Urbanization and related anthropogenic modifications cause extent of habitat fragmentation and directly lead to decline of local biodiversity. Conservation biologists advocate corridor creation as one approach to rescue biodiversity. Here we examine the utility of roads as corridors in preserving plant diversity by investigating roadside vegetation in Yellow River Delta (YRD), China. We examine...

In this study, we report phytoremediation of textile dyes using hairy roots derived through Agrobacterium rhizogenes (NCIM 5140) infection of in vitro leaf and stem explants of a halophyte Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L. Leaf explants showed higher frequency of hairy root induction (70%) than stem explants (30%), and maximum number of roots (leaf 42.3 ± 2.4 and stem 50.3 ± 1.7). Transformed nat...

Vacuoles were isolated via protoplasts from the leaves of a halophyte Atriplex gmelini C.A.Mey., grown in culture solution supplemented with 250 millimolar NaCl. Lysis of the protoplasts was induced by lowering the medium osmolarity (1.2 to 1.0 molar sorbitol) and adding a detergent, a synthesized cholate derivative, 3-([3-cholamidopropyl] dimethylammonio)-1-propanesulfonate at a concentration ...

As the worldwide population continues to rise, so does global demand for agricultural production. This scenario of uncertain food supply is exacerbated by high salinization soils worldwide, a serious constraint crop productivity. In this context, there an increasing need alternative sustainable crops. Halophytes are thought be promising source due their natural ability grow in saline and multip...

In the facultative halophyte Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (common ice plant), irrigation with solutions containing NaCl induces an alternate mode of carbon dioxide fixation, Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). The salt stress protocol which we have established facilitates the study of CAM induction and the correlation of changes in metabolism and gene expression. We have studied the time cours...

The comparative effect of the uptake of fresh and degraded detritus of halophytic plants, harvested from salt marches of the Mont Saint-Michel Bay (France), on the growth of a juvenile population of the annelid polychaete N. diversicolor (L.) was studied under experimental conditions in summer 1993. Fresh and degraded detritus of Spartina anglica, Halimione portulacoides and Salicornia europeae...

CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs) mediate many plant responses to abiotic stress. However, their functions are poorly understood in halophytes. In this study, we isolated a CIPK gene, NtCIPK2, from the halophyte Nitraria tangutorum. By sequence alignment and the construction of a phylogenetic tree, we found that NtCIPK2 is similar to CIPK2 proteins from other plants, and contains conserve...

Previous studies have characterized the total polyphenolic contents, antioxidant activity, tyrosinase, elastase, and NO production of halophytes. Halophytes are distributed among many countries; however, it has not been properly utilized. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of halophyte Euphorbia helioscopia (E.H.) on the LPS-induced inflammatory response in RAW 264.7 macrophag...

It is assumed that salinity enhances the concentration of valuable metabolites in halophytes. The objective was to find a salt concentration and a point in time at which the yield for the valuable metabolites was maximal. Therefore, three different halophyte species were grown under different salinities and harvested over a period from shortly after stress induction up to three weeks. Various r...

To date, no gene expression comparisons have been conducted between highly salt tolerant halophytes and related glycophytes. Therefore, I investigated the effects of salinity on ion accumulation and expression of candidate salt tolerance genes in the highly tolerant salt accumulating halophyte Salicornia dolichostachya and the taxonomically related glycophytic Spinacia oleracea. S. dolichostach...