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 ...
Ethnic minorities living in Yunnan of China have accumulated a wealth of traditional botanical knowledge (TBK). Recently, a field survey in south and southeast of Yunnan was conducted by the LONG Chunlin group from Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The group found that the local people such as De’ang and Ji’nuo had traditional ways of using Piper (Piperaceae) plan...
A rare tree in Southwest China's Yunnan province has bloomed for the first time since it was transferred to a botanical garden 30 years ago.
The tree, a 13-meter-high Chinese manglietiastrum, was transplanted for conservation in 1983 from Xichou county to Kunming Botanical Garden in Kunming, Yunnan's capital.
Experts say the blossom shows that the experiment has succeeded, and the metho...
Cremastra malipoensis G. W. Hu, a new rare species in Orchidaceae, was recently discovered by Dr. HU Guangwan from Kunming Institute of Botany. It occurs in southeastern Yunnan, China, near the border of Vietnam. It is most similar to C. appendiculata, but its inflorescences have fewer flowers, only 4-7; its flowers are positioned horizontally and become slightly pendulous; lateral lobes of lip...
Since Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was chosen as a model organism to study genetics, the worms have been widely used in many research areas, either as research or drug screening model, such as in development, lipid metabolism and obesity, aging, neurodegenerative disease, antimicrobials, virulence and parasites, biomedical and environmental toxicology, and cancer. Treating worms with too...
Since the discovery of aspirin as one of nonsterodial anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) more than a century ago, aspirin has become the most widely administered medicine in the treatment of conditions such as pain, fever, and inflammation. In addition to its anti-inflammatory effects, it was reported that long-term use of aspirin could improve many aspects of health status, but the molecular mec...
Vibralactone (1), a rare fused bicyclic β-lactone from the basidiomycete fungus Boreostereum vibrans (syn. Stereum vibrans), was found to inhibit pancreatic lipases highly relevant to fat absorption. While vibralactone seems structurally simple for its small size, contradicting biosynthetic origins, including sesquiterpenoid and polyketide, of this bicyclic β-lactone have been proposed. Furth...
