Intact plant

Dietary fiber is a mixture of simple and complex polysaccharides and lignin. In intact plant tissue these components are organized into a complex matrix, which is not completely understood. The physical and chemical interactions that sustain this matrix affect its physicochemical properties and probably its physiological effects. Several of the polysaccharides classified as soluble fiber are soluble only after they have been extracted under fairly rigorous conditions. 

Next, we observed that the activity of this isoPO was higher in calluses than in intact plants. Moreover, the significant activation of this isoform (pl 8.5) was shown in potato calluses infected by Phytophthora infestans (Fig. 1). 

A more comprehensive review of the significance of these organic osmotica in the tolerance of plant cells to water stress can be found in a paper by Hasegawa et al. (1987). The significance of organic osmotica in tolerance processes of intact plant systems is discussed jn Chapters 7 and 8. 

A number of chapters in this volume (especially Chapters 5 and 6) provide a more thorough discussion of osmotic adjustment by intact plants and tissues in response to environmental stress and the role of osmotically active solutes in this response. The following section focuses on the role of organic osmotica in the response of plant cells to salt stress. Cultured plant cells offer the opportunity to evaluate the effect of both internally synthesised and externally administered organic osmotica. 

Kolb M, H Harms (2000) Metabolism of fluoranthene in different plant cell cultures and intact plants. Environ Toxicol Chem 19 1304-1310. 

N. Claassen and S. A. Barber, A method for characterizing the relationship between nutrient concentration and flux into roots of intact plants. Plant Physiol. 54 564 (1974). 

In other isolation methods, where the ccmpound(s) was removed from the donor plants, the plant material was either dried or macerated prior to cold and hot water treatment. Soxhlet-type extraction was employed when organic solvents were used. Leaves and stems from the intact plants were extracted to collect the suspected volatile substances and those chemicals likely to be released by rain, mist... 

The uncertainty in translating the observed effects in isolated enzyme and other biochemical systems to intact plant systems and... 

These two experiments provide the strongest data showing that allelochemicals can inhibit mineral absorption by intact plants. 

Inhibition of Mineral Absorption in Excised Roots. More conclusive evidence that allelochemicals can inhibit mineral absorption has been obtained using purified allelochemicals and excised plant roots as the experimental system (Table 1). Use of excised roots eliminates the possibility that exists with intact plants that inhibition of translocation rather than absorption is responsible for decreased mineral content. Use of purified allelochemicals rather than plant debris or leachates allows more definitive conclusions to be reached regarding the capacity of allelochemicals to inhibit mineral absorption. 

Liu, Z. J., Bushnell, W. R. and Brambl, R. (1987). Potentiometric cyanine dyes are sensitive probes for mitochondria in intact plant-cells - Kinetin enhances mitochondrial fluorescence. Plant Physiol. 84, 1385-1390. 

Roshchina, V.V., Melnikova, E.V., Mitkovskaya L.I. and Karnaukhov, V.N. (1998). Microspectrofluorimetry for the study of intact plant secretory cells. Journal of General Biology (Russia). 59 531-554. 

Craig S, Staehelin LA. High pressure freezing of intact plant tissues. Evaluation and characterization of novel features of the endoplasmic reticulum and associated membrane systems. Eur J Cell Biol 1988 46 81-93. 

They suggested that in the intact plant ozone affects only the first membrane contacted. 

Intact plants are also suitable for cost-effective production of recombinant pharmaceutical proteins providing products free of contaminations with endotoxins or human pathogens. Plants generally promote the proper fold of foreign proteins and post-translational modifications that are somehow similar to those of mammalian systems. Also, production of vaccine candidates in cereal seeds allows antigen protection from proteolysis which ensures their stability for a long period of time. 

Intact plants have been found in the past few years to be attractive for the production of complex recombinant pharmaceutical proteins. This process, known as molecular pharming, allows obtaining proteins of pharmacological interest in a low cost and safe pathogen-free procedure. 

Goodbody and co-workers (7/9) have examined the production of alkaloids in root and shoot cultures induced from seedlings of C. roseus. The pattern of alkaloids in the root cultures was similar to that of the roots from intact plants. Thus ajmalicine (39) and catharanthine (4) were produced, but no vindoline (3), a major leaf alkaloid, and no bisindole alkaloids. Similarly, the pattern of the alkaloid content of the shoot cultures was like that of the leaves of the intact plant, showing the presence of vindoline (3), catharanthine (4), and ajmalicine (39), with 3 predominating. A search for the bisindole alkaloids in the cultures indicated the presence of anhydrovinblastine (8) and leurosine (11) in the shoot cultures (2.6 and 0.3 xg/g fresh weight, respectively), but no vinblastine (1) or vincristine (2). 

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