Climate Change Dependence in Ex Situ Conservation of Wild Medicinal Plants in Crete, Greece.

Over 80% of the global population addresses their primary healthcare needs using traditional medicine based on medicinal plants. Consequently, there's a rising demand for these plants for both household and industrial use at local, regional, national, and international levels. However, wild harvesting has negatively impacted natural ecosystems. Cultivating medicinal species has been proposed as a conservation strategy to alleviate this pressure. Yet, in this age of global climate change concerns, smallholder farmers' views on the benefits of such cultivation clash with the uncertainties of climate change impacts, amplifying their anxieties. In this context, the climate change dependence of ex situ cultivation of ten wild medicinal taxa with significant ethnopharmacological interest in Crete, Greece, were studied, projecting their potential habitat suitability under various future climate scenarios. The results demonstrated species-specific effects. Based on the potential cultivation area gains and losses, these effects can be categorized into three groups. We also outlined the spatial patterns of these gains and losses, offering valuable insights for regional management strategies benefiting individual practitioners.

3D Printed Metal Oxide-Polymer Composite Materials for Antifouling Applications.

Current technology to prevent biofouling usually relies on the use of toxic, biocide-containing materials, which can become a serious threat to marine ecosystems, affecting both targeted and nontargeted organisms. Therefore, the development of broad-spectrum, less toxic antifouling materials is a challenge for researchers; such materials would be quite important in applications like aquaculture. In this respect, surface chemistry, physical properties, durability and attachment scheme can play a vital role in the performance of the materials. In this work, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)/micro ZnO or nano ZnO composite lattices with different metal oxide contents were developed using 3D printing. Their antifouling behavior was examined with respect to aquaculture applications by monitoring growth on them of the diatoms Navicula sp. and the monocellular algae Chlorella sp. with image analysis techniques. As shown, the presence of metal oxides in the composite materials can bring about antifouling ability at particular concentrations. The present study showed promising results, but further improvements are needed.

From wild harvest towards precision agriculture: Use of Ecological Niche Modelling to direct potential cultivation of wild medicinal plants in Crete.

Understanding the distribution of wild medicinal plants and areas that are suitable for cultivation of these plants is important for both conservation and agriculture. Here, we study ten taxa with known ethnopharmacological uses, which have been used extensively in traditional medicine and as culinary supplements. We aim to (1) predict and map the potential habitat suitability for these taxa across the study area, (2) investigate spatial patterns that could have management implications, such as niche similarities among the taxa and suitability "hotspots" with the use of novel indices, and (3) develop a platform where parts of this information can be accessed and utilized by all interested groups, from the policy-maker level to the individual practitioner level. Ecological Niche Models developed for each study taxon, based on topographic, bioclimatic, soil, and land use variables had high predictive power and were used as the basis for suitability visualization. A series of informative indices were also calculated and mapped, revealing spatial patterns not readily observable from the single-taxon predictions, and providing valuable information to managers. Finally, a web-based, easy-to-use application was also created, where the predicted suitability scores for the study area can be made accessible to anyone interested. The application can provide information both in a visual form (i.e. maps of predicted suitability) and in a numerical form (i.e. estimated suitability scores for all taxa in a given geographical location). This study provides the scientific tools to make a step towards cultivating a group of economically important wild medicinal plants in Crete, as well as the tools to disseminate this information to decision makers and practitioners, and eventually integrate the research findings in local agricultural practices.

Chemical and genetic characterization of Phlomis species and wild hybrids in Crete.

The genus Phlomis is represented in the island of Crete (Greece, Eastern Mediterranean) by three species Phlomis cretica C. Presl., Phlomis fruticosa L., the island endemic Phlomis lanata Willd. and three hybrids Phlomis x cytherea Rech.f. (P. cretica x P. fruticosa), Phlomis x commixta Rech.f. (P. cretica x P. lanata) and Phlomis x sieberi Vierh. (P. fruticosa x P. lanata). This work describes (a) the profile of hybrids and parental species concerning their volatile compounds, (b) the suitability of ribosomal nuclear (ITS region), chloroplast (trnH-psbA), and AFLP markers to identify hybrids and (c) their competence to characterize the different chemotypes of both hybrids and their parental species. The cluster analysis and PCA constructed from chemical data (volatile oils) suggest that there are three groups of taxa. Group IA includes P. cretica and P. fruticosa, group IB includes P. x cytherea, whereas group II consists of P. x commixta, P. x sieberi and P. lanata. Volatile compounds detected only in the hybrids P. x sieberi and P. x commixta correspond to the 3% of the total compounds, value that is much higher in P. x cytherea (21%). Neighbor-joining, statistical parsimony analysis and the observations drawn from ribotypes spectrum of ITS markers divided Phlomis species in two groups, P. lanata and the complex P. cretica/P. fruticosa. In contrast to the ITS region, the plastid DNA marker follows a geographically related pattern. Neighbor-Net, PCA and Bayesian assignment analysis performed for AFLP markers separated the genotypes into three groups corresponding to populations of P. cretica, P. fruticosa, and P. lanata, respectively, while populations of P. x commixta, P. x cytherea, and P. x sieberi presented admixed ancestry. Most of the P. x cytherea samples were identified as F1 hybrids by Bayesian assignment test, while those of P. x commixta and P. x sieberi were identified as F2 hybrids. Overall, high chemical differentiation is revealed in one of the three hybrids, which is likely related with niche variation. Moreover, molecular markers show potential to identify Phlomis taxa.

T cell regulation by Phlomis lanata protein extracts in mice.

CONTEXT: Phytopharmacology is a complex but very promising research area. The different plant parts and extraction methods may result in opposed effects. Phlomis species have been reported for both anti-inflammatory and tonic properties. OBJECTIVE: The effect of Phlomis lanata Willd. (Lamiaceae) protein extracts on immune cell reactivity was studied in the experimental mouse model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Protein extracts from P. lanata aerial parts were fractionated by Q-sepharose ion-exchange chromatography and applied to whole spleen cells or T-cell subsets at 5 µg/ml. Cell growth and cytokine production were evaluated after 4 and 2 d of culture using (3)H-thymidine-uptake and ELISA techniques, respectively. RESULTS: Among the protein fractions tested, column wash proteins (W1) and the fraction eluted using 600 mM NaCl (F6) reduced by 76% and increased by 78% spleen cell proliferation, respectively. W1 suppressed proliferation of effector T-cells, but stimulated the growth of suppressor/regulatory cells by 62-148%. Although W1 stimulated IL-2 and IL-10 production from total spleen cells, it significantly increased IL-10 (50%) and reduced IL-2 (30-50%) production from T-cells, while TNF-α release was enhanced in CD25(+)CD4(+) by 92% and reduced by 50% in CD25(+)CD8(+) cells. F6 stimulated whole spleen cell growth, reduced proliferation of CD8(+) and CD25(+) cells by approximately 50%, while decreasing by 60-80% TNF-α production from CD25(-) and CD25(+)CD8(+) cells. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The suppressive activity of W1 could be attributed to IL-10 and TNF-α, while the stimulatory effect of F6 could be attributed to the inhibition of T-regulatory cells. In the same plant, coexisting protein fractions induce both immunostimulatory and immunosuppressive activities.