Ficus palmata, Pyrus pashia and Ficus auriculata are the popular wild edible fruits of Uttarakhand. The present study aimed to evaluate their total phenolic, flavonoid contents, antioxidant and antiproliferative activities by using two solvents namely 80% aqueous methanol and acetone. The results showed highest phenolic and flavonoid contents in the Ficus palmata acetone extract, while lowest i...

Apple proliferation (AP) and pear decline (PD) are the most severe diseases in pome fruit growing areas. AP-infected trees show typical symptoms such as witches’ broom, enlarged stipules, tasteless, and dwarf fruits. PD-infected pears show a progressive weakening, reduced terminal growth, smaller fruits, and die within weeks (quick decline) or years (slow decline). The diseases are caused by th...

Anthocyanin biosynthesis in various plants is affected by environmental conditions and controlled by the transcription level of the corresponding genes. In pears (Pyrus communis cv. 'Wujiuxiang'), anthocyanin biosynthesis is significantly induced during low temperature storage compared with that at room temperature. We further examined the transcriptional levels of anthocyanin biosynthetic gene...

We have used new generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to identify single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers from three European pear (Pyrus communis L.) cultivars and subsequently developed a subset of 1096 pear SNPs into high throughput markers by combining them with the set of 7692 apple SNPs on the IRSC apple Infinium® II 8K array. We then evaluated this apple and pear Infinium® II 9K...

AIM: The present study aims to investigate for the first time antitumor and antibacterial activities of Viscum album L. grown on different host trees. METHODS: Two different bioassays (antitumor and antibacterial) were performed to evaluate the biological activities of European mistletoe (Viscum album L.) plants collected from 13 different host trees (Crataegus tanacetifolia, Crataegus monogyna...

The response of suspension-cultured pear (Pyrus communis cv Bartlett) cells to heat stress was studied using three viability tests: regrowth (culture growth during 10 days after stress); triphenyltetrazolium chloride reduction; and electrolyte leakage. Critical (50% injury) temperatures for a 20-minute exposure were 42 degrees , 52 degrees , and 56 degrees C, respectively, for these viability t...

Salicylic acid inhibited ethylene formation from ACC in self-buffered (pH 3.8) pear (Pyrus communis) cell suspension cultures with a K(1) (app) of about 10 micromolar after 1 to 3 hours incubation. Inhibition appeared noncompetitive. Among 22 related phenolic compounds tested, only acetylsalicylic acid showed similar levels of inhibition. Inhibition by salicylic acid was inversely dependent on ...

Fractionation of pectic polysaccharides from the juice of ripening ;Bartlett' pears (Pyrus communis) gave two general types of polyuronides. The major type was a homogalacturonan (HGA) whose molecular weight decreased upon ripening. The other type comprised heteropolymers composed of various amounts of arabinose, rhamnose, and galactose. Treatment of the major arabinose-containing heteropolymer...

A compensatory response, viz. in vivo recovery from radiation damage to mitochondria, occurs in preclimacteric pear fruits (Pyrus communis L.) treated with ionizing radiation. The compensatory response is absent or markedly impaired in senescent fruits irradiated at or near the climacteric peak. Senescent cells failed to recover from harmful effects of radiation on: 1) mitochondrial yield, 2) i...

Mitochondrial fractions isolated from pears (Pyrus communis L.) at the climacteric minimum and peak were subjected to sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The distribution of protein and specific activities of 3 enzymes from this mitochondrial fraction were investigated.Cytochrome oxidase specific activity remained associated with the particulate fraction and increased slightly during the p...