title: Periploca sepium Bunge as a model plant for rubber biosynthesis study.
abstract: Periploca sepium Bunge (Chinese silk vine) is a woody climbing vine belonging to the family Asclepiadaceae. It originally comes from Northwest China. Periploca resembles the Para-rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, regarding a similar body plan to produce a milky exudate containing rubber latex. The Periploca plant was assessed as a rubber-producing plant by rubber structure elucidation and its molecular weight distribution. A rubber fraction purified from the milky exudate was subjected to 1H NMR analysis, and a characteristic signal derived from cis-polyisoprene was observed. In addition, when the molecular weight distribution of rubber components in the exudate was measured (using size-exclusion chromatography), the number-average molecular weight (Mn), weight-average molecular weight (Mw), and polydispersity (Mw/Mn) were estimated to be Mn = 1.3 x 10(5), Mw = 4.1 x 10(5), and Mw/Mn = 3.1, respectively. Furthermore, the presence of polyisoprene, with Mn = 4.0 x 10(4), Mw = 7.6 x 10(4), and Mw/Mn = 2.5, was also confirmed in plantlets obtained from shoots as a result of tissue culture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bamba
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sando
authors.forename: Asuka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miyabashira
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gyokusen
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
authors.forename: Yinquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Eiichiro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fukusaki
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008954:Models, Biological; D031109:Periploca / Q000378:metabolism*; D012408:Rubber / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D012408:Rubber