Publications by authors named "Wen-Dar Huang"

Tea (), a globally cultivated beverage crop, is sensitive to drought, which can have an adverse effect on the yield and quality of tea. Azoxystrobin (AZ) is one kind of fungicide considered as an agent to relieve damage caused by stress. Initially, the response of tea plant to osmotic-gradient stress was evaluated using leaf disc assays with PEG-induced osmotic stress.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Photosynthetic properties and transcriptomic profiles of green and white sectors of (c.v. milky stripe fig) leaves were examined in naturally variegated plants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Anthocyanins (Ants) are water-soluble secondary metabolites that are responsible for red colour of plant leaves. To determine photosynthetic pigments, 80% acetone was used to extract Ants from Ant-containing leaves of test plants. However, using the 80% acetone extraction method can lead to interference between chlorophylls (Chls) and Ants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Tradescantia albiflora (TA) Kunth (Commelinaceae) has been used for treating gout and hyperuricemia as folklore remedies in Taiwan. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study the effect of TA extracts on lowering uric acid activity. The hypouricemic effects of TA extracts on potassium oxonate (PO)-induced acute hyperuricemia were investigated for the first time.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Longan, a fruit tree rich in phenolic components, may help reduce uric acid levels and protect against oxidative damage through anti-inflammatory mechanisms.
  • - A study tested longan extracts from flowers, seeds, and other parts on mice with induced hyperuricemia, revealing that flower extracts had the strongest xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibition and uric acid lowering effect.
  • - Two specific phytochemicals from longan flowers, proanthocyanidin A2 and acetonylgeraniin A, showed significant XO inhibitory activity in lab tests, suggesting their potential as new treatments for high uric acid levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - This research studied the relationship between insect-induced galls and their host plant leaves, specifically galls caused by Bruggmanniella sp. on Litsea acuminata, focusing on their photosynthetic and biochemical traits.
  • - Results showed that the galls had lower chlorophyll fluorescence compared to host leaves, lacked stomatal conductance, and had higher total soluble sugars and free amino acids but less soluble proteins.
  • - The findings indicate that these galls are chlorophyll-deficient tissues acting as a novel sink for resources from the host plant, particularly lacking stomata and containing unique fungal structures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Spectral reflectance was evaluated for its usefulness as a nondestructive estimation of chlorophyll (Chl) content from three cultivars of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) with green, yellow, and purple leaves grown in a greenhouse for 22 days. While the green and yellow leaves contain variant amount of photosynthetic pigments without or with little level of anthocyanins, the purple leaves, except large amount of photosynthetic pigments, have high quantity of anthocyanins.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Three relevant hypotheses - nutrition, environment and the enemies hypothesis - often invoked to explore source and sink relationships between galls and their host plants are still under dispute. In this research, chlorophyll fluorescence, gas exchange capacity, stomatal conductance, total carbon and nitrogen, total soluble sugars and starches, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy of two types of galls were used to investigate source-sink relationships. Compared with host leaves, these galls demonstrated slightly lower chlorophyll fluorescence; however, gas exchange capacity and stomatal conductance were not detected at all.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most toxic heavy metals and inhibits physiological processes of plants. Magnesium (Mg) is known as one of the essential nutrients for plants. Mg deficiency in plants affects metabolic processes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Synthesis of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in response to heat shock (HS) is essential for thermotolerance. The effect of a Ca(2+) chelator, EGTA, was investigated before a lethal HS treatment in soybean (Glycine max) seedlings with acquired thermotolerance induced by preheating. Such seedlings became non-thermotolerant with EGTA treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF