Selection of Origanum vulgare plants for essential oil, carvacrol, total phenols and antioxidant potential

In the summer of 2005, individual plant selection was performed on different oregano populations started at Applied Plant Research (PPO-WUR) in Lelystad, The Netherlands. Selection was focused on erect growing, healthy, leafy but flowering, productive plants. Samples of these visually selected plants were analyzed for essential oil content and its main components (such as carvacrol). Some of the selected plants were also screened for phenolic components and antioxidant activity. This paper describes the selection process and presents the mean levels (from 79 selected plants with a complete data set) of the essential oil and its different components, the ethanol-soluble and cell wall-bound phenolic compounds, and the antioxidative activity of the extracts. The correlations between these parameters are presented. The results suggest that under the present experimental conditions, it is difficult to achieve the objective of single selection for high essential oil/carvacrol and high phenol content/antioxidant activit

Selection of Origanum vulgare plants for essential oil, carvacrol, total phenols and antioxidant potential

In the summer of 2005, individual plant selection was performed on different oregano populations started at Applied Plant Research (PPO-WUR) in Lelystad, The Netherlands. Selection was focused on erect growing, healthy, leafy but flowering, productive plants. Samples of these visually selected plants were analyzed for essential oil content and its main components (such as carvacrol). Some of the selected plants were also screened for phenolic components and antioxidant activity. This paper describes the selection process and presents the mean levels (from 79 selected plants with a complete data set) of the essential oil and its different components, the ethanol-soluble and cell wall-bound phenolic compounds, and the antioxidative activity of the extracts. The correlations between these parameters are presented. The results suggest that under the present experimental conditions, it is difficult to achieve the objective of single selection for high essential oil/carvacrol and high phenol content/antioxidant activit

Functional characterization of two new members of the caffeoyl CoA <em>O</em>-methyltransferase-like gene family from <em>Vanilla planifolia</em> reveals a new class of plastid-localized <em>O</em>-methyltransferases

International audienceCaffeoyl CoA O-methyltransferases (OMTs) have been characterized from numerous plant species and have been demonstrated to be involved in lignin biosynthesis. Higher plant species are known to have additional caffeoyl CoA OMT-like genes, which have not been well characterized. Here, we identified two new caffeoyl CoA OMT-like genes by screening a cDNA library from specialized hair cells of pods of the orchid Vanilla planifolia. Characterization of the corresponding two enzymes, designated Vp-OMT4 and Vp-OMT5, revealed that in vitro both enzymes preferred as a substrate the flavone tricetin, yet their sequences and phylogenetic relationships to other enzymes are distinct from each other. Quantitative analysis of gene expression indicated a dramatic tissue-specific expression pattern for Vp-OMT4, which was highly expressed in the hair cells of the developing pod, the likely location of vanillin biosynthesis. Although Vp-OMT4 had a lower activity with the proposed vanillin precursor, 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, than with tricetin, the tissue specificity of expression suggests it may be a candidate for an enzyme involved in vanillin biosynthesis. In contrast, the Vp-OMT5 gene was mainly expressed in leaf tissue and only marginally expressed in pod hair cells. Phylogenetic analysis suggests Vp-OMT5 evolved from a cyanobacterial enzyme and it clustered within a clade in which the sequences from eukaryotic species had predicted chloroplast transit peptides. Transient expression of a GFP-fusion in tobacco demonstrated that Vp-OMT5 was localized in the plastids. This is the first flavonoid OMT demonstrated to be targeted to the plastids

Die Frau in der irakischen Gesellschaft und ihre Rolle in der nationalen Befreiungsbewegung 1945 - 1963

Freie Universitaet Berlin, Zentralinstitut 6 - T2G 196 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

A deep transcriptomic analysis of pod development in the vanilla orchid (<em>Vanilla planifolia</em>)

International audienceBackground: Pods of the vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia) accumulate large amounts of the flavor compound vanillin (3-methoxy, 4-hydroxy-benzaldehyde) as a glucoside during the later stages of their development. At earlier stages, the developing seeds within the pod synthesize a novel lignin polymer, catechyl (C) lignin, in their coats. Genomic resources for determining the biosynthetic routes to these compounds and other flavor components in V. planifolia are currently limited. Results: Using next-generation sequencing technologies, we have generated very large gene sequence datasets from vanilla pods at different times of development, and representing different tissue types, including the seeds, hairs, placental and mesocarp tissues. This developmental series was chosen as being the most informative for interrogation of pathways of vanillin and C-lignin biosynthesis in the pod and seed, respectively. The combined 454/Illumina RNA-seq platforms provide both deep sequence coverage and high quality de novo transcriptome assembly for this non-model crop species. Conclusions: The annotated sequence data provide a foundation for understanding multiple aspects of the biochemistry and development of the vanilla bean, as exemplified by the identification of candidate genes involved in lignin biosynthesis. Our transcriptome data indicate that C-lignin formation in the seed coat involves coordinate expression of monolignol biosynthetic genes with the exception of those encoding the caffeoyl coenzyme A 3-O-methyltransferase for conversion of caffeoyl to feruloyl moieties. This database provides a general resource for further studies on this important flavor species