Human activities like mining, transport, agriculture, industrial waste disposal and military actions release inorganic pollutants in high concentrations that are toxic to natural ecosystems. Heavy metal pollution causes potential ecological risk. Heavy metals like Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb) and Chromium (Cr) when present in high concentrations in soil exert potential toxic effects on overall growt...

Catharanthus roseus (L.) known as Madagascar periwinkle (MP) is a legendary medicinal plant mostly because of possessing two invaluable antitumor terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs), vincristine and vinblastine. The plant has also high aesthetic value as an evergreen ornamental that yields prolific blooms of splendid colors. The plant possesses yet another unique characteristic as an amiable expe...

Vinca rosea (Catharanthus roseus L.) is native to the Caribbean Basin and has historically been used to treat a wide assortment of diseases. European herbalists used the plant for conditions as varied as headache to a folk remedy for diabetes. The objective of the study is to evaluate the diabetic wound healing activity of Vinca rosea using the excision wound model in a streptozotocin induced d...

A change from MX growth medium to a solution of 8% SUC induces the expression of a large number of proteins in cell cultures of Catharanthus roseus (Vetter et al., 1992; our unpublished results). In a differential screen for induced mRNAs, we identified a cDNA for a basic 14-kD polypeptide with four putative membrane-associated helices (Fig. 1, Table I). It also contains a Pro-Lys-Pro motif tha...

Leaves of Catharanthus roseus (L) G. Don (72 kg) were collected from a field grown in the Karachi Uni­ versity campus. The crude alkaloids (134 g) obtained from the alcoholic extract of the air-dried leaves (24 kg) of the plant, were dissolved in chloroform (450 ml) and extracted with pH 3 phosphate buffer (1 1). The chloroform layer was dried (anhydrous Na2S 0 4), concentrated to 1/3 of its or...

Cell walls are not only a protective barrier surrounding protoplasts but serve as signaling platform between the extracellular environment and the intracellular physiology. Ions of heavy metals and trace elements, summarized to metal ions, bind to cell wall components, trigger their modification and provoke growth responses. To examine if metal ions trigger cell wall sensing receptor like kinas...

The present study establishes the analgesic and anti-pyretic activities of the ethanolic extract of leaves of Catharanthus roseus in the models used. Since antipyretic and analgesic activities are commonly mentioned as characteristic of drugs or compounds which have an inhibitory effect on prostaglandin biosynthesis, the yeast induced hyperthermia in rat model was, therefore, employed to invest...

Catharanthus roseus is an important medicinal plant known for its pharmacological qualities such as antimicrobial, anticancerous, antifeedant, antisterility, antidiabetic activities. More than 130 bioactive compounds like vinblastine, vindoline and vincristine have been synthesized in this plant. Extensive studies have been carried out for optimization regeneration and transformation protocols....

Part of the Master Thesis of the first author. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Seropédica RJ. 2008. ABSTRACT Phytoplasmas can cause yield losses in numerous crops worldwide. In Brazil, phytoplasmal diseases have been reported in plant species, distributed among 29 botanical families. Chayote witches’-broom (ChWB) is reported as one of the diseases of economic importance, associate...

Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) are surface localized, transmembrane receptors comprising a large family of well-studied kinases. RLKs signal through their transmembrane and juxtamembrane domains with the aid of various interacting partners and downstream components. The N-terminal extracellular domain defines ligand specificity, and RLK families are sub-classed according to this domain. The most ...