Pollen morphology of selected taxa from the Hengduan Mountains, Southwest China are investigated in the present study. Fortyeight taxa (flowering in the summer, 46 species and 2 varieties) of 43 genera belonging to 27 families were observed by light and scanning electron microscopy. Pollen morphology is described in detail. Two pollen shapes are mainly found in these species: subprolate to prolate (271%) and prolate (25%). Spheroidal, subspheroidal to subprolate, suboblate and tetrad shapes can also be found in some species. Aperture type is mostly tricolporate, with a percentage of 438, and also contains tricolpate, pantoporate, stephanocolpate, 3colporoid, 6 colpate, monocolpate. The most common ornamentation is finely reticulate, with a percentage of 50. Other exine ornamentations, such as coarsely reticulate, finely granulate, smooth, spinulose are also observed. The palynological documentation of these species will provide the modern palynological basis for paleopalynological studies of the Quaternary Strata. On the basis of pollen morphology characters, identification features of some species in the same families were discussed according to the results of cluster analysis used by SPSS. The ecological significance was also discussed based on the ecological properties of these taxa.
All staminodes in an androecium fail to produce viable pollen grains and cannot contribute directly to male fitness. Staminodes are identified in the flowers of approximately 54% of known genera representing >32% of all angiosperm families. The functional morphology and biochemistry of staminodes differs significantly from stamens with fertile anthers. In the absence of sperm production, some staminodes evolved novel adaptations contributing to the reproductive success of their flowers. We subdivided these staminodes into eight functional types: 1) Staminodes offering visual/olfactory cues; 2) Staminodes offering edible/inedible rewards; 3) Staminodes that deceive pollinators with false rewards; 4) Staminodes facilitating or directing the movements of pollinators in flowers;5) Stami
nodes that facilitate stigma movement; 6) Staminodes functioning as secondary pollen presenters; 7) Staminodes that protect other floral organs; 8) Staminodes that prevent mechanical selfpollination (autogamy). As a component within a flower, the majority of staminodes function as promoters of reproductive success by interacting directly with the pollinator to increase pollination efficiency (both pollen dispersal and deposition). Therefore, it is not surprising that one staminode may have more than one function over the flower′s lifespan and is closely associated with the size, abundance, behavior and taxonomic diversity of pollinators, floral predators and thieves. To correctly evaluate the function of staminodes, multidisciplinary approach using a range of protocols, equipment and materials is suggested. This approach allows us to compare the roles different staminodes play in the reproductive success of both closely and distantly related angiosperms, then uncover their evolutionary significance in angiosperm diversification.
DNA barcoding is a new technology which can identify species rapidly based on short and standardized DNA sequences. Ligularia, a genus of Asteraceae with about 140 species, exhibits high morphological and ecological diversity, which makes the classification and species delimitation difficult, especially in the cases of closely related taxa. In this study, we tested four DNA core barcoding regions (ITS, matK, psbAtrnH and rbcL) in 144 samples representing 35 species of Ligularia. The results revealed that the chloroplast regions (matK, psbAtrnH and rbcL) have extremely low species identification rate due to low interspecific variation. Conversely, ITS sequence showed higher species identification rate (60%) and could discriminate the species which are difficult to identify. The combination of these four gene fragments did not improve the ability of species discrimination.
Gelidocalamus stellatus Wen complex includes Gelidocalamus stellatus, Gauritus, Gmonophyllus, Gmultifolius and Gwugongshanensis, indicating the existence of some taxonomic disputes within this taxon. Based on 13 main phenotypic traits, in this paper, 13 populations of the complex are investigated and the results show that 1) All 13 characters have some changes between and within populations, of which the maximum is the height under branch with 276%, while the minimum is the ratio of length and width with 64%; 2) In the JingGang Mountain population (JGM), seven characters, such as the diameter at breast height, the node number, the height under branch, the leaf length, the leaf width, the ratio of leaf length and width, and numbers of each branch, are relatively stable among 4 different populations, and populations of Gstellatus Wen complex can be distinguished effectively by that seven characters, so it maybe have some worth for the clarification of the complex; 3) Besides that JiuYi Mountain population (JYM) and XiaoLongGui population (XLG) share the same or similar traits with that of JGM, there have many remarkable differences between other populations, such the leaf in LianPing Country population (LPC) and HuangHe Village population (HHV), the culm in WuGong Mountain population (WGM) and the numbers of each branch in GanZi Depression population (GZD) and RongJia Cavity population (RJC). With the observation of the culmsheath and the abaxial epidermis of leaves, the taxonomic position of some populations is discussed. Our results still indicate that Gmultifolius (HuangHe Village population) and Gauritus may be null and void. Furthermore, we proposal Gwugongshanensis (WuGong Mountain population) and Gmonophyllus (JiuYi Mountain population) should be as a taxon under Gstellatus.
