Carbohydrate metabolism genes and pathways in insects: insights from the honey bee genome

Carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes may have particularly interesting roles in the honey bee, Apis mellifera, because this social insect has an extremely carbohydrate-rich diet, and nutrition plays important roles in caste determination and socially mediated behavioural plasticity. We annotated a total of 174 genes encoding carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes and 28 genes encoding lipid-metabolizing enzymes, based on orthology to their counterparts in the fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. We found that the number of genes for carbohydrate metabolism appears to be more evolutionarily labile than for lipid metabolism. In particular, we identified striking changes in gene number or genomic organization for genes encoding glycolytic enzymes, cellulase, glucose oxidase and glucose dehydrogenases, glucose-methanol-choline (GMC) oxidoreductases, fucosyltransferases, and lysozymes

Production of verbascoside in callus tissue of Eremophila spp

Callus tissue cultures of Eremophila denticulata and E. decipiens accumulate up to 20% of their dry weight as a mixture of hydroxyphenylethanol glycosides of which the major component is the caffeoyl ester, verbascoside (acteoside). The production of this compound under a variety of growth conditions has been studied. Verbascoside has also been isolated from callus tissue of E. clarkei, E. drummondii, E. glabra and E. viscida

Synthesis of the seed germination stimulant 3-methyl-2H-furo[2,3-c]pyran-2-one

3-Methyl-2H-furo[2,3-c]pyran-2-one 1 was recently identified as the key agent in smoke, responsible for promoting the seed germination of a diverse range of fire-dependent and fire-independent plant species from around the world. The synthesis of this novel compound, obtained in three steps from pyromeconic acid, is described