Safeguarding Imperiled Biodiversity and Evolutionary Processes in the Wallacea Center of Endemism.

Wallacea-the meeting point between the Asian and Australian fauna-is one of the world's largest centers of endemism. Twenty-three million years of complex geological history have given rise to a living laboratory for the study of evolution and biodiversity, highly vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures. In the present article, we review the historic and contemporary processes shaping Wallacea's biodiversity and explore ways to conserve its unique ecosystems. Although remoteness has spared many Wallacean islands from the severe overexploitation that characterizes many tropical regions, industrial-scale expansion of agriculture, mining, aquaculture and fisheries is damaging terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, denuding endemics from communities, and threatening a long-term legacy of impoverished human populations. An impending biodiversity catastrophe demands collaborative actions to improve community-based management, minimize environmental impacts, monitor threatened species, and reduce wildlife trade. Securing a positive future for Wallacea's imperiled ecosystems requires a fundamental shift away from managing marine and terrestrial realms independently.

Diversity and distribution of culturable lactic acid bacterial species in Indonesian Sayur Asin.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play important roles in processing of Sayur Asin (spontaneously fermented mustard). Unfortunately, information about LAB in Indonesian Sayur Asin, prepared by traditional manufactures which is important as baseline data for maintenance of food quality and safety, is unclear. The aim of this study was to describe the diversity and distribution of culturable lactic acid bacteria in Sayur Asin of Indonesia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four Sayur Asin samples (fermentation liquor and fermented mustard) were collected at harvesting times (3-7 days after fermentation) from two traditional manufactures in Tulung Agung (TA) and Kediri (KDR), East Java provinces, Indonesia. LAB strains were isolated by using MRS agar method supplemented with 1% CaCO 3 and characterized morphologically. Identification of the strains was performed basedon 16S rDNA analysis and the phylogenetic tree was drawn to understand the phylogenetic relationship of the collected strains. RESULTS: Different profiles were detected in total count of the plates, salinity and pH of fermenting liquor of Sayur Asin in TA and KDR provinces. A total of 172 LAB isolates were successfully isolated and identified based on their 16S rDNA sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of 27 representative LAB strains from Sayur Asin showed that these strains belonged to 5 distinct species namely Lactobacilus farciminis (N=32), L. fermentum (N=4), L. namurensis (N=15), L. plantarum (N=118) and L. parafarraginis (N=1). Strains D5-S-2013 and B4-S-2013 showed a close phylogenetic relationship with L. composti and L. paralimentarius, respectively where as the sequence had slightly lower similarity of lower than 99%, suggesting that they may be classified into novel species and need further investigation due to exhibition of significant differences in their nucleotide sequences. Lactobacillus plantarum was found being dominant in all sayur asin samples. CONCLUSION: Lactobacilli were recognized as the major group of lactic acid bacteria in Sayur Asin including 5 known and 2 novel candidate species. The distribution of LAB species was associated with the manufactures where Sayur Asin is produced.

Production of lepidimoide by an endophytic fungus from polysaccharide extracted from Abelmoschus sp.: identification of the product and the organism producing it.

A highly potent allelopathic factor, lepidimoide, was initially extracted from mucilage of germinated cress seeds. Polysaccharide extracted from okra (Abelmoschus esculentum Moench) is considered to have a similar structure to lepidimoide as its repeating unit. We therefore initiated the screening of enzymes capable of degrading okra polysaccharide into lepidimoide from endophytes. We discovered an endophytic fungal strain AHU9748 isolated from Coleus galeatus, which produced an oligosaccharide having similar properties to lepidimoide on thin layer chromatography. The physico-chemical data from ESI-MS, NMR spectra and other analyses also showed the purified product to be identical to lepidimoide. The strain AHU9748 was identified as a fungus belonging to the coelomycetes, closely related to the genus Colletotrichum, based on morphological characteristics and sequence analysis of the 18S rDNA and ITS region.