Light emitting diodes optimisation for secondary metabolites production by Droseraceae plants.

The most abundant active compound in Droseraceae is plumbagin, a naphthoquinone widely used for medical purposes due to its antimicrobial, antitussive, antimalarial and anticancer properties. In this work, we created a light-emitting diode (LED) based culture illumination setup as an alternative to fluorescent lamps traditionally used as a light source in plant in vitro cultures. The plants of Drosera binata and Drosera peltata cultured under LED illumination grew equally well and produced similar amounts of biologically active compounds as plants grown under fluorescent lamps.

Scopoletin 8-hydroxylase: a novel enzyme involved in coumarin biosynthesis and iron-deficiency responses in Arabidopsis.

Iron deficiency is a serious agricultural problem, particularly in alkaline soils. Secretion of coumarins by Arabidopsis thaliana roots is induced under iron deficiency. An essential enzyme for the biosynthesis of the major Arabidopsis coumarins, scopoletin and its derivatives, is Feruloyl-CoA 6'-Hydroxylase1 (F6'H1), which belongs to a large enzyme family of the 2-oxoglutarate and Fe2+-dependent dioxygenases.