Figure 6.

Epidermal cell localization of the pentacyclic triterpene biosynthesis. A, Stem and leaf surface extracts were obtained by dipping stem and leaves, respectively, into chloroform as described in the materials and methods. Total extracts were obtained after complete homogenization of stem and leaf tissues followed by chloroform extraction. Each extract was analyzed by TLC using 200 ng of ursolic acid (UA) and oleanolic acid (OA) as the standards. The analysis was repeated thrice independently with similar results. B, qRT-PCR expression analysis of ObAS1 and ObAS2 using whole leaf and epidermal-enriched RNAs. Data are the mean ± se from seven biological replicates. C, The expression levels of two unique transcripts of sweet basil Rubisco small subunit (RBCS) were determined using whole leaf and epidermal-enriched RNAs. Data are mean ± se (n = 4, from two biological replicates). GenBank accession numbers for RBCS1 and RBCS2 are DY342732 and DY336269, respectively. [See online article for color version of this figure.]