Opium poppy: a model system to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in plants

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (10) ◽  
pp. 1189-1206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Facchini ◽  
David A. Bird ◽  
Richard Bourgault ◽  
Jillian M. Hagel ◽  
David K. Liscombe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Secondary Metabolism ◽  
Secondary Compounds ◽  
Model System ◽  
Opium Poppy ◽  
Mentha Piperita ◽  
Alkaloid Biosynthesis ◽  
Model Legume ◽  
Integrative Research ◽  
The Many

Remarkable progress on the biology of plant secondary metabolism has recently been realized. The application of advanced biochemistry, molecular, cellular, and genomic methodologies has revealed biological paradigms unique to the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, flavonoids, glucosinolates, phenylpropanoids, and terpenoids. The use of model plant systems has facilitated integrative research on the biosynthesis and regulation of each group of natural products. The model legume, Medicago truncatula Gaertn., plays a key role in studies on phenylpropanoid and flavonoid metabolism. Mint ( Mentha × piperita L.) and various conifers are the systems of choice to investigate terpenoid metabolism, whereas members of the mustard family (Brassica spp.) are central to work on glucosinolate pathways. Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. is also used to study the biosynthesis of most secondary compounds, except alkaloids. Unlike other categories of secondary metabolites, the many structural types of alkaloids are biosynthetically unrelated. The biology of each group is unique, although common paradigms are also apparent. Opium poppy ( Papaver somniferum L.) produces a large number of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids and has begun to challenge Madigascar periwinkle ( Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don), which accumulates monoterpenoid indole alkaloids, as the most versatile model system to study alkaloid metabolism. An overview of recent progress on the biology of plant alkaloid biosynthesis, with a focus on benzylisoquinoline alkaloid pathways in opium poppy and related species, highlights the emergence of opium poppy as an important model system to investigate secondary metabolism.

Secondary chemistry of cultured mycobionts: formation of a complete chemosyndrome by the lichen fungus of Lobaria spathulata

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elfie Stocker-Wörgötter ◽  
John A. Elix
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Secondary Compounds ◽  
Culture Conditions ◽  
Model System ◽  
Nutrient Requirements ◽  
Nutrient Media ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Lichen Substances ◽  
Lichen Thallus ◽  
Lichen Fungus

AbstractThe study aimed to optimize culture conditions and nutrient requirements for theproduction of secondary metabolites by the cultured mycobiont Lobaria spathulata. This species proved to be an excellent model system for such studies, as the complete chemosyndromefound in the natural lichen thallus was repeatedly formed in the cultured mycobiont with differentiated, aerial mycelia. Nutrient media containing the disaccharide, sucrose, were found to favour both rapid growth and the production of typical lichen substances. Higher proportions of the secondary compounds were detected in the developing mycobiont than in mature lichen thalli.

Coupled-pair theories and Davidson-type corrections for quasidegenerate states: The H4 model revisited

1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (9) ◽  
pp. 1919-1942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Paldus ◽  
Paul E. S. Wormer ◽  
Marc Benard
Keyword(s):  
Electron Correlation ◽  
Model System ◽  
Coupled Cluster ◽  
Electron Model ◽  
Hydrogen Molecules ◽  
Double Zeta ◽  
Correlation Problem ◽  
Variational Approaches ◽  
Cluster Type ◽  
The Many

The performance of various variational and non-variational approaches to the many-electron correlation problem is examined for a simple four-electron model system consisting of two stretched hydrogen molecules in trapezoidal, rectangular and linear configurations, in which the degree of quasi-degeneracy can be continuously varied from a non-degenerate to an almost degenerate situation. In contrast to an earlier work (K. Jankowski and J. Paldus, Int. J. Quantum Chem. 18, 1243 (1980)) we employ a double-zeta plus polarization basis and examine both single reference and multireference configuration interaction and coupled-cluster-type approaches. The performance of various Davidson-type corrections is also investigated.

