The LRR receptor-like kinase ALR1 is a plant aluminum ion sensor.

Plant survival requires an ability to adapt to differing concentrations of nutrient and toxic soil ions, yet ion sensors and associated signaling pathways are mostly unknown. Aluminum (Al) ions are highly phytotoxic, and cause severe crop yield loss and forest decline on acidic soils which represent ∼30% of land areas worldwide. Here we found an Arabidopsis mutant hypersensitive to Al.

Aromatic monoterpenoid glycosides from rattan stems of Schisandra chinensis and their neuroprotective activities.

Six new monoterpenoid glycosides, including thymoquinol 5-O-α-L-arabinopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), cuminic acid 7-O-α-D-arabinofuranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester (2), p-cymene 7-O-α-D-arabinofuranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), p-methylhyd- ratropic acid 9-O-α-D-arabinofuranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester (4), (R)-p-cymene 9-O-α- D-arabinofuranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), and (R)-p-cymene 9-O-β-D-apiofuranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (6), together with three known compounds, such as (R)-p-cymene 9-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (7), thymoquinol 5-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8), and thymoquinol 2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (9) were isolated from the 70%-EtOH extract of Schisandra chinensis rattan stems. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analyses. Meanwhile, the neuroprotective activities of compounds 1-9 were evaluated on the two co-culture models of microglia and neurons cells and astrocytoma and neurons cells.

New lignan from the rattan stems of Schisandra chinensis.

A new lignan named schilignan F (1), together with twelve known ones (2-13), were isolated from the rattan stems of Schisandra chinensis. Their chemical structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including one and two-dimensional NMR spectra referring to the literatures as well as high-resolution mass spectrometric analysis. All compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicities against human Hela cancer cell lines in vitro.

New Thymoquinol Glycosides and Neuroprotective Dibenzocyclooctane Lignans from the Rattan Stems of Schisandra chinensis.

Three new lignans (1 - 3), together with four new thymoquinol glycosides (4 - 7), were isolated from 70%-EtOH extract of the rattan stems of Schisandra chinensis. The structures of 1 - 7 were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analyses, and these new compounds were identified as pinobatol-9-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (1), 1,2,13,14-tetramethoxydibenzocyclooctadiene 3,12-O-β-d-diglucopyranoside (2), 3,7-dihydroxy-1,2,13,14-tetramethoxydibenzocyclooctadiene 12-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (3), thymoquinol 2-O-β-d-apiofuranosyl-(1→6)-β-d-glucopyranoside (4), thymoquinol 2-O-α-d-arabinofuranosyl-(1→6)-β-d-glucopyranoside (5), thymoquinol 5-O-β-d-apiofuranosyl-(1→6)-β-d-glucopyranoside (6), and thymoquinol 5-O-α-d-arabinofuranosyl-(1→6)-β-d-glucopyranoside (7). The neuroprotective activity of 1 - 7 was evaluated on PC12 cells with neurotoxicity induced by amyloid-beta 1 - 42 (Aβ ).

[Chemical constituents from Hydrangea macrophylla].

Objective: To investigate chemical constituents from Chinese herbal medicine Hydrangea macrophylla.

Method: The compounds were separated and purified by column chromatography over silica gel, ODS, and preparative HPLC. Their structures were identified by spectral methods including 1H, 13C-NMR and MS.

MetaTISA: Metagenomic Translation Initiation Site Annotator for improving gene start prediction.

Summary: We proposed a tool named MetaTISA with an aim to improve TIS prediction of current gene-finders for metagenomes. The method employs a two-step strategy to predict translation initiation sites (TISs) by first clustering metagenomic fragments into phylogenetic groups and then predicting TISs independently for each group in an unsupervised manner. As evaluated on experimentally verified TISs, MetaTISA greatly improves the accuracies of TIS prediction of current gene-finders.

Phylogeography of two East Asian species in Croomia (Stemonaceae) inferred from chloroplast DNA and ISSR fingerprinting variation.

The genus Croomia (Stemonaceae) comprises three herbaceous perennial species that are distributed in temperate-deciduous forests in Southeastern North America (C.pauciflora) and East Asia (C. japonica, C.