A total of 393 species (subtype included) in 267 genera, 97 families were reported in Nanji Island, the main island of Nanji Islands National Nature Reserve. After eliminating all the cultivated and invasive species, there were still 304 species in 210 genera and 81 families belonging to wild vascular plants; To better understand the floristic characteristics of Nanji, we applied analysis in 3 levels: At familylevel, the largest families in pteridophyte were ranked as Pteridaceae、Thelypteridaceae、Lygodiaceae、Dryopteridaceae; In seed plants, almost the largest ones were Cosmopolitan, while the small ones dominented the most, quantitatively and proportionately; The characteristic families of seed flora were consisted of Liliaceae、Amaryllidaceae、Urticaceae、Verbenaceae, cause they got high ratio of VFICS/WFIW; At genuslevel, the Pantropical Distribution (3810%)、the North Temperate Distribution (1630%) and the East Asia distribution (1131%) formed the main part of seed flora; The proportion of the category of temperate distribution and tropical distribution was 6072% and 3928% respectively; Took 6 other sites as reference, through cluster analysis and R/T ratio comparisons, It was proved that Nanji Island were most similar to that of Wuyanling of Zhejiang Provience but showed more tropical affinities; At specieslevel, wild seed plants can also be divided into 9 areal subtypes, The Yangtze River & Southern Proviences subtype dominented at 5390%, following by South China subtype at 2078%. The results showed that Nanji Island had a distinctive transitional characteristics of flora from north to south China with more tropical biological properties, thus the floristic division of Nanji should on the southern margin area of east China.
The cytological studies were performed in 11 populations of Dicranostigma lactucoides, Dleptopodum, and Derectum and one population for Galucium fimbrilligerum. All three species of Dicranostigma possessed chromosome number 2n=2x=12, of which chromosome numbers for Derectum and Dlactucoides are reported here for the first time. Glaucium fimbrilligerum presented the number 2n=2x=10, which is not only new to the genus but also the known lowest number for Glaucium.
Raphiocarpus jinpingensis WH. Chen & YM. Shui, a new species of Gesneriaceae, is described and illustrated, from the Xilong Mountain of Jinping County in Yunnan, China, bordering to North Vietnam. The new species is similar as Rpetelotii (Pellegr.) Burtt in shapes of corolla and yellowish flowers, and differs from Rpetelotii mainly in its plants with dense pubescence and calyx tubes subequal to calyx lobes.Its pollen grains and seeds are reported here under Scanning Electonic Microscope (SEM).
A new species of Gesneriaceae from Honghe County, Southeastern Yunnan, China, Tremacron hongheense WH. Chen & YM. Shui, is described and illustrated. The new species is similar to Tremacron forrestii Craib, but differs by its leaf blade adaxially sparsely long setose (vs. densely white appressed pubescent and sparsely rustybrown villous), corolla tube outside short white glandular (vs. nearly glabrous), corolla lobes red and thickening at apex, especially adaxial lip (vs. yellow and not thickening), stamens 16-18cm long (vs. 04-12cm long), staminode 05-14cm long (vs. 02-04cm long).
Polystichum mulunense XL. Shen & RH. Jiang, a new species from karst caves in Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. This new species is morphologically similar to Polystichum guangxiense and Pfengshanense, but can be easily distinguished from the latter by rhizome scales lanceolate, margins sparsely serrulate and pinnules coriaceous, attached at ca. 60-75 degree angles to rachis and rhomboidal to trapeziform.
A new species, Porella recurveloba Y. Jia & Qiang He, and a new variety, Porella campylophylla (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Trev. var. integra Y. Jia & Qiang He, are described and illustrated. Both taxa are from China, found in Gansu and Yunnan Provinces respectively.
