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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Fluorescence emission spectra of plant leaves and plant constituents.

The UV-B radiation (e.g. 337 nm) induced blue fluorescence (BF) and red chlorophyll fluorescence spectra (RF) of green leaves from plants with different leaf structure were determined and the possible nature and candidates of the blue fluorescence emission investigated. The blue fluorescence BF is characterized by a main maximum in the 450 nm region and in most cases by a second maximum/shoulder in the 530 nm region. The latter has been termed green fluorescence GF. The red chlorophyll fluorescence RF, in turn, exhibits two maxima in the 690 and 730 nm region. In general, the intensity of BF, GF and RF emission is significantly higher in the lower than the upper leaf side. The ratio of BF to RF emission (F450/F690) seems to vary from plant species to plant species. BF and GF emission spectra appear to be a mixed signal composed of the fluorescence emission of several substances of the plant vacuole and cell wall, which may primarily arise in the epidermis. Leaves with removed epidermis and chlorophyll-free leaves, however, still exhibit a BF and GF emission. Candidates for the blue fluorescence emission (lambda max near 450 nm) are phenolic substances such as chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, coumarins (aesculetin, scopoletin), stilbenes (t-stilbene, rhaponticin), the spectra of which are shown. GF emission (lambda max near 530 nm) seems to be caused by substances like the alkaloid berberine and quercetin. Riboflavine, NADPH and phyllohydroquinone K1 seem to contribute little to the BF and GF emission as compared to the other plant compounds. Purified natural beta-carotene does not exhibit any blue fluorescence.

Chloroplasts↗

Effects of air current speed on gas exchange in plant leaves and plant canopies.

To obtain basic data on adequate air circulation to enhance plant growth in a closed plant culture system in a controlled ecological life support system (CELSS), an investigation was made of the effects of the air current speed ranging from 0.01 to 1.0 m s-1 on photosynthesis and transpiration in sweetpotato leaves and photosynthesis in tomato seedlings canopies. The gas exchange rates in leaves and canopies were determined by using a chamber method with an infrared gas analyzer. The net photosynthetic rate and the transpiration rate increased significantly as the air current speeds increased from 0.01 to 0.2 m s-1. The transpiration rate increased gradually at air current speeds ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 m s-1 while the net photosynthetic rate was almost constant at air current speeds ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 m s-1. The increase in the net photosynthetic and transpiration rates were strongly dependent on decreased boundary-layer resistances against gas diffusion. The net photosynthetic rate of the plant canopy was doubled by an increased air current speed from 0.1 to 1.0 m s-1 above the plant canopy. The results demonstrate the importance of air movement around plants for enhancing the gas exchange in the leaf, especially in plant canopies in the CELSS.

Air Conditioning↗

A theory and a model for interpreting the proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of water in plant leaves.

Some plant leaves display complex, orientation-dependent, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectra. The spectral patterns vary as the angle between the leaf surface and the applied magnetic field is varied. They also vary with temperature and with the quantity of absorbed manganous ions, but they are independent of magnetic field strength. In this paper, we propose a theory to explain the origin of the spectra and a model from which the patterns can be calculated. The theory shows how heterogeneous magnetic susceptibilities and local dipolar magnetic fields in chloroplasts can shift the water-proton resonance field. The model describes a simplified leaf structure in which the chloroplasts are nonrandomly aligned with respect to the leaf surface. Model calculations are tested by comparison with experimental spectra from hawthorn leaves (Crataegus sp.).

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy↗

Wound-induced Accumulation of Trypsin Inhibitor Activities in Plant Leaves: Survey of Several Plant Genera.

Proteinase inhibitor-inducing factor (PIIF)-induced accumulation of trypsin inhibitory activity was assayed in leaves of 23 species of plants representing 10 agriculturally important genera. Inhibitory activity was assayed in extracts from attached leaves or from excised leaves supplied through the cut petioles for 30 minutes with extracts containing the wound hormone PIIF, obtained from either tomato leaves or from the leaves of each plant under study. During subsequent incubation in light for 72 hours, PIIF-induced trypsin inhibitory activity accumulated in significant quantities in 10 of the 23 species. Alfalfa accumulated the highest levels of inhibitory activity (340 mug trypsin inhibited/ml leaf juice), followed by tobacco, tomato, potato, strawberry, cucumber, squash, clover, broadbean, and grape. It is suggested that the inhibitors might be classed as allelochemics that are present in certain plants and not others in response to environmental pressures during their evolution.

