Über einen neuen sesquiterpentyp aus Senecio oxyriifolius

The roots of Senecio oxyriifolius contain a new tricyclic sesquiterpene with a new carbon skeleton, probably formed from α-humulene, and two bisabolene derivatives. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods and some chemical transformations.     

Studies on synthetic hybrids of british species of Senecio: I Senecio viscosus L. × S. vulgaris L.

Summary

Four aquatic hyphomycetes and one terrestrial fungus were examined for their responses to the phenoxy herbicides (±)-MCPP and 2,4-D as both single and binary preparations with respect to hyphal extension, sporulation and respiration. Hyphal extension of all species was unaffected at concentrations less than 100 mg l^?1. At higher concentrations there was a variable inhibitory response to the herbicides but no clear pattern was observed between the five fungi. The binary herbicide mixture had a weak synergistic effect on inhibition of growth rate. For the four aquatic hyphomycetes sporulation was reduced at several herbicide concentrations, but there was no consistent reduction over the experimental period. Flagellospora curvula and Clavariopsis aquatica showed increased sporulation at 100 and 1000 mg l^?1 for only some herbicide combinations. The respiration rates of the fungi varied with species and herbicide concentration and ranged between stimulation at 100 mg l^?1 to inhibition at 4000 mg l^?1. The results indicate that the five fungi are not likely to be severely effected by the phenoxy herbicides at concentrations normally occurring in the field. The possible effects of these herbicides on nutrient cycling are briefly discussed.     

新疆千里光Senecio jacobaea在中国的适生区预测

【背景】菊科植物新疆千里光原产于欧亚大陆,在北美和澳洲为入侵植物,目前在中国只有新疆有分布记录。新疆千里光一旦成为入侵植物,将对农业、畜牧业和人类健康都可能产生危害,所以需要评估其在中国的扩散趋势。【方法】搜集新疆千里光在中国和世界其他地区的分布记录,结合当前和未来(2050年)气候条件下19种生物气候变量,应用Maxent模型和Diva Gis软件,定量预测新疆千里光在中国目前和未来的潜在分布区域;并通过接受者操作特征曲线(ROC)分析法对模型进行精度检验。另外,通过Maxent给出新疆千里光在欧洲(原产地)、北美洲和大洋洲(入侵地)以及中国等4个分布区的年均温度和年均降水量的气候阈值。【结果】用中国和全球分布的数据预测的结果有些差异。前者结果表明除了新疆地区,其他省份几乎没有新疆千里光的适生区;而后者显示在中国其他几个省份也有可能分布,且在甘肃四川交界处有较高适生性。前者模型精确度较高,但2个结果都显示新疆千里光在中国目前和未来的分布区大部分还是在新疆地区。中国分布区年均温度和年均降水量的阈值比其他2个地区都低。【结论与意义】新疆千里光在当前和未来气候条件下在中国未来的扩散趋势较弱,基本局限于新疆地区。用中国分布数据预测优于全球分布数据预测结果,新疆千里光不同分布区的气候阈值的差异揭示分布于中国的新疆千里光与其他地区的种群的生态位有所不同,可能是一个新的亚种,希望未来能进行进一步的研究。     

Senecio chipauquilensis (Asteraceae, Senecioneae), a new species from the Meseta de Somuncurá (Patagonia), Argentina

A new species,Senecio chipauquilensis, from the Meseta de Somuncurá in the province of Rio Negro (Argentina), is described and illustrated. The new species resemblesSenecio subpanduratus, but it is clearly different by its sessile basal leaves, strongly auriculate and amplexicaul cauline leaves, and less number of phyllaries in the head, dorsally 1–2 veined.     

A new variety of Senecio (Asteraceae: Senecioneae) from the Sierra de Manantlán,Jalisco, Mexico,with notes on the S. roldana complex

Senecio galicianus var.manantlanensis (sectionPalmatinervii) occurs in cooler, moister habitats at higher elevations of the Sierra de Manantlán than the typical variety. Morphological, ecological, and phenological data support maintainingS. galicianus andS. Kerberi as species separate from the closely relatedS. Roldana and treating the new taxon as a variety ofS. galicianus. Although var.manantlanensis tends to have larger and less deeply and sharply lobed leaves than var.galicianus,t-tests and discriminant analyses demonstrate that the best diagnostic characters are the fewer but longer phyllaries and florets in its heads.     

Leaf anatomy,water relations and crassulacean acid metabolism in the chlorenchyma and colourless internal water-storage tissue of Carpobrotus edulis and Senecio ?mandraliscae

Both Carpobrotus edulis and Senecio ?mandraliscae possess leaves with a peripheral chlorenchyma and colourless internal water-storage tissue. Water stress in C. edulis growing under semi-natural conditions resulted in the induction of weak Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) whereas well-watered plants of S. ?mandraliscae exhibited a similar degree of CAM. Titratable acidity in the separated water-storage tissue was substantially lower than in the chlorenchyma in both species but, nevertheless, increased during the night and decreased during the day either when sampled from the intact plant or from incubated tissue slices. Indeed, the increase in nocturnal titratable acidity produced by the water-storage tissue in situ accounted for approx. 30% of total acidification on a per-leaf basis. It appears that during the night the water-storage tissue in these species is able to fix CO₂ which is subsequently released during the day to enter the photosynthetic carbon-reduction cycle of the chlorenchyma. Diurnal rhythms of water potential (Ψ) and osmotic potential (Ψs) were measured in separated chlorenchyma and water-storage tissue by thermocouple psychrometry. Both parameters increased during the latter part of the daytime and initial nocturnal period and decreased during the rest of the night and into the post-dawn period. The chlorenchyma of water-stressed plants of C. edulis appeared to possess a marked negative turgor pressure (as determined from Ψ-Ψs) but this was caused by a severe underestimation in the measurement of the chlorenchyma Ψ. It is suggested that this artefact arose from release of colloidal polysaccharide mucilage, or possibly tannins, from broken tannin cells producing a lowering of water activity when measured using thermocouple psychrometry.     

Defensive Sesquiterpenes from Senecio candidans and S. magellanicus,and Their Structure?Activity Relationships

Eleven eremophilanolides, 1 – 3 and 6 – 13 , and two eremophilanes, 24 and 25 , were isolated from Senecio candidans and S. magellanicus from the Magallanes Region (Chile). Compounds 2, 3, 9 , and 10 have not been previously reported as natural products. Their structures were established by NMR spectroscopic analysis and chemical transformations. The X‐ray analysis of compounds 11, 13 , and 17 were also performed. Different semisynthetic analogs from eremophilanolide 11 were generated to carry out a structure? activity relationship study. Their possible plant defensive role was tested against herbivorous insects (Spodoptera littoralis, Rhopalosiphum padi, and Myzus persicae) and plants (Lactuca sativa). Additionally, their effects on insect (Sf9) and mammalian (CHO) cell lines were tested.     

Lipophilic 9,10‐Dehydrofukinone Action on Pathogenic and Non‐Pathogenic Bacterial Biofilms. Why Is This Main Volatile Metabolite in Senecio?

The effect of a natural sesquiterpene ketone, 9,10‐dehydrofukinone (DHF), on pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from chronic infectious processes, was the focus of the present study. Lipophilic DHF produced important antibacterial synergistic effects in association with ciprofloxacin (CPX) against two biofilm‐forming strains of S. aureus HT1 (FIC=0.21) and P. aeruginosa HT5 (FIC=0.05). Hence, this mixture constitutes an excellent strategy to combat these biofilm‐producing bacteria that overexpress drug efflux pumps as a resistance mechanism. Additionally, a substantial rise in beneficial Lactobacillus biofilm biomass was determined as a very significant finding of this association. Particularly, a non‐pathogenic biofilm increment of 119 % was quantified when the mixture was added to a probiotic L. acidophilus ATCC SD‐5212 culture. A surface activity enhanced in 71 % with respect to untreated L. acidophilus culture was also generated by the DHF and CPX association, and therefore, a glycoprotein synthesis induction mediated by the mixture is discussed. The results obtained could help in the development of new selective antibiotics. From an ecological standpoint, the present study strongly suggests that DHF is a polyfunctional organic molecule produced with a high yield in Senecio punae that exerts a positive impact on a non‐pathogenic plant bacterium L. plantarum CE105.     

Did the evolution of the phytoplankton fuel the diversification of the marine biosphere?

We discuss the possible links between the fossil record of marine biodiversity, nutrient availability and primary productivity. The parallelism of the fossil records of marine phytoplankton and faunal biodiversity implicates the quantity (primary productivity) and quality (stoichiometry) of phytoplankton as being critical to the diversification of the marine biosphere through the Phanerozoic. The relatively subdued marine biodiversity of the Palaeozoic corresponds to a time of relatively low macronutrient availability and poor food quality of the phytoplankton as opposed to the diversification of the Modern Fauna through the Mesozoic–Cenozoic. Increasing nutrient runoff to the oceans through the Phanerozoic resulted from orogeny, the emplacement of Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), the evolution of deep-rooting forests and the appearance of more easily decomposable terrestrial organic matter that enhanced weathering. Positive feedback by bioturbation of an expanding benthos played a critical role in evolving biogeochemical cycles by linking the oxidation of dead organic matter and the recycling of nutrients back to the water column where they could be re-utilized. We assess our conclusions against a recently published biogeochemical model for geological time-scales. Major peaks of marine diversity often occur near rising or peak fluxes of silica, phosphorus and dissolved reactive oceanic phosphorus; either major or minor ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr peaks; and frequently in the vicinity of major (Circum-Atlantic Magmatic Province) and minor volcanic events, some of which are associated with Oceanic Anoxic Events. These processes appear to be scale-dependent in that they lie on a continuum between biodiversification on macroevolutionary scales of geological time and mass extinction.     

Is the Octomacridae the sister family of the Diplozodae?

Diplozoidae and Octomacridae are usually considered as sister families. Essentially this is because they are the only polyopisthocotyleans parasitising primary freshwater teleosts. Because of the lack of phylogenetically informative morphological characters to explore the pattern of colonisation of the primary continental freshwater teleosts and in order to understand the appearance of the "natural parabiosis" of Diplozoidae, a molecular phylogeny was inferred by comparing newly obtained partial 28S and 18S rDNA gene sequences of Eudiplozoon nipponicum and Diplozoon homoion with other already available sequences. The phylogenetic analysis seems to show that Diplozoidae and Octomacridae are not sister groups. Thus, the colonisation of primary freshwater teleosts by these two families could be independent.     

Imperfect Batesian mimicry—the effects of the frequency and the distastefulness of the model

Batesian mimicry is the resemblance between unpalatable models and palatable mimics. The widely accepted idea is that the frequency and the unprofitability of the model are crucial for the introduction of a Batesian mimic into the prey population. However, experimental evidence is limited and furthermore, previous studies have considered mainly perfect mimicry (automimicry). We investigated imperfect Batesian mimicry by varying the frequency of an aposematic model at two levels of distastefulness. The predator encountered prey in a random order, one prey item at a time. The prey were thus presented realistically in a sequential way. Great tits (Parus major) were used as predators. This experiment, with a novel signal, supports the idea that Batesian mimics gain most when the models outnumber them. The mortalities of the mimics as well as the models were significantly dependent on the frequency of the model. Both prey types survived better the fewer mimics there were confusing the predator. There were also indications that the degree of distastefulness of the model had an effect on the survival of the Batesian mimic: the models survived significantly better the more distasteful they were. The experiment supports the most classical predictions in the theories of the origin and maintenance of Batesian mimicry.     

