Publications by authors named "Zhonglian Zhang"

Background: Lasianthus species are widely used in traditional Chinese folk medicine with high medicinal value. However, source materials and herbarium specimens are often misidentified due to morphological characteristics and commonly used DNA barcode fragments are not sufficient for accurately identifying Lasianthus species. To improve the molecular methods for distinguishing among Lasianthus species, we report the complete chloroplast (CP) genomes of Lasianthus attenuatus, Lasianthus henryi, Lasianthus hookeri, Lasianthus sikkimensis, obtained via high-throughput Illumina sequencing.

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Radix et Rhizoma Thalictri Foliolosi (RRTF) belongs to one of the alkaloid-rich traditional Chinese medicines in Ranunculaceae, which possesses anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and several other pharmacological activities. However, due to lack of research on chemical composition, serious confusion in the origin, and ambiguity in pharmacological mechanisms, it is quite urgent to establish quality control standards based on modern research and to increase the widespread usage. Aiming to clarify the differential compounds among three species of RRTF (TFD, TFB, and TCW), targeted and untargeted acquisition strategies based on high resolution mass spectrometry were established.

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Lasianthus, belonging to Rubiaceae, has been verified to improve clinical syndrome in immune diseases (e.g., hepatitis, nephritis, and rheumatoid arthritis).

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Dracaena, a remarkably long-lived and slowly maturing species of plant, is world famous for its ability to produce dragon's blood, a precious traditional medicine used by different cultures since ancient times. However, there is no detailed and high-quality genome available for this species at present; thus, the molecular mechanisms that underlie its important traits are largely unknown. These factors seriously limit the protection and regeneration of this rare and endangered plant resource.

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Rationale: Helwingia japonica (HJ), a traditional medicinal plant, is commonly used for the treatment of dysentery, blood in the stool, and scald burns. Three major HJ species, Helwingia japonica (Thunb.) Dietr.

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has special defensive reactions against wound stress. Under wound stress, generates a resin that is an important medicine known as dragon's blood. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the defensive reactions is unclear.

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DC. 1817, a widely distributed species in the genus of is used as a traditional herbal medicine in China. For the first time, the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of was assembled and characterized for the first time in this study.

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Most species are valued as foods, ornamental plants, or plants with medicinal properties. However, morphological characteristics and commonly used DNA barcode fragments are not sufficient for accurately identifying species. Difficulties in species identification have led to confusion in the sale and use of for medicinal use.

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and , which belong to the Zingiberaceae family, are traditional Chinese folk medicinal herbs in Guizhou and Yunnan Province of China. They share great similarities in morphology, chemical constituent, and DNA barcoding sequence. The taxonomy of the two species is controversial and discrimination of traditional Chinese medicines directly affects the pharmacological and clinical effects.

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The genus Uncaria belongs to the family of Rubiaceae, which contains approximately 34 species. It has been widely used as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in China to treat hypertension, fevers, headaches, gastrointestinal illness, epilepsy, wounds, and ulcers. Uncaria rhynchophylla.

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Dragon's blood (DB) refers mainly to the crimson resin of many spp. DB has been used by different traditional medicine systems worldwide, including Arabic medicine, African medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, Thai medicine, etc. DB are mainly used to heal wounds, kill pain, stop bleeding, and cure various diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery and ulcers for over 1000 years.

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Resina Draconis, a rare and precious traditional medicine in China, is known as the "holy medicine for promoting blood circulation". According to the national drug standard, it's derived from the resin extracted from the wood of Dracaena cochinchinensis, a Liliaceae plant. In addition, a variety of Dracaena species all over the world can form red resins, and there is currently no molecular identification method that can efficiently identify the origin of Dracaena medicinal materials.

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Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Dragon's Blood (Resina Draconis) is a red resin that has been used in traditional medicine to promote blood circulation, regenerate muscles, reduce swelling and pain, stop bleeding, etc., and its main chemical constituents are flavonoids. Dracaena cochinchinensis (Lour.

