Magnesium enrichment and distribution in plants.

Food products enriched with stable isotopes are used in nutrition to study the metabolic fate of nutrients in humans. This study reports on the labeling of green beans, white beans, soybeans and wheat with a stable isotope of magnesium (25Mg) obtained in greenhouse conditions for further studies on magnesium bioavailability. Soybean and green bean are the most efficient plant species to obtain large amounts of edible parts rapidly with a minimum loss of labeled Mg in other parts of the plants.

[Plant biotechnology: an avant-garde research for an ancestral tree, the Ginkgo biloba].

A biotechnology program on Ginkgo biloba was implemented in early 80's, in order to improve the biosynthesis in the whole plant and in cell cultures of therapeutically active substances, mainly terpenes like ginkgolides. This program led to very interesting results in various directions In addition, by the mean of in vitro culture, metabolic studies have given some pertinent fundamental results adding to the basic understanding of Ginkgo biloba: ginkgolides and bilobalide are biosynthesized in the roots of the plant and then translocated to the leaves. Two separate and independent metabolic pathways have been underlined for the formation of isopentenylpyrophosphate (IPP), the fundamental unit involved both in the biosynthesis of the sitosterol and the ginkgolides.

Production of ginkgolides and bilobalide by Ginkgo biloba plants and tissue cultures.

The accumulation of the terpenes ginkgolides and bilobalide in Ginkgo biloba was reported in plants as well as in plant cell cultures. Several hundred plants cultivated under controlled conditions in the field have been analyzed for their terpene production over many years. Cross-pollination experiments were performed with mature trees and the terpene content of the progeny was analyzed.

Theobroma cacao L.: a genetic linkage map and quantitative trait loci analysis.

A genetic linkage map of Theobroma cacao (cocoa) has been constructed from 131 backcross trees derived from a cross between a single tree of the variety Catongo and an F1 tree from the cross of Catongo by Pound 12. The map comprises 138 markers: 104 RAPD loci, 32 RFLP loci and two morphologic loci. Ten linkage groups were found which cover 1068 centimorgans (cM).