The role of biotechnology for conservation and biologically active substances production of Rhodiola rosea: endangered medicinal species.

At present, more than 50,000 plant species are used in phytotherapy and medicine. About 2/3 of them are harvested from nature leading to local extinction of many species or degradation of their habitats. Biotechnological methods offer possibilities not only for faster cloning and conservation of the genotype of the plants but for modification of their gene information, regulation, and expression for production of valuable substances in higher amounts or with better properties.

Isoflavone composition, phenol content, and antioxidant activity of soybean seeds from India and Bulgaria.

Isoflavone levels and isoflavone chemical composition in 11 cultivars of soybean, including 4 Indian and 7 genotypes of soybean grown in Bulgaria, were analyzed as determined by C 18 reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector. Antioxidant activity of soybean extracts was assessed using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, and total phenolic compounds (TPC) were determined by using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. The range of total isoflavones (TI) was 558.

Radioprotective effect of novel disubstituted thioureas on pea (Pisum sativum L.) development.

The review presents our research on the influence of novel thiourea compounds on the biological and genetic effect of gamma-rays using in vivo and in vitro systems of pea. Some novel disubstituted thioureas: o-allylthioureidobenzoic acid (ATB); o-phenylthioureidobenzoic acid (PTB); N-allyl-N'-2-pyridylthiourea (A-2-PTU); N-phenyl-N'-2-pyridylthiourea (P-2-PTU) and 1,4-allylthioureidosalicylic acid (ATUS) were examined. Pea (Pisum sativum L.

Regulation of a carotenoid biosynthesis gene promoter during plant development.

Carotenoids are terpenoid pigments which are accumulated in the chloroplasts of leaves and in the chromoplasts of many flowers and fruits. Phytoene desaturase (Pds), the second dedicated enzyme in carotenoid biosynthesis, is encoded in tomato by a single copy gene. A 2 kb fragment from the tomato Pds gene, comprising 1.