Journal Article↗

Designing leaves. Plant morphogenesis.

Leaf shape and architecture vary greatly throughout the plant kingdom, and even within an individual plant during different phases of growth. Now, the development of a compound leaf architecture in tomato has been shown to be associated with the expression of the knotted1 homeobox gene in leaf primordia.

Genes, Homeobox↗

A comparison of measured and modeled ozone uptake into plant leaves.

Ozone uptake into plant leaves was measured in gas exchange chambers using a mass balance and a variable conductance approach. The variable conductance approach was found to more reliably measure ozone flux through stomata. Measurements using this approach were contrasted with estimates obtained by measuring stomatal conductance g(sw) and modeling ozone uptake using a diffusion equation, assuming a negligible ozone concentration in the substomatal cavity. Actual measurements of uptake were close, but slightly higher than modeled values, providing some support to the idea that substomatal ozone concentrations are close to zero. However, the difference between measured and modeled uptake values suggests either that (i) variable conductance approach measures more ozone uptake than caused by stomatal uptake alone or (ii) ozone conductance is underestimated.

Journal Article↗

Hydrogen peroxide is generated systemically in plant leaves by wounding and systemin via the octadecanoid pathway.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generated in response to wounding can be detected at wound sites and in distal leaf veins within 1 hr after wounding. The response is systemic and maximizes at about 4-6 hr in both wounded and unwounded leaves, and then declines. The timing of the response corresponds with an increase in wound-inducible polygalacturonase (PG) mRNA and enzyme activity previously reported, suggesting that oligogalacturonic acid (OGA) fragments produced by PG are triggering the H2O2 response. Systemin, OGA, chitosan, and methyl jasmonate (MJ) all induce the accumulation of H2O2 in leaves. Tomato plants transformed with an antisense prosystemin gene produce neither PG activity or H2O2 in leaves in response to wounding, implicating systemin as a primary wound signal. The antisense plants do produce both PG activity and H2O2 when supplied with systemin, OGA, chitosan, or MJ. A mutant tomato line compromised in the octadecanoid pathway does not exhibit PG activity or H2O2 in response to wounding, systemin, OGA, or chitosan, but does respond to MJ, indicating that the generation of H2O2 requires a functional octadecanoid signaling pathway. Among 18 plant species from six families that were assayed for wound-inducible PG activity and H2O2 generation, 14 species exhibited both wound-inducible PG activity and the generation of H2O2. Four species, all from the Fabaceae family, exhibited little or no wound-inducible PG activity and did not generate H2O2. The time course of wound-inducible PG activity and H2O2 in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves was similar to that found in tomato. The cumulative data suggest that systemic wound signals that induce PG activity and H2O2 are widespread in the plant kingdom and that the response may be associated with the defense of plants against both herbivores and pathogens.

Hydrogen Peroxide↗

Bullera cylindrica sp. nov., Bullera hubeiensis sp. nov. and Bullera nakasei sp. nov., ballistoconidium-forming yeast species from plant leaves.

Among yeasts isolated from plant leaves collected in different regions of China that form whitish or yellowish colonies and symmetrical ballistoconidia, four strains were shown to represent three novel Bullera species by conventional and molecular taxonomic characterization. The novel species are described as Bullera cylindrica sp. nov. (type strain CB 169T = AS 2.2308T = CBS 9744T), Bullera hubeiensis sp. nov. (type strain HX 19.3T = AS 2.2466T = CBS 9747T) and Bullera nakasei sp. nov. (type strain HX 15.5T = AS 2.2435T = CBS 9746T). These three species, and another eight previously described Bullera species represented by Bullera mrakii, formed a strongly supported distinct clade among the hymenomycetous yeasts in each of the phylogenetic trees drawn from the 26S rDNA D1/D2 domain and the internal transcribed spacer region sequences.

Basidiomycota↗

Pseudozyma hubeiensis sp. nov. and Pseudozyma shanxiensis sp. nov., novel ustilaginomycetous anamorphic yeast species from plant leaves.

