Isolation and characterization of catechol oxidase from Solanum melongena

Catechol oxidase was distributed in soluble and particulate fractions of Solanum melongena. The purified preparation appears to be homogeneous by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme shows two pH maxima—with catechol, 6.5 and 7.5; and with dopa, 6.5 and 7.9. The latent form of the enzyme does not occur in S. melongena. The preparation resembles the enzyme from other sources in substrate specificity towards various mono- and diphenols, having a higher affinity for catechol than dopa; this tendency increases on purification. The cresolase activity decreases with purification and a lag period with p-cresol is observed. The oxidation of mono- and diphenols is inhibited by ascorbic acid, sulphydryl compounds and chelating agents.     

Involvement of Boiling Stable Antioxidant Enzymes in Adaptation of Invasive Alien Plant Lantana to Abiotic Stress under Natural Conditions

Russian Journal of Plant Physiology - Lantana camara L. is noxious weed affecting ecosystem and biodiversity worldwide. However, the biochemical basis of invasiveness and adaptation to abiotic...     

Development of informative genic SSR markers for genetic diversity analysis of Picrorhiza kurroa

Picrorhiza kurroa is a medicinal perennial herb of economic importance due to its hepatoprotective properties mainly accounted by picroside I and picroside II. To fulfill the current demand of the market indiscriminate collection from its natural habitat pose a great threat to this endangered species. To strategize the conservation of natural populations, a set of 20 highly informative novel genic SSR markers were identified. The utility of these makers was successfully tested for the genetic diversity characterization of P. kurroa populations (n = 28) from three geographical locations. These markers produced 136 alleles (average of 6.8) with mean observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, Shannon’s information index, and PIC value of 0.971, 0.798, 1.681, and 0.737 respectively, revealing a higher extent of genetic diversity in P. kurroa. Further, clustering of all the individuals according to their geographical locations indicates at a spatial population structure in P. kurroa. The current study suggests that informative SSR makers identified here can be potentially used for diversity characterization targeting wider geographical locations for selection of elite/quality genotypes for commercial cultivation and genetic rescue of this endangered species.     

Decoding the wheat awn transcriptome and overexpressing TaRca1β in rice for heat stress tolerance

Plant Molecular Biology - Role of Rubisco Activase in imparting thermotolerance to the photosynthetic apparatus under high temperature. Thus, to improve the grain filling, we need to fine tune...     

A robust KASP marker for selection of four pairs of linked leaf rust and stripe rust resistance genes introgressed on chromosome arm 5DS from different wheat genomes

Molecular Biology Reports - Stripe rust and leaf rust are among the most devastating diseases of wheat, limiting its production globally. Wheat wild relatives harbour genetic diversity for new...