that salicylic acid application at 1 mM was the most effective treatment in increasing the crocin content and stronger antioxidant activity of stigmas, but it had a negative effect on safranal content; the highest quantity of this compound was observed in the control plants

Correlation between PAL, medicarpin, phenol and flavonoid content in Medicago sativa L. at different growth stages

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is from Fabaceae family that has several flavonoid compound in roots and shoots. in alfalfa the major phytoalexin is medicarpin. In this study, total phenolic and flavonoid compounds and phenylalanin ammonia lyase (PAL) activity in different stages of development were measured. In this research the concentration of medicarpin by HPLC were studied in different stages of development. The lowest and highest level of the concentration of medicapin were in seedling stage and budding stage of growth, respectively. The results indicated that contents of total phenolic compounds and total flavonoid and PAL activity increase with developmental stage ,but decrease in flowering stage of growth

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Morphological And Anatomical Responses Of Matricaria Chamomilla Plants To Cadmium And Calcium

Soudeh Farzadfar, Fatemeh Zarinkamar: Morphological and anatomical responses of Matricaria chamomilla plants to cadmium and calcium ABSTRACT The effect of calcium (Ca) nutrition on cadmium (Cd) toxicity and accumulation in chamomile seedlings was studied in a hydroponic culture. The inhibitory effect of Cd on plant growth and anatomical traits was dependent on CaCl 2 level. Morphological traits such as root elongation, shoot elongation, number of branches per plant and increase in leaf number were not much affected by an increased Cd stress at 0.1 mM CaCl 2 , but it showed a rapid increase when the plants were exposed to moderate (1 mM) and high (5 mM) CaCl 2 concentrations. Anatomical treats such as diameter of root, central vein, phloem and xylem of roots, size of precycle, epidermal and parenchyma cells were affected by experimental treatments. But there was a less significant effect among different CaCl 2 concentrations on the size of aerechyma. High CaCl 2 application caused also a marked increase in anatomical traits of roots. Reduction in anatomical traits of roots was higher at high Cd (180 μM) stress than at low Cd (0 and 120 μM) stress. These results suggest that high level Ca would reduce cell-surface negativity and alleviate the harmfulness of Cd. It is also suggested that the occurrence of Cd toxicity in chamomile plants is mediated by Ca nutrition

Foliar anatomy and micromorphology of Festuca L. and its taxonomic applications

In this study, leaf micromorphological structure of eight species of Festuca (F. akhanii, F. elwendiana, F. heterophylla, F. sulcata, F. valesiaca, F. arundinacea, F. gigantean and F. drymeia) and leaf anatomy structure of three species of Festuca (F. arundinacea, F. gigantean and F. drymeia) belonging to the four subgenera were examined with different repeations. About 40 quantitative and qualitative anatomical features of the leaves were statistically analyzed for several times from superficial view and on transversal section. These characters included observation of ribs and furrows in epidermis, the density of stomata and trichome, and the arrangement of vascular bundles. Sclerenchyma and bulliform cells were studied and their taxonomic value was verified in order to classify different species. The micromorphology data and anatomy characteristics of the species were used for multivariate analysis, which partly supported the taxonomic treatment of the genus Festuca in the flora of Iran. In order to group the species studied on the basis of similarity in their anatomical features as well as their micro morphological characteristics, different clustering methods of Between Groups, Single Linkage and WARD were observed. The first cluster composed of F. sulcata, F. valesiaca, F. elwendiana, F. heterophylla and F. akhanii. The species of F. arundinacea, F. gigantea and F. drymeia were positioned in clusters two

Enhanced Production of Apocarotenoids by Salicylic Acid Elicitation in Cell Suspension Cultures of Saffron (<i>Crocus sativus</i> L.)

A cell suspension culture of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) was previously established from style-derived calli to obtain an in vitro system for crocin, an uncommon and valuable water-soluble apocarotenoid, and carotenoid production suitable for future scaling up. To shed more light on the correlation between apocarotenoid biosynthesis and key-gene expression, in this study, SA was used at 0.5 mM concentration to elicit crocin production and the effects on carotenoid production were analyzed after 6, 12, 24, and 48 h. HPLC-DAD analysis was used for total crocin quantification as well as the other carotenoids zeaxanthin, β-carotene and lutein. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to analyze the transcript levels of saffron apocarotenoid biosynthetic key genes PSY (phytoene synthase), BCH1 (β-carotene hydroxylase), and CCD2 (carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase) after SA elicitation. In saffron suspension-cultured cells elicited by SA, the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway was mostly enhanced toward crocin biosynthesis, known to exert strong biological activity and therapeutic effects, rather than lutein or xanthins. SA increased BCH1 and CCD2 gene expression 15.6 and 3.3 times, respectively, compared to the control at 24 h after elicitation. Although a dynamic change of metabolite contents and gene expression was observed during the 48 h time course in response to SA elicitation, the changes of zeaxanthin and crocin were consistent with the regulation of the corresponding genes BCH and CCD2 during the time course. In conclusion, the effects of SA on regulation of gene expression in the apocarotenoid pathway could be successfully applied for the biotechnological production of crocin