All species of Elaphocordyceps parasitize the fungal genus Elaphomyces, except for three species growing on scarabid beetle larvae or cicada nymphs. During our study on the diversity of culturable endolichenic fungi, some Elaphocordyceps species are found widely harboring in lichen thalli. A total of 64 fungal strains belonging to Elaphocordyceps were isolated from 42 lichen samples respectively collected from 5 provinces of China and the Antarctic. Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS nrDNA shows that these endolichenic fungi are possibly heterospecific. The endophytic fungi of plant often provide benefits to their hosts. However, the endolichenic fungi may be parasites or nutrient competitors of the mycobiont, because they have to obtain nutrient components from mycobionts or photobionts. Our study partly proves this hypothesis, since most known species of Elaphocordyceps are parasites of fungi.
Lianas usually possess large vessels, which are vulnerable to cavitation. Root pressure may play an important role in embolism repair of vessels. However, little is known about the generality of root pressure in tropical lianas. To characterize root pressure of lianas in tropical rainforests, we used pressure transducers to measure root pressure in the rainy and dry seasons for a total of 32 lianas from 14 families common in Xishuangbanna. We further analyzed the associations of maximum root pressure with phylogeny and of transient root pressure with environmental factors. We found that all lianas we selected had root pressure, with maximum root pressure ranging from 2-138kPa. In the dry season, about 72% (23 species) of the lianas had relatively low root pressure (<15kPa) and maintained positive throughout the day. This may be important for water balance for roots and basal stems of lianas. There were three types of diurnal changes in liana root pressure. In Type I, root pressure had obvious diurnal variation in the dry and rainy seasons. In Type II, root pressure did not show obvious diurnal variation in the dry and rainy seasons. In Type III, either in the dry or in the rainy season, root pressure showed obvious diurnal variation. Root pressure varied substantially among lianas, with lianas from two families, Fabaceae and Vitaceae, usually having relatively higher root pressure, suggesting that phylogeny may influence root pressure. Transient root pressure closely responded to photosynthetically active radiation. In most cases, however, it was not related to rainfall and vapour pressure deficit. These results suggest that the associations of liana root pressure with environments need further investigation.
Arabidopsis WRKY8 transcription factor physically interacts with VQ9 protein, a member of VQ protein family, to modulate salinity stress tolerance. In this study, we further revealed that a large number of VQ proteins interact with WRKY8 in the yeast twohybrid system. WRKY8 strongly interacts with VQ5, VQ10, VQ11, VQ16, VQ20, VQ23, VQ29 and VQ32 and slightly interacts with VQ9, VQ12, VQ13, VQ14, VQ17, VQ21, VQ25 and VQ31 in yeast. Expression analysis showed that WRKY8associated genes VQ10, VQ11 and VQ23 are responsive to abscisic acid (ABA), suggesting that they may mediate ABA response in Arabidopsis. Further analysis indicated that the expression of VQ10, VQ11 and VQ23 genes are induced by salt stress, osmotic stress, cold and/or heat stresses. Subcellular localization analysis showed that VQ10 is a nuclear protein and VQ11 localizes in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. These results suggest that these WRKY8associated proteins VQ10, VQ11 and VQ23 may modulate multiple abiotic stress responses in Arabidopsis.
Shoot tips of Amembranaceus excised from in vitrogrown axillary bud were encapsulated in calciumalginate beads. Subsequently, shoot tips were precultured in liquid MS medium enriched with 075mol·L-1 sucrose for 5d at 25℃ and then desiccated aseptically on dried silica gel for 5h to a water content of 231% (fresh weight basis) prior to immersion in liquid nitrogen (LN) for 1d. After rewarming at a 40℃ water bath for 2-3min and transferred to solid culture medium for shoot tip recovery. About 50% of cryopreserved shoottips grew into shoots within 2 weeks after plating. Cryopreservation of Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge. shoot tips by encapsulationvitrification has also been developed. Excised shoot tips were firstly encapsulated into alginategel beads and then precultured in liquid MS medium containing 1mg·L-1 6BA, 005mg·L-1 NAA and 075mol·L-1 sucrose at 25℃ for 3d. After loading for 90min with a mixture of 2mol·L-1 glycerol and 04mol·L-1 sucrose at 25℃, shoot tips were dehydrated with PVS2 for 120min at 0℃ prior to direct immersion in liquid nitrogen for 1d. After rapidly thawing at a 37℃ water bath for 2-3min, shoot tips were washed for 10min with liquid MS medium supplemented with 1mg·L-1 6BA, 005mg·L-1 NAA and 12mol·L-1 sucrose at 25℃ and then postcultured on solid MS medium supplemented with 2mg·L-1 6BA, 005mg·L-1 NAA. The regeneration rate of shoot tips amounted to nearly 80%. Both of plantlets regenerated from cryopreserved shoot tips were morphologically uniform, which both showed as that of control plants. Thus, this encapsulationdehydration and encapsulationvitrification technique appears promising as a routine method for the cryopreservation of shoottips of Amembranaceus.
