Little information is available on As contamination dynamics in the soil-plant systems of wetlands. Total arsenic (As) in soil and plant samples from Suaeda salsa and Phragmites australis wetlands was measured in the Yellow River Estuary (YRE) in summer and autumn of 2007 to investigate the seasonal changes in As concentrations in different wetlands. The results showed that soil As levels great...

Camptothecin is an anticancer drug produced by the monoterpene indole alkaloid pathway in Camptotheca acuminata. As part of an investigation of the camptothecin biosynthetic pathway, we have cloned and characterized a gene from C. acuminata encoding the beta-subunit of tryptophan (Trp) synthase (TSB). In C. acuminata TSB provides Trp for both protein synthesis and indole alkaloid production and...

To trace the interrelationships and for identification and characterisation of diversity among three species of medicinally important plant Bauhinia viz. B. acuminata B. purpurea and B. racemosa, belonging to subfamily Caesalpiniaceae, cytological study with respect to chromosome number, somatic chromosome length of component arms of chromosome, T. F% and chromosome type and seed protein variat...

Dinophysis acuminata cells were isolated from Narragansett Bay water samples in June 2005 using flow cytometry. Dinoflagellate-specific PCR primers were used to isolate small-subunit rRNA (18S rRNA), mitochondrial cytochrome b (cob), and cytochrome c oxidase I (cox1) genes and the encoded cDNAs. Maximum-likelihood analysis of a concatenated data set of ribosomal DNA and cDNA sequences of cob an...

The compound crotocaudin extracted from the stem bark of the medicinal plant Croton tiglium Linn. was administered for 24 h or 96 h to the freshwater vector snail Lymnaea (Radix) acuminata Lamarck in order to test its toxicity. L. acuminata is the intermediate host of Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica which cause immense harm to man and his domestic animals. It was observed that the moll...

BACKGROUND Local communities in sub-Saharan Africa have a long history of medicinal plant usage. Like in other parts of the developing world, rural and urban communities are still dependent on herbal medicines for primary health care, and the use of herbal medicines is still an integral part of their daily life and socio-cultural life style. The objective of this paper is to summarise informati...

Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) extracts of four halophytic plants, viz. Arthrocnemum indicum, Salicornia brachiata, Suaeda maritima and Suaeda monoica belonging to the family Chenopodiaceae, were prepared and their composition was analyzed by GC-MS. The FAME extracts were also screened for antibacterial and antifungal activities. The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of more saturated fatty ...

The production of two or more seed types by a single plant is known as seed heteromorphism. There have been many comparisons of seed traits or growth between plants grown from heteromorphic seeds. However, information is scarce regarding the mineral contents of adult plants from heteromorphic seeds. We herein present biomass and mineral profiles of adult plants grown from dimorphic seeds (non-d...

Hepatoprotective and antioxidant properties of Suaeda maritima (L.) Dumort on concanavalin-A induced stress in Wistar albino rats have been reported. Rats were administered with ethanolic extract of Suaeda maritimna at the concentration of 75, 150 and 300 mg/kg of body wt. for 9 days and concanavalin-A was administrated (iv) 12 mg/kg on 9th day. Rats in concanavalin-A administered group showed ...