
Chlorophyll Breakdown Products as a Tool for Studying Plant Cellular Processes
September 18, 2009 |
The breakdown of chlorophyll in ripening fruits such as apple and pear, similar to the breakdown of green to yellow and red pigments in senescing leaves during autumn, produces decomposition products called non-fluorescing chlorophyll catabolites (NCC). In bananas, however, chlorophylls fade to give unique fluorescent catabolites (FCCs), causing yellow bananas to glow blue when viewed under the UV light. Recently, a team of researchers from Austria found that these fluorescent catabolites can signal symptoms of cell suicide in plants. Bernhard Krautler and colleagues found that FCCs accumulate in luminescent halos around dark spots that appear naturally in the peel of ripening bananas, within senescing cells undergoing transition to dead tissues. The scientists, in a paper published by PNAS, wrote that "fruit eating animals might have learned, through survival pressure, to notice the blue luminescence of FCCs in ripening bananas, and the characteristic rings that develop as halos on the spotted peels of very ripe bananas."
Krautler and colleagues said that these catabolites "may prove to be helpful as a noninvasive, molecular tool for studying cellular processes in plants."
The paper is available at http://dx.doi.org10.1073/pnas.0908060106
|
Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.
-
See more articles:
-
News from Around the World
- ISAAA Mourns the Loss and Pays Tribute to its Founding Patron, Nobel Peace Laureate Norman Borlaug, 1914 - 2009
- UN Report: World Falls Short on Pledges to Attain MDG Goals
- Degree Course on Biotech and Biosafety Launched at Kenya's Moi University
- Empowering the Seed Sector in Africa
- Media Coverage of Biotech in Kenya Inadequate
- FAO, World Bank Give Helping Hand to Zimbabwean Farmers
- Scientists Find Evidence of Casuarina Hybrids
- New Pest Found in Ohio Soybeans
- Insecticide-Free Control of Soybean Aphids
- Brazil Approves New GM Corn Varieties
- Pioneer H-Bred, Asoyia Expand Ultra Low Linolenic Soybean Agreement
- Chinese Research to Benefit Pakistan's Agriculture Sector
- Hybrid Rice Training Center Launched in China
- Origin Agritech Gets Glyphosate Gene Deal
- BCPC Welcomes New BBSRC Strategic Plan
- Halophytic Micro-algae: New Source of Biofuel
- CIRAD To Complete Banana Genomic Sequence
- GMO Crops Can Help Climate and Environment
- Unapproved GM Linseed Found in Germany
-
Research Highlights
- Disabling Instead of Adding: A Novel Way of Breeding Disease-Resistant Plants
- Scientists Closer to Drug-Free Cannabis Plants
- Chlorophyll Breakdown Products as a Tool for Studying Plant Cellular Processes
-
Announcements
- GCARD- E-consultations
- Interdrought III Conference in China
- New Journal: GM Crops
-
Resources
- US Wheat Growers Orgs Publish The Case for Biotech Wheat
-
Read the latest: - Biotech Updates (February 12, 2025)
- Gene Editing Supplement (February 12, 2025)
- Gene Drive Supplement (February 22, 2023)
-
Subscribe to BU: - Share
- Tweet