Database on pharmacophore analysis of active principles, from medicinal plants

Plants continue to be a major source of medicines, as they have been throughout human history. In the present days, drug discovery from plants involves a multidisciplinary approach combining ethnobotanical, phytochemical and biological techniques to provide us new chemical compounds (lead molecules) for the development of drugs against various pharmacological targets, including cancer, diabetes and its secondary complications. In view of this need in current drug discovery from medicinal plants, here we describe another web database containing the information of pharmacophore analysis of active principles possessing antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anticancerous and antioxidant properties from medicinal plants. The database provides the botanical, taxonomic classification, biochemical as well as pharmacological properties of medicinal plants. Data on antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anti oxidative, anti tumor and anti inflammatory compounds, and their physicochemical properties, SMILES Notation, Lipinski's properties are included in our database. One of the proposed features in the database is the predicted ADMET values and the interaction of bioactive compounds to the target protein. The database alphabetically lists the compound name and also provides tabs separating for anti microbial, antitumor, antidiabetic, and antioxidative compounds. AVAILABILITY: http://www.hccbif.info /     

Twenty years of Road Ecology: a Topical Collection looking forward for new perspectives

The European Journal of Wildlife Research introduces a new Topical Collection focused on Road Ecology. This Topical Collection aims to be a useful tool for the development of generalized principles and applications concerning wildlife-related aspects of Road Ecology. Submissions exploring new or lesser-known costs and potential benefits for wildlife coexisting with road networks are encouraged.     

Bringing medicinal plants into cultivation: opportunities and challenges for biotechnology

Consumption of herbal medicines is widespread and increasing. Harvesting from the wild, the main source of raw material, is causing loss of genetic diversity and habitat destruction. Domestic cultivation is a viable alternative and offers the opportunity to overcome the problems that are inherent in herbal extracts: misidentification, genetic and phenotypic variability, extract variability and instability, toxic components and contaminants. The use of controlled environments can overcome cultivation difficulties and could be a means to manipulate phenotypic variation in bioactive compounds and toxins. Conventional plant-breeding methods can improve both agronomic and medicinal traits, and molecular marker assisted selection will be used increasingly. There has been significant progress in the use of tissue culture and genetic transformation to alter pathways for the biosynthesis of target metabolites. Obstacles to bringing medicinal plants into successful commercial cultivation include the difficulty of predicting which extracts will remain marketable and the likely market preference for what is seen as naturally sourced extracts.     

鸟类学研究:过去二十年的回顾和对中国未来发展的建议

为了解中国鸟类学研究的状况和发展趋势,我们利用在线文献数据库(Web of Science)检索了1991-2010年间发表的与鸟类有关的文献,对中国和其他国家的鸟类学研究论文、研究领域、研究机构等进行了分析和比较。结果发现,中国鸟类学研究发展很快,专业研究人员数量在1991-2010年间增长了近四倍,在国际上发表的研究论文的数量近几年年均增长25%;论文数量占世界的比例已经由1991-2000年的0.46%上升到了2001-2010年期间的1.53%,世界排名由第27位上升至第16位,并且研究领域更加多元化,论文水平不断提高。在鸟类系统发育与演化、合作繁殖和婚配、禽流感、巢寄生等领域的许多成果开始在国际相关领域的高水平刊物上发表,在古鸟类以及雉类和鹤类等濒危鸟类的保护研究方面位居世界前列。但从整体而言,中国鸟类学研究与世界上一些发达国家相比还有很大差距。为此我们对中国鸟类学未来的发展提出了一些建议,包括需要更加关注鸟类的生活史对策、气候变化和城市化对鸟类的影响、鸟类迁徙、濒危物种保护生物学等领域的研究,进一步加强国际交流与合作,规范鸟类研究及数据保存和处理的方法,采取更有效措施加大对青年研究人员的支持力度等。     

A potential antioxidant resource: Endophytic fungi from medicinal plants

Medicinal plants and their endophytes are important resources for discovery of natural products. Several previous studies have found a positive correlation between total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total phenolic content (TPC) of many medicinal plant extracts. However, no information is available on whether such a relationship also exists in their endophytic fungal metabolites. We investigated the relationship between TAC and TPC for 292 morphologically distinct endophytic fungi isolated from 29 traditional Chinese medicinal plants. The antioxidant capacities of the endophytic fungal cultures were significantly correlated with their total phenolic contents, suggesting that phenolics were also the major antioxidant constituents of the endophytes. Some of the endophytes were found to produce metabolites possessing strong antioxidant activities. Several bioactive constituents from the fungal cultures and host plant extracts were identified. This investigation reveals that the metabolites produced by a wide diversity of endophytic fungi in culture can be a potential source of novel natural antioxidants.     