scholarly journals Non-Cannabinoid Metabolites of Cannabis sativa L. with Therapeutic Potential

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 400
Author(s):  
Henry Lowe ◽  
Blair Steele ◽  
Joseph Bryant ◽  
Ngeh Toyang ◽  
Wilfred Ngwa
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Cannabis Sativa ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Physiological Activity ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Therapeutic Window ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Medicinal Properties ◽  
The Many ◽  
Human Viruses

The cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L.) produces an estimated 545 chemical compounds of different biogenetic classes. In addition to economic value, many of these phytochemicals have medicinal and physiological activity. The plant is most popularly known for its two most-prominent and most-studied secondary metabolites—Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Both Δ9-THC and CBD have a wide therapeutic window across many ailments and form part of a class of secondary metabolites called cannabinoids—of which approximately over 104 exist. This review will focus on non-cannabinoid metabolites of Cannabis sativa that also have therapeutic potential, some of which share medicinal properties similar to those of cannabinoids. The most notable of these non-cannabinoid phytochemicals are flavonoids and terpenes. We will also discuss future directions in cannabis research and development of cannabis-based pharmaceuticals. Caflanone, a flavonoid molecule with selective activity against the human viruses including the coronavirus OC43 (HCov-OC43) that is responsible for COVID-19, and certain cancers, is one of the most promising non-cannabinoid molecules that is being advanced into clinical trials. As validated by thousands of years of the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, vast anecdotal evidence abounds on the medicinal benefits of the plant. These benefits are attributed to the many phytochemicals in this plant, including non-cannabinoids. The most promising non-cannabinoids with potential to alleviate global disease burdens are discussed.

Physiological Effect of Lichen Secondary Metabolites on the Lichen Parasite Marchandiomyces Corallinus

1999 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Torzilli ◽  
P. A. Mikelson ◽  
J. D. Lawrey
Keyword(s):  
Catalytic Activity ◽  
Phenolic Compounds ◽  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Host Preference ◽  
Secondary Compounds ◽  
Physiological Effect ◽  
Physiological Adaptation ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Physiological Basis ◽  
Lichenicolous Fungi

AbstractIt has been suggested that the host specificity exhibited by some lichenicolous fungi depends on their ability to tolerate the secondary chemistry of potential host lichens. For example, the lichen parasite Marchandiomyces corallinus is able to degrade the tissues of the lichen Flavoparmelia baltimorensis irrespective of the presence or absence of endogenous phenolic compounds. In contrast, the degradation of tissues from the lichen Lasallia papulosa is suppressed when endogenous phenolics are not removed. We have investigated the physiological basis of this inhibition in order to understand more about how lichen chemistry infiuences host preference in lichenicolous fungi. Results showed that the secondary compounds from L. papulosa inhibit the overall growth of M. corallimis, but not the catalytic activity of its tissue-degrading polysaccharidases. This effect is different from that shown by another lichen parasite, Nectria parmeliae, where lichen compounds specifically inhibited polysaccharidase activity. Compared with the compounds of L. papulosa, the endogenous phenolics of F. baltimorensis inhibited the growth of M. corallimis substantially less and exhibited little or no inhibition of polysaccharidases. For M. corallimis, host preference appears to be associated with physiological adaptation to the chemistry of F. baltimorensis.

Effects of age and food source on secondary chemistry of larvae of Lymantria species (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Deml
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Secondary Compounds ◽  
Food Plants ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Chemical Compositions ◽  
Clustering Methods ◽  
Single Linkage ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Dissimilarity Coefficients

