Voluminous research facts indicate that most secondary metabolites (Natural Products) of plants are of biological significance, the most representative function of which is ecological effect or chemical defense. Since 2002, Hao Xiao-Jiang’s research group of Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences has been cooperating with Fang Rong-Xiang’s research group of Institute of Micr...
Warm winters may shorten the growing season of plants that rely on cold weather cues, a study finds. Though previous research has shown that warming climate has accompanied early spring growth in many plant species, approximately a quarter of plants in temperate regions do not follow this pattern. Professor Jianchu Xu at the Kunming Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences publ...
In August 2010, the research team headed by GAO Li-Zhi in Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences completed the de novo sequencing and assembling of wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) genome and has acquired the frame map covering the whole genome of wild rice. This is the first wild rice genome sequencing project carried out by Chinese scientistsindependently and is also the world’s...
Six new triterpene dilactones with a rare rearranged pentacyclic skeleton, longipedlactones K-P (1-6), and seven known analogues (7-13) were isolated from the stems of Kadsura ananosma. Compound I was found to possess a unique peroxide bridge between C-1 and C-9 in rings A and B. The structures of these new compounds were established on the basis of spectroscopic data analysis, especially o...
Nineteen monoterpenoid indole alkaloids including seven new ones, melodinines A-G (1-7), were isolated from Melodinus henryi. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic methods, and the Structure of compound 4 was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The known compounds were identified by comparing their spectroscopic data with those reported...
Asarum caudigerum (Aristolochiaceae) is a paleoherb species that is important for research in origin and evolution of angiosperm flowers due to its basal position in the angiosperm phylogeny. In this study, a subtracted floral cDNA library from floral buds of A. caudigerum was constructed and cDNA arrays by suppression subtractive hybridization were generated. cDNAs of floral buds at differ...
Three new metabolites, vibralactones D-F (1-3) were isolated from cultures of the basidiomycete Boreostereum vibrans. The relative configuration of I was established on the basis of X-ray diffraction analysis, while the absolute configurations of 1-3 were assigned using a modified Mosher's method. Compound I showed weak inhibitory activities against isozymes of 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydr...
Rhododendron (Ericaceae) is a large woody genus in which hybridization is thought to play an important role in evolution and speciation, particularly in the Sino-Himalaya region where many interfertile species often occur sympatrically. Rhododendron agastum, a putative hybrid species, occurs in China, western Yunnan Province, in mixed populations with R. irroratum and R. delavayi.
Mater...
A yellow and new dark red pigments were isolated from Lethariella sernanderi, L. cashmeriana, and L. sinensis as antioxidant components. The yellow pigment was identified as canarione (1), and the others were determined to be 1,2-quinone derivatives, rubrocashmeriquinone (2) and 7-chlororubrocashmeriquinone (3), and 7-chlorocanarione (4) by analysis of their spectroscopic data.
