Melanoserispenghuana (Lactucinae, Cichorieae, Asteraceae), a new species from North-central Yunnan, China.

In this paper, we describe a new species, Melanoserispenghuana, from Mt. Jiaozi Xueshan located in North-central Yunnan, China. Despite its morphological similarities to M.likiangensis, M.penghuana exhibits distinct differences in leaf texture, shape of terminal lobes, indumentum of leaves, peduncles, and involucres, as well as the length of the achenes. Additionally, the conservation status of this species is classified as Vulnerable through data analysis from two field surveys.

Melanoseriskangdingensis (Lactucinae, Cichorieae, Asteraceae), a new species reported from western Sichuan, China.

Melanoseriskangdingensis, a new species native to western Sichuan, China, is firstly described and illustrated, and its conservation status is also assessed. It bears resemblance to M.macrantha and M.bracteata in terms of morphology; however, there are distinguishing characteristics in terms of their leaf structure, presence of bracts, hairiness of involucre, number of florets, and length of both stamen tube and achene's beak.

Kirigami-Origami-Inspired Lead-Free Piezoelectric Ceramics.

Kirigami- and oirigami-inspired techniques have emerged as effective strategies for material structure design; however, the use of these techniques is usually limited to soft and deformable materials. Piezoelectric ceramics, which are typical functional ceramics, are widely used in electronic and energy devices; however, the processing options for piezoelectric ceramics are limited by their brittleness and feedstock viscosity. Here, a design strategy is proposed for the preparation of lead-free piezoelectric ceramics inspired by kirigami/origami. This strategy involves direct writing printing and control over the external gravity during the calcination process for the preparation of curved and porous piezoelectric ceramics with specific shapes. The sintered BaTiO3 ceramics with curved geometries produced using this strategy exhibit a high piezoelectric constant (d33 = 275 pC N-1 ), which is 45% higher than that of conventionally sintered sheet ceramics. The curved structure of the ceramics is well-suited for use in the human body and it was determined that these curved ceramics can detect pulse signals. This strategy can be applied in the large-scale and low-cost production of other piezoelectric ceramics with various curved shapes and provides a new approach for the preparation of complex-shaped ceramics.

Primulalongipilosa (Primulaceae), a new species from Yunnan, China.

Primulalongipilosa from SW Yunnan, China, is described as a species new to science and illustrated. The systematic placement of this new species is also discussed based on an nrITS molecular tree. It is morphologically most similar to P.mollis, but differs from the latter in its racemose inflorescence, green calyx tube, pink to pink rose corolla, stamens at 1/3 length above the base of the corolla tube and applanate globose capsule.

Mojiangia oreophila (Crepidinae, Cichorieae, Asteraceae), a new species and genus from Mojiang County, SW Yunnan, China, and putative successor of the maternal Faberia ancestor.

A single small population of chasmophytic plants is described as M ojiangia oreophila, a monotypic genus in the subtribe Crepidinae, characterised by a unique combination of morphological features, in particular densely long-papillose homomorphic achenes with five main ribs each accompanied by two secondary ribs, coarse brownish pappus bristles, moderately many-flowered capitula, a small involucre with numerous outer phyllaries, perennial rosette herb growth and brown-woolly caudex and leaf axils. Molecular phylogenetic analysis detected that in the nrITS phylogeny M. oreophila forms a clade of its own in the Crepidinae; in the plastid DNA phylogeny it is nested in the clade formed by the hybridogenous genus Faberia, the maternal ancestor of which comes from the Crepidinae and the paternal ancestor from the Lactucinae, where Faberia is placed in nrITS phylogenies. M. oreophila shares several morphological features with Faberia and also shares the expected chromosome number of 2n = 16 with its hitherto unknown maternal ancestor. M. oreophila may therefore be a successor of the maternal ancestor of Faberia. Alternatively, cytonuclear discordance is to be assumed in Mojiangia, caused by chloroplast capture as a result of hybridisation and introgression with Faberia.

Complete chloroplast genomes of 11 Sabia samples: Genomic features, comparative analysis, and phylogenetic relationship.

The genus Sabia is a woody climber belonging to the family Sabiaceae, order Proteales. Several species of this genus have been utilized as medicines for treating diseases, such as rheumatic arthritis, traumatism, hepatitis, etc. However, the lack of molecular data has prevented the accurate identification and refinement of taxonomic relationships in this genus. In this study, chloroplast genomes of 11 samples of the genus Sabia were assembled and analyzed. These chloroplast genomes showed a typical quadripartite structure and ranged in length from 160,956 to 162,209 bp. The structure of the genomes was found to be relatively conserved, with 130 genes annotated, including 85 coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. A total of 78-98 simple sequence repeats and 52-61 interspersed repeats were detected. Sequence alignment revealed 11 highly variable loci in chloroplast genomes. Among these loci, ndhF-ndhD achieved a remarkably higher resolution than the other regions. In addition, phylogenetic analysis indicated that Sect. Pachydiscus and Sect. Sabia of Sabia did not form two separate monophyletic groups. The divergence time calculated based on the Reltime method indicated that the evolutionary branches of Sabia and Meliosma started to form approximately 85.95 million years ago (Mya), and the species within Sabia began to diverge approximately 7.65 Mya. In conclusion, our study provides a basis for comprehensively exploring the phylogenetic relationships of Sabia. It also provides a methodological basis and data support for establishing a standardized and scientific identification system for this genus.

