[Development and application of SSR markers of Saposhnikovia divaricata based on transcriptome].

Transcriptome sequencing was employed to mine the simple sequence repeat(SSR) locus information of Saposhnikovia divaricata and design specific primers, which aimed to provide a basis for the research on the genetic diversity of S. divaricata germplasm resources. The seed purity, 1 000-seed weight, germination rate, and seed vigor were determined. MISA was used to obtain the SSR locus information from 12 606 unigene longer than 1 kb in the transcriptome database. Forty-three pairs of SSR primers designed in Primer 3 were used to analyze the polymorphism of 28 S. divaricata samples of different sources. The results showed that there were differences in the seed purity, 1 000-seed weight, germination rate, vigor, and seed length and width among S. divaricata samples of different sources. Particularly, the germination rate and seed vigor had significant differences, and HB-ZJK1, NMG-CF4, NMG-BT, NMG-HLE1, and NMG-CF2 had significantly higher 1 000-seed weight, germination rate, and seed vigor than the samples of other sources. Among the 86 233 unigene, 12 606(14.62%) unigene contained 15 958 SSR loci, with one SSR locus every 5 009 bp on average. The SSR loci were mainly single nucleotide and dinucleotide repeats, which were dominated by G/C and TC/AG, respectively. All the primers were screened by using 28 S. divaricata sample from different habitats, and the primers corresponding to the amplification products with clear bands and stable polymorphism were obtained. The clustering results of the biological characteristics and genetic diversity of the 28 S. divaricata samples were basically consistent, and the samples of the same origin(HB-AG1, HB-AG2, HB-ZJK1, and HB-ZJK2) generally gathered together and had close genetic relationship. The SSRs in S. divaricata transcriptome has high frequency, rich types, and high polymorphism, which provides candidate molecular markers for the germplasm identification, genetic map construction, and molecular-assisted breeding.

Research on the improvement effect of Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk on rheumatoid arthritis based on the "component-target-pathway" association.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the therapeutic effect and mechanism of the traditional Chinese medicine Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk in rats with complete Freund's adjuvant-induced rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: The chemical targets and RA targets of Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk were acquired by the network pharmacological method. The complete Freund's adjuvant-induced rat RA model was used to further explore the mechanism of Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk in improving RA. Pathological changes in the volume of toes, body weight and synovial tissues of joints as well as serum inflammatory factor levels before and after the intervention of Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk were investigated. The key metabolic pathways were screened by correlations between metabolites and key targets. Finally, a quantitative analysis of key targets and metabolites was experimentally validated. RESULTS: Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk administration increased body weight, mitigated foot swelling and downregulated inflammatory cytokine levels in model rats. The histopathology showed that treatment with Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk can induce inflammatory cell infiltration and synovial hyperplasia and obviously reduce cartilage injuries, thus improving arthritis symptoms in rats. According to the network pharmacology-metabonomics association analysis results, the purine metabolic signaling pathway might be the key pathway for RA intervention with Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk. Targeted metabonomics, Western blotting (WB) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT‒PCR) assays showed that the recombinant adenosine deaminase (ADA) mRNA expression level and metabolic level of inosine in Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk administration group were lower than those of the model group. This reflected that Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk could improve RA by downregulating ADA mRNA expression levels and the metabolic level of inosine in the purine signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: Based on the "component-disease-target" association analysis, this study concludes that Saposhnikovia divaricata (Trucz.) Schischk improves complete Freund's adjuvant-induced RA symptoms in rats mainly by downregulating ADA mRNA expression levels in the purine metabolic signaling pathway, mitigating foot swelling, improving the levels of serum inflammatory factors (IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α), and decreasing the ADA protein expression level to intervene in purine metabolism.

[Determination of 10 mycotoxins in Hippophae Fructus medicinal and edible products by ultra-performance liquid chromatography- tandem mass spectrometry].