The principal antioxidant enzymes and metabolites were reported to play a very important role in eliminating reactive oxygen species and maintaining vigour in dormancy breaking and germination of Davidia involucrate seeds. However, the researches on the change laws of content and activity are seldom. In present study, we chose Davidia involucrate seeds which collected from the Mabian Nature Reserve as experimental materials, and then investigated the activity of principal antioxidant enzymes and the content of metabolites in dormancy breaking and germination of the seeds. The results showed that the activity of peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione reductase (GR) exhibited an increasing trend but the activity of total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) decreased greatly in early stage of stratification. Comparing with the decrease of protein (Pr), the content of ascorbic acid (Vc) and free amino acid (FAA) significantly increased. In middle stage of stratification, the activity of SOD and TAOC increased firstly and then decreased at last. The activity of POD always maintained a higher level although the activity of CAT and GR decreased greatly. In terminal stage of stratification, the activities of POD, GR, TAOC and the content of FAA and Vc exhibited an increasing trend, while the activity of CAT and SOD maintained a low level. In germination stage, the activity of all antioxidant enzymes and the content of Vc and FAA were increased obviously (P < 005), but the content of the protein was decreased. These results suggested that Davidia involucrata seeds may have a good ability to efficiently remove the effects on cell structure caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) by keeping the interaction of antioxidant enzymes and metabolites successively during the period of dormancy breaking and germination. This adjustment helps to ensure the germination of seeds by acceleration the postripening in morphological and physiological of progresses.
Combining ability and heritability of bolting character of four nonheading Chinese cabbage inbred lines were analyzed using Griffing diallel cross I. The results showed that the general combining ability of inbred lines M1112 and M1114 were better, with as boltingresistant potential parental material. The broad sense heritability and narrow sense heritability of bolting character were 9742% and 9141% respectively, and mainly affected by additive genes.So,the selection of bolting characters in nonheading Chinese cabbage was effective in early generations.
Autonomous selfpollination is considered to be a reproductive assurance mechanism for plants when facing extreme environments that scarce in pollinators, and it also has disadvantages like inbreeding depression and pollen/ovule discounting. In several genera of Zingiberaceae like Alpinia and Amomum, a specialized mechanism named flexistyly exists, precedent studies consider its significance as preventing unnecessary selfpollination and sexual interference. However according to our field observation, if pollen grains on cataflexistylous (CATA) flowers remain on the anther when the style curves downwardly, potential exists that the stigma contacts the pollen, thus autonomous selfpollination occurs. Here, we studied the breeding system of Alpinia galanga, the results show that (1) Alpinia galanga is selfcompatible in which inbreeding depression occurs to some degree; (2) The anaflexistylous (ANA) morph of Alpinia galanga allocates more resource into outcrossing than the CATA morph; (3) The P/O ratio of the ANA morph is significantly lower than that of the CATA morph, as Alpinia galanga has constant six ovules in each ovary, the significant difference in P/O value reflects the contrast in pollen production. This phenomenon may be interpreted as the ANA morph provides pollen exclusively for the CATA morph. But the CATA morph, despite delivers pollen to the ANA morph, also need its own pollen for potential autonomous selfpollination. In summary, autonomous selfpollination exists in Alpinia galanga, and while flexistyly functions to avoid unnecessary selfpollination and sexual interference, it also provides advantages for delayed autonomous selfpollination as a necessary reproductive assurance and preventing conflict among these three major features by controlling the time of autonomous selfpollination. This peculiar mechanism in Alpinia galanga thoroughly demonstrates its adaptation to unfavorable surrounding during the evolutionary process.
