Ginseng: America’s botanical drug connection to the orient

Ginseng has long been one of this country’s major botanical drugs in foreign trade. Once harvested only in the forests of the Eastern frontiers, it became a domesticated crop in the late 1800s and now is raised largely in northcentral Wisconsin. Growers there produce an estimated 90% of the cultivated ginseng in the United States. Most American ginseng has been consumed in the Orient, as is reflected in export records dating back to 1821. Over 95% of the nearly 21,000 metric tons (T) shipped in the period 1821–1983 went to the Far East. Hong Kong has served as the center for re-exporting ginseng to China and Southeast Asia. Ginseng has been used in Asia for many purposes, mostly as a curative agent. It has also gained increasing acceptance elsewhere in the world for its alleged value.     

Studies on several genetic hematological traits of the Mexican population. XII. Distribution of blood group antigens in twelve Indian tribes

Blood samples from 1090 Mexican Indians belonging to the Chol, Chontal, Totonac, Huastec, Mixe, Mazatec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Chinantec, Nahua, Cora and Huichol linguistic groups, were obtained and examined in regard to the following blood group antigens: A, B. M, N, P, C, c, D, E, e, Fy(a), K and Di(a). The gene frequencies were similar to what has been described for other Amerindians; high values for O, M, CDe, cDE and Duffy; low to absent Kell and presence of Diego in variable amounts. The frequency of chromosomes CDE and cDe/cde was somewhat higher than usual and some of the tribes had relatively high frequencies of the A and B antigens. It was felt that variable degrees of non-Indian admixture was at least partially responsible for this situation. A previous study dealing with the distribution of abnormal hemoglobins and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in these same tribes, had strongly suggested the possibility of some Negro admixture in the Chontal, Nahua and Cora tribes. However, this was not specifically reflected in their blood group distribution. This served to emphasize the need of investigating as many markers as possible when trying to characterize a population.     

Phenylalanine Absorption and Metabolism in Parkinsonian Patients

Oral and intravenous L-phenylalanine loading tests were performed in 13 Parkinsonian patients and in 12 control subjects matched for age and weight. The results showed a normal intestinal absorption and a normal elimination from plasma of phenylalanine in the Parkinsonian patients.     

Habitat modification when scent marking: shrub clearance by roe deer bucks

Marking activities in many ungulate species involve some aggression directed towards the vegetation which usually affects the understorey layer. Roe deer bucks (Capreolus capreolus) usually defend mating territories within the forest, where they mark the vegetation and the ground by using chemical signals which are typically associated with the visual ones used. Here we describe the presence of roe-made clearings of about 2700 m² average size which contained a clump of marks. Roe bucks affected the vegetation mainly by means of fraying and scratching with antlers around the stem of bushes, and defoliation by leaf-biting. The analysis of these activities suggests that their evolution may have been moulded by the effect of shrub clearing. Defoliation affecting more than 50% of leaves was only found within clearings. Also, fraying affected the whole perimeter of the stem and hence desiccated the bushes at higher rates within the clearings than outside. We found only one cleared area per male range, selectively located in a concave land formation. Producing a clump of scent marks within the mating territory may reduce the costs of scent marking, improve the effectiveness of scent guarding and fits well with the hypothesis of reliable scent matching by recipients. The concave shape of the clump, coupled with the cleared vegetation, may improve the perception of visual signals allowing for the location of scents. It is proposed that selection may favour the modification of the habitat as a component of roe deer marking behaviour, via its benefits in improving the broadcasting of visual signals associated with chemical ones.     

Small and overlooked: Phylogeny of the genus Trigonodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), with the first record of Trigonodactylus arabicus from Jordan

Geckos of the genus Trigonodactylus are widely distributed in the sand deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Three species of this genus are currently recognized, with a fourth one, Stenodactylus pulcher, which placement within Trigonodactylus has been tentatively suggested, but not yet confirmed. We present a phylogenetic analysis of the genus Trigonodactylus with new specimens collected in central Saudi Arabia and southern Jordan. New genetic data has been generated from three mitochondrial markers to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of all species of the genus and to assess the putative generic assignment of S. pulcher. Our results confirm that S. pulcher indeed belongs within Trigonodactylus, branching as a sister lineage to all other species of the genus. The new samples cluster within Trigonodactylus arabicus, thus confirming the genetic homogeneity of the species across its large and seemingly inhospitable range. The new specimen collected in southern Jordan represents the first record for the country and a considerable range extension to the northwest from all previously reported localities. Our findings and discovery of a new species for Jordan highlight the need of more field surveys to be carried out in the underexplored parts of Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia, as these places still hold a potential for new discoveries and are crucial for understating the biogeography of the Arabian herpetofauna.     

