ABSTRACT
In the framework of the correlation between chemotaxonomy and chemical analysis studies, the chemical composition of the essential oils of four varieties of Thuja species cultivated in Poland - T. occidentalis 'globosa', T. occidentalis 'aurea', T. plicata and T. plicata 'gracialis' - were investigated by GC and GC-MS. Thirty-one compounds were identified from T. occidentalis 'globosa', representing 96.92% of the total oil; twenty-seven from T. occidentalis 'aurea' (94.34%); thirty-one from T. plicata (94.75%); and thirty compounds from T. plicata 'gracialis' (96.36%). The main constituents in all samples were the monoterpene ketones alpha- and beta-thujone, fenchone and sabinene, as well as the diterpenes beyerene and rimuene. The chemosystematic value of the total ketone content of all samples (which varied from 54.30-69.18%) has been discussed and investigated. The constituents, beyerene and the mixture of alpha- and beta-thujone, were isolated from the oils and tested against six Gram-positive and -negative bacteria and three pathogenic fungi. The oils of the two T. plicata species exhibited significant antimicrobial activity, while the mixture of alpha- and beta-thujone showed very strong activity as well.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents , Antifungal Agents , Oils, Volatile/chemistry , Oils, Volatile/pharmacology , Plant Oils , Thuja/chemistry , Anti-Bacterial Agents/chemistry , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Antifungal Agents/chemistry , Antifungal Agents/pharmacology , Chromatography, Gas , Diterpenes/chemistry , Diterpenes/pharmacology , Fungi/drug effects , Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry , Gram-Negative Bacteria/drug effects , Gram-Positive Bacteria/drug effects , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Monoterpenes/chemistry , Monoterpenes/pharmacology , Plant Oils/chemistry , Plant Oils/pharmacology , PolandABSTRACT
A generic sample normalization method applicable in relative comparison of mRNAs quantified with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is proposed. The method was applied in samples obtained from tomato seeds after osmopriming and aging treatments and from untreated seeds at early imbibition stage, when seeds had not completed germination. Normalization in sample variations was accomplished by detecting synthetic DNA sequences tailing cDNA after second strand reverse transcription synthesis, while the use of the common normalizer GAPDH proved unreliable. Results, obtained from the new method and having a standard error less than 10%, verified the expression profile of a germination-specific mannanase gene that was closely recorded at different time intervals in relation to seed germination.