7. Bioactivity in plants: the link between phytochemistry and medicine

The development of medicinal plant research over the last 30 years is reviewed with reference to the search for new active principles. Difficulties inherent to activity guided isolation and the specific requirements of bioassays are discussed. An overview is given on currently used systems for various bioactivities, with emphasis on simple bioassays for phytochemical laboratories. The progress in medicinal plant research is illustrated by selected examples of plant derived compounds of importance as drugs or pharmacological tools.     

Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and active ingredients of medicinal plants: current research status and prospectives

Medicinal plants have been used world-wide for thousands of years and are widely recognized as having high healing but minor toxic side effects. The scarcity and increasing demand for medicinal plants and their products have promoted the development of artificial cultivation of medicinal plants. Currently, one of the prominent issues in medicinal cultivation systems is the unstable quality of the products. Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) affects secondary metabolism and the production of active ingredients of medicinal plants and thus influence the quality of herbal medicines. In this review, we have assembled, analyzed, and summarized the effects of AM symbioses on secondary metabolites of medicinal plants. We conclude that symbiosis of AM is conducive to favorable characteristics of medicinal plants, by improving the production and accumulation of important active ingredients of medicinal plants such as terpenes, phenols, and alkaloids, optimizing the composition of different active ingredients in medicinal plants and ultimately improving the quality of herbal materials. We are convinced that the AM symbiosis will benefit the cultivation of medicinal plants and improve the total yield and quality of herbal materials. Through this review, we hope to draw attention to the status and prospects of, and arouse more interest in, the research field of medicinal plants and mycorrhiza.     

DNA isolation methods for medicinal and aromatic plants

Several protocols described for plant DNA isolation fail to produce good quality DNA from medicinal herbs and aromatic plants. These plants contain exceptionally high amounts of secondary metabolites that interfere with DNA isolation. To address this problem, we developed 2 DNA isolation methods for sundew and tarragon that produce DNA suitable for molecular biological applications. One of the methods also is applicable for milfoil and Siberian ginseng.     

Pollinator-driven ecological speciation in plants: new evidence and future perspectives

Background

The hypothesis that pollinators have been important drivers of angiosperm diversity dates back to Darwin, and remains an important research topic today. Mounting evidence indicates that pollinators have the potential to drive diversification at several different stages of the evolutionary process. Microevolutionary studies have provided evidence for pollinator-mediated floral adaptation, while macroevolutionary evidence supports a general pattern of pollinator-driven diversification of angiosperms. However, the overarching issue of whether, and how, shifts in pollination system drive plant speciation represents a critical gap in knowledge. Bridging this gap is crucial to fully understand whether pollinator-driven microevolution accounts for the observed macroevolutionary patterns. Testable predictions about pollinator-driven speciation can be derived from the theory of ecological speciation, according to which adaptation (microevolution) and speciation (macroevolution) are directly linked. This theory is a particularly suitable framework for evaluating evidence for the processes underlying shifts in pollination systems and their potential consequences for the evolution of reproductive isolation and speciation.

Scope

This Viewpoint paper focuses on evidence for the four components of ecological speciation in the context of plant-pollinator interactions, namely (1) the role of pollinators as selective agents, (2) floral trait divergence, including the evolution of ‘pollination ecotypes‘, (3) the geographical context of selection on floral traits, and (4) the role of pollinators in the evolution of reproductive isolation. This Viewpoint also serves as the introduction to a Special Issue on Pollinator-Driven Speciation in Plants. The 13 papers in this Special Issue range from microevolutionary studies of ecotypes to macroevolutionary studies of historical ecological shifts, and span a wide range of geographical areas and plant families. These studies further illustrate innovative experimental approaches, and they employ modern tools in genetics and floral trait quantification. Future advances to the field require better quantification of selection through male fitness and pollinator isolation, for instance by exploiting next-generation sequencing technologies. By combining these new tools with strategically chosen study systems, and smart experimental design, we predict that examples of pollinator-driven speciation will be among the most widespread and compelling of all cases of ecological speciation.     

Neutron scattering in photosynthesis research: recent advances and perspectives for testing crop plants

Photosynthesis Research - The photosynthetic performance of crop plants under a variety of environmental factors and stress conditions, at the fundamental level, depends largely on the organization...     

