Some similarities to : Shepherd's Purse, but that has heart-shaped seed pods.

Thale Cress has for the last two decades been used as the plant of preference on which to perform genetic experiments. This is because it has so few genes yet still functions as a plant, making it very amenable for studying the function of these genes. More is now known about this plant than any other. but that knowledge is probably transferrable; the way that the flowers of Thale Cress grow is probably similar to the way other plants' flowers grow.

FLAVINS & CRYPTOCHROMES Flavins are a group of organic alkaloids based upon Isoalloxazine (a tricyclic alkaloid with a Pteridine core) the most well known of which is Riboflavin, a Flavin with a Ribose sugar (more correctly a 'ribityl') moiety attached to the 'R' position. The Flavins are derived from Riboflavin. [Pteridine itself is composed of two fused rings, one of Pyrimidine the other of Pyrazine, which are isomers of one another]. The class of compounds called Pterins are also based upon Pyrazine rings and are very colourful compounds utilised by Butterflies as Butterfly Wing Dyes]. Riboflavin, which is also known as Vitamin B2, is essential to mammals and plays a key role in energy metabolism of fats, ketones, carbohydrates and proteins. It is one of the Flavins, and in solution is both coloured yellow and fluoresces yellow under ultraviolet light. In solid form it is more orange in colour. Flavins are those substances with the structures shown above, where the radical 'R' (shown in red) can be any group. Two forms exist, an oxidised form which is yellow in aqueous solution, and a reduced form with hydrogen atoms on either or both nitrogen atoms. If both nitrogen atoms have a hydrogen atom (as shown) then the Flavin is fully reduced and is now colourless. If only partially reduced with a hydrogen atom on either nitrogen atom, then it may be either red or blue, depending upon certain other factors. CRYPTOCHROME 1 An important role of Flavins within living things is that they chemically combine with proteins, the result called Flavoproteins. One such Flavoprotein is Cryptochrome 1 which is a Cryptochrome. Cryptochromes are a class of blue-light sensitive flavoproteins found in both plants and animals which play an important role in the regulation of circadian rhythms and in photomorphogenesis in Thale Cress. Cryptochromes change colour in response to either acidic conditions or by excitation with light (which frees an electron) where they undergo a change in oxidation similar to that observed in the Flavins. It is not possible to show the structure of Cryptochrome 1, for it has a very high molecular weight, consisting of about 500 amino acids and a flavin adenine dinucleotide. Cryptochrome 1 is known to have two chromophores; a Flavin and a Pterin in the specific form of 5,10-Methenyl-TetraHydroFolic Acid (or MHF for short). Other Flavoproteins mediate the phototropic response to light, where the plant moves in response to light. Thale Cress, in response to blue light, transports Cryptochrome 1 into the cell nucleus where it instigates a change in turgor pressure and causes stem elongation. It is responsible for the blue-light stimulated growth of the leaves. Of all of the substances depicted above, many of which are shown for comparison only, the only ones with a reported presence in Thale Cress are the Flavins and Cryptochrome 1.

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