Disease relevance of Dioscorea

• Gene Y encodes a polypeptide with striking similarities to the family of holin proteins exemplified by gpS of phage lambda, and the Yam mutant displayed the expected properties of a holin mutant [1].
• The first fatal case of Yam bean and Rotenone toxicity in Thailand was studied at Forensic Medicine, Chiang Mai, Thailand. A Chinese Taiwan man, 59 years old, was found dead after Yam bean ingestion [2].

High impact information on Dioscorea

• DB4 was a chitinase, homologous to an acidic chitinase from Dioscorea japonica [3].
• They showed a sequence homology to dioscorin B and dioscorin A from Dioscorea alata, with 90 and 93% identity, respectively, and to carbonic anhydrase from Arabidopsis thaliana with about 45% identity [3].
• The complete amino acid sequence of yam (Dioscorea japonica) chitinase. A newly identified acidic class I chitinase [4].
• Administration of bacterial endotoxin to rats exposed to greater than 95% O2 results in increased lung superoxide dismutase activity, decreased O2-induced lung damage, and a 3- to 4-fold improvement in survival rate (Frank, L., Yam, J., and Roberts, R. J. (1978) J. Clin. Invest, 61, 269-275) [5].
• To study the origin and maintenance mechanisms of the PGI allozyme polymorphism of a wild plant, Dioscorea tokoro, DNA sequences of the entire coding region (1701 bp) and two intronic regions (total 2049 bp) of the Pgi gene as well as a part of the Adh gene (590 bp) were analyzed [6].

Biological context of Dioscorea

• The aglycon form of the steroidal sapogenin furost -5-ene-3 beta, 22,26-triol, 3 beta- chacotrioside 26 beta-D-glucopyranoside was isolated from cell suspension cultures of Dioscorea deltoidea and its molecular structure was determined by mass spectrometry and 1H and 13C n.m.r. spectroscopy [7].
• Diosgenyl alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1--2)-[beta-glucopyranosyl-(1--3)]- beta-D-glucopyranoside (gracillin), a monodesmosidic saponin isolated from paris, dioscorea, and costacea species with promising cardiovascular and antitumor activities, was synthesized by stepwise glycosylation [8].
• In this study, the protective effect of water yam (Dioscorea alata L.) rhizome extract on calf thymus DNA and plasmid DNA strand breakage by the copper-driven Fenton reaction and X-irradiation was examined [9].
• Protective effect of water yam (Dioscorea alata L.) extract on the copper-driven fenton reaction and X-ray induced DNA damage in vitro [9].
• We investigated whether a plant chitinase can be used as a biocontrol agent instead of chemical fungicides by spraying chitinase E (family 19; class IV) from a yam (Dioscorea opposita Thunb) alone or together with beta-1,3-glucanase directly onto the surface of a powdery mildew infecting strawberry berries and leaves [10].

Associations of Dioscorea with chemical compounds

• Isolation and characterization of an intermediate steroid metabolite in diosgenin biosynthesis in suspension cultures of Dioscorea deltoidea cells [7].
• Dioscorealides and dioscoreanone, novel cytotoxic naphthofuranoxepins, and 1,4-phenanthraquinone from Dioscorea membranacea Pierre [11].
• Dioscoretine: the hypoglycemic principle of Dioscorea dumetorum [12].
• By activity-guided fractionation, three known steroidal saponins, prosapogenin A of dioscin, dioscin and gracillin, were isolated from the total saponin fraction of Dioscorea coiletti var. hypoglauca as active compounds causing morphological abnormality of Pyricularia oryzae mycelia [13].
• One of the plant components we identified from the screening was dioscorin, the glycoprotein isolated from Dioscorea alata [14].

Gene context of Dioscorea

• Rapid isolation of promoter sequences by TAIL-PCR: the 5'-flanking regions of Pal and Pgi genes from yams (Dioscorea) [15].
• The yam (Dioscorea batatas Decne) tuber mucilage (YTM) was extracted and partially purified by SDS and heating treatments [16].
• To clarify the characteristics of the epitopes, we examined the interaction of four anti-Baka sera (Yam, Lin, Kl and MO) with their epitopes, either with or without modifications by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and/or neuraminidase [17].
• Antioxidant activity of dioscorea and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in older humans [18].
• Dioscorin, the major tuber storage protein of yam (Dioscorea batatas decne) with carbonic anhydrase and trypsin inhibitor activities [19].

References