Kleinia

In last year s Report, reference was made to the discovery of three examples of a new type of pyrrolizidine alkaloid containing the dihydropyrrolizinone ring system. Two closely related acyl-pyrroles have now been detected in aerial parts of Kleinia kleinioides (Sch. Bip.) M. R. F. Taylor by Bohlmann and Knoll. Spectral data on the first pyrrole showed it to be an isomer of senaetnine (29), with different stereochemistry at C-7, C-12, or C-13. Lack of material prevented clarification of the stereochemistry of isosenaetnine (29). The second new compound differed from isosenaetnine in replacement of one methyl group by methylene, and it is therefore formulated as dehydroisosenaetnine (30). The stereochemistry is again uncertain. 

Constit. of Senecio kleinia and Tussilago farfara. Gum. -72 (c, 2.5 in CHCI3). 

We were able to molecularly clone the gll locus of maize due to the insertional mutagenesis of this locus by the Mul transposon (Hansen et al., 1996). The gll cDNA is predicted to code for a protein of 319 amino acids with an estimated molecular mass of 35.3 kDa and a theoretical isoelectric point of 9.38. The GLl protein is homologous to the N-terminal portions of the EPI23 protein of Kleinia odora, the CERl protein of Arabidopsis and the protein coded by the rice EST RICS2751A. These homologous proteins are predicted to be have 625 amino acids residues. 

Hansen, J.D., Pyee, J., Xia, Y., Wen, T-J., Robertson, D.S., Kolattukudy, P.E., Nikolau, BJ., and Schnable, P.S. (1 6) The glossy 1 locus of Zca mays L. and an epidermis-specific cDNA from Kleinia odora define a novel class of plant receptor-like proteins required for the normal accumulation of cuticular waxes, submitted for publication. 

Fig. 1.25. An ornamental bed of Kleinia, a leaf-succulent CAM plant of the sunflower family...

Many succulent members (Fig. 1.25), e.g.. Aster, Kleinia, Natonia, and Senecio, have been shown to have CAM. 

Ganzmann and von Willert (1973) showed CAM in Aster tripolium by dark CO2 fixation and organic acid accumulation. Schutte et al. (1967) measured diurnal organic acid fluctuations in Kleinia tomentosa and Senecio cephalophorus. Milburn et al. (1968) showed a diurnal fluctuation of organic acids in Notonia petraea and Thoday and Evans (1931) showed a fluctuation in Kleinia articulata. 

Nordal and his associates have studied organic acids in a variety of succulent CAM plants. Phorbic acid, an 8-carbon tricarboxylic acid, was detected in Euphorbia sp., Cereus, Opuntia, Kleinia, and Portulaca (Nordal and Ogner, 1964 ... 

Thoday,D., Evans, H. Buffer Systems in Kleinia articulata. Protoplasma 14, 64-74 (1931) Thomas, M. Physiological studies on acid metabolism on green plants. I. CO2 fixation and CO2 liberation in Crassulacean Acid Metabolism. New Phytol. 48,390-420 (1949)... 

Bohlmann, F., and K.-H. Knoll Zwei neue Acylpyrrole aus Kleinia kleinioides. Phytochemistry 17, 599 (1978). 

Rodriguez, F. D., and A. G. Gonzalez Canary Plant Alkaloids. XI. Secondary Alkaloids of Senecio kleinia. Farm. Nueva 36, 803 (1971) [Chem. Abstr. 76, 83573 (1972)]. 

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