A simple procedure for cryopreservation of in vitrogrown shoot tips of red bud taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott var. cormosus‘Hongyayu’) by encapsulationvitrification is investigated. Shoot tips were excised from 8weekold stock shoots and encapsulated into alginategel beads. Encapsulated shoot tips were precultured in liquid MS medium supplemented with 35mg·L-1 6BA, 05mg·L-1 IBA, 01mg·L-1 GA3 and 03mol·L-1 sucrose for 24h, then they were loaded with a mixture of 2mol·L-1 glycerol plus 04mol·L-1 sucrose for 30min at 25℃. After dehydration with PVS2 at 25℃ for 20min, the encapsulated and dehydrated shoot tips were plunged directly into liquid nitrogen. After rapidly rewarming in a 40℃ water bath for 3min, PVS2 was drained from the cryotubes and replaced third with liquid MS medium supplemented with 35mg·L-1 6BA, 05mg·L-1 IBA, 01mg·L-1 GA3 and 12mol·L-1 sucrose and each kept for 10min at 25℃and then postcultured on solidified MS medium supplemented with 35mg·L-1 6BA, 05mg·L-1 IBA and 01mg·L-1 GA3 in the dark for 3 days and then transferred to the light conditions. The average survival rate amounted to about 80%. Plantlets regenerated from cryopreserved shoot tips were morphologically uniform. This encapsulation vitrification procedure promises to become a routine method for the cryopreservation of shoot tips of Chinese genuine red bud taro.
Seed banking following internationally agreed standards is an important way for preserving collections of wild plant species ex situ; but this method is not suitable for desiccation sensitive species. Lauraceae comprehends some of the dominant species in the evergreen broadleaved forest in the south of China and contains many species both of ecological and economical importance. However, study on seed biology such as germination and desiccation tolerance of this family is scarce. Seeds of 9 species from 5 genera of this family were collected and their dormancy status and germination requirement were studied; also their desiccation tolerance were determined using a modified 100seed test. The results showed that seeds of Cinnamomum camphora probably have intermediate physiological dormancy; seeds of Actinodaphne forrestii, Actinodaphne obovata, Cinnamomum migao, Lindera metcalfiana var. dictyophylla, Lindera communis and Neolitsea polycarpa are nondeep physiological dormant; Seeds of Cinnamomum burmannii and Phoebe glaucophylla may have no or negligible dormancy. All 9 species lost seed viability after desiccated to 286%-716% moisture content while still retained considerable viability with moisture content ranged from 1732% to 4487% after moist storage; thus seeds of the 9 species are all desiccation sensitive and can not be stored at the conventional seed bank conditions.
The plants are great resources for digging leading compounds, and many current antidiabetic drugs are derived from plants. The key to discover compounds with antidiabetic activities from plants relies on the application of antidiabetic drug screening models. In order to establish a more stable and reliable antidiabetic drug screening model, we optimized the screening model based on the glucose uptake of adipocytes. In the previous models, insulin was used as the only positive control, while in our model both insulin and rosiglitazone were used as positive controls, which made the model more stable and reliable. Furthermore, we expanded the application of the model to screen the insulin signaling pathway inhibitors, and Akt1/2 inhibitor which was an inhibitor of insulin signaling pathway was used as positive control. In the end, we screened 16 compounds isolated from plants using this model and identified three active compounds with glucose uptake stimulating activities. We also performed the doseresponse experiments of compound X15 and X16. Both showed significant doseresponses. These activities were first reported at the cell level, providing fundamental data for their mechanisms study of the activities and for the potential development of the drugs in future.
Based on the 15 plots of Pinus tabuliformis and Quercus aliena var. accuteserrata mixed forest in Qinling Mountains, we analyzed this community’s characteristics from the aspects of species composition, niche width and diameter class, also, we used the Canonical Correspondence Analysis to explore the effects of environment on plants’ distributions and conductive species’ morphological characteristics, the main results were as follows: (1) Fifteen plots record 139 vascular plants, belonging to 53 families 102 genera, the families which possessing higher richness were Rosaceae, Asteraceae, Liliaceae and Poaceae; (2) The niche widths of Ptabuliformis (Bi=2674) and Q var. accuteserrata (Bi=2679) were all higher than other accompanying plants, and there was little niche overlap value (< 01) between them; (3) Organic matter, total nitrogen, elevation and slope mainly effected plant’s distributions; (4) Four morphological characteristics of constructive species in CCA diagram presented a opposite distribution patterns, while elevation, slope position and available nitrogen were the main induced factors; (5) Community stability of this pineoak mixed forest was relatively higher based on Godron index, and two conductive species’ diameter class were all growing type. In conclusion, high habitat heterogeneity of terrain and soil nutrient brought niche differentiation and promoted species coexistence of pineoak mixed forest in Qinling Mountains.