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Aconitum pendulum (Ranunculaceae), an endemic medicinal herb.

Aconitum pendulum is an endemic medicinal herb, which has effects of relieving pains and is widely used to treat frostbite, rheumatoid arthritis, and so on. In this study, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genome with Illumina sequencing technology. The complete chloroplast genome length is 155,597 bp, shows a typical tetrad structure, which manifests as one large and one small single copy (LSC and SSC) regions of 86,336 and 16,961 bp, isolated by two inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 26,150 bp. This study annotated altogether 131 unique genes, consisting of 86 protein-encoding genes, 8 rRNA, and 37 tRNA. According to the maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree based on 20 complete chloroplast genomes, A. pendulum shows close association with additional Aconitum subgenus. The chloroplast genome-wide for A. pendulum would help to conserving the precious natural populations.

The complete chloroplast genome of Polygonatum odoratum (Liliaceae), an endemic medicinal herb.

In this study, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of Polygonatum odoratum with Illumina sequencing technology. The complete chloroplast genome length is 156,082bp, shows a typical tetrad structure, which manifests as one large and one small single copy (LSC and SSC) regions of 85,009 and 18,513bp, isolated by two inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 26,280bp. This study annotated altogether 131 unique genes, consisting of 86 protein-encoding genes, 8 rRNA and 38tRNA. According to the maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree based on 8 complete chloroplast genomes, P. odoratum shows close association with additional Maianthemum genus. The chloroplast genome-wide for P. odoratum would help to conserving the precious natural populations.

The complete chloroplast genome of Polygonatum odoratum (Liliaceae), an endemic medicinal herb.

In this study, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of Polygonatum odoratum with Illumina sequencing technology. The complete chloroplast genome length is 156,082 bp shows a typical tetrad structure, which manifests as one large and one small single copy (LSC and SSC) regions of 85,009 and 18,513 bp, isolated by two inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 26,280 bp. This study annotated altogether 131 unique genes, consisting of 86 protein-encoding genes, 8 rRNA, and 38 tRNA. According to the maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree based on eight complete chloroplast genomes, P. odoratum shows a close association with additional Maianthemum genus. The chloroplast genome-wide for P. odoratum would help to conserve the precious natural populations.

Ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants from the Dragon Boat Festival herbal markets of Qianxinan, southwestern Guizhou, China.

Dragon Boat Festival herbal markets in the Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of southwestern Guizhou have a long well-conserved history. These markets, which are a feature of Buyi and Miao traditional medicines, contain a rich diversity of medicinal plants and traditional medical knowledge. Today, people in southwestern Guizhou still believe that using herbs during the Dragon Boat Festival prevents and can treat disease. In this study, we identified the fresh herbal plants sold at the herbal markets of Xingren City and Zhenfeng County in Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture and quantified their importance. We identified 141 plant species (belonging to 114 genera and 61 families). The plant family with the most species was Asteraceae (14 species). Informants reported that most medicinal plants are herbaceous, with 95.7% of plants used for decoction and 30.5% used for medicinal baths. Medicinal plants are most commonly used to treat rheumatism, injury, and abdominal diseases. The utilization frequency index and relative importance values indicated that Artemisia argyi and Acorus calamus are the most important plants sold at herbal markets during the Dragon Boat Festival. The price of medicinal materials sold in the market may serve as an indicator of the conservation status of species in the region. These findings indicate that the Dragon Boat Festival herbal markets in the Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture fully embodies the characteristics of indigenous ethnomedicine and culture, and also exhibits the diversity of plant resources. We recommend that rare and endangered plants in this region be domesticated and protected.

Analysis of Litopenaeus vannamei hemocyanin interacting proteins reveals its role in hemolymph clotting.

