Improvement and breeding
M. Salehi Vozhdehnazari; Z. Shirazi; S. Samavat
Abstract
Due to the similarity in appearance and properties of some medicinal plants, it is necessary to identify them more precisely by various methods. Accordingly, in the present study, Satureja rechingeri Jamzad and S. khuzistanica Jamzad were investigated and compared based on morphological, phytochemical, ...
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Due to the similarity in appearance and properties of some medicinal plants, it is necessary to identify them more precisely by various methods. Accordingly, in the present study, Satureja rechingeri Jamzad and S. khuzistanica Jamzad were investigated and compared based on morphological, phytochemical, and molecular characteristics. S. rechingeri and S. khuzistanica seeds were collected from Ilam and Lorestan provinces, respectively, and after scientific identification, they were planted in the research greenhouse of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands. The seedlings were then transferred to the experimental farm of the mentioned institute based on a t-test (n=3). Several important morphological traits including inflorescence length, inflorescence stem internode length, length and calyx diameter, calyx three-large and two-short teeth length, length and corolla diameter, stamen length, stigma length, length and vegetative organ leaf width, length and leaflet width, stem diameter, plant height, number of main and sub-branches, largest and smallest canopy diameter, and length and reproductive organ leaf width were measured at full flowering stage in the third year of planting. The essential oils (EOs) were extracted from the plants floral branches in the third year of planting through water distillation. The EOs yield was calculated and their compounds were identified using ultra-fast gas chromatography (GC-FID). DNA barcoding and ITS marker were used for molecular studies on these two savory species. The results showed that these two species did not differ significantly (P<0.01) for all the morphological traits examined. 13 common compounds were identified in these two species EO. S. rechingeri and S. khuzistanica EOs contained 88.6% and 89.5% carvacrol, respectively. The EO yeild was obtained 3.3% for S. rechingeri and 3.04% for S. khuzistanica. These two species showed 100% nucleotide similarity with each other and were closely related to S. bachtiarica (98%). On this basis, it is probable that these two species are not only independent species, but can also be different accessions of the same species.
Biotechnology
M. Yahyazadeh; N. Hadi; Z. Shirazi; K. Jaimand; Kh. Karimzadeh Asl; M. Makizadeh Tafti; S. Fekri Qomi; M. Rahimifard; M. Gorji; F. Askari; Z. Behrad; D. Selmar
Abstract
Plants are the main sources of secondary metabolites with high medical value. The most important member of these valuable compounds are alkaloids with the different drug purposes. Concerning the limited production of some of these metabolites in the plants, these medicinal compounds can be produced naturally ...
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Plants are the main sources of secondary metabolites with high medical value. The most important member of these valuable compounds are alkaloids with the different drug purposes. Concerning the limited production of some of these metabolites in the plants, these medicinal compounds can be produced naturally and commercially with the identification and transfer of alkaloids-producing enzymes corresponding plant genes to the microorganisms as an alternative method. In this way, the characterization of the corresponding genes is the first step. Among the different enzymes involved in the alkaloid biosynthesis, the cytochrome P450 enzymes play an important role. Due to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) localization of these enzymes and their glycoprotein characters, they cannot be expressed functionally in the standard bacterial systems. Consequently, the heterologous expression aimed to verify the enzymatic activity can favorably be performed using the eukaryotic systems, like yeast or insect cells. Herein, in this study, with employing a phylogenic comparison of cheilanthifoline synthase sequence of Eschscholzia californica Cham. and comparing the sequence with the homolog amino acid sequences of Chelidonium majus L. achieved from bioinformatics databases, six cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for cheilanthifoline synthase in Ch. majus were identified. To prove the efficacy of these enzymes practically, their genes were cloned into the pPIC3.5 vector. Then, these recombinant vectors were transferred to the yeast cell (Pichia pastoris) and the scoulerine alkaloid was given to its media. Finally, the cheilanthifoline alkaloid microbial production by P. pastoris containing the recombinant plasmids was evaluated by LC-MS. The results of the present study indicated that among the enzymes genes cloned and introduced to the yeast host, only the Contig8931 enzyme had the cheilanthifoline synthase activity.
