Meinhart H. Zenk

TL;DR: These peptides appear upon induction of plant cells with heavy metals and represent the principal metal-binding activities in the cells and are proposed as phytochelatin for this new class of natural products.

TL;DR: It is shown that endogenous jasmonic acid and its methyl ester accumulate rapidly and transiently after treatment of plant cell suspension cultures of Rauvolfia canescens and Eschscholtzia californica with a yeast elicitor.

TL;DR: The isolation of a Cd(2+)-sensitive cadl mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana, that is deficient in PC synthase, demonstrates conclusively the importance of PC for heavy metal tolerance.

TL;DR: An enzyme has been discovered and characterized from Silene cucubalus cell suspension cultures that catalyzes the transfer of the gamma-glutamylcysteine dipeptide moiety of glutathione to an acceptors molecule or a growing chain of [Glu(-Cys)](n)-Gly oligomers, thus synthesizing phytochelatins, the metal-binding peptides of higher plants and select fungi.

TL;DR: It is shown that all plants tested synthesized phytochelatins upon exposure to heavy metal ions, and no evidence for the occurrence of metallothionein-like proteins was found.