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Biological Research Mar 2016Cancer, being the foremost challenge of the modern era and the focus of world-class investigators, gargantuan research is in progress worldwide to explore novel...
BACKGROUND
Cancer, being the foremost challenge of the modern era and the focus of world-class investigators, gargantuan research is in progress worldwide to explore novel therapeutic for its management. The exploitation of natural sources has been proven to be an excellent approach to treat or minify the excessive angiogenesis and proliferation of cells. Similarly, based the ethnomedicinal uses and literature survey, the current study is designed to explore the anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic potentials of Rumex hastatus. Anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic activities were carried out using potato-disc model and chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay respectively. Moreover, R. hastatus was also assessed for antibacterial activity against Agrobacterium tumefaciens (tumor causing bacterial strain). The positive controls used in anti-tumor, anti-angiogenic and antibacterial activities were vincristine sulphate, dexamethasone and cefotaxime respectively.
RESULTS
The crude saponins (Rh.Sp), methanolic extract (Rh.Cr) and other solvent extracts like n-hexane (Rh.Hex), chloroform (Rh.Chf), ethylacetate (Rh.EtAc) and aqueous fraction (Rh.Aq) exhibited notable anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic activities. In potato tumor assay, the chloroform and saponin fractions were observed to be the most effective showing 86.7 and 93.3 % tumor inhibition at 1000 µg/ml with IC50 values 31.6 and 18.1 µg/ml respectively. Similarly, these two samples i.e., chloroform and saponins also excelled among the entire test samples in anti-angiogenic evaluation exhibiting 81.6 % (IC50 = 17.9 µg/ml) and 78.9 % (IC50 = 64.9 µg/ml) at 1000 µg/ml respectively. In contrast, the antibacterial investigations revealed a negligible potential against A. tumefaciens.
CONCLUSION
Based on our results we can claim that R. hastatus possesses both anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic potentials. In all of the solvent fractions, Rh.Chf and Rh.Sp were most effective against tumor and angiogenesis while having negligible activity against A. tumefaciens. It can be concluded that Rh.Chf and Rh.Sp might be potential targets in the isolation of natural product having anti-neoplastic action.
Topics: Agrobacterium tumefaciens; Analysis of Variance; Angiogenesis Inhibitors; Antineoplastic Agents; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Plant Extracts; Plant Tumors; Reproducibility of Results; Rumex; Saponins; Solvents; Time Factors
PubMed: 26969307
DOI: 10.1186/s40659-016-0079-2 -
Brazilian Journal of Biology = Revista... 2021Several records of associated fauna, including parasitoids, inquilines, predators, and successors, have been reported by insect gall inventories in Brazilian restingas....
Several records of associated fauna, including parasitoids, inquilines, predators, and successors, have been reported by insect gall inventories in Brazilian restingas. Although most guilds are well established, inquilines have frequently been misinterpreted. In this paper, the inquilinous fauna of insect galls is revised based on five criteria: food habit; coexistence with the inducer; modification of gall tissues or production of new tissues; phylogenetic relationship with the inducer; and mobility. Gall inventories dated from 1988 to 2019 were examined, totaling 16 publications, eight of them with inquiline records. This guild was reported in 53 gall morphotypes in 44 plant species and four morphospecies distributed among 36 genera of 24 host families for a total of 65 records. Most inquilines were repositioned into the cecidophage guild and others into the kleptoparasite guild, resulting in a large reduction in the frequency of inquilines (from 65 to five records), and in first reports of cecidophages and kleptoparasites, with 46 and 13 records, respectively. Cecidophage was the most diverse guild with insects of five orders (Diptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, and Thysanoptera) while kleptoparasites were represented only by two orders (Diptera and Hymenoptera) and inquiline solely by Hymenoptera. Other results indicate that Leptothorax sp. (Formicidae) could be a successor and not an inquiline.
