Diversity and Biological Activities of Endophytic Fungi from the Flowers of the Medicinal Plant Vernonia anthelmintica.

Secondary metabolites produced by endophytic fungi are an important source of biologically active compounds. The current research was focused on the biological activities of ethyl acetate extracts of fungi, isolated and identified from Vernonia anthelmintica flowers for the first time. In addition, an investigation of the non-polar chemical composition of dichloromethane-ethyl acetate extracts of the most active fungal strain was carried out. The isolates included Ovatospora senegalensis NR-03, Chaetomium globosum NR-04, Thielavia subthermophila NR-06, Aspergillus calidoustus NR-10, Aspergillus keveii XJF-23 and Aspergillus terreus XJF-3 species. Strains were identified by 18S rRNA gene sequencing methods and were registered in GenBank. Crude extracts of the fungi displayed in vitro biological activities, including antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. A melanin content assay was performed on murine B16 cells. An ethyl acetate extract of O. senegalensis NR-03 showed high anticancer and antimicrobial activity; therefore, we also studied the non-polar chemical composition of the dichloromethane-ethyl acetate fraction and identified 52 non-polar compounds with the different medium. This investigation discovered that the secondary metabolites of the total extract of endophytic fungi could be a potential source of alternative natural antimicrobial, cytotoxic and melanin synthesis activity in their host plant, and the isolation of bioactive metabolites may provide a lead to new compounds of pharmaceutical significance.

Antioxidant Activity and the Potential Mechanism of the Fruit From Ailanthus altissima Swingle.

The fruits of Ailanthus altissima Swingle (AS) possess a variety of pharmacological activities. Its antioxidant activity and the potential mode of action have not yet been investigated. In in vitro studies, AS revealed the strong reducing power and DPPH scavenging effect, but hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and ferrous ions-chelating ability were not strong. Meanwhile, the oxidative stress RAW264.7 cell injury model was established, the low and medium-doses of AS showed significant protective effects on the viability of H2O2-treated cells by CCK-8 method. Besides, three doses of AS all increased the activities of SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px and decreased the MDA level compared with the H2O2 group, suggesting it significantly relieved oxidative stress of cells. The active ingredients and related targets of AS were collected by HERB and Swiss Target Prediction database, the common targets of drugs and diseases database were conducted by GeneCards database platform and the Venny platform. We screened the core targets of AS like threonine kinase1 (AKT1), mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1), sirtuin-1 (SIRT1), mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase (MTOR) by STRING database, and the key pathways involved PI3K-AKT and FoxO signaling pathway by KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Besides, qRT-PCR revealed AS preconditioning significantly up-regulated the expression level of AKT1, SIRT1, MAPK1, and MTOR in model cells, and the effect was related to the regulation of FoxO and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. In summary, AS showed significant antioxidant activity and its potential mechanism was regulating FoxO and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Spectrum-effect relationship between UPLC fingerprints and antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of Rosa rugosa.

In this study, the antidiabetic and antioxidant properties of the chemical constituents of Rosa rugosa Thunb. (R. rugosa) was evaluated through analysis of spectrum-effect relationship. The ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) fingerprints of 21 batches of R. rugosa were evaluated by similarity analysis (SA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). The 28 common components were identified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-orbitrap-HRMS/MS). Meanwhile, the antidiabetic activities and antioxidant activities of 21 batches of R. rugosa were estimated in vitro. Besides, four chemometrics named principal component analysis (PCA), grey correlation analysis (GRA), partial least squares regression (PLSR) and the bivariate correlations analysis (BCA) were applied to construct spectrum-effect relationship between the UPLC fingerprints and biological activities of R. rugosa. The spectrum-effect relationship study revealed that di-O-galloyl-HHDP-glucoside, galloyl-HHDP-glucoside and avicularin were more relevant to antidiabetic activity. Di-O-galloyl-HHDP-glucoside, galloyl-HHDP-glucoside and ellagic acid were the main antioxidant components of R. rugosa. The current bioassay and spectrum-effect relationships are proper for associating sample quality with the active ingredient, and our finding would provide foundation and further understanding of the quality evaluation and quality control of R. rugosa.

Impact of continuous low water stage on the breeding environment of Oncomelania hupensis: a case study of Poyang Lake area in China.

BACKGROUND: Oncomelania hupensis is the only intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum and plays a decisive role in its transmission. The variation of water level greatly affects the reproduction and growth of snails. Therefore, in this paper, we analyze the variations of water level in the Poyang Lake region from 1993 to 2016 combined with satellite imagery to elucidate the evolution of the snail breeding environment. METHODS: By employing remote sensing data from 1993 to 2016 (April-June and September-November), the vegetation area of Poyang Lake and the vegetation area at different elevations were extracted and calculated. Moreover, the average daily water level data from the four hydrological stations (Hukou station, Xingzi station, Tangyin station and Kangshan station) which represent the typical state of Poyang Lake were collected from 1993 to 2016. The variance of the monthly mean water level, inundation time and the average area were analyzed by variance to find a significance level of α = 0.05. RESULTS: According to hydrological data before and after 2003, the average water level after 2003 is significantly lower than that before 2003 in Poyang Lake. After 2003, the time of inundateing the snail breeding period was later in April to June than that before 2003, while the time of wate-falling stage in September to November moved forward after 2003 than before 2003. Of them, the lowest water level affecting the breeding and growing period of O. hupensis in the northern part of Poyang Lake decreased from 11 m to 9 m. After 2003, the expansion of meadow area in the north part of Poyang Lake was mainly concentrated in the elevation of 9-11 m, and the newly increased infested-meadow in the lake area was mainly concentrated in the north part of Poyang Lake. CONCLUSIONS: By comparing the change of water level characteristics in different parts of the Poyang Lake area as well as changes in meadow area before and after 2003, it is found that the water level changes mainly affect the snail breeding area in the northern part of Poyang Lake. The results are helpful for improving scientific measures for snail control in Jiangxi Province. This approach could also be applicible to Dongting Lake area and other lake areas affected by water level changes and can bring significant guidance for snail control in lake areas.