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The study aims at exploring the composition and characteristics of the medicinal plant resources of six major ethnic minorities living in Xishuangbanna, as well as the characteristics of traditional utilization of ethnic medicine, and promote the rational protection and inheritance and utilization of ethnic medicine resources and traditional knowledge. Based on the fourth survey of traditional Chinese medicine resources in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, through the methods of literature collection, interviewing and field investigation, this paper analyzed the data of the types, medicinal parts and attending diseases of medicinal plant resources of Dai, Hani, Jinuo, Wa, Lahu and Bulang nationalities. The results showed that there were 1 048 medicinal plant resources of the six ethnic minorities, and the medicinal plants were 735, 497, 272, 295, 280 and 49 in the six nationalities, respectively.

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Aspidopterys obcordata var. obcordata, a medicinal plant endemic to China, is a narrowly distributed species and wild resources are extremely limited. To evaluate the genetic variability and degree of genetic divergence of A.

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To ensure the safety of medications, it is vital to accurately authenticate species of the Apocynaceae family, which is rich in poisonous medicinal plants. We identified Apocynaceae species by using nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and psbA-trnH based on experimental data. The identification ability of ITS2 and psbA-trnH was assessed using specific genetic divergence, BLAST1, and neighbor-joining trees.

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The taxonomy and nomenclature of plants are much disputed, particularly for several species in Asia. However, neither morphological features nor common DNA regions are ideal for identification of spp. Meanwhile, although multiple spp.

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Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Bergenin is a well-known active compound that exhibits antioxidant, antiarrhythmic, hepatoprotective, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, the resource reserve of Rodgersia sambucifolia, one of the main raw materials for extracting bergenin, have sharply declined, and the bergenin content in different germplasms differs vastly, resulting in a serious shortage of the market supply of bergenin.

Aim Of The Study: To investigate the influence of genetic diversity and environmental factors on bergenin content in Rodgersia sambucifolia.

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The genus is an important source of traditional Chinese medicines with multiple therapeutic effects. The identification of the correct species and accurate determination of the contents of bioactive constituents are important for quality control of medicinal materials. Here, an integrated evaluation system based on DNA barcoding for species identification and quantitative analysis by LC-MS/MS has been established.

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Cycloartenol, a phytosterol compound, also one of the key precusor substances for biosynthesis of numerous sterol compounds, has a variety of pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant, antibiosis and anti-alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, cycloartenol also plays an important role in the process of plant growth and development. This article reviewed the research progress on cycloartenol pharmacological activity in domestic and foreign articles, and summarized the effect of cycloartenol and "cycloartenol pathway" on the plant growth and development, laying foundation for the its further study, development and utilization.

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In order to find out the composition, characteristics and traditional utilization characteristics of Dai medicine and promote the rational protection, inheritance and utilization of the resources and traditional knowledge of Dai medicine in China, the resources of traditional Dai medicine have been investigated systematically and the traditional knowledge of Dai medicine have been analyzed in the article. We found out that there were altogether 1 077 kinds of traditional Dai medicine in China and among which 272 were the first time recorded in the condition of Dai folk medical uses. There were 1 053 plant medicines which belong to 169 family and 694 genus.

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Background: Taxillus chinensis (DC.) Danser, the official species of parasitic loranthus that grows by parasitizing other plants, is used in various traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions. ABA-dependent and ABA-independent pathways are two major pathways in response to drought stress for plants and some genes have been reported to play a key role during the dehydration including dehydration-responsive protein RD22, late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins, and various transcription factors (TFs) like MYB and WRKY.

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Objective: To observe microscopic characteristics of rhizome of Alpinia kwangsiensis, Alpinia platychilus, Alpinia blepharocalyx, and to provide basis for their identification.

Methods: Microscopic identification of root transverse section by paraffin tissue section and free-hand section and powder were carried out to distinguish them.

Results: The microscopic identification can be made by cell structure of epidermis and endodermis, the existence of nonglandular hair, the lignification degree of vascular bundle fiber, the number and existence style of vascular bundle fiber, the number and size of tube, and so on.

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