ABSTRACT
Annatto tree (Bixa orellana L.) is native to Brazil and is now under cultivation in many parts of world for its reddish orange ‘annatto’ dye. There are three types of landraces in annatto and they are distinguished based on fruit shape i.e., ovate, conical and hemispherical, whose pigment yield differs. Since annatto pigment yield varies with landrace, it is necessary to characterize markers towards the identification of landraces. In this study, we characterized water soluble polysaccharides (WSP) of twigs from three landraces using size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), fourier-transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and gas liquid chromatography (GLC) for their potential use as chemotaxonomic markers to distinguish the landraces. GLC analysis on WSP showed hemispherical type contained 38% rhamnose, while conical and ovate types contained 17% and 34% glucose, respectively. Thus, glucose and rhamnose content of WSP could be used to distinguish the three landraces. Further, differences in calculated molecular weight as revealed by SEC (281.8, 151.3 and 79.4 kDa for conical, hemispherical and ovate types, respectively) could also be used to distinguish the three landraces.
Subject(s)
Animals , Biomarkers/chemistry , Biomarkers/metabolism , Bixaceae/classification , Bixaceae/metabolism , Polysaccharides/chemistry , Polysaccharides/metabolism , Solubility , Water/chemistryABSTRACT
The influence of silver nitrate (AgNO3) and cobalt chloride (CoCl2) on shoot multiplication and in vitro flowering in Capsicum frutescens Mill. was investigated. Exogenous administration of AgNO3 and CoCl2 at a concentration of 30 micronM resulted in the maximum tissue response in terms of shoot length and number of shoots after 45 days culturing on MS medium. Both silver nitrate (40 micronM) and cobalt chloride (30 micronM) influenced in vitro flowering after 25 and 45 days respectively. This is the first report on in vitro flowering in C. frutescens. The study also demonstrated successful transformation of pollen obtained from the in vitro flowers. Since capsicum is highly recalcitrant to in vitro plant regeneration, the results of the study may be highly useful in transformation of capsicum using germ free in vitro flowers.