Development and Application of Mitochondrial and Chloroplast Microsatellite Markers for Codonopsis Plants / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To develop the specific molecular markers of <italic>Codonopsis</italic> plants and better identify their germplasm resources considering the significant difference in active ingredients of Codonopsis Radix from various origins and producing areas. Method:Such bioinformatics software as Primer 5.0， NTSYS-pc 2.10e， and PopGene 32 were used for searching the simple sequence repeat （SSR） markers of <italic>C. minima </italic>chloroplast genome， <italic>C. tsinlingensis</italic> chloroplast， and <italic>C. lanceolata </italic>mitochondrial sequences， and 120 pairs of SSR primers were designed by Primer 5.0. Then 16 pairs of cpSSR primers and 10 pairs of mtSSR primers with good screening effect and high polymorphism were selected for analyzing the interspecific versatility of 20 samples. Result:The results showed that 66 cpSSR primer sites and 26 mtSSR sites were identified from the genome sequences， with 86.20% of single nucleotide， 6.9% of dinucleotide， and 6.9% of trinucleotide for <italic>C. minima </italic>chloroplast， 83.78% of single nucleotide，13.51% of dinucleotide， and 2.71% of trinucleotide for <italic>C. tsinlingensis</italic> chloroplast， and 46.15% of single nucleotide and 53.85% of dinucleotide for <italic>C. lanceolata </italic>mitochondria. As demonstrated by polymerase chain reaction （PCR） identification results， the developed 26 pairs of SSR primers had good applicability in the genus<italic> Codonopsis</italic>. The analysis by NTSYS-pc 2.10e revealed that the genetic similarity coefficients of 20 samples were within the range of 0.38-1.00， and they were divided into two subgroups at a threshold of 0.69. Four pairs of polymorphic primers were screened out in the diversity analysis of 20 samples using PopGene 32. The number of observed alleles （<italic>Na</italic>） was 12， and the effective number of alleles （<italic>Ne</italic>） ranged from 1.362 9 to 2.605 9. The percentage of polymorphic loci （PPL） at each site was 100%， and the average values of genetic parameters<italic> Ho</italic>， <italic>He</italic>， and <italic>I</italic> at each site were 0.555 8， 0.444 2， and 0.753 2， respectively， indicating high polymorphism at each site. The screened four pairs of primers were utilized for DNA fingerprinting of the 20 samples， and it was found that the DNA fingerprints enabled the identification of these 20 samples. Conclusion:This study has provided a molecular basis for the study of the genetic relationship between plants in species <italic>Codonopsis</italic> and the intraspecific genetic differentiation.

Research Progress of Molecular Biology Techniques in Identification of Medicinal Plants / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Medicinal plant germplasm resources are the foundation of the modern development of traditional Chinese medicine. In-depth study of medicinal plant germplasm resources is a prerequisite for cultivating fine varieties and ensuring the output and standard quality of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）. Traditional identification methods start with appearance and are greatly affected by natural environment and human factors，with a low efficiency and accuracy of identification are generally low molecularin general. Due to such advantages as easy operation，high sensitivity，accurate results， molecular biology technology has been widely used in the related research of relevant studies for medicinal plant germplasm resources due to its advantages of easy operation，high sensitivity，accurate results，etc. It mainly involving the distinction between wild and cultivated products，researchstudy on substitutes of TCM，identification of Chinese patent medicine，good variety marker breeding，genetic diversity researchstudy，genetic map establishment and omics research，etcstudy. Among them，omics researchstudy is divided into genomics，transcriptomics，metabolomics，and proteomics due toby different analysis purposes. Genomics is divided into three sub-fields namely structural genomics，functional genomics， and comparative genomics. Eukaryotes Because eukaryotes have nuclei and organelles，so omics researchstudy also includes chloroplast genomics，mitochondrial genomics，nuclear genomics，and plastid genomics. Among them，the chloroplast genome has a simple structure，small molecular weight，and good conservation，while the mitochondrial genome has a strong variability and complex structure，the nuclear genome data isfeatures complex， data and the nucleus contains no ribosomes in nucleus，resulting in spatiotemporal differences in the translation process，even if repeated repeatedly test， the result of and the test is alsoresults remained uncertain， even after repeated tests. The molecular biology technology and omics researchstudy involved in theby current medicinal plant researchstudy still hashave shortcomings，and there iswith a large room for development，which needs and need further improvement and supplementation. This articlepaper successively introduces the characteristics and applications of cytology，molecular markers，and omics researchstudy techniques in the identification of medicinal germplasm resources，providingin order to provide a reference for subsequent identification，development and utilization of medicinal plant germplasm resources.

Study on mechanism of enhancing antioxidant activity in fermented Ziziphi Spinosae Semen with Poria cocos / 中国中药杂志

In this study, the antioxidant property changes in fermented Ziziphi Spinosae Semen(FZSS) with Poria cocos were analyzed by DPPH, ABTS and FRAP methods. Then the content determination of active ingredients and ~1H nuclear magnetic resonance(~1H-NMR) spectroscopy were also used to investigate the mechanism of FZSS with P. cocos in enhancing the antioxidant activity. The results showed that the content of active ingredients such as total phenols, total saponins and total polysaccharides were significantly increased during the fermentation time. The results of ~1H-NMR metabonomics showed that the contents of amino acids such as leucine, lysine, valine and alanine, nitrogen compounds such as creatine, creatinine, and betaine, and secondary metabolites, for instance, jujuboside A and spinosin were higher after fermentation, and above components showed positive correlation with antioxidant capacity in Pearson correlation analysis. Therefore, it was inferred that the enhancement of antioxidant activity of FZSS may be the result of the joint action of various chemical components. This study preliminarily clarified the mechanism of FZSS in enhancing the antioxidant activity, and provided new research ideas for the product development and utilization of FZSS.

Determination of five neurotransmitters in the rat brain for the study of the hypnotic effects of Ziziphi Spinosae Semen aqueous extract on insomnia rat model by UPLC-MS/MS / 中国天然药物

Ziziphi Spinosae Semen (ZSS) has been used for treatment of insomnia in China for centuries. To reveal the influence of insomnia on the levels of the neurotransmitters including serotonin (5-HT), glutamic acid (Glu), γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), noradrenaline (NE) and dopamine (DA), and to study the role of ZSS aqueous extract in the treatment of insomnia, an UPLC-ESI- MS/MS method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of five neurotransmitters in the rat brain. The brain samples were pretreated by one-step direct protein precipitation with acetonitrile. The analytes were detected in positive mode with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) and the procedure was completed in less than 10 min. The method showed a good linearity (R > 0.9967) with the other validation parameters were within acceptance range. The results indicated that the concentration of 5-HT, GABA and DA is significantly lower (P < 0.01) in para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA)-induced insomnia rat model group, while Glu and NE significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.01). Treatment with ZSS aqueous extract (4 or 8 g·kg·d for seven days) could ameliorate the symptoms of insomnia by significantly changing the levels of the neurotransmitter parameters mentioned above. The data obtained in this study demonstrate that ZSS aqueous extract could ameliorate the symptoms of insomnia by modulating the levels of monoamines and amino acid neurotransmitters in the brain.