Camellia rhytidophylla is endemic and endangered and with important economic species, from the ⅢD10d in eastern Asia, which distributed at 573-920m in evergreen broadleaved deciduous mixed forest in Luowang river valley of Kaiyang county. So, it is significant to study the population characteristics, conservation and utilization. We took general survey in suspected distribution area about 6 square kilometers, set up plots in dense area, and analyzed the population structure, development and spatial distribution pattern. The results showed that the structure of Crhytidophylla populations were increasing and the proportion of young tree in population was 4638%. The size of population density was young shrubs＞middleaged shrubs＞adult shrubs. The survival curve of population was DeeveyⅢ model. There were 2 peaks in the Ⅰand Ⅳ ageclasses on the mortality rate curve and disappearance rate curve respectively, then there are 2 troughs in the Ⅲ and Ⅵ age classed at the same time. The spatial distribution pattern of Crhytidophylla significantly differentiated at different stages of development, the young individuals were aggregated at all spatial scales while the middleaged individuals were aggregated at small spatial scales and randomly distributed at larger scales. Differences in the distribution of adult individuals could be attributed to artificial disturbance and habitat heterogeneity. The spatial pattern was not close in different stages of development, which all showed negative or no correlation. The spatial distribution pattern of Crhytidophylla was the interaction of the factors, such as its biological characteristics,habitat heterogeneity, and artificial disturbance, etc.. The key factor limiting population development was low natural reproduction rate; the primary factors causing its endemic distribution mainly included habitat heterogeneity, topographical constraints on seed dispersal and artificial disturbance.
Quercus wutaishanica is warm temperate deciduous broadleaved forest region one of the typical vegetation types. Qwutaishanica vegetation types as a representative of Shanxi, is the main part of shanxi forest. Past research focuses on the subject of Qwutaishanica results, the study of the herb layer seldom reported. The understory layer dominant species of Qwutaishanica community on Qiliyu of Taiyue Moutains, whose abundances clearly vary along environmental(altitudinal) gradients.Herbaceous plants highly responsive to changes in environmental conditions that reflect the dynamic relations between vegetation and environment. In this paper, using the method of sample, investigated the community of Qwutaishanica on Qiliyu of Taiyue Moutains, Shanxi. We used the results of this investigation to calculate species importance values and frequency, which were used to identify 27 dominant species in herbages. χ2 tests, together with association coefficient and percentage cooccurrence, were used to measure interspecific associations of the dominant species of herbaceous. Plant functional types (PFTS) were defined according to interspecific associations and cluster analysis of the dominant species. In studies of forest understory plant assemblages, designating PFTs according to dominant herbaceous species is feasible. Dominant herbaceous species formed seven PFTs: each with its unique spatial distribution and morphological characteristics, are identifiedⅠ.amphigenous Ⅱ.pelouseedge Ⅲ.wetsparse Ⅳ.gapdrought resistant Ⅴ.hilledge Ⅵ.alpine Ⅶ.dank. Plant functional types(PFTs) of herbaceous plants varies with altitude gradients, which reflect the relationship between Qwutaishanica and environment well.
Xishuangbanna lies in the south of Yunnan. The composition and distributive regulation of lycophytes and ferns in Xishuangbanna are studied in this paper. As a result, 363 species of wild lycophytes and ferns which belong to 76 genera and 31 families are found in this area. The six speciesrich families are Polypodiaceae, Athyriaceae, Thelypteridaceae, Aspleniaceae, Pteridaceae and Selaginellaceae. The geographical distribution of the species shows that this flora mainly consists of Tropical Asia elements. Terrestrial species are the richest of this flora, followed by epiphytic and lithophytic species. The lycophytes and ferns resources of Xishuangbanna are abundant. However, the exploitation and utilization of this group of plants are ignored. This study investigated lycophytes and ferns resources of Xishuangbanna. Medicinal, edible and ornamental ferns in Xishuangbanna have been clearly researched and their utilization and protection have been discussed.
