Micrometer insights into Nepeta genus: Pollen micromorphology unveiled.

This study provides a comprehensive pollen micromorphology within the Nepeta genus, revealing intricate details about the pollen grains' structure and characteristics. The findings shed light on the evolutionary and taxonomical aspects of this plant genus, offering valuable insights for botanists and researchers studying Nepeta species. The pollen grains of 18 Nepeta species were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM) in Northern Pakistan. At the microscale, pollen quantitative measurements, qualitative traits, and diverse sculpturing patterns were reported and compared. Significant differences in pollen size, shape, ornamentation, and sculpturing patterns were discovered among the Nepeta species. Our data show that exine sculpturing is quite diverse, with most species exhibiting a reticulate perforate pollen pattern. Nepeta connata, Nepeta discolor, Nepeta elliptica, revealed a distinct bireticulate perforate exine stratification. Hexazonocolpate pollen is the most common. Furthermore, the surface membrane attributes of the colpus varied greatly, ranging from rough, scabrate, psilate, to sinuate patterns. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to discover the key factors influencing pollen diversity. PCA results showed that polar and equatorial diameters, colpi size, and exine thickness were the most influential pollen features between Nepeta species. This study adds to our understanding of pollen morphology in the Nepeta genus, offering information on the vast range of characteristics found in this economically important group. The extensive characterization of pollen features provides useful insights for the categorization and differentiation of Nepeta species, adding to the Lamiaceae micromorphology.

Postharvest starch and sugars adjustment in potato tubers of wide-ranging dormancy genotypes subjected to various sprout forcing techniques.

The development of an efficient, safe, and environment-friendly technique to terminate tuber dormancy in potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) is of great concern due to the immense scope of multiple cropping all over the globe. The breakage of tuber dormancy has been associated with numerous physiological changes, including a decline in the level of starch and an increase in the levels of sugars during storage of freshly harvested seed potatoes, although their consistency across genotypes and various dormancy-breaking techniques have not yet been fully elucidated. The purpose of the present research is to assess the efficacy of four different dormancy-breaking techniques, such as soaking in 90, 60, or 30 mg L-1 solutions of benzyl amino purine (BAP) and 30, 20, or 10 mg L-1 gibberellic acid (GA3) alone and in the combination of optimized concentrations; cold pre-treatment at 6, 4, or 2 °C; electric shock at 80, 60, 40, or 20 Vs; and irradiation at 3.5, 3, 2.5, 2, 1.5, or 1 kGy on the tuber dormancy period and sprout length of six genotypes. Furthermore, the changes that occurred in tuber weight and endogenous starch, sucrose, fructose, and glucose contents in experimental genotypes following the application of these techniques were also examined. Overall, the most effective technique to terminate tuber dormancy and hasten spout growth was the combined application of BAP and GA3, which reduced the length of dormancy by 9.6 days compared to the untreated control, following 6.7 days of electric current, 4.4 days of cold pre-treatment, and finally irradiation (3.3 days). The 60 mg L-1 solution of BAP greatly reduced the dormancy period in all genotypes but did not affect the sprout length at all. The genotypes showed a weak negative correlation (r = - 0.4) (P < 0.05) of endogenous starch contents with dormancy breakage and weight loss or a moderate (r = - 0.5) correlation with sprout length, but a strong positive correlation (r = 0.8) of tuber glucose, fructose, and sucrose contents with dormancy breakage and weight loss. During 3 weeks of storage, sprouting commencement and significant weight loss occurred as tuber dormancy advanced towards breakage due to a reduction in starch and an increase in the sucrose, fructose, and glucose contents of the tubers. These findings could be advantageous for postponing or accelerating seed potato storage as well as investigating related physiological research in the future.

Protective Effect of Capparis spinosa Extract against Potassium Bromate Induced Oxidative Stress and Genotoxicity in Mice.

Despite the commercial value of potassium bromate (KBrO3), it has been linked to many diseases including cancer. Capparis spinosa possesses exceptional ethnobotanical, pharmaceutical, and economic prominence by virtue of its bioactive components. The present study was designed to explore the protective role and antioxidant potential of ethanolic leaves extract of C. spinosa against the oxidative stress, genotoxicity, and apoptosis induced by KBrO3 in an experimental animal model. The results of the study revealed remarkable diminution in the levels of oxidative stress in all the treatment groups. C. spinosa extract attenuated the toxic effects of KBrO3 significantly (p < 0.05) in a time- and dose-dependent manner by restoring the normal levels of ROS and antioxidative enzymes in serum and liver tissues. The extract also abolished the oxidative DNA damage as it was evident in decreased frequency of micronuclei. A marked increase in viable cells was observed in annexin-V apoptosis assay. In conclusion, the findings of the present study demonstrate that ethanolic leaves extract of C. spinosa has considerable protective effects against KBrO3-induced toxicity in experimental mice which is attributed to its antioxidant activity. Therefore, leaves of C. spinosa could be used as a potential source of natural antioxidant and bioactive compounds.

Complete chloroplast genome of medicinally important poisonous shrub Adenium obesum (Forssk.) Roem. & Schult. (Apocynaceae).

The complete chloroplast genome of medicinally important plant Adenium obseum (Forssk.) Roem. & Schult. (Apocynaceae) was sequenced. A total of 5,028,192,488 paired-end reads were obtained. One-hundred-and-twenty-seven unique coding genes including 96 protein-coding, 28 tRNA, and 3 rRNA genes were annotated. The length and GC content of the plastome were 154,437 bp (GenBank accession number MN765097) and 38.1%, respectively.

Assessment of biological activity and UPLC-MS based chromatographic profiling of ethanolic extract of Ochradenus arabicus.

Natural products from wild and medicinal plants, either in the form of crude extracts or pure compounds provide unlimited opportunities for new drug leads owing to the unmatched availability of chemical diversity. In the present study, the cytotoxic potential of crude ethanolic extract of Ochradenus arabicus was analyzed by MTT cell viability assay in MCF-7 adenocarcinoma breast cancer cells. We further investigated its effect against oxidative stress induced by anticancer drug doxorubicin. In addition, Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS) based chromatographic profiling of crude extract of O. arabicus was performed. The MTT assay data showed that the extract is moderately toxic to the MCF-7 cells. However, its treatment alone does not induce oxidative stress while doxorubicin increases the level of oxidative stress in MCF-7 cells. Whereas, simultaneous treatment of plant extract and doxorubicin significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation while an increase in the reduced glutathione and superoxide dismutase activity was observed in time and dose dependent manner. Hence, our finding confirmed cytotoxic and antioxidant potential of crude extract of O. arabicus in MCF-7 cells. However, further investigations on O. arabicus as a potential chemotherapeutic agent are needed. The analysis of bioactive compounds present in the plant extracts involving the applications of common phytochemical screening assays such as chromatographic techniques is discussed.