An analytical method for 10 mycotoxins in Hippophae Fructus medicinal and edible products was established in this study, and the contamination of their mycotoxins was analyzed. First of all, the mixed reference solution of ten mycotoxins such as aflatoxin, ochratoxin, zearalenone, and dexoynivalenol was selected as the control, and the Hippophae Fructus medicinal and edible products were prepared. Secondly, based on the ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS) technology, 10 mycotoxins in Hippophae Fructus medicinal and edible products were quantitatively investigated and their content was determined. Finally, the contamination of mycotoxins was analyzed and evaluated. The optimal analysis conditions were determined, and the methodological inspection results showed that the 10 mycotoxins established a good linear relationship(r>0.99). The method had good repeatability, test sample specificity, stability, and instrument precision. The average recovery rates of 10 mycotoxins in Hippophae Fructus medicinal products, edible solids, and edible liquids were 90.31%-109.4%, 87.86%-107.8%, and 85.61%-109.1%, respectively. Relative standard deviation(RSD) values were 0.22%-10%, 0.75%-13%, and 0.84%-8.5%, repsectively. Based on UPLC-MS/MS technology, the simultaneous determination method for the limits of 10 mycotoxins established in this study has fast detection speed, less matrix interference, high sensitivity, and accurate results, which is suitable for the limit examination of 10 mycoto-xins in Hippophae Fructus medicinal and edible products.

[Transcriptome profiling of Saposhnikovia divaricata growing for different years and mining of key genes in active ingredient biosynthesis].

Saposhnikovia divaricata is a commonly used bulk medicinal plant. To explore the key enzyme genes and their expression in the biosynthesis of chromone and coumarin, the key active components, we carried out transcriptome sequencing(Illumina HiSeq) and bioinformatics analysis for the 1-year-old(S1) and 2-year-old(S2) plants of S. divaricata. A total of 40.8 Gb data was obtained. After the sequence assembly via Trinity, 110 732 transcripts and 86 233 unigenes were obtained, which were aligned and annotated with NR, Swiss-Prot, GO, KEGG, and PFAM. Daucus carota and S. divaricata had the highest sequence homology. KEGG pathway enrichment showed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in plant hormone signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. A total of 27 differentially expressed unigenes, including 13 enzyme genes, were identified in the pathways related to the synthesis of active ingredients in S. divaricata. Compared with S1 plant, S2 plant showed up-regulated expression of PAL, BGL, C4H, 4CL, CYP98A, CSE, REF, and CCoAOMT and down-regulated expression of CHS, CAD, and COMT. HCT and POD had both up-regulated and down-regulated unigenes. Among them, PAL, C4H, 4CL, BGL, and CHS can be used as candidate genes for the synthesis of the active ingredients in S. divaricata. The four key enzyme genes were verified by RT-qPCR, which showed the results consistent with transcriptome sequencing. This study enriches the genetic information of S. divaricata and provides support for the identification of candidate genes in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites.

Variations of Flavone Glycosides Profile Underscore the Necessity of Quality Control of Prepared Microctis Folium Slices.

Microctis Folium (MF), the dried leaves of Microcos paniculata, is widely used as a medical and food dual-purpose herb in South-east Asia and China. However, the quality control of MF is not well studied. A simple and reliable quality control method was urgently needed for its growing usage. Herein, at first, its main active components were identified by UPLC-ESI-qTOF-MS, and a representative MF flavone glycosides profile consisting of ten compounds was illustrated, which is the most detailed one up to now. Successively, using vitexin as the reference substance, a novel QAMS method with HPLC for quantification of the ten identified flavone glycosides was developed and methodologically validated. Furthermore, making use of the abovementioned QAMS method, quantitative profiling of 21 batches of prepared MF slices collected from different hospital pharmacies were performed. As a result, the total contents of ten flavone glucosides and the content of specific compound showed obvious variations. Using the ten compounds' contents dataset, the 21 batches of samples were divided into two distinct clusters by HCA. In sum, our results indicated that it was of great importance to take quality control of prepared MF slices and we presented a robust and simple method for their quantitative determination, which should be beneficial for the quality control of MF and its derived products.