Among basidiomycetous yeast strains isolated from wilting leaves of various plants in China, two groups of Pseudozyma strains were distinguished from the others by morphological and physiological characterization. Molecular taxonomic analysis based on sequencing of the large subunit (26S) rRNA gene D1/D2 domain and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region confirmed that the two groups represent two novel species. They are proposed as Pseudozyma hubeiensis sp. nov. (type strain WS 6.4T = AS 2.2493T = CBS 10077T) and Pseudozyma shanxiensis sp. nov. (type strain SH 64T = AS 2.2523T = CBS 10075T). The phylogenetic relationships of the novel species with described Pseudozyma species and related ustilagomycetous teleomorphs were analysed based on the combined sequences of ITS and D1/D2. The phenotypic diagnosis of Pseudozyma was emended because of the negative inositol assimilation reaction of P. hubeiensis sp. nov., which was closely related to the type species of the genus, Pseudozyma prolifica.

China↗

The effect of gravity on surface temperature and net photosynthetic rate of plant leaves.

To clarify the effects of gravity on heat/gas exchange between plant leaves and the ambient air, the leaf temperatures and net photosynthetic rates of plant leaves were evaluated at 0.01, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 G of 20 seconds each during a parabolic airplane flight. Thermal images of leaves were captured using infrared thermography at an air temperature of 26 degrees C, a relative humidity of 15% and an irradiance of 260 W m-2. The net photosynthetic rates were determined by using a chamber method with an infrared gas analyzer at an air temperature of 20 degrees C, a relative humidity of 50% and a photosynthetic photon flux of 0.5 mmol m-2 s-1. The mean leaf temperature increased by 1 degree C and the net photosynthetic rate decreased by 13% with decreasing gravity levels from 1.0 to 0.01 G. The leaf temperature decreased by 0.5 degree C and the net photosynthetic rate increased by 7% with increasing gravity levels from 1.0 to 2.0 G. Heat/gas exchanges between leaves and the ambient air were more retarded at lower gravity levels. A restricted free air convection under microgravity conditions in space would limit plant growth by retarding heat and gas exchanges between leaves and the ambient air.

Gravitation↗

[Fluorescence of higher plant leaves at raised temperatures].

Red fluorescence (lambda approximately 630 divided by 760 nm) of naked-spermous (Gimnospermae) plant leaves in the state of winter rest and in the summer period, and also green and etiolated angiospermous (Angiospermae) plant leaves at different developmental stages (from embryonic to mature state) was investigated in the temperature range 20-96 degrees C. At the temperature about 60 degrees C a fluorescence "flash" develops avalanche-lookingly, its intensity being the higher, the younger is the angiospermous plant leaf. In the naked-spermous plant leaves an intensive avalanche-looking process is observed only in the winter-spring period.

Plant Development↗

[Anatomical and nutrient features of plant leaves in Yuanjiang savanna valley].

Due to rain shadow effect, the valleys in southwestern China mountainous areas have hot and dry climate, and savanna or semi-savanna vegetations occur on the slopes of these valleys. Yuanjiang dry-hot valley is such a valley, which has a distinct dry season of about six months from November to next April. This paper studied the anatomical and nutrient features of the leaves of twenty plant species, including those on upland soils and hilly slopes. The results showed that compared with the species on upland soil and the rain forest, the leaves of the plants from savanna showed more xeromorphic features, such as thicker leaf thickness, greater leaf mass per area (LMA), smaller ratios of spongy/palisade tissues (S:P) and higher stomatal density (SD), which mainly came from the more severe drought in Yuanjiang savanna valley. Seven plant species in the savanna valley showed a shortage of nutrients in their leaves, and the leaf nutrient content was in order of 1.3% > Ca > N > K > 1% > Mg > P > S. Savanna had lower leaf mineral element concentrations than rain forest, but higher than other dry forests, including Asian heath forest and Bana forest. The differences in leaf nutrient concentrations between Yuanjiang valley savanna and other dry forests were mainly ascribed to the difference of soil nutrient contents, while those between valley savanna and rainforest were largely determined by the different plant biology. It could be concluded that the leaves of plant species in Yuanjiang savanna valley not only had obvious xeromorphic features, but also were deficit in nutrients.

Calcium↗

Bensingtonia pseudonaganoensis sp. nov., a novel ballistoconidium-forming yeast species isolated from plant leaves.

