BACKGROUND Despite the availability of several studies to clarify taxonomic problems on the highly threatened yews of the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) and adjacent regions, the total number of species and their exact distribution ranges remains controversial. We explored the use of comprehensive sets of morphological, molecular and climatic data to clarify taxonomy and distributions of yews in thi...

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Taxus cell suspension culture is a sustainable technology for the industrial production of paclitaxel (Taxol®), a highly modified diterpene anti-cancer agent. The methyl jasmonate (MJ)-mediated paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway is not fully characterized, making metabolic engineering efforts difficult. Here, promoters of seven genes (TASY, T5αH, DBAT, DBBT, PAM, BAPT, and DBTNBT), encoding enzyme...

Botanical fruits derive from ovaries and their most important function is to favor seed dispersal. Fleshy fruits do so by attracting frugivorous animals that disperse seeds together with their own excrements (endozoochory). Gymnosperms make seeds but have no ovaries to be transformed into fruits. Many species surround their seeds with fleshy structures and use endozoochory to disperse them. Suc...

Methyl jasmonate (MeJA), a methyl ester of jasmonic acid (JA), is a well-established signal molecule in plant defense responses and an effective inducer of secondary metabolite accumulation in plant cell cultures such as the valuable anticancer diterpenoid taxol (paclitaxel) in Taxus spp. This work examines the involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in MeJA-induced plant defense responses and seconda...

The antibacterial activities and phytochemical analysis of crude extracts of four indigenous plants (Acorus calamus, Euphorbia hirta, Solanum surattense and Taxus baccata) grown in Garhwal Hills region of western Himalaya, India were tested against pathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Bacillus cereus. Solvent extraction of in...

The species variability and potential environmental functions of Taxus rhizosphere microbial community were studied by comparative analyses of 15 16S rRNA and 15 ITS MiSeq sequencing libraries from Taxus rhizospheres in subtropical and temperate regions of China, as well as by isolating laccase-producing strains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-degrading strains. Total reads could be a...

UNTIL RECENTLY, retirement from the workforce R&S regarded as a change that took place at a pred&ermmed age, fixed by law or regululatlon There usually nas no choxe ns to the age of retxement, and early nlthdrawal from the markforce usually meant n sharp redo&on m Income or even, m extreme cases, a total loss of penslo* benefits In recent years, however, many mdustrud countrms hnve mcorporated ...