Topics: Animals; Brazil; Host-Parasite Interactions; Humans; Insecta; Phylogeny; Plant Tumors; Plants
PubMed: 34105660
DOI: 10.1590/1519-6984.235395 -
The New Phytologist Jan 2020Galls induced by plant-parasitic nematodes involve a hyperactivation of the plant mitotic and endocycle machinery for their profit. Dedifferentiation of host root cells...
Galls induced by plant-parasitic nematodes involve a hyperactivation of the plant mitotic and endocycle machinery for their profit. Dedifferentiation of host root cells includes drastic cellular and molecular readjustments. In such a background, potential DNA damage in the genome of gall cells is evident. We investigated whether DNA damage checkpoint activation followed by DNA repair occurred, or was eventually circumvented, in nematode-induced galls. Galls display transcriptional activation of the DNA damage checkpoint kinase WEE1, correlated with its protein localization in the nuclei. The promoter of the stress marker gene SMR7 was evaluated under the WEE1-knockout background. Drugs inducing DNA damage and a marker for DNA repair, PARP1, were used to understand the mechanisms for coping with DNA damage in galls. Our functional study revealed that gall cells lacking WEE1 conceivably entered mitosis prematurely, disturbing the cell cycle despite the loss of genome integrity. The disrupted nuclei phenotype in giant cells hinted at the accumulation of mitotic defects. In addition, WEE1-knockout in Arabidopsis and downregulation in tomato repressed infection and reproduction of root-knot nematodes. Together with data on DNA-damaging drugs, we suggest a conserved function for WEE1 in controlling G1/S cell cycle arrest in response to a replication defect in galls.
Topics: Animals; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins; Cell Cycle; Cell Nucleus; DNA Damage; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene Knockout Techniques; Giant Cells; Glucuronidase; Solanum lycopersicum; Mitosis; Plant Tumors; Plants, Genetically Modified; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; RNA, Messenger; Tylenchoidea
PubMed: 31505035
DOI: 10.1111/nph.16185 -
Sexual Plant Reproduction Mar 2010The biotrophic pathogen Ustilago maydis causes tumors by redirecting vegetative and floral development in maize (Zea mays L.). After fungal injection into immature...
The biotrophic pathogen Ustilago maydis causes tumors by redirecting vegetative and floral development in maize (Zea mays L.). After fungal injection into immature tassels, tumors were found in all floral organs, with a progression of organ susceptibility that mirrors the sequential location of foci of cell division in developing spikelets. There is sharp demarcation between tumor-forming zones and areas with normal spikelet maturation and pollen shed; within and immediately adjacent to the tumor zone, developing anthers often emerge precociously and exhibit a range of developmental defects suggesting that U. maydis signals and host responses are restricted spatially. Male-sterile maize mutants with defects in anther cell division patterns and cell fate acquisition prior to meiosis formed normal adult leaf tumors, but failed to form anther tumors. Methyl jasmonate and brassinosteroid phenocopied these early-acting anther developmental mutants by generating sterile zones within tassels that never formed tumors. Although auxin, cytokinin, abscisic acid and gibberellin did not impede tassel development, the Dwarf8 mutant defective in gibberellin signaling lacked tassel tumors; the anther ear1 mutant reduced in gibberellin content formed normal tumors; and Knotted1, in which there is excessive growth of leaf tissue, formed much larger vegetative and tassel tumors. We propose the hypothesis that host growth potential and tissue identity modulate the ability of U. maydis to redirect differentiation and induce tumors.
Topics: Cell Division; Flowers; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Plant Infertility; Plant Proteins; Plant Tumors; Ustilago; Zea mays
PubMed: 20165959
DOI: 10.1007/s00497-009-0109-0 -
Plant Signaling & Behavior May 2016Accumulation of amino acids is a common plant response to several biotic and abiotic stresses, even if the roles of these accumulations remain often poorly understood....
