Kotschyi Boiss Research Articles

Calycopterin, an immunoinhibitory compound from the extract of Dracocephalum kotschyi

Medicinal plants have been widely investigated for their various effects. Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss (Labiatae) is used in Iranian traditional medicine for the treatment of rheumatoid diseases. The inhibitory effect of D. kotschyi on the lectin-induced cellular immune response has been demonstrated previously. In this study, mitogen-treated lymphocytes were exposed to the extract of D. kotschyi and analysed for the induction of apoptosis using flow cytometry and gel electrophoresis. The data obtained indicated a dose-dependent increase of cells in the sub-G1 phase of cell cycle. Study of internucleosomal DNA fragmentation showed a typical DNA laddering in agarose gels. A bioactivity-guided fractionation assay to find the active components responsible for the inhibitory effect of D. kotschyi on mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation led to the isolation of calycopterin from the ethyl acetate extract of D. kotschyi. Its structure was identified by spectroscopic methods including( 1)H-NMR, (13)C-NMR, MS and UV spectra. Calycopterin inhibited lymphocyte proliferation in a dose-dependent manner with an IC(50) value of 1.7 microg/mL. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that D. kotschyi extract has the capacity to induce apoptosis in the lymphocytes and that isolated calycopterin is responsible for the inhibitory effect of D. kotschyi on lymphocyte proliferation.

Evaluation and utilization of Aegilops and wild Triticum species for enhancing iron and zinc content in wheat

Grains of 80 accessions of nine species of wild Triticum and Aegilops along with 15 semi-dwarf cultivars of bread and durum wheat grown over 2 years at Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, were analyzed for grain iron and zinc content. The bread and durum cultivars had very low content and little variability for both of these micronutrients. The related non-progenitor wild species with S, U and M genomes showed up to 3–4 folds higher iron and zinc content in their grains as compared to bread and durum wheat. For confirmation, two Ae. kotschyi Boiss. accessions were analyzed after ashing and were found to have more than 30% higher grain ash content than the wheat cultivars containing more than 75% higher iron and 60% higher zinc than that of wheat. There were highly significant differences for iron and zinc contents among various cultivars and wild relatives over both the years with very high broad sense heritability. There was a significantly high positive correlation between flag leaf iron and grain iron (r = 0.82) and flag leaf zinc and grain zinc (r = 0.92) content of the selected donors suggesting that the leaf analysis could be used for early selection for high iron and zinc content. ‘Chinese Spring’ (PhI) was used for inducing homoeologous chromosome pairing between Aegilops and wheat genomes and transferring these useful traits from the wild species to the elite wheat cultivars. A majority of the interspecific hybrids had higher leaf iron and zinc content than their wheat parents and equivalent or higher content than their Aegilops parents suggesting that the parental Aegilops donors possess a more efficient system for uptake and translocation of the micronutrients which could ultimately be utilized for wheat grain biofortification. Partially fertile to sterile BC1 derivatives with variable chromosomes of Aegilops species had also higher leaf iron and zinc content confirming the possibility of transfer of required variability. Some of the fertile BC1F3 and BC2F2 derivatives had as high grain ash and grain ash iron and zinc content as that of the donor Aegilops parent. Further work on backcrossing, selfing, selection of fertile derivatives, leaf and grain analyses for iron and zinc for developing biofortified bread and durum wheat cultivars is in progress.

Karyological notes on another eight species of Achillea (Asteraceae) from Turkey

The chromosome number and morphology in eight species of the sections Ptarmica (Mill.) W. D. J. Koch, Anthemoideae (DC.) Heimerl, Arthrolepis Boiss., Santolinoideae (DC.) Heimerl and Achillea of the genus Achillea L. (Asteraceae) were investigated using karyological techniques. Sample plants and seeds of A. biserrata M. Bieb., A. fraasii var. troiana Aschers. & Heimerl, A. multifida (DC.) Boiss., A. brachyphylla Boiss. & Hausskn., A. pseudaleppica Hub.-Mor., A. cretica L., A. latiloba Ledeb. ex Nordm., and A. kotschyi Boiss. subsp. kotschyi) were collected from natural habitats in 2003 and 2004. The chromosome number found in seven species was 2n = 18, while only A. kotschyi had 2n = 36. All chromosomes had median point (M), median region (m), and submedian (sm) centromers. In addition, only A. biserrata species had one subterminal (st) chromosome. An increase in asymmetry was not observed in the karyotypes of the species studied. None of the studied species had any B chromosomes.

The Volatile Constituents Analysis of Nepeta kotschyi Boiss. from Iran

The volatile constituents of the aerial parts of Nepeta kotschyi Boiss. growing wild in Iran have been examined by GC/FID and GC/MS. Eleven components were identifed, constituting approximately 97.7% of the oil. The main constituents of the essential oil were 4aβ,7α,7aα-nepetalactone (92.0%), 1,8-cineole (2.6%), β-pinene (0.9%), pulegone (0.4%) and bicyclogermacrene (0.3%).

Constituents of the Volatile Oils of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss. from Iran

The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained from aerial parts and roots of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss was investigated by GC and GC/MS. The main component of the oils of the aerial parts and roots of the plant was longibornyl acetate (11.2% and 57.6%, respectively).

