Secondary metabolites from Aspergillus terreus F6-3, a marine fungus associated with Johnius belengerii.

Two new terrein derivatives asperterreinones A-B (1-2), one new octahydrocoumarin derivative (±)-asperterreinin A (6), along with seventeen known compounds, were isolated from Aspergillus terreus F6-3, a marine fungus associated with Johnius belengerii. The structures of 1, 2, and 6 were established on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR, mass spectroscopy, comparative electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra analysis, density functional theory calculation of 13C NMR, and DP4+ probability analysis. Among all the isolates, eurylene (7), a constituent of the Malaysian medicinal plant Eurycoma longifolia, was obtained from a microbial source for first time. In the in vitro bioassay, 11 and 13 showed potent inhibitory activity against the Escherichia coli ß-glucuronidase (EcGUS) with IC50 values of 27.75 ± 0.73 and 17.73 ± 0.81 µM, respectively. It was the first time that questinol (11) and (±)-aspertertone B (13) were reported as potent EcGUS inhibitors.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Artemisia ordosica.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Artemisia ordosica was characterized from Illumina pair-end sequencing. The chloroplast genome of A. ordosica was 151,209 bp in length, containing a large single-copy region (LSC) of 80,975 bp, a small single-copy region (SSC) of 16,002 bp, and two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 27,116 bp. The overall GC content is 30.71%, while the correponding values of the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 64.2%, 69.3%, and 60.0%, respectively. The genome contains 138 complete genes, including 91 protein-coding genes (62 protein-coding gene species), 39 tRNA genes (29 tRNA species) and 8 rRNA genes (4 rRNA species). The Neighbour-joining phylogenetic analysis showed that A. ordosica and Artemisia scoparia clustered together as sisters to other Artemisia species.

Identification of Fritillaria pallidiflora using diagnostic PCR and PCR-RFLP based on nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer sequences.

Fritillaria pallidiflora Schrenk (Liliaceae) is a commonly used antitussive herb. There are 9 species of Fritillaria recorded as herbal drugs in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The other species are often marketed as F. pallidiflora, and thus, the therapeutic effects of F. pallidiflora are not achieved. Methods to distinguish F. pallidiflora from the 8 other species of Fritillaria are limited by the current morphological and chemical methods. In this study, we report two molecular authentication methods based on the sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (nrDNA ITS) regions. For diagnostic PCR, we designed a pair of species-specific primers to authenticate F. pallidiflora. The PCR program consisted of only two steps for every repeated cycle. For PCR-RFLP, we identified a distinctive site which can be recognized by the restriction endonuclease Eco81I in the nrDNA ITS1 region of F. pallidiflora. PCR-RFLP analysis was established to differentiate F. pallidiflora from the other species of Fritillaria. These methods provide effective and accurate identification of F. pallidiflora.