Truffles are edible hypogeous ectomycorrhizal fungi which have great economic importance for their organoleptic properties and have significant ecological interests for forestry. Although some new precious Chinese white truffle have been described constantly, the molecular mechanisms that control truffle body formation are largely unknown. It has been hypothesized that ectomycorrhizosphere soil communities may have influences on truffle production. Thus, isolation and molecular characterisation of culturable bacteria were carried out to investigate the bacteria diversity in mycorrhizosphere soil of Tuber panzhihuanensePinus armandii in this work. Sequencing results showed a significant presence mostly affiliated with Burkholderia was βProteobacteria (3098%). The second culturable fraction which dominated by Pseudomonas was γProteobacteria (288%) other isolates were mostly Phyllobacterium and Rhizobium, members of αProteobacteria (1467%), actinobacteria (125%) and Firmicutes (76%) represented by Arthrobacter and Bacillus, respectively. Chryseobacterium ureilyticum was the only bacterial strain belonging to Bacteroidetes. Similarities and differences of culturable bacterial community of ascocarps and ectomycorrhizosphere soil associated with Tuber were discussed.
Genetic diversity of 434 rice accessions collected from 16 countries, including 345 fragrance rice varieties and 89 nonfragrance rice varieties, have been analyzed. A total of 573 alleles were detected by using 77 simple sequence repeats (SSR) primer pairs covering all rice 12 chromosomes. The value of allelic polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0090 to 0845, with an average of 0516 per locus; Gene diversity (GD) varied from 0091 to 0859, with an average of 0573; The mean value of major allele frequencies (MAF) was 0540, covering from 0251 to 0953. In addition, 434 rice accessions are divided into three subpopulations by cluster and population structure analysis, and FST between subpopulations showed a mean of -0116, ranging from -0623 to 0494; The score of genetic distance calculated by Nei′s method appeared from 0207 to 0355. Major allele frequencies within each subpopulation distributed from 0408 to 0746, and gene diversity level from 0354 to 0699, while PIC from 0320 to 0658. Sequencing 6 mitochondrion genes in 18 rice varieties exhibited no different in 5 genes, whereas Mit4 contains a 3 SNPs in the gene body, which acts as an important marker to understanding the relationship between Indica/Japonica differentiation and the evolution of fragrant gene. Finally, genetic diversity and mitochondrion gene sequencing would help to know about the origin of fragrant resource and benefit rice breeding.
Wild plant resources and related indigenous knowledge often play important role in facilitating human societies to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters and climate variability. We present a case study of using a traditional herb, Anisodus tanguticus, in a novel way by local pastoralists on the eastern Tibetan Plateau in coping with extreme winter events. Interviews of 13 key informants were carried out in seven villages, and indepth household surveys were conducted in two villages covering all the pastoraldependent households. Participatory observation has also been employed. We found that local herders applying dried above ground part of Atanguticus as a supplementary feed to livestock in winter, with the purpose of helping animals to overcome cold events and snow disasters. According to local communities, time of harvesting and type of animal to be fed are key factors of using this toxic plant. Local communities have accumulated a rich repository of knowledge about Atanguticus, including its habitat, life history, uses, and health enhancing effects. They developed an informal tenure system and benign management practices on this plant. This paper demonstrates that indigenous knowledge evolved from longterm humannature interaction is important in preventing climate induced damages and lowering the risk aroused from climate uncertainties.
An ethnobotanical survey on the medicinal plant species marketed in Quanzhou, southern Fujian, was conducted in order to document traditional medicinal knowledge and application of medicinal plants in dietary. In addition to literature review, data was obtained using ethnobotanical tools and methods, including personal interviews during field trips, collecting herbarium specimens, and species identification by crossreferencing. The results showed that: 1) There are 148 wild medicinal species, belonging to 56 plant families and 117 genera present in Quanzhou, southern Fujian. Among them, 46 species are edible wild herbs, 37 species are medicinal plants, 38 species are used as tea substituting plants or herbal tea，22 species are wild fruits, 4 species are used as spices and 1 species is used to make bean jelly; 2) The plant families which comprise a major part of the pool are Compositae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae, Leguminosae, Rubiaceae, Liliaceae, Orchidaceae and Moraceae; 3) This study explored the utilization of the medicinal plants in Quanzhou area, and proposed methods to inherit the culture of using wild plants in dietary, as well as methods to conserve the edible medicinal wild plant resources.