Composition of the Essential Oil of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss. from Iran

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from aerial parts of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss. was investigated by GC and GC/MS. The main components were α-pinene (10.5%), caryophyllene oxide (9.2%), terpinen-4-ol (5.7%) and germacrene D (5.6%).

Essential Oil Composition of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss

The essential oil of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss. (Labiatae) collected from the suburb of Sari, north of Iran, in June 2004, was isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by means of GC and GC/MS. Fifty-two components were identified in the this oil. The major constituents of the essential oil were δ-3-carene (9.7%), limonene (9.2%), carvacrol (8.3%), 1,8-cineole (6.9%) and carvone (5.1%).

Antihyperlipidemic effect of hydroalcoholic extract, and polyphenolic fraction from Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss

Blood lipid levels in rats with hyperlipidemia resulting from high-fat feeding were determined after oral administration of hydroalcoholic extract and polyphenolic fraction of Dracocephalum kotschyi leaves. Administration of the hydroalcoholic extract and polyphenolic fraction produced a significant decrease of blood triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels. HDL-cholesterol level was significantly increased.

Diploid ancestry and evolution of Triticum kotschyi and T. peregrinum examined using variation in repeated nucleotide sequences

Triticum peregrinum Hackel (syn. Aegilops variabilis Eig) and T. kotschyi (Boiss.) Bowden (syn. Ae. kotschyi Boiss.) are closely related allotetraploid species. Previous research indicated that they have a pair of U genomes from diploid T. umbellulatum (Zhuk.) Hackel and a pair of S genomes from a diploid species of Triticum section Sitopsis. To reinvestigate the origin of their genomes, we identified diagnostic bands in Southern blots hybridized with 27 cloned repeated nucleotide sequences and one 5S rRNA gene clone for all diploid species of Triticum L. sensu Bowden. The presence of each diagnostic band was then determined in the two tetraploid species. One pair of the genomes in both tetraploid species was found to be virtually identical to the U genome of T. umbellulatum and the other to the S1 genome of T. longissimum (Schweif. et Muschl.) Bowden or T. sharonense (Eig) Waines &Johnson (syn. Aegilops sharonensis Eig) or the internode in the phylogenetic tree of Triticum immediately preceding the divergence of T. longissimum and T. sharonense. The source of the S genomes in T. kotschyi and T. peregrinum inferred from our data differs from that inferred from cpDNA. This indicates the need to investigate the origin of nuclear genomes with nuclear genetic markers. No evidence for an extensive modification of the S genome relative to that of T. longissimum or T. sharonense was found in either tetraploid.Key words: phylogeny, polyploids, Triticum, Aegilops, Aegilops kotschyi, Aegilops variabilis, genome origin, genome modification.

Physical mapping of a fertility-restoring gene against Aegilops kotschyi cytoplasm in wheat.

Deletion mapping was conducted to locate a fertility-restoring gene (Rfv1) of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell) against the male-sterility-causing cytoplasm of Aegilops kotschyi Boiss. Since this gene had been known to be located on the satellited short arm of chromosome 1B of a common wheat cultivar Chinese Spring, we first produced alloplasmic deletion lines of Chinese Spring that had the cytoplasm of Ae. kotschyi and various sizes of deletions in the 1B short arm, and then studied their male fertilities. One of the deletion chromosomes, which lost 48% of the length of the 1B satellite, still carried the Rfv1 gene, but another deletion lacking 53% of the satellite did not. All the other deletions with larger deficiencies did not carry the gene. Thus, the Rfv1 gene was located within a 5% region of the 1B satellite, where an interstitial C-band is located.

The essential oil of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss

AbstractThe essential oil of Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss. (Labiatae) growing in the mountainous region of northeastern Iran have been analysed by TLC, LSC, GLC, and GLC‐MS. The main components of the oil were citral, caryophyllene, terpinyl acetate, and myrcene. Sesquiterpenoids, phenylpropanoids, and aliphatic compounds found in this oil have not been previously reported from other species of Dracocephalum.

Correlative Aspects of Imposition of Dormancy in Caryopses of Aegilops kotschyi

Caryopses of Aegilops kotschyi Boiss. from different positions within the same spikelet differ greatly in their degree of dormancy. Imposition of this dormancy pattern is a correlative phenomenon within the spikelet, inasmuch as the uppermost developing caryopsis is least dormant and its development is associated with the dormancy status imposed on the lower (one or two) caryopses. Differences in pigmentation of the caryopses follow a corresponding pattern.

Differential Effects of the Parental Photothermal Environment on Development of Dormancy in Caryopses ofAegilops Kotschyi

Aegilops Kotschyi Boiss. plants produce three florets per spikelet (of which the terminal floret is commonly sterile) and exhibit physiological heterocarpy in the two caryopses which develop in each spikelet. Germinability of the basal caryopsis, but not of the upper one, was subject to environmental influences to which the parent plant was exposed during its development. Basal caryopses produced by plants grown at low temperature, or in 16-h photoperiods, were more dormant than when produced by plants grown at higher temperature, or in 8-h photo periods. Germinability of the upper caryopses was equally high in all cases and independent of the parental environment. The photoperiod effects on germinability were exerted after anthesis. Mature weight of both basal and upper caryopses was higher when produced on plants grown at low temperature, or transferred from 16-h to 8-h photoperiods at emergence of the flag leaf.