Hemocyanin is the main component of hemolymph plasma proteins and possesses diverse immunological properties and immunomodulatory functions. However, the interacting networks of hemocyanin in shrimp immune response remain poorly understood. In this study, 39 potential hemocyanin interacting partners were identified from Litopenaeus vannamei plasma by co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that most of the identified interactors were cell proteins involved in metabolic process and binding. Among these identified proteins, transglutaminase (TGase), a crucial regulator in hemolymph clotting cascade, was chosen for further studies. Far-Western blot and His-pull down assays revealed that hemocyanin directly interacted with TGase. Further analysis demonstrated that hemocyanin and TGase followed similar expression patterns upon pathogen infection. Moreover, in vivo knockdown of hemocyanin led to a significant decrease in TGase expression, as well as inhibited hemolymph clotting. Taken together, these data suggest that hemocyanin might positively regulate hemolymph clotting by modulating TGase in shrimp. SIGNIFICANCE: The interaction networks among immune-related factors is critical for the innate immune response in invertebrates. We report for the first time, proteins that potentially interact with hemocyanin, which led to the identification of 39 possible hemocyanin-proteins including the clotting-related factor TGase. Further studies demonstrated that hemocyanin directly interacted with TGase and modulated its expression, therefore affecting the formation of hemolymph clotting. These findings not only extend our knowledge of the immune interaction networks but also contribute to shrimp disease control and prevention.

Designing electromechanical metamaterial with full nonzero piezoelectric coefficients.

Designing topological and geometrical structures with extended unnatural parameters (negative, near-zero, ultrahigh, or tunable) and counterintuitive properties is a big challenge in the field of metamaterials, especially for relatively unexplored materials with multiphysics coupling effects. For natural piezoelectric ceramics, only five nonzero elements in the piezoelectric matrix exist, which has impeded the design and application of piezoelectric devices for decades. Here, we introduce a methodology, inspired by quasi-symmetry breaking, realizing artificial anisotropy by metamaterial design to excite all the nonzero elements in contrast to zero values in natural materials. By elaborately programming topological structures and geometrical dimensions of the unit elements, we demonstrate, theoretically and experimentally, that tunable nonzero or ultrahigh values of overall effective piezoelectric coefficients can be obtained. While this work focuses on generating piezoelectric parameters of ceramics, the design principle should be inspirational to create unnatural apparent properties of other multiphysics coupling metamaterials.

Polydopamine Generates Hydroxyl Free Radicals under Ultraviolet-Light Illumination.

Polydopamine (PDA) generally demonstrates as an efficient free-radical scavenger. However, its free-radical chemistry under illumination is unclear, which becomes important in view of growing studies of polydopamine applications in photoprotector and photothermal therapy. In this study, for the first time, we reported an experimental investigation of the generation of hydroxyl free radicals from ultraviolet (UV)-illuminated polydopamine in an aqueous environment. By using terephthalic acid as fluorescent probe, we measured hydroxyl radicals generated from UV-illuminated polydopamine with different shapes and sizes. The morphology of PDA shows significant influence on its productions of hydroxyl free radicals. Through characterizations of UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, mass spectrometry, and thermogravimetric analysis, we demonstrated the change of PDA nanomaterials brought by UV-light illumination in composition and thermal stability. We proposed a tentative mechanism for interpreting the relationship between morphology and photostability of PDA nanomaterials. These results reveal underlying complexity of polydopamine chemistry under light illumination that will deepen our understanding and benefit its further application.

Lysimachia septemfida (Primulaceae), a new species from Yunnan, China.

A new species, Lysimachia septemfida (Primulaceae), from Yunnan (Southwest China) is described and illustrated. The new species exhibits several unusual characters in Lysimachia including lack of a corolla, 7-merous flowers, leaves in whorls of 3 and distinct multicellular nodiferous hairs, which make it readily distinguishable from all other species in this genus. The diagnostic differences between this new species and its suppositive allies are given. In addition, the systematic placement of this new species is also discussed based on an ITS molecular tree.

Identification and characterization of the related immune-enhancing proteins in crab Scylla paramamosain stimulated with rhubarb polysaccharides.

Recently, considerable interest has been focused on immunostimulants to reduce diseases in crab aquaculture. However, information regarding to the related immune-enhancing proteins in crabs is not available yet. In this study, rhubarb polysaccharides were tested for enhancement of the immune activity in crab Scylla paramamosain. Compared with those in the control group, values of, phenoloxidase (PO), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and alkaline phosphatasein (ACP) activity in the, experimental group were improved significantly 4 d after the treatment. Furthermore, 15 and 17 altered proteins from haemocytes and hepatopancreas, respectively, were found in rhubarb polysaccharide-treated crabs using 2-DE approach. Of these, hemocyanin, chymotrypsin, cryptocyanin, C-type lectin receptor, and ferritin protein were identified by mass spectrometry. In addition, RT-PCR, analysis showed that the mRNA levels of hemocyanin and chymotrypsin increased about 2.4- and 1.4-fold in the experiment group. Moreover, the hemocyanin gene in S. paramamosain (SpHMC) was, cloned and characterized. SpHMC contains one open reading frame of 2022 bp and encodes a polypeptide of 673 amino acids. It is clustered into one branch along with crab hemocyanin in a phylogenetic tree. The mRNA transcripts of SpHMC were detected mainly in the tissues of, hepatopancreas, hemocyte and intestines, and its levels were up-regulated significantly in hemocytes, of S. paramamosain treated with Vibrio parahemolyticus, Beta streptococcus or poly I:C for 6-48 h. Taken together, these studies found 5 related immune-enhancing proteins and a novel heomcyanin homologue with potential pathogen-resistant activities in crab.

