Plant Natural Products as Antimicrobials for Control of : A Causative Agent of the Common Scab Disease.

The common scab disease caused by , a soil-dwelling Gram-positive bacterium, is an economically important disease of potatoes and other tuber crops. The lack of effective treatments against this disease accounts for large economic losses globally. Plant extracts were screened to find several that effectively inhibited growth in culture.

Mapping the DNA-Binding Motif of Scabin Toxin, a Guanine Modifying Enzyme from .

Scabin is a mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase toxin/enzyme and possible virulence factor produced by the agriculture pathogen, . Recently, molecular dynamic approaches and MD simulations revealed its interaction with both NAD and DNA substrates. An Essential Dynamics Analysis identified a crab-claw-like mechanism, including coupled changes in the exposed motifs, and the R-R-N-STT-W-W-(QxE) sequence motif was proposed as a catalytic signature of the Pierisin family of DNA-acting toxins.

Medium-Chain Polyprenols Influence Chloroplast Membrane Dynamics in Solanum lycopersicum.

The widespread occurrence of polyprenols throughout the plant kingdom is well documented, yet their functional role is poorly understood. These lipophilic compounds are known to be assembled from isoprenoid precursors by a class of enzymes designated as cis-prenyltransferases (CPTs), which are encoded by small CPT gene families in plants. In this study, we report that RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated knockdown of one member of the tomato CPT family (SlCPT5) reduced polyprenols in leaves by about 70%.

Polyprenols Are Synthesized by a Plastidial -Prenyltransferase and Influence Photosynthetic Performance.

Plants accumulate a family of hydrophobic polymers known as polyprenols, yet how they are synthesized, where they reside in the cell, and what role they serve is largely unknown. Using as a model, we present evidence for the involvement of a plastidial -prenyltransferase (AtCPT7) in polyprenol synthesis. Gene inactivation and RNAi-mediated knockdown of eliminated leaf polyprenols, while its overexpression increased their content.