Investigating the origin of transoceanic distributions: Mtdna shows Mabuya lizards (Reptilia,Scincidae) crossed the Atlantic twice

Phylogenies with even a rough time scale can be used to investigate the history of non‐volant taxa with disjunct distributions in widely separated land areas that were once connected. Basic methods for doing this are discussed. A partial phylogeny of Mabuya based on mtDNA (305 bp cytochrome b, 379 bp 12S rRNA and 388 bp 16S rRNA) is used to show that this genus invaded tropical America from Africa twice in the last 9 Myr, once reaching the American mainland and once the oceanic island of Fernando de Noronha, two journeys each of at least 3000 km. In general, phylogenetic evidence for multiple invasions is less equivocal than that suggesting a single invasion, which is more prone to sampling artefacts. Two alternative hypotheses explaining the presence of Mabuya in both Africa and tropical America are refuted on the basis of molecular clock considerations, namely that the occurrence of Mabuya in these continents pre‐dated their separation over 100 My ago and that it was introduced from one continent to the other by human activities. Like several other lizard groups that have made successful long‐distance transmarine colonizations, Mabuya has done this on many occasions. Phylogenetic results are also compatible with a SE Asian or Australasian origin of Mabuya followed by westward expansion.     

History of West Mediterranean newts,Pleurodeles (Amphibia: Salamandridae), inferred from old and recent DNA sequences

MtDNA sequences (396 bp cytochrome b and 369 bp 12S rRNA) from recent material and old museum specimens indicate Pleurodeles poireti and P. waltl form independent clades with 7.76% genetic divergence. Within P. poireti, populations from Djebel Edough, NE Algeria are very distinct with 6.12% genetic divergence from the remainder and may deserve separate species status. Away from Djebel Edough, P. poireti consists of three distinct clades (coastal NW Tunisia; central N Algeria; Constantine plus inland NW Tunisia) with a maximum genetic divergence of only 1%. P. waltl contains two clades with 2.96% genetic divergence, one in SE and E Spain plus north Morocco, the other in Portugal and SW and central Spain. Pleurodeles probably invaded NW Africa from SW Europe during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, when land contact was first established at 5.6 Ma, and then interrupted at 5.3 Ma. Molecular clocks, calibrated in the assumption that the latter event separated P. waltl and P. poireti, suggest that Pleurodeles diverged from its sister taxon, Tylototriton, at about 8.6–10 Ma. Djebel Edough P. poireti separated at about 4.2 Ma, perhaps through isolation on a temporary, now ‘fossil’, island initiated by the Messinian crisis. Differentiation in remaining P. poireti may have been caused by Pleistocene climatic fluctuations, while bifurcation in P. waltl appears to have taken place in the Pliocene approximately between 3.2 and 2 Ma. This species reached Morocco very recently, perhaps as a result of human introduction. Use in Pleurodeles of the slower divergence rates estimated in some other salamandrids results in a less parsimonious historical hypothesis that does not fit known geophysical events.     

Two newly recognized species of Hemidactylus (Squamata,Gekkonidae) from the Arabian Peninsula?and Sinai,Egypt

A recent molecular phylogeny of the Arid clade of the genus Hemidactylus revealed that the recently described H. saba and two unnamed Hemidactylus species from Sinai, Saudi Arabia and Yemen form a well-supported monophyletic group within the Arabian radiation of the genus. The name ‘Hemidactylus saba species group’ is suggested for this clade. According to the results of morphological comparisons and the molecular analyses using two mitochondrial (12S and cytb) and four nuclear (cmos, mc1r, rag1, rag2) genes, the name Hemidactylus granosus Heyden, 1827 is resurrected from the synonymy of H. turcicus for the Sinai and Saudi Arabian species. The third species of this group from Yemen is described formally as a new species H. ulii sp. n. The phylogenetic relationships of the members of ‘Hemidactylus saba species group’ are evaluated and the distribution and ecology of individual species are discussed.     

Evolutionary patterns of the mitochondrial genome in the Moorish gecko, Tarentola mauritanica

A previous study on the evolutionary patterns of Tarentola mauritanica demonstrated that low levels of mitochondrial diversity observed in the European populations relative to nuclear markers were consistent with a selective sweep hypothesis. In order to unravel the mitochondrial evolutionary history in this European population and two other lineages of T. mauritanica (Iberian and North African clades), variation within 22 nearly complete mitogenomes was analyzed. Surprisingly, each clade seems to have a distinct evolutionary history; with both the European and Iberian clades presenting a decrease of polymorphism, which in the former is consistent with departure from neutrality of the mtDNA (positive or background selection), but in the latter seems to be the result of a bottleneck after a population expansion. The pattern exhibited by the North African clade seems to be a consequence of adaptation to certain mtDNA variants by positive selection.