Molecular phylogeny of Colletotrichum (Sordariomycetes: Glomerellaceae) inferred from multiple gene sequences.

The genus Colletotrichum contains many important plant pathogens mainly distributed in tropical areas. Previous studies that utilized morphology or single genes have failed to resolve the phylogenetic relationships among the species. In this study, sequences of ß-tubulin, 28S ribosomal DNA, and ITS region from nine species were analyzed separately and combined to establish a fast method to infer the phylogeny of Colletotrichum using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference methods. The tree topologies inferred from the combined data set received higher bootstrap and posterior probability support than those inferred from the individual data sets. Obtained phylogenies highly supported C. capsici as the earliest diverging lineage followed by C. nymphaeae. The remaining seven species clustered into two distinct clades. Clade 1 consists of two monophyletic subclades: C. circinans, C. trichellum, and C. caudatum form one subclade and three accessions of C. dematium form another subclade. In Clade 2, C. incarnatum is in the basal-most clade. Three accessions of C. musae and C. caricae form a strongly supported clade indicating their close relationship. Spore shape analysis reveals an interesting evolutionary trend in the spore shape from acute- to obtuse-ended conidia and from curved to straight conidia in the sampled group of species. A quick and reliable way to infer the phylogeny of Colletotrichum based on combined DNA sequence data is presented in this paper.

Effects of acupotomylysis on basic fibroblast growth factor and CD34 levels in rabbits with third lumbar vertebral transverse foramen syndrome.

This study observed the local tissue homogenates in rabbits with third lumbar vertebral transverse foramen syndrome and explored the mechanism of acupotomylysis in local tissue revascularization. Thirty Japanese white rabbits were randomly divided into the following 5 groups of 6 rabbits each: normal, model, acupotomy, electroacupuncture (EA), and acupotomy-EA groups. All except the normal group were comprised of animal models of third lumbar vertebral transverse foramen syndrome prepared by embedding sponge in the left third lumbar transverse process. The rabbits in the acupotomy and EA groups underwent bilateral acupotomylysis intervention; those in the acupotomy-EA group underwent acupotomylysis and EA interventions. On the 28th day after modeling, the double-antibody ELISA was used to detect b-FGF and CD34 levels in the serum and homogenates of a muscle tissue sample from the left side of the third lumbar transverse process. The b-FGF levels in local muscle homogenates were significantly higher in the modeled rabbits than in the normal rabbits (P < 0.01), and the CD34 levels in the modeled group were significantly lower than in the normal group (P < 0.01). The b-FGF and CD34 levels in the EA, acutopomy, and acutopomy-EA groups were significantly lower than those in the modeled group (P < 0.01); the CD34 levels were significantly higher in the acupotomy-EA group than in the model group (P < 0.05); and the differences among the EA, acupotomy, and acupotomy-EA groups were not significant (P > 0.05). In conclusion, acupotomylysis regulates the levels of b-FGF and CD34 levels in serum and muscle tissue as well as local tissue revascularization.

Development of EST-SSR and TRAP markers from transcriptome sequencing data of the mango.

Mango is one of the most commercially important fruit crops in tropical and subtropical regions. To increase the efficiency of breeding strategies, two EST-derived marker systems were developed in the present study using information from the mango fruit transcriptome. Using simple sequence repeats, 218 of 230 primer pairs showed stable amplification for 7 mango genotypes with amplicons ranging from 84 to 160 bp; 93 of the primer pairs yielded polymorphic products. The proportion of polymorphic bands ranged from 16.67 to 100%, with a mean of 55.64%. In contrast, 86 primer pairs exhibited good amplification with clear bands for target region amplification polymorphism analysis, and a total of 66 primer combinations were polymorphic. These two novel sets of EST-derived markers will be of use in future studies of genetic diversity, genetic map construction, and marker-assisted selection in mango.