Unravelling the Photoprotection Properties of Garden Cress Sprout Extract

Plants, as with humans, require photoprotection against the potentially damaging effects of overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Previously, sinapoyl malate (SM) was identified as the photoprotective agent in thale cress. Here, we seek to identify the photoprotective agent in a similar plant, garden cress, which is currently used in the skincare product Detoxophane nc. To achieve this, we explore the photodynamics of both the garden cress sprout extract and Detoxophane nc with femtosecond transient electronic absorption spectroscopy. With the assistance of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, we determine that the main UV-absorbing compound in garden cress sprout extract is SM. Importantly, our studies reveal that the photoprotection properties of the SM in the garden cress sprout extract present in Detoxophane nc are not compromised by the formulation environment. The result suggests that Detoxophane nc containing the garden cress sprout extract may offer additional photoprotection to the end user in the form of a UV filter booster.

From the Soil to the Club in the Roots: Clubroot

Among the millions of microorganisms inhabiting the soils, some can be plant pathogens, meaning they can become a disease to plants. Some diseases are more well-known than others. This is the case of clubroot, a very atypical microorganism that infects cruciferous plants, such as cabbage, kale, canola, and the common research plant thale cress. In this article, I will tell you more about clubroot and clubroot disease because there is still a lot to discover about the pathogen and the disease. Maybe you will be part of our lab in the future and investigate a fascinating soil-borne pathogen.

Phytotoxic Activity of the Natural Compound Norharmane on Crops, Weeds and Model Plants

Norharmane is a secondary metabolite that appears in different species of land plants. In this paper, we investigated for the first time the specificity of norharmane through germination and growth tests on some crops as Zea mays L. (maize), Triticum aestivum L. (wheat), Oryza sativa L. (rice) and Lactuca sativa L. (lettuce) and weeds as Amaranthus retroflexus L. (amaranth), Echinochloa crus-galli L. (barnyard grass), Plantago lanceolata L. (ribwort), Portulaca oleracea L. (common purslane) and Avena fatua L. (wild oat), and its phytotoxic capacity on the metabolism of adult Arabidopsis thaliana L. (thale cress) by measuring chlorophyll a fluorescence, pigment content, total proteins, osmotic potential and morphological analysis. Norharmane had an inhibitory effect on the germination of A. fatua and P. lanceolata, and the growth of P. oleracea, E. crus-galli and A. retroflexus. On adult A. thaliana plants, the compound was more effective to watering, leading to water stress that compromised the growth of the plants and ultimately affected the photosynthetic apparatus. Therefore, this research shows that norharmane not only affects seedlings’ metabolism, but also damages the metabolism of adult plants and can be a potential model for a future bioherbicide given its specificity.

Is callose required for silicification in plants?

The cell wall polymer callose catalyses the formation of silica in vitro and is heavily implicated in biological silicification in Equisetum (horsetail) and Arabidopsis (thale cress) in vivo . Callose, a β-1,3-glucan, is an ideal partner for silicification, because its amorphous structure and ephemeral nature provide suitable microenvironments to support the condensation of silicic acid into silica. Herein, using scanning electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry and fluorescence, we provide further evidence of the cooperative nature of callose and silica in biological silicification in rice, an important crop plant and known silica accumulator. These new data along with recently published research enable us to propose a model to describe the intracellular events that together determine callose-driven biological silicification.

Membrane-Bound Class III Peroxidases: Unexpected Enzymes with Exciting Functions

Class III peroxidases are heme-containing proteins of the secretory pathway with a high redundance and versatile functions. Many soluble peroxidases have been characterized in great detail, whereas only a few studies exist on membrane-bound isoenzymes. Membrane localization of class III peroxidases has been demonstrated for tonoplast, plasma membrane and detergent resistant membrane fractions of different plant species. In silico analysis revealed transmembrane domains for about half of the class III peroxidases that are encoded by the maize (Zea mays) genome. Similar results have been found for other species like thale-cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), barrel medic (Medicago truncatula) and rice (Oryza sativa). Besides this, soluble peroxidases interact with tonoplast and plasma membranes by protein–protein interaction. The topology, spatiotemporal organization, molecular and biological functions of membrane-bound class III peroxidases are discussed. Besides a function in membrane protection and/or membrane repair, additional functions have been supported by experimental data and phylogenetics.

Structural and phylogenetic analysis of α-glucosidase protein in insects

Abstractα-Glucosidases (αglus) (EC 3.2.1.20) have been detected in a wide range of plants, animals and microorganisms and are described by their ability to catalyze the hydrolysis of 1,4-α-glucosidic linkages, releasing α-glucose. In this study, 96 αglu protein sequences from 33 organisms species including different insects species, plants (including thale cress and rice), mammals (including human and mouse) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a bacterium were aligned. Sequences were analyzed by computational tools to predict the protein properties, such as molecular mass, isoelectric point, signal peptide, conserved motifs, transmembrane domain and secondary structure. Drosophila melanogaster (GenBank Accession No.: NP 610382) was chosen as one of the representatives of insects for further analyses. The tertiary structure of representative samples were acquired using the tertiary structure of oligo-1,6-glucosidase from Bacillus cereus (Protein Data Bank code: 1UOK) as a template by Phyre2 server. Protein structure analysis revealed there is a high identity among insects and other organisms. There were some similar functional domains between D. melanogaster and M. tuberculosis. The modeled αglu has a typical spatial structure in insects and exhibits a high similarity with other organisms, especially Arabidopsis thaliana. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that D. melanogaster αglu has a close relationship with other αglus from different insect families. According to these results, αglu in insects should be evolved from a common ancestor.

The Phytotoxic Potential of the Terpenoid Citral on Seedlings and Adult Plants

Citral is a monoterpene commonly found as volatile component in many different aromatic plants. Although many studies have identified the presence of citral in phytotoxic essential oils, this work determines for the first time the potential herbicidal effect of citral on weeds. The use of citral against weeds and crops resulted in the potential for the management of barnyardgrass, redroot pigweed, and ribwort. Clear morphological differences were observed between adult thale cress plants exposed to citral in two different application methods: spraying and watering. Citral-sprayed and citral-watered thale cress plants showed completely different effects after treatment, suggesting that foliar or root absorption can determine the effectiveness of this compound. This work demonstrates that citral is effective not only on seedling metabolism but also on adult plants by inhibiting growth and development altering the plant oxidative status.