A new species of Zingiber (Zingiberaceae) from Taiwan, China, based on morphological and molecular data

Zingiber shuanglongensis sp.nov.is a species endemic to Taiwan,China,that has been found in Nantou and Kaohsiung.In this study,the new Zingiber species is illustrated and the results of morphological a...     

华山姜中钙调素基因的克隆及其RNA原位杂交

本文报道了华山姜中钙调素cDNA的核苷酸序列以及由此推导的氨基酸序列。并用原化杂交的方法检测其在花器官中的时间表达模式。用[^32P]d-CTP标记的小草蔻-Alpinia hainanensis AGAMOUS（AG）cDNA的MADS-domain作为探针筛选华山姜的cDNA文库．得到一个钙调素蛋白相关克隆．命名为AoCAM。华山姜钙调素AoCAM的cDNA全长518bp．有一个包含149个氨基酸的开放读码框．编码区起始于第54个核苷酸,终止于第501个核苷酸。AoCAM与拟南芥、小麦、大豆、矮牵牛、玉米的钙调素氨基酸序列比较同源性高达95％。RNA原位杂交表明钙凋素基因和花瓣、雄蕊、雌蕊细胞中大量表达。钙调素基因的表达强度随不同的发育阶段而变化：花发育早期在花的各器官中部表达强烈,以后逐渐减弱并向特定部位集中．如花粉囊、唇瓣、花柱和胚珠等分生能力较强的细胞中表达较强。     

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor-binding antagonist activity of Malaysian medicinal plants

Forty-nine methanol extracts of 37 species of Malaysian medicinal plants were investigated for their inhibitory effects on platelet-activating factor (PAF) binding to rabbit platelets, using 3H-PAF as a ligand. Among them, the extracts of six Zingiberaceae species (Alpinia galanga Swartz., Boesenbergia pandurata Roxb., Curcuma ochorrhiza Val., C. aeruginosa Roxb., Zingiber officinale Rosc. and Z. zerumbet Koenig.), two Cinnamomum species (C. altissimum Kosterm. and C. pubescens Kochummen.), Goniothalamus malayanus Hook. f. Momordica charantia Linn. and Piper aduncum L. are potential sources of new PAF antagonists, as they showed significant inhibitory effects with IC50 values ranging from 1.2 to 18.4 microg ml(-1).     

Phylogenetic analysis of chloroplast matK gene from Zingiberaceae for plant DNA barcoding

MaturaseK gene (MatK) of chloroplast is highly conserved in plant systematics which is involved in Group II intron splicing. The size of the gene is 1500 bp in length, located with in the intron of trnK. In the present study, matK gene from Zingiberaceae was taken for the analysis of variants, parsimony site, patterns, transition/tranversion rates and phylogeny. The family of Zingiberaceae comprises 47 genera with medicinal values. The matK gene sequence have been obtained from genbank and used for the analysis. The sequence alignments were performed by Clustal X, transition/transversion rates were predicted by MEGA and phylogenetic analyses were carried out by PHYLIP package. The result indicates that the Zingiberaceae genus Afromonum, Alpinia, Globba, Curcuma and Zingiber shows polyphylogeny. The overall variants between the species are 24% and transition/transversion rate is 1.54. Phylogenetic tree was designed to identify the ideal regions that could be used for defining the inter and intera-generic relationships. From this study it could be concluded that the matK gene is a good candidate for DNA barcoding of plant family Zingiberaceae.     

Phenolic glycosides from Kaempferia parviflora

Three phenolic glycosides were isolated together with two known flavonol glycosides from the H2O-soluble fraction of rhizomes of Kaempferia parviflora. Their structures were determined to be rel-(5aS,10bS)-5a,10b-dihydro-1,3,5a,9-tetrahydroxy-8-methoxy-6H-benz[b]indeno[1,2-d]furan-6-one 5a-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-d-glucopyranoside] (1), its rel-5aS,10bR isomer (2), and (2R,3S,4S)-3-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-d-glucopyranosyl]-3'-O-methyl-ent-epicatechin-(2alpha-->O-->3,4alpha-->4)-(5aS,10bS)-5a,10b-dihydro-1,3,5a,9-tetrahydroxy-8-methoxy-6H-benz[b]indeno[1,2-d]furan-6-one 5a-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-D-glucopyranoside] (3). The structures were elucidated on the basis of analyses of chemical and spectroscopic evidence.     

Chemical Composition,Antimicrobial and Insecticidal Activities of Flowers Essential Oils of Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) B.L.Burtt & R.M.Sm. from Martinique Island

Alpinia species, used as ornamental plants and flavoring agents, are renowned for their therapeutic properties and their subsequent use in traditional medicines throughout the world. Alpinia zerumbet (Pers .) B.L.Burtt & R.M.Sm . is the most common Alpinia species encountered in Martinique. Several essential oils (EOs) obtained by hydrodistillation of A. zerumbet flowers collected in various locations on the island at different seasons were analysed to evaluate the influence of the collection period and area on the EOs’ chemical compositions and to assess their bioactivity. A combination of GC‐FID and GC/MS techniques was used to examine the volatile constituents, leading to the identification of a total of 71 components accounting for 97.8 – 99.3% of the respective total GC‐FID areas: among them, nineteen compounds were characterized for the first time in A. zerumbet EOs. The antimicrobial activity of these EOs was assessed against eight bacterial, yeast and fungal strains and two multi‐resistant strains: some significant bacteriostatic and fungistatic activities of A. zerumbet flower oils were evidenced. Finally, an interesting insecticidal activity of the flower EO was highlighted for the first time against Aedes aegypti.     

Light Effects on the Style Curvature and Anther Dehiscenceof Alpinia mutica (Zingiberaceae)

We studied the light effects on style curvature and anther dehiscence of Alpinia mutica. The results showed that light did not change the style movement directions of cata morph, neither the anther opening time. The first style curvature of ana morph moved downwards in darkness, and moved upwards in light.Meanwhile, the anther did not dehisce in darkness, but dehisced in light. The second style curvature of ana morph depended on the light condition of first curvature. If kept in darkness all the time after first downward curvature, the styles did not move upwards and the anther did not dehisce. If first curvature occurred in light, the styles curved downwards both in darkness and light conditions. This research indicated that under different light conditions the combinations of style and anther states in two morphs made the stigma untouch the pollen from the same flower and therefore guaranteed the herkogamy and dichogamy. Although the behavior of style and anther in two morphs were similar, the mechanisms that regulated these behavior were different.     

中国姜黄属植物的订正

将白顶姜黄（CurcumaalbicomaS．Q．Tong）归入川郁金（C．sichuanenslsX．X．Chen),将另一种“川郁金”（C．chuanyujinC．K．HsiehetH．Zhang）归入广西莪术（C．kwangsiensisS．G．LeeetC．F．Liang）。认为过去把莪术鉴定为C．zedoaria（Christ．）Rose．C．caesiaRoxb．或C．aeruginosaRoxb,其实都是C．phaeocaulisVal．的误定;C．elataRoxb．是C．wenyujinY．H．ChenetC．Ling的误定;认为广西莪术的两个变种,即紫脉莪术（C．kwangsiensisvar．affinisY．H．Chen）和毛莪术（C．kwangsiensisvar．puberulaY．H．Chen）不能成立．对台湾是否产C．viridifloraRoxb．表示怀疑。附有中国产姜黄属植物12种的检索表及其分布．