Molecular phylogeny of the Lactuca alliance (Cichorieae subtribe Lactucinae, Asteraceae) with focus on their Chinese centre of diversity detects potential events of reticulation and chloroplast capture.

The first comprehensive molecular phylogenetic reconstruction of the Cichorieae subtribe Lactucinae is provided. Sequences for two datasets, one of the nuclear rDNA ITS region, the other of five concatenated non-coding chloroplast DNA markers including the petD region and the psbA-trnH, 5'trnL((UAA))-trnF, rpl32-trnL((UAG)) and trnQ((UUG))-5'rps16 spacers, were, with few exceptions, newly generated for 130 samples of 78 species. The sampling spans the entire subtribe Lactucinae while focusing on its Chinese centre of diversity; more than 3/4 of the Chinese Lactucinae species are represented. The nuclear and plastid phylogenies inferred from the two independent datasets show various hard topological incongruences. They concern the internal topology of major lineages, in one case the placement of taxa in major lineages, the relationships between major lineages and even the circumscription of the subtribe, indicating potential events of ancient as well as of more recent reticulation and chloroplast capture in the evolution of the subtribe. The core of the subtribe is clearly monophyletic, consisting of the six lineages, Cicerbita, Cicerbita II, Lactuca, Melanoseris, Notoseris and Paraprenanthes. The Faberia lineage and the monospecific Prenanthes purpurea lineage are part of a monophyletic subtribe Lactucinae only in the nuclear or plastid phylogeny, respectively. Morphological and karyological support for their placement is considered. In the light of the molecular phylogenetic reconstruction and of additional morphological data, the conflicting taxonomies of the Chinese Lactuca alliance are discussed and it is concluded that the major lineages revealed are best treated at generic rank. An improved species level taxonomy of the Chinese Lactucinae is outlined; new synonymies and some new combinations are provided.

Evidences of SNPs in the variable region of hemocyanin Ig-like domain in shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the commonest mode of genetic variation in invertebrate immune-related genes. Hemocyanin presents in the hemolymph of both mollusks and arthropods and functions as an important antigen non-specific immune protein. But people know very little about its gene polymorphism so far. In current study, bioinformatics, molecular biology and environmental challenge approaches were used to identify the SNPs within hemocyanin Ig-like domain in shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. A total of 11 SNPs were found in a variable region of Ig-like domain from L. vannamei hemocyanin large subunit (1258-1460 bp, HcLV1), 5 of which (1272, 1315, 1380, 1410 and 1450) were confirmed present in both genomic DNA and cDNA by clone sequencing. Furthermore, HcLV1 showed 3, 5 and 5 SSCP bands, respectively, in 16, 25 and 30 °C-treated shrimps, suggesting that the SSCP pattern of HcLV1 could be modulated by environmental stress. In addition, HcLV1 displayed two extra bands with different mobility when shrimps treated with Vibrio parahaemolyticus for 6-24 h, which was not observed in the control group. In conclusion, our data suggest that shrimp L. vannamei hemocyanin Ig-like domain possesses SNPs, which may be associated with environmental stress or pathogenic challenge.

Phylogeny of Pyroleae (Ericaceae): implications for character evolution.

Pyroleae (Ericaceae) consist of four genera, all of which are distributed widely in temperate coniferous or sometimes deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere. To investigate the phylogenetic relationships among these genera and to explore the evolution of the characteristics of the subfamily, we conducted maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses with nrDNA ITS and three cpDNA intergenic spacers (atpB-rbcL, trnS-trnG and trnL-trnF). The results from cpDNA and combined cpDNA + ITS data sets strongly support the monophyly of Pyroleae as well as a sister relationship between Pyrola and Moneses-Chimaphila, with Orthilia as the basal lineage. The sister-group relationship between Moneses and Chimaphila is supported by a set of synapomorphies, e.g., single flower, colpate pollen, five bundles in the style, straight fruiting pedicel orientation, complete capsule dehiscence, and the basic chromosome number, x = 13. The Moneses-Chimaphila-Pyrola clade is supported by at least one homologous character of pollen in tetrads. Conflicts associated with the phylogenetic position of Orthilia may imply a hybrid origin for it, and therefore further study is needed.