Disease relevance of Picea

• To synthesize di- or monoterpenes in E. coli using the GGPP and GPP encoding operons either a diterpene cyclase [casbene cyclase (Ricinus communis L) and ent-kaurene cyclase (Phaeosphaeria sp. L487)] or a monoterpene cyclase [3-carene cyclase (Picea abies)] was coexpressed with their respective precursor production operon [1].

High impact information on Picea

• Ultrastructure of the endocytotic pathway in glutaraldehyde-fixed and high-pressure frozen/freeze-substituted protoplasts of white spruce (Picea glauca) [2].
• We assessed the effects of brefeldin A (BFA) on pollen tube development in Picea meyeri using fluorescent marker FM4-64 as a membrane-inserted endocytic/recycling marker, together with ultrastructural studies and Fourier transform infrared analysis of cell walls [3].
• In Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst), treatment with methyl jasmonate induces complex chemical and biochemical terpenoid defense responses associated with traumatic resin duct development in stems and volatile terpenoid emissions in needles [4].
• Characterization of an AGAMOUS homologue from the conifer black spruce (Picea mariana) that produces floral homeotic conversions when expressed in Arabidopsis [5].
• The thermal dependence of kinetic parameters has been determined in purified or partially purified preparations of cold-hardiness-specific glutathione reductase isozymes from red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) needles to investigate a possible functional adaptation of these isozymes to environmental temperature [6].

Biological context of Picea

• New cdc2 pseudogenes appear to have been formed in Picea at a much higher rate than they have been obliterated by neutral mutations [7].
• The cDNA, designated PgRNP (Picea glauca RNP protein), presents a 468bp open reading frame encoding a 155 amino acid protein [8].
• Molecular evolution of cdc2 pseudogenes in spruce (Picea) [7].
• The effect of reduced glutathione on morphology and gene expression of white spruce (Picea glauca) somatic embryos [9].
• T. Mast. and Picea jezoensis (Siebold & Zucc.) Carrière trees growing on nutrient-poor volcanic ash and nutrient-rich, brown forest soil [10].

Associations of Picea with chemical compounds

• A specific condensed lignin substructure, dibenzodioxocin, was immunolocalized in differentiating cell walls of Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) H. Karsten) and silver birch ( Betula pendula Roth) xylem [11].
• Embryogenic tissues of white spruce [Picea glauca (Moench) Voss] remain in an early developmental stage while cultured on 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and N6-benzyladenine, but develop to cotyledonary embryos when these phytohormones are replaced by abscisic acid [12].
• A literature survey showed that kc constancy is observed with both NO3- and ammonium (NH4+) fluxes in many plant species, including H. vulgare, Arabidopsis thaliana, Picea glauca, and Oryza sativa [13].
• Characterisation of different clones of Picea abies (L.) Karst using head-space sampling of cortical tissues combined with enantioselective capillary gas chromatography for the separation of chiral and non-chiral monoterpenes [14].
• The chemopreventive effects of hydroxymatairesinol (HMR), a lignan extracted from Norway spruce (Picea abies), on the development of mammary carcinoma induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) was studied in rats [15].

Gene context of Picea

• Molecular characterization of a phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in the gymnosperm Picea abies (Norway spruce) [16].
• A phylogenetic analysis of the plant MIP family, including both plasmamembrane (PIP) and tonoplast intrinsic protein (TIP) from Picea, suggests that MIP subgroups evolved already 330 million years ago, as this is the dating of conifer and angiosperm divergence [17].
• The putative plant defensin SPI1 cDNA from the conifer Norway spruce (Picea abies) is the only known plant defensin-like sequence from a gymnosperm [18].
• Two genomic full-length alleles of a phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC; EC 4.1.1.31) were isolated and analysed in the gymnosperm Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst.]. Mendelian segregation analysis confirmed that the two alleles belong to the same DNA gene locus [19].
• Isozymes of glutathione reductase (GR) have been purified from red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) needles [20].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Picea

• Blue spruce (Picea pungens) cell cultures were established from leaf and stem sections of an adult tree on a range of media of which BSPM4 (B5 medium plus 10 microM 2,4-D and 1 microM kinetin), and BSPM 6 (MS medium plus 5 microM 2,4-D and 1 microM kinetin) were optimal [21].
• PCR amplification with degenerate primers targeted to highly conserved amino acid motifs within the MYB domain was used to demonstrate that black spruce (Picea mariana) possesses a diverse MYB gene family [22].

References