Cyananthus (Campanulaceae) is a small genus consistingof ca. 20 species endemic to the Sino-Himalayan region, and it was proposed as one of the most primitive genera of Campanulaceae. Three sections within Cyananthus based on habit, corolla lobes, and types of trichomes on the calyx are recognized: sect. Cyananthus, sect. Stenolobi Franch. and sect. Annui (Lian) Hong et Ma. SUN Hang’s group, f...
The uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), caused by the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate, was one of the most important geological events during the Cenozoic. This event deeply affected the climate and environment of the QTP and its adjacent regions, which had a profound impact on the evolutionary dynamics of many organisms in this area. Climatic oscillations during ...
BEP clade of the grass family (Poaceae) is composed of three subfamilies, i.e. Bambusoideae, Ehrhartoideae, and Pooideae. Controversies on the phylogenetic relationships among three subfamilies still persist in spite of great efforts. However, previous evidence was mainly provided from plastid genes with only a few nuclear genes utilized. Given different evolutionary histories recorded by plast...
Pantropical disjunctions usually involve tropical regions of the Americas, Africa, south-eastern Asia and Australia. Studies of the origin and diversification of tropical intercontinental disjunctions in plants may provide important insights into the evolutionary assembly of tropical forests. However, most studies have focused on the family level, and only a few groups have been examined a...
Many temperate angiosperm genera exhibit disjunct distribution patterns among Asia, North America and Europe, with the most common studied disjunction pattern being eastern Asia–eastern North America. Within Asia, many plant species researched show a disjunct distribution between China and Japan. To date, there have been a few phylogeographical studies of the origins of disjunct distribution...
Tribe Gomphostemmateae Scheen & Lindqvist (Lamiaceae: Lamioideae) includes three genera—Bostrychanthera Benth., Gomphostemma Wall. ex Benth. and Chelonopsis Miq., which together comprise about 46 species. Chelonopsis is an East Asian genus and subdivided into two subgenera: subg. Chelonopsis is a Sino-Japanese group while subg. Aequidens is a Sino-Himalaya group. As currently circumscribe...
Carotenoids are important pigments that are involved in photosynthesis as well as the sole source of pre-vitamin A. Dietary carotenoids have been shown to be beneficial to health by decreasing the risk of many diseases. Astaxanthin (3,3'-dihydroxy-β-carotene-4,4'-dione) is a unique red carotenoid responsible for the pigmentation of many marine animals which acquire the red pigment from their d...
Acerola cherry is the fruit of Malpighia emarginata (Malpighiaceae). Early in 1946, it was reported to contain abundant vitamin C with content as much as 4000 mg/100 g and given the name of ‘the king of natural vitamin C’.
Consigned by Amway (China), QIU Minghua group , Kunming institute of botany, conducted in-depth study on the chemical constituents of acerola cherry tree and found...
With the sequencing of genomes from many organisms now complete and the development of high-throughput sequencing, life science research has entered the functional post-genome era. Therefore, deciphering the function of genes and how they interact is in greater demand. To study an unknown gene, the basic methods are either overexpression or gene knockout by creating transgenic plants, and gene ...