Accumulation of amino acids is a common plant response to several biotic and abiotic stresses, even if the roles of these accumulations remain often poorly understood. In a recent study we measured the levels of different amino acids in tumors of Arabidopsis thaliana induced by the phytopathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens and correlated these data with changes of gene expressions in both organisms. This led to the demonstration that the non-protein amino acid GABA plays an important role for the adaptation of the bacteria to the plant tumor environment, and especially in the control of the virulent Ti plasmid dissemination. Here we present a model that describes how different GABA:proline ratios in the A. thaliana host may have different impacts on the conjugation of A. tumefaciens Ti plasmid, and advance the view that the amino acid metabolism of plant hosts could be critical for the propagation of the virulence genes in A. tumefaciens populations.
Topics: Agrobacterium tumefaciens; Arabidopsis; Bacterial Proteins; Biological Transport; Glutamic Acid; Models, Biological; Plant Tumor-Inducing Plasmids; Plant Tumors; Polyamines; Proline; Quorum Sensing; Signal Transduction; Virulence; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
PubMed: 27110651
DOI: 10.1080/15592324.2016.1178440 -
Nature Communications Oct 2023Ustilago maydis causes common smut in maize, which is characterized by tumor formation in aerial parts of maize. Tumors result from the de novo cell division of highly...
Ustilago maydis causes common smut in maize, which is characterized by tumor formation in aerial parts of maize. Tumors result from the de novo cell division of highly developed bundle sheath and subsequent cell enlargement. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis are still largely unknown. Here, we characterize the U. maydis effector Sts2 (Small tumor on seedlings 2), which promotes the division of hyperplasia tumor cells. Upon infection, Sts2 is translocated into the maize cell nucleus, where it acts as a transcriptional activator, and the transactivation activity is crucial for its virulence function. Sts2 interacts with ZmNECAP1, a yet undescribed plant transcriptional activator, and it activates the expression of several leaf developmental regulators to potentiate tumor formation. On the contrary, fusion of a suppressive SRDX-motif to Sts2 causes dominant negative inhibition of tumor formation, underpinning the central role of Sts2 for tumorigenesis. Our results not only disclose the virulence mechanism of a tumorigenic effector, but also reveal the essential role of leaf developmental regulators in pathogen-induced tumor formation.
Topics: Plant Diseases; Plant Tumors; Zea mays; Hyperplasia; Ustilago; Carcinogenesis; Fungal Proteins
PubMed: 37872143
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42522-w -
International Journal of Molecular... Jun 2023Galls have become the best model for exploring plant-gall inducer relationships, with most studies focusing on gall-inducing insects but few on gall mites. The gall mite...
Galls have become the best model for exploring plant-gall inducer relationships, with most studies focusing on gall-inducing insects but few on gall mites. The gall mite is a major pest of wolfberry, usually inducing galls on its leaves. For a better understanding of gall mite growth and development, the dynamics of the morphological and molecular characteristics and phytohormones of galls induced by were studied by histological observation, transcriptomics and metabolomics. The galls developed from cell elongation of the epidermis and cell hyperplasia of mesophylls. The galls grew quickly, within 9 days, and the mite population increased rapidly within 18 days. The genes involved in chlorophyll biosynthesis, photosynthesis and phytohormone synthesis were significantly downregulated in galled tissues, but the genes associated with mitochondrial energy metabolism, transmembrane transport, carbohydrates and amino acid synthesis were distinctly upregulated. The levels of carbohydrates, amino acids and their derivatives, and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and cytokinins (CKs), were markedly enhanced in galled tissues. Interestingly, much higher contents of IAA and CKs were detected in gall mites than in plant tissues. These results suggest that galls act as nutrient sinks and favor increased accumulation of nutrients for mites, and that gall mites may contribute IAA and CKs during gall formation.
Topics: Animals; Lycium; Mites; Transcriptome; Plant Growth Regulators; Cytokinins; Metabolome; Plant Tumors; Plant Leaves
PubMed: 37372986
DOI: 10.3390/ijms24129839 -
Molecular Plant-microbe Interactions :... May 2009The phytopathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 expresses two lactonases, AttM and AiiB. We showed that expression of the aiiB gene was controlled by agrocinopines A and...
The phytopathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 expresses two lactonases, AttM and AiiB. We showed that expression of the aiiB gene was controlled by agrocinopines A and B and required the agrocinopine-ABC transporter Acc, but was not affected by the level of quorum-sensing (QS) signal 3-oxo-octanoylhomoserine lactone (OC8-HSL). In the presence of agrocinopines, a constructed aiiB mutant accumulated OC8-HSL at a level 10-fold higher than that of the wild-type strain, and showed an exacerbated expression of a key QS-regulated function, conjugation of Ti plasmid (in vitro and in planta), as well as an increase of the number of emerging tumors on the host plant. The expression and acyl-HSL-degrading activity of AttM were evident in the presence of wounded tissues; however, in unwounded plant tumors, the QS-regulated functions were weakly affected in an attM mutant. By contrast, we observed that attM conferred a selective advantage in the course of colonization of plant tumors. Finally, polymerase chain reaction survey of genes attM and aiiB showed that they were not strictly conserved in the genus Agrobacterium. This work proved that the lactonases AttM and AiiB are regulated by different plant signals and are implicated in different functions in the course of the A. tumefaciens C58-host interaction.
Topics: 4-Butyrolactone; Agrobacterium tumefaciens; Bacterial Proteins; Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Lac Operon; Solanum lycopersicum; Models, Biological; Mutation; Plant Tumors; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Quorum Sensing; Recombinant Fusion Proteins; Sugar Phosphates; Nicotiana; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
PubMed: 19348571
DOI: 10.1094/MPMI-22-5-0529 -
Current Biology : CB Aug 2018We report evidence of a new trophic interaction in nature whereby a parasitic plant attacks multiple species of insects that manipulate plant tissue when the two...
We report evidence of a new trophic interaction in nature whereby a parasitic plant attacks multiple species of insects that manipulate plant tissue when the two co-occur on a shared primary host plant. Most plant species are attacked by a great diversity of external and internal herbivores [1]. One common herbivore guild, gall-forming insects, induce tumor-like structures of nutrient-rich plant tissue within which immature insects feed and develop [2,3]. While the gall is made of plant tissue, its growth and development are controlled by the insect and it therefore represents an extended phenotype of the gall former [4]. Typically, parasitic plants attack other plants to gain nutritional requirements by connecting directly to the vascular system of their hosts using modified root structures called haustoria[5]. Here, we document the first observation of a parasitic plant attacking the insect-induced galls of multiple gall-forming species and provide evidence that this interaction negatively affects gall former fitness.
Topics: Animals; Herbivory; Insecta; Parasites; Plant Tumors; Plants
PubMed: 30130501
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.024 -
Plant Physiology Apr 2024Many insects have evolved the ability to manipulate plant growth to generate extraordinary structures called galls, in which insect larva can develop while being...
Many insects have evolved the ability to manipulate plant growth to generate extraordinary structures called galls, in which insect larva can develop while being sheltered and feeding on the plant. In particular, cynipid (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) wasps have evolved to form morphologically complex galls and generate an astonishing array of gall shapes, colors, and sizes. However, the biochemical basis underlying these remarkable cellular and developmental transformations remains poorly understood. A key determinant in plant cellular development is cell wall deposition that dictates the physical form and physiological function of newly developing cells, tissues, and organs. However, it is unclear to what degree cell walls are restructured to initiate and support the formation of new gall tissue. Here, we characterize the molecular alterations underlying gall development using a combination of metabolomic, histological, and biochemical techniques to elucidate how valley oak (Quercus lobata) leaf cells are reprogrammed to form galls. Strikingly, gall development involves an exceptionally coordinated spatial deposition of lignin and xylan to form de novo gall vasculature. Our results highlight how cynipid wasps can radically change the metabolite profile and restructure the cell wall to enable the formation of galls, providing insights into the mechanism of gall induction and the extent to which plants can be entirely reprogrammed to form unique structures and organs.
Topics: Animals; Cell Wall; Wasps; Plant Tumors; Host-Parasite Interactions; Quercus; Plant Leaves; Lignin
PubMed: 38236304
DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiae001