Historical and recent evidence for close relationships among Rickettsia parkeri,R. conorii,R. africae,and R. sibirica: Implications for rickettsial taxonomy

Rickettsia parkeri, a member of the spotted fever group rickettsias, was first described in 1939 and was thought to be non‐pathogenic until recently, when it was found to cause a spotted fever‐like illness in humans and areas of necrosis (eschars) at the sites of tick bites. Accordingly, there is currently much interest in this emerging pathogen. In this study, all published articles concerning R. parkeri were reviewed and analyzed for evidence of relatedness among this agent and other spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae which also produce similar clinical syndromes and/or eschars, including R. conorii, R. africae, and R. sibirica. A synthesis of the historical (antigenic) and recent (molecular) data supporting a phylogenetic sub‐grouping of these SFG organisms is presented and comments are offered about the taxonomy of rickettsial organisms in general, and R. parkeri in particular.     

Species delimitation of three species within the Russula subgenus Compacta in Korea: R. eccentrica,R. nigricans,and R. subnigricans

Distinguishing individual Russula species can be very difficult due to extensive phenotypic plasticity and obscure morphological and anatomical discontinuities. In this study, we use the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 28S nuclear ribosomal large subunit (LSU) markers to identify and study the genetic diversity of species in the Russula subgenus Compacta in Korea. We focus on two morphologically similar species that are often misidentified for each other: R. nigricans and R. subnigricans. Based on molecular phylogenetic analyses, we identify three subgroups of R. nigricans, with two from Asia and one from Europe/North America. Surprisingly, we find Korean R. subnigricans are more closely related to R. eccentrica from North America than the type specimen of R. subnigricans from Japan. These molecular data, along with habitat data, reveal that Korean R. subnigricans had previously been misclassified and should now be recognized as R. eccentrica. Both ITS and LSU exhibit high interspecific and low intraspecific variation for R. eccentrica, R. nigricans, and R. subnigricans. These markers provide enough resolutional power to differentiate these species and uncover phylogeographic structure, and will be powerful tools for future ecological studies of Russula.     

大黄属3种大黄植物不同部分蒽醌含量的测定与比较

采用C18反相柱高效液相色谱方法分离、外标法定量对大黄属掌叶组唐古特大黄、波叶组波叶大黄、穗序组穗序大黄的根（及根茎）、叶片、叶柄、主茎四部分的芦荟大黄素、大黄酸、大黄素、大黄酚4种游离和结合蒽醌的含量进行了测定和比较。结果表明：唐古特大黄中,叶片中的游离蒽醌含量高于其它部分,游离蒽醌总量地上部分远高于地下部分;结合蒽醌则根中最高,蒽醌总量地下部分远高于地上部分。波叶大黄和穗序大黄中,游离和结合蒽醌均为根中最高,穗序大黄蒽醌总量地下部分远高于地上部分,而波叶大黄中,游离蒽醌总量地上部分高于地下部分,结合蒽醌总量地上部分与地下部分相差不大,地上部分略高于地下部分。