Short Term Effect of He-Ne Laser on Jatropha curcas Leaf Development and Amino Acid Biosynthesis: More Insights in Developmental Genetics of Oil Producing Plants

Abstract

JATROPHA curcas is a promising plant for biodiesel production. One tentative way to increase oil production is using non traditional physical methods such as laser. It had been shown before that laser could enhance plant growth and development as general. In this study, the DNA was extracted from leaves of plants grown from seeds collected from different regions in Egypt and tested using PCR to confirm their homogenousity. Then, the fully expanded leaves of Jatropha (6- week- old plants) were exposed to a dose equaling 300 mJ cm-2 Helium-Neon (He-Ne) laser. The effect of the administered dose on the photosynthetic pigment expression, chloroplast biogenesis and total amino acid biosynthesis were evaluated after 0, 1 and 24 h post irradiation. Laser treatment in this work did enhance all the previousely mentioned parametrs as will be discussed further in relation to the possibility of using laser as a novel protocol to enhance field crop plants as general.