Leguminous plants, protective

L-Canavanine and L-Canaline Protective Allelochemicals of Certain Leguminous Plants... 

L-Canavanine and L-canaline are non-protein amino acids of certain leguminous plants, that function as protective allelochemicals. L-Canavanine is incorporated into de novo synthesized proteins in place of arginTne there is suggestive evidence that formation of such anomalous proteins figures significantly in canavanine s adverse biological effects. Canavanine, however, does not appear to inhibit overall protein synthesis. Thus, an important basis for canavanine s antimetabolic properties resides in the sustained production of biologically aberrant proteins. 

Nitrogen fixation is the conversion of N2 gas into ammonia, a process carried out by some soil bacteria, cyanobacteria and the symbiotic bacteria Rhizobium that invade the root nodules of leguminous plants. This process is carried out by the nitrogenase complex, which consists of a reductase and an iron-molybdenum-containing nitrogenase. At least 16 ATP molecules are hydrolyzed to form two molecules of ammonia. Leghemoglobin is used to protect the nitrogenase in the Rhizobium from inactivation by 02. 

Type 1 MTs, currently exclusive for oxygen atoms (OMTs), methylate hydroxyl moieties of phenylpropanoid-based compounds (Fig. 2.3). The phenylpropanoid scaffold is used as a building block for many other types of compounds in the plant. Modification of this basic unit by multiple condensation reactions yields chalcone, flavonoid, isoflavonoid, and pterocarpan skeletons, for example. Flavonoids are ubiquitous in higher plants, where they function as UV protectants,5 defense compounds,6 and stimulators of beneficial mutualistic interactions with microorganisms, insects, and other organisms.7 Isoflavonoid natural products are limited primarily to leguminous plants, where they function as pre-... 

The functions of potassium in the plant are manifold. This element serves to activate or catalyze a host of enzyme actions, to facilitate the transport of nutrients and assimilates in the xylem and phloem, to maintain the structural integrity of the plant cell, to regulate turgor pressure, to mediate the fixation of nitrogen in leguminous plant species, and to protect plants to some degree from certain plant diseases. 

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