Morphological and phytochemical variation, genetic structure and phenology in an introgressive hybrid swarm of Senecio hercynicus and S. ovatus (Compositae, Senecioneae)

Introgressive hybridisation between Senecio hercynicus and Senecio ovatus (Compositae, Senecioneae) was studied in a mixed stand of the two species on the S- and SW-facing slopes of the German part of the Bohemian Forest (SE Germany). Morphological variation based on multivariate analysis of 14 diagnostic characters, along with genetic data from an amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting analysis, indicates that the surveyed stand forms an intensively introgressed hybrid swarm. The majority of individuals were found to be intermediate between the two parental taxa, and strong statistical correlation between phenetic and genetic distances was observed. In contrast to that, flowering time of individuals (expressed as the time when 50% of the capitula of a plant were in flower) was found to follow a bimodal distribution in the hybrid swarm and lacked any correlation with the genetic and morphological relationships among plants. The same was true for the spectra of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA) revealed by a gas-chromatographic survey: most of the 142 individuals surveyed fell into one of two main chemotypes, only a few plants exhibited an intermediate and additive PA spectrum, and no correlation with the genetic and morphological relationships among plants was observed. Assuming that most of the AFLP markers are neutral, we conclude that the correlation of morphology with the genetic pattern may argue for the neutrality of morphological features analysed. Consequently, we interpret the lack of correlation between phenological and phytochemical data with the neutral genetic markers as evidence that both phenology and phytochemistry may be either under selection or that these features are genetically or biosynthetically constrained.     

Phytochemicals: the good, the bad and the ugly?

Phytochemicals are constitutive metabolites that enable plants to overcome temporary or continuous threats integral to their environment, while also controlling essential functions of growth and reproduction. All of these roles are generally advantageous to the producing organisms but the inherent biological activity of such constituents often causes dramatic adverse consequences in other organisms that may be exposed to them. Nevertheless, such effects may be the essential indicator of desirable properties, such as therapeutic potential, especially when the mechanism of bioactivity can be delineated. Careful observation of cause and effect, followed by a coordinated approach to identify the responsible entities, has proved extremely fruitful in discovering roles for phytochemical constituents. The process is illustrated by selected examples of plants poisonous to animals and include the steroidal alkaloid toxin of Veratrum californicum (Western false hellebore), piperidine alkaloids of Lupinus species (lupines), and polyhydroxy indolizidine, pyrrolizidine and nortropane alkaloids of Astragalus and Oxytropis species (locoweeds), Castanospermum australe (Moreton Bay chestnut) and Ipomoea species (morning glories).     

Effect of cortisone on the developmental pattern of the neutral and the acid β-galactosidases of the small intestine of the rat

1. The developmental pattern and effect of cortisone on acid beta-galactosidase and neutral beta-galactosidase were studied in postnatal rats by a recently proposed method for their independent determination. 2. After birth the acid beta-galactosidase activity increases in the ileum, whereas it decreases slightly in the jejunum. On day 16 after birth the activity in the ileum decreases and in 20-day-old rats activity in both parts of the intestine decreases to adult values. In suckling animals the activity in the ileum exceeds the jejunal activity severalfold and in adult animals the activity in the jejunum is slightly higher than that in the ileum. 3. Neutral beta-galactosidase activity is high after birth and decreases in both jejunum and ileum after day 20 after birth. In 12-20-day-old rats activity in both parts is essentially the same, but in adult animals jejunal activity exceeds ileal activity four-to five-fold. 4. Cortisone (0.5, 2.0 or 5.0mg/100g body wt. daily for 4 days) does not influence the activity of either enzyme in 60-day-old rats. Acid beta-galactosidase activity is decreased after cortisone treatment in 8-, 12-, 16-and 18-day-old rats, with sensitivity to cortisone increasing with the approach of weaning. No effect of cortisone on acid beta-galactosidase is seen in 8-day-old rats. Neutral beta-galactosidase activity is increased in the ileum of 8-, 12-, 16- and 18-day old rats, but only in the jejunum of 8-and 12-day-old rats.