AbstractHaemolymph and osmeterial secretions of caterpillars of Lymantria monacha (Linnaeus) and L. concolor Walker were analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for low molecular weight secondary metabolites. The similarities of their chemical compositions were determined by means of cluster analysis techniques in order to characterize possible chemical variations related to developmental stage or food of the larvae. For this purpose, two dissimilarity coefficients (Euclidean distances, Canberra metrics) and four clustering methods (UPGMA, WPGMA, WPGMC, single linkage) were combined. The patterns of secondary compounds obtained from the haemolymph and osmeterial secretions studied did not differ statistically significantly between two groups of L. monacha larvae fed with either larch, Larix decidua Mil., or Norway spruce, Picea abies (L.), indicating no relevant influence of plant chemistry. However, haemolymph of penultimate instar larvae of L. concolor fed on Rhododendroncontained a mixture of compounds differing statistically significantly from that of last instar caterpillars. The total compositions of the corresponding gland secretions were statistically identical though the presence/amounts of individual compounds varied. This suggested that the haemolymph composition reflected changing physiological requirements of the successive instars, whereas the composition of the defensive mixtures remained comparatively constant, possibly due to a constant spectrum of potential enemies. A more pronounced age-dependence of larval chemistry was shown by a similar analysis of data from various developmental stages of L. dispar (Linnaeus) and one of its food plants. This analysis suggested plant composition affected the secondary chemistry of early larval instars of L. dispar. The results are discussed in terms of the roles of secondary metabolites in defence against natural enemies.

scholarly journals Guidelines for Genetic Nomenclature and Community Governance for the Model Legume Medicago truncatula

2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 1364-1367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn A. VandenBosch ◽  
Julia Frugoli
Keyword(s):  
Medicago Truncatula ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Model System ◽  
Gene Nomenclature ◽  
Community Governance ◽  
Model Legume ◽  
The Past ◽  
Genetic Nomenclature ◽  
International Collaborations

At the 2nd Medicago meeting (a satellite of the 1999 IS-MPMI meeting in Amsterdam), investigators perceived a need for standardization of genetic nomenclature in Medicago truncatula, due to the rapid growth of research on this species in the past few years. Establishment of such standards grew out of discussions begun at this meeting and continued electronically throughout the M. truncatula community. The proposed standards presented here are the consensus results of those discussions. In addition to standards for gene nomenclature, a method for community governance and a website for cataloging gene names and submitting new ones are presented. The purpose of implementing these guidelines is to help maintain consistency in the literature, to avoid redundancy, to contribute to the accuracy of databases, and, in general, to aid the international collaborations that have made M. truncatula a model system for legume biology.

scholarly journals Non-Cannabinoid Metabolites of Cannabis sativa with Therapeutic Potential

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Lowe ◽  
Blair Steele ◽  
Joseph Bryant ◽  
Ngeh Toyang ◽  
Wilfred Ngwa
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Cannabis Sativa ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Physiological Activity ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Therapeutic Window ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Medicinal Properties ◽  
The Many ◽  
Human Viruses

The Cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L.) produces an estimated 545 chemical compounds of different biogenetic classes. In addition to economic value, many of these phytochemicals have medicinal and physiological activity. The plant is most popularly known for its two most prominent and most studied secondary metabolites— Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD). Both Δ9-THC and CBD have a wide therapeutic window across many ailments and form part of a class of secondary metabolites called cannabinoids—of which approximately over 104 exist. This review will focus on non-cannabinoid metabolites of Cannabis sativa that also have therapeutic potential, some of which share medicinal properties similar to those of cannabinoids. The most notable of these non-cannabinoid phytochemicals are flavonoids and terpenes. We will also discuss future directions in cannabis research and development of cannabis-based pharmaceuticals. Caflanone, a flavonoid molecule with selective activity against the human viruses including the coronavirus SARS-COV2, and certain cancers, is one of the most promising non-cannabinoid molecules that is being advanced into clinical trials. As validated by thousands of years of the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, vast anecdotal evidence abounds on the medicinal benefits of the plant. These benefits are attributed to the many phytochemicals in this plant, including non-cannabinoids. The most promising non-cannabinoids with potential to alleviate global disease burdens are discussed.