Obtaining elevation of Oncomelania Hupensis habitat based on Google Earth and it's accuracy evaluation: an example from the Poyang lake region, China.

Schistosomiasis japonicum is a major zoonosis that seriously harms human health and affects social and economic development in China. The control of Oncomelania Hupensis, the only intermediate host of schistosome japonicum, is one of the integrated measures for schistosomiasis control in China. Acquiring updated elevation data of snail habitat environment, as well as it's spatial analysis, play an important role for the risk evaluation and precise control of schistosomiasis transmission and prevalence. Currently, the elevation database of snail habitat environment in schistosomiasis epidemic areas has not been available in the world, which affects the development of research and application work regarding to snail control. Google Earth(GE) can provide massive information related to topography, geomorphology and ground objects of a region due to its indisputable advantages such as wide use, free charge and rapidly updating. In this paper, taking the Poyang lake region as a example, we extracted elevation data of snail-inhabited environment of the lake from GE and established a elevation correction regression model(CRM) for acquiring accurate geospatial elevations, so as to provide a decision-making reference for snail control and risk evaluation of schistosomiasis in China. We developed a GE Application Programming Interface(API) program to extract elevation data from GE, which was compared with the actual elevation data obtained from topographic map of the Poyang Lake bottom. Then, a correction regression model was established and evaluated by 3 index, Mean Absolute Error(MAE), Root Mean Squared Error(RMSE) and Index of Agreement(IOA) for the accuracy of the model. The elevation values extracted from GE in 15086 sample grid points of the lake ranged from 8.5 m to 24.8 m. After the sample points were divided randomly to three groups, the mean elevations of three groups were 13.49 m, 13.52 m and 13.65 m, respectively, with standard deviation ranged from 2.04-2.06. The mean elevation among three groups has no statistic difference (F = 1.536, P = 0.215). A elevation correction regression model was established as y = 6.228 + 0.485×. the evaluation results for the accuracy of the model showed that the MAE and RMSE before correction was 1.28 m and 3.95 m respectively, higher than that after correction, which were 0.74 and 1.30 m correspondingly. The IOA before correction (-0.40)was lower than that after correction(0.34). Google Earth can directly or indirectly get access to massive information related to topography, geomorphology and ground objects due to its indisputable advantages. However, it still needs to be converted into more reliable and accurate data by combining with pre-processing tools. This study used self-developed API program to extract elevation data from GE through precisely locating and improved the accuracy of elevation by using a correction regression model, which can provide reliable data sources for all kinds of spatial data researches and applications.

Response of alpine grassland to elevated nitrogen deposition and water supply in China.

Species composition and productivity are influenced by water and N availability in semi-arid grasslands. To assess the effects of increased N deposition and water supply on plant species composition and productivity, two field experiments with four N addition treatments, and three N and water combination treatments were conducted in alpine grassland in the mid Tianshan mountains, northwest China. When considering N addition alone, aboveground biomass (AGB) of forbs (F(AGB)) responded less to N addition than AGB of grasses (G(AGB)). G(AGB) increased as an effect of N combined with water addition but F(AGB) did not show such an effect, reflecting a stronger response of grasses to the interaction of water availability and N than forbs. Under all treatments, N allocation to the aboveground tissue did not change for either forbs or grasses. N deposition and water addition did not alter species richness in the present study. These results suggest that N addition generally promoted AGB but had little effect on species richness in wet years. Snowfall in winter combined with rainfall in the early growing season likely plays a critical role in regulating plant growth of the subsequent year in the alpine grassland.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of brain-wide wiring networks in Drosophila at single-cell resolution.

BACKGROUND: Animal behavior is governed by the activity of interconnected brain circuits. Comprehensive brain wiring maps are thus needed in order to formulate hypotheses about information flow and also to guide genetic manipulations aimed at understanding how genes and circuits orchestrate complex behaviors. RESULTS: To assemble this map, we deconstructed the adult Drosophila brain into approximately 16,000 single neurons and reconstructed them into a common standardized framework to produce a virtual fly brain. We have constructed a mesoscopic map and found that it consists of 41 local processing units (LPUs), six hubs, and 58 tracts covering the whole Drosophila brain. Despite individual local variation, the architecture of the Drosophila brain shows invariance for both the aggregation of local neurons (LNs) within specific LPUs and for the connectivity of projection neurons (PNs) between the same set of LPUs. An open-access image database, named FlyCircuit, has been constructed for online data archiving, mining, analysis, and three-dimensional visualization of all single neurons, brain-wide LPUs, their wiring diagrams, and neural tracts. CONCLUSION: We found that the Drosophila brain is assembled from families of multiple LPUs and their interconnections. This provides an essential first step in the analysis of information processing within and between neurons in a complete brain.