An Overview on Total Valorization of Litsea cubeba as a New Woody Oil Plant Resource toward a Zero-Waste Biorefinery.

With the increasing global demand for edible oils and the restriction of arable land minimum in China, woody oil plants have gradually become the optimal solution to cover the shortage of current edible oil supply and to further improve the self-sufficiency rate. However, due to the lack of knowledge and technique, problems like "how to make full use of these plant resources?" and "how to guide consumers with reasonable data?" limit the development of woody oilseed industry towards a sustainable circular economy. In this review, several emerging unique woody oil plants in China were introduced, among which Litsea cubeba as a new woody oil plant was highlighted as a reference case based on its current research progress. Unlike other woody oil plants, essential oil rather than oil from Litsea cubeba has always been the main product through the years due to its interesting biological activities. Most importantly, its major component, citral, could be the base for other synthesized perfume compounds with added value. Moreover, the sustainable biorefinery of large amounts of waste residual after Litsea cubeba essential oil processing is now technically feasible, which could inspire a total valorization pathway for other woody oil plants to make more competitive plant-based products with both economic, social, and ecological benefits.

Identification of appropriate reference genes for normalizing transcript expression by quantitative real-time PCR in Litsea cubeba.

Quantitative real-time PCR has emerged as a highly sensitive and widely used method for detection of gene expression profiles, via which accurate detection depends on reliable normalization. Since no single control is appropriate for all experimental treatments, it is generally advocated to select suitable internal controls prior to use for normalization. This study reported the evaluation of the expression stability of twelve potential reference genes in different tissue/organs and six fruit developmental stages of Litsea cubeba in order to screen the superior internal reference genes for data normalization. Two softwares-geNorm, and NormFinder-were used to identify stability of these candidate genes. The cycle threshold difference and coefficient of variance were also calculated to evaluate the expression stability of candidate genes. F-BOX, EF1α, UBC, and TUA were selected as the most stable reference genes across 11 sample pools. F-BOX, EF1α, and EIF4α exhibited the highest expression stability in different tissue/organs and different fruit developmental stages. Besides, a combination of two stable reference genes would be sufficient for gene expression normalization in different fruit developmental stages. In addition, the relative expression profiles of DXS and DXR were evaluated by EF1α, UBC, and SAMDC. The results further validated the reliability of stable reference genes and also highlighted the importance of selecting suitable internal controls for L. cubeba. These reference genes will be of great importance for transcript normalization in future gene expression studies on L. cubeba.

[Effects of temperature on the growth and development of Aglossa dimidiata parasitized on Litsea coreana].

In order to reveal the effects of temperature on the growth and development of Aglossa dimidiata parasitized on Litsea coreana, a laboratory experiment was conducted to study the mean development duration, development rate, and survival rate of A. dimidiata at its different growth stages at 31 degrees C, 28 degrees C, 25 degrees C, 22 degrees C, and 19 degrees C, with the development threshold temperature and effective accumulated temperature for different growth stages calculated. Temperature had significant effects on the developmental duration. Except that the development duration of egg was shortened with increasing temperature, the development durations of larva, pupa, and immature A. dimidiata were the shortest at 25 degrees C, being 249.53 +/- 23.83, 12.94 +/- 1.27, and 273.00 +/- 24.19 days, respectively. There existed significant relationships between the development rates of A. dimidiata at its different growth stages and temperature, with positive linear relationship at egg stage, and quadratic relationship at larva, pupa, and immature stages. Temperature also had significant effects on the survival rate of A. dimidiata. The survival rates of A. dimidiata at its different growth stages were all the highest at 25 degrees C, being 94.0%, 73.8%, 91.3%, and 63.4% for the egg, larva, pupa, and immature A. dimidiata, respectively, followed by at 22 degrees C and 19 degrees C, and the lowest at 31 degrees C. No larva and pupa could survive at 31 degrees C, suggesting that A. dimidiata was not resistant to high temperature. The development threshold temperature for egg, larva, pupa, and immature A. dimidiata was 13.21 degrees C, 17.12 degrees C, 14.76 degrees C, and 16.47 degrees C, and the effective accumulated temperature was 117.94, 870.88, 149.70, and 1442.75 day-degree, respectively. The results coincided with the fact that the A. dimidiata reproduced 2 or 3 generations a year in Xifeng area of Guizhou, Southwest China.

Phytotoxicity data safeguard the performance of the recipient plants in leachate irrigation.

Leachates from an operating and a closed landfill were examined for their phytotoxicity by seed germination/root elongation tests using seeds of Brassica chinensis and Lolium perenne. Their EC50s ranged from 3% to 46% v/v, which varied remarkably with the operating status of the landfills. Seedlings of twelve tree species were grown in pots, which were irrigated with landfill leachate at the EC50 levels, with tap water as control. No tree mortality or growth inhibition was observed after 90 days of leachate application. Chlorophyll fluorescence measurement also showed that plants receiving leachate did not suffer from a decline in photosynthetic efficiency. Litsea glutinosa and Hibiscus tiliaceus had remarkable growth, and other non-N-fixers were not inferior to the N-fixing Acacia auriculiformis. Leachate irrigation improved soil N content, though P deficiency is still a problem. The seed bioassay provided a conservative estimate of the phytotoxicity of landfill leachate. Plants irrigated can be protected from growth inhibition when the leachate irrigation plan is designed with reference to phytotoxicity data.

[Distribution pattern and dynamics of Alnus nepalensis and Litsea glutinosa populations in Nomascus concolor habitat].

Alnus nepalensis and Litsea glutinosa are the two common trees in the habitats of black-crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor) in Wuliang Mountain of Yunnan Province. With the nearest neighbor method and Heygi's competition index model for individual tree, this paper analyzed the distribution patterns of the two populations and their competition. The results showed that A. nepalensis had a random distribution at its different growth phases, while L. glutinosa, the companion species of A. nepalensis, exhibited the trend of random distribution-clumped distribution-regular distribution. Interspecific competition and biological characters had significant effects on the distribution patterns of A. nepalensis and L. glutinosa. Regression age structure was observed in A. nepalensis population, while increasing age structure presented in L. glutinosa population.