scholarly journals IMG-ABC: A Knowledge Base To Fuel Discovery of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters and Novel Secondary Metabolites

mBio ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michalis Hadjithomas ◽  
I-Min Amy Chen ◽  
Ken Chu ◽  
Anna Ratner ◽  
Krishna Palaniappan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Secondary Metabolism ◽  
Genomic Data ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Metagenomic Data ◽  
Integrated Analysis ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Clusters ◽  
Analysis Tools

ABSTRACTIn the discovery of secondary metabolites, analysis of sequence data is a promising exploration path that remains largely underutilized due to the lack of computational platforms that enable such a systematic approach on a large scale. In this work, we present IMG-ABC (https://img.jgi.doe.gov/abc), an atlas of biosynthetic gene clusters within the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system, which is aimed at harnessing the power of “big” genomic data for discovering small molecules. IMG-ABC relies on IMG's comprehensive integrated structural and functional genomic data for the analysis of biosynthetic gene clusters (BCs) and associated secondary metabolites (SMs). SMs and BCs serve as the two main classes of objects in IMG-ABC, each with a rich collection of attributes. A unique feature of IMG-ABC is the incorporation of both experimentally validated and computationally predicted BCs in genomes as well as metagenomes, thus identifying BCs in uncultured populations and rare taxa. We demonstrate the strength of IMG-ABC's focused integrated analysis tools in enabling the exploration of microbial secondary metabolism on a global scale, through the discovery of phenazine-producing clusters for the first time inAlphaproteobacteria. IMG-ABC strives to fill the long-existent void of resources for computational exploration of the secondary metabolism universe; its underlying scalable framework enables traversal of uncovered phylogenetic and chemical structure space, serving as a doorway to a new era in the discovery of novel molecules.IMPORTANCEIMG-ABC is the largest publicly available database of predicted and experimental biosynthetic gene clusters and the secondary metabolites they produce. The system also includes powerful search and analysis tools that are integrated with IMG's extensive genomic/metagenomic data and analysis tool kits. As new research on biosynthetic gene clusters and secondary metabolites is published and more genomes are sequenced, IMG-ABC will continue to expand, with the goal of becoming an essential component of any bioinformatic exploration of the secondary metabolism world.

Integration of silicon and secondary metabolites in plants: a significant association in stress tolerance

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (21) ◽  
pp. 6758-6774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Abass Ahanger ◽  
Javaid Akhter Bhat ◽  
Manzer H Siddiqui ◽  
Jörg Rinklebe ◽  
Parvaiz Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Stress Tolerance ◽  
Secondary Metabolism ◽  
Abiotic Stresses ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Pathogen Resistance ◽  
Molecular Aspects ◽  
Nitrogen Containing Compounds ◽  
Sessile Organisms ◽  
Physiological And Biochemical

Abstract As sessile organisms, plants are unable to avoid being subjected to environmental stresses that negatively affect their growth and productivity. Instead, they utilize various mechanisms at the morphological, physiological, and biochemical levels to alleviate the deleterious effects of such stresses. Amongst these, secondary metabolites produced by plants represent an important component of the defense system. Secondary metabolites, namely phenolics, terpenes, and nitrogen-containing compounds, have been extensively demonstrated to protect plants against multiple stresses, both biotic (herbivores and pathogenic microorganisms) and abiotic (e.g. drought, salinity, and heavy metals). The regulation of secondary metabolism by beneficial elements such as silicon (Si) is an important topic. Silicon-mediated alleviation of both biotic and abiotic stresses has been well documented in numerous plant species. Recently, many studies have demonstrated the involvement of Si in strengthening stress tolerance through the modulation of secondary metabolism. In this review, we discuss Si-mediated regulation of the synthesis, metabolism, and modification of secondary metabolites that lead to enhanced stress tolerance, with a focus on physiological, biochemical, and molecular aspects. Whilst mechanisms involved in Si-mediated regulation of pathogen resistance via secondary metabolism have been established in plants, they are largely unknown in the case of abiotic stresses, thus leaving an important gap in our current knowledge.

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