Among the basidiomycetous yeasts isolated from plant leaves collected in different regions of China, two ballistoconidium-forming strains were revealed to represent an undescribed species of the genus Bensingtonia by conventional, chemotaxonomic and molecular phylogenetic characterization. Sequence analysis of the 26S rDNA D1/D2 domains and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region indicated that the novel species was located in the Agaricostilbum lineage and closely related to Bensingtonia naganoensis and Bensingtonia ciliata, with the former as its closest relative. The name Bensingtonia pseudonaganoensis sp. nov. is proposed (type strain: AS 2.2601T = CBS 10121T).

Basidiomycota↗

[Activity, isoenzyme composition, thermostability and molecular weight of peroxidase from intact and virus infected tobacco plant leaves].

The enzyme peroxidase was isolated from the leaves of the tobacco plant Xanthi (intact and infected with weakly (XY) and highly (XT) pathogenic strains of potato X-virus) and partially purified. The original extract (the 30,000 g supernatant) was purified by ammonium sulfate at 30--80% of saturation and by gel filtration through Sephadex G-25 and G-100 in 0.05 M tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.4 containing 17% sucrose. Disc electrophoresis revealed that both intact and infected plants contain 10 isoperoxidases. The electrophoregrams of isoenzymes from infected plants with the Rf values of 0.1, 0.48, 0.53 and 0.59 stained with benzidine produced a more intensive colouring as compared to the corresponding isoenzymes from intact plants. The total enzymatic activity for the plants infected with the XY and XT strains made up to 180% and 240% of that for the intact plants, respectively. The molecular weights of the peroxidase isoenzymes were found to be the same and equal to 40,000. Study of the thermostability at 60 degrees C and pH 7.0 showed that after 90 min the enzyme activity was 12.4% and 5.1% of the original one in intact and infected plants, respectively. The data obtained suggest that the activity, thermostability and synthesis of some peroxidase isoenzymes in tobacco plant leaves are affected by viral infection.

Drug Stability↗

Some plant leaves have orientation-dependent EPR and NMR spectra.

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR) spectra of leaves from 50 plant species were obtained at a spectrometer frequency of 470 MHz. Water present in leaf samples gives rise to characteristic spectral patterns. Most species show only one broad (1)H NMR peak; however, the leaves of some plants display complex, orientation-dependent spectra in which a common three-line pattern is discerned. The pattern varies with the angle between the leaf surface and the external magnetic field. Proton relaxation measurements show the presence of at least two water compartments in the leaves. The compartments are responsible for different components of the spectral pattern. EPR spectra, obtained at 35 GHz and at a temperature of -180 degrees C, of plant leaf sections are dominated by the strong signals of manganous ions. We find that most plant leaves have isotropic Mn(2+) EPR spectra. However, in some species (including ones that exhibit orientation-dependent (1)H NMR spectra) we detect orientation-dependent intensities in the forbidden lines; the spectra indicate that Mn(2+) ions occupy binding sites with axial or lower symmetry on nonrandomly oriented membranes. Both the NMR and the EPR results suggest that the chloroplasts of some plants are preferentially aligned with respect to the leaf surface.

Journal Article↗

Superexpression of tuberculosis antigens in plant leaves.

Recent developments in genetic engineering allow the employment of plants as factories for 1/foreign protein production. Thus, tuberculosis (TB) ESAT6 antigen was expressed in different plant systems, but the level of vaccine protein accumulation was extremely low. We describe the technology for superexpression of TB vaccine proteins (Ag85B, ESAT6, and ESAT6:Ag85B fusion) in plant leaves which involves: (i) construction of tobacco mosaic virus-based vectors with the coat protein genes substituted by those for TB antigens; (ii) Agrobacterium-mediated delivery to plant leaf tissues of binary vectors containing the cDNA copy of the vector virus genome; and (iii) replication of virus vectors in plant cells under conditions suppressing the virus-induced gene silencing. This technology enables efficient production of the TB vaccine proteins in plants; in particular, the level of Ag85B antigen accumulation was not less than 800 mg/kg of fresh leaves. Expression of TB antigens in plant cells as His(6)-tagged proteins promoted their isolation and purification by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. Deletion of transmembrane domains from Ag85B caused a dramatic increase in its intracellular stability. We propose that the strategy of TB antigens superproduction in a plant might be used as a basis for the creation of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine against TB.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens↗