Root placement patterns in allelopathic plant-plant interactions.

Plants actively respond to their neighbors by altering root placement patterns. Neighbor-modulated root responses involve root detection and interactions mediated by root-secreted functional metabolites. However, chemically mediated root placement patterns and their underlying mechanisms remain elusive. We used an allelopathic wheat model system challenged with 60 target species to identify root placement responses in window rhizobox experiments. We then tested root responses and their biochemical mechanisms in incubation experiments involving the addition of activated carbon and functional metabolites with amyloplast staining and auxin localization in roots. Wheat and each target species demonstrated intrusive, avoidant or unresponsive root placement, resulting in a total of nine combined patterns. Root placement patterns were mediated by wheat allelochemicals and (-)-loliolide signaling of neighbor species. In particular, (-)-loliolide triggered wheat allelochemical production that altered root growth and placement, degraded starch grains in the root cap and induced uneven distribution of auxin in target species roots. Root placement patterns in wheat-neighbor interactions were perception dependent and species dependent. Signaling (-)-loliolide induced the production and release of wheat allelochemicals that modulated root placement patterns. Therefore, root placement patterns are generated by both signaling chemicals and allelochemicals in allelopathic plant-plant interactions.

[Infrared Spectrum Studies of Hydrocarbon Generation and Structure Evolution of Peat Samples During Pyrolysis and Microbial Degradation].

Hydrocarbon generation and structural evolution would be occurred in the process of from coal-forming material (i. e. peat sample) transforming to the coal. While Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) have a special advantages in analyzing molecular structure of samples. For understanding the characteristics of hydrocarbon generation and structural evolution of coal-forming material during the process of pyrolysis and microbial degradation, based on the physical simulation experiments of closed pyrolysis and anaerobic microbial degradation, the generation potential of thermogenic gas and biogenic gas were studied in this paper, and characteristics of molecular structure evolution and its mechanism was analyzed by FTIR technology. Results show that cumulative gas yields of hydrocarbon gases (mainly for methane) increased with experiment temperature. The gas yield of non-hydrocarbon gas (mainly for CO2) exhibited two peaks at 250 and 375 degrees C. The degradation ability of anaerobe on coal samples weakened with the maturity increasing and there was no gas generation on the pyrolysis samples with maturity from 1.6% to 1.8%. After pyrolysis, the content of hydroxyl in peat sample decreased first and then increased with the pyrolysis temperature increasing. The content of aldehyde carbonyl, methylene and phosphate reduced. The content of aromatic esters decreased with nonlinear. The bone of S-O in stretching vibration appeared after 350 degrees C and its content increased with temperature. This shows that the sulfocompound restrains the activity of methanogenic bacteria. After degradation by anaerobe, the relative content of hydroxyl, aldehyde carbonyl, aromatic esters, methylene and phosphate in peat sample dropped significantly. It is shown that the intermolecular force between these groups weakened.

Geographic Authentication of Eucommia ulmoides Leaves Using Multivariate Analysis and Preliminary Study on the Compositional Response to Environment.

To explore the influences of different cultivated areas on the chemical profiles of Eucommia ulmoides leaves (EUL) and rapidly authenticate its geographical origins, 187 samples from 13 provinces in China were systematically investigated using three data fusion strategies (low, mid, and high level) combined with two discrimination model algorithms (partial least squares discrimination analysis; random forest, RF). RF models constructed by high-level data fusion with different modes of different spectral data (Fourier transform near-infrared spectrum and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform mid-infrared spectrum) were most suitable for identifying EULs from different geographical origins. The accuracy rates of calibration and validation set were 92.86% and 93.44%, respectively. In addition, climate parameters were systematically investigated the cluster difference in our study. Some interesting and novel information could be found from the clustering tree diagram of hierarchical cluster analysis. The Xinjiang Autonomous Region (Region 5) located in the high latitude area was the only region in the middle temperate zone of all sample collection areas in which the samples belonged to an individual class no matter their distance in the tree diagram. The samples were from a relatively high elevation in the Shennongjia Forest District in Hubei Province (>1200 m), which is the main difference from the samples from Xiangyang City (78 m). Thus, the sample clusters from region 9 are different from the sample clusters from other regions. The results would provide a reference for further research to those samples from the special cluster.

Ethnobotany, Phytochemistry and Pharmacological Properties of Eucommia ulmoides: A Review.

Eucommia ulmoides Oliver, a single species of Eucommia genus belonging to the Eucommiaceae family, is an endemic in China and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for nearly two thousand years. Records from different historical periods highlight E. ulmoides and its officinal botanical parts, usefulness in adaptation to disease and its central role in Chinese medicine theory. There are also historical collection documents for minorities in China. Tearing the leaves, bark and fruit produces strands of latex; a description of E. ulmoides's morphological features is recorded in this paper. This review summarizes 204 natural compounds isolated from this plant, which are divided into seven categories: lignans, iridoids, flavonoids, phenols, steroids, terpenes and others. These components possess wide-ranging pharmacological efficacies, such as antihypertensive, antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemia, anti-oxidative, anti-osteoporosis, antitumor, immunomodulatory and neuroprotective activities. This review aims to provide a reference for extensive researches of E. ulmoides crude drugs, especially for quality control, biosynthesis and structure modification of active ingredients and pharmacological mechanism.