Seasonal variation in antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of frequently used medicinal bulbous plants from South Africa

The growing popularity of traditional medicine and the unrestricted collection of medicinal plants from the wild have put many of the slow growing bulbous plant species at the risk of over-exploitation and extinction in South Africa. This study was aimed at comparing the phytochemical composition and biological (antibacterial and anticandidal) activities of bulb and leaf extracts of Tulbaghia violacea, Hypoxis hemerocallidea, Drimia robusta and Merwilla plumbea between spring, summer, autumn and winter seasons, with the view of promoting the use of leaves, as a conservation strategy. Antibacterial and anticandidal activities of petroleum ether (PE), dichloromethane (DCM), 80% ethanol and water extracts of bulbs and leaves were tested against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria and the fungus Candida albicans using the microdilution bioassay. Spectrophotometric methods were used to evaluate saponin and phenolic compositions for the four seasons. Leaf and bulb extracts exhibited comparable anticandidal activity (MIC < 1 mg/ml) in all the plant species in all seasons. Only ethanol and water extracts of H. hemerocallidea corms (autumn and winter) showed correspondingly good fungicidal activity amongst the bulbs tested. Antibacterial activity was fairly comparable between bulbs and leaves with at least one extract of each plant species showing some good MIC values in most of the seasons. The best antimicrobial activities were recorded in winter and autumn seasons, with MIC values as low as 0.2 mg/ml in the DCM bulb extracts of T. violacea (winter) against K. pneumoniae and S. aureus. The amounts of total phenolic compounds in all plant samples were generally higher in spring compared to the other seasons. Condensed tannin, gallotannin and flavonoid levels, depending on the sample, were either higher in spring or winter except for H. hemerocallidea (corm) which had higher gallotannin levels in autumn. Total saponin levels were higher in winter in all plant samples. Although variation was observed in the phytochemical concentrations between the bulbs and leaves of each plant species, their antimicrobial activities were fairly comparable. Leaves may be used as substitutes for bulbs in the treatment of bacterial and fungal ailments.     

Endophytic actinobacteria of medicinal plants: diversity and bioactivity

Endophytes are the microorganisms that exist inside the plant tissues without having any negative impact on the host plant. Medicinal plants constitute the huge diversity of endophytic actinobacteria of economical importance. These microbes have huge potential to synthesis of numerous novel compounds that can be exploited in pharmaceutical, agricultural and other industries. It is of prime importance to focus the present research on practical utilization of this microbial group in order to find out the solutions to the problems related to health, environment and agriculture. An extensive characterization of diverse population of endophytic actinobacteria associated with medicinal plants can provide a greater insight into the plant-endophyte interactions and evolution of mutualism. In the present review, we have discussed the diversity of endophytic actinobacteria of from medicinal plants their multiple bioactivities.     

Twenty years of research on community composition and species distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in China: a review

The biodiversity and distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in different ecosystems and plant communities in China has received increasing interest over the past decades. This has led to a steady increase in the number of scientific papers published on this topic. Studies have surveyed AMF-colonizing rhizospheres of most families of angiosperms, bryophytes, pteridophytes, and gymnosperms. China has about 30,000 plant species (one eighth of the plant species worldwide). A total of 104 AMF species within nine genera, including 12 new species, have been reported in environments such as croplands, grasslands, forests, and numerous disturbed environments. In this paper, we review data published over the past 20 years on AMF community composition and species distribution, the mycorrhizal status of plants, AMF spore communities in different habitats, and germplasm collections in China. Possible future trends in the study of the biodiversity of AMF are also briefly discussed. In particular, the aim of our review is to make some of the recent work published in the Chinese literature accessible to a wider international audience.     

Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds of 112 traditional Chinese medicinal plants associated with anticancer

Cancer prevention and treatment using traditional Chinese medicines have attracted increasing interest. This study characterizes antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds of traditional Chinese medicinal plants associated with anticancer, comprising 112 species from 50 plant families. The improved ABTS(*+) method was used to systematically assess the total antioxidant capacity (Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, TEAC) of the medicinal extracts. The TEAC values and total phenolic content for methanolic extracts of herbs ranged from 46.7 to 17,323 micromol Trolox equivalent/100 g dry weight (DW), and from 0.22 to 50.3 g of gallic acid equivalent/100 g DW, respectively. A positive, significant linear relationship between antioxidant activity and total phenolic content (all R(2) values>/=0.95) showed that phenolic compounds were the dominant antioxidant components in the tested medicinal herbs. Major types of phenolic compounds from most of the tested herbs were preliminarily identified and analyzed, and mainly included phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, coumarins, lignans, quinones, stilbenes, and curcuminoids. These medicinal herbs exhibited far stronger antioxidant activity and contained significantly higher levels of phenolics than common vegetables and fruits. Traditional Chinese medicinal plants associated with anticancer might be potential sources of potent natural antioxidants and beneficial chemopreventive agents.