Expression of ATP synthase CF1 alpha subunit gene (CTL-spn) as screened by the cDNA-SRAP approach is correlated with spininess in Carthamus tinctorius L / 药学学报

The safflower floret is a traditional Chinese medicine used to promote blood circulation and remove obstruction in the channels. The spines on its bracts are considered a handicap when manual harvest is involved. In this study, cDNA-SRAP was used to systematically investigate which genes are associated with the spines. Sixty pairs of possible primer combinations were used on two cDNA pools representing spininess and spinelessness. Six transcript-derived fragments were identified, of which two with low recombination were sequenced successfully and named as GPY-1 and GPY-2. By using the RACE method, the full-length cDNA of GPY-2 is cloned and named as CTL-spn. The full-length cDNA of CTL-spn was 1 679 bp long with a 1 524 bp ORF encoding a 508 aminoacid protein. The deduced amino acid sequence of the CTL-spn gene shared a high homology (97%) with other known ATP synthase CF1 alpha subunits. Semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that the mRNA of GPY-1 and GPY-2 accumulated in only spiny lines. Considering the important role of ATP synthase CF1 alpha subunit in plants, it may directly take part in the formation process of spininess and enhancing resistance reaction of spiny safflower. Also, our results provide the important insights for breeding spineless cultivars of safflower.

HPLC fingerprints in seed of Celosia argentea / 中国中药杂志

For preferable authentication and regulation of material quality of Celosia argentea, HPLC fingerprints of different habitats were studied. Analysis was carried out on a Hypersil ODS2 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) with acetonitrile-0.1% glacial acetic acid as the mobile phase, and eluates were detected by an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). The similarity evaluation system for chromatographic fingerprint of traditional Chinese medicine ( Version 2004 A) was applied to analyses the similarity of the fingerprint of diverse habitats. The similarity results were verified by SPSS. The chromatographic profiles of the samples from different regions were very similar. HPLC fingerprints of Semen C. argentea 12 common peaks and each peak in the fingerprint was well separated under the chromatographic condition above. The different habitats of C. argentea can be grouped to two types: the middle region and the south region. The chemical constituents of C. argentea vary with different habitats so selection of material habitat is very important for quality control of C. argentea. The fingerprint with high individuality and specificity could be applied in the identification and quality control of the material of C. argentea.

Determination of safflor yellow A by RP-HPLC and resources quality comparison in Carthamus tinctorius / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To provide the basis for establishing evaluation criterion, selecting good strains and carring out good agricultural practice of the crude drug.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Representative 22 varieties of Carthamus tinctorius were selected and cultivated in different ecological localities and different years. And the content of safflor yellow A in their corollas were measured by RP-HPLC to compare the differences and their genetic stabilities among varieties.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The range of of safflor yellow A content was 0.70%-1.85% which were varied among varieties (P < 0.01). The content of safflor yellow A in varieties Yutai Honghua, Hefei Honghua, Rucheng Honghua were higher than in others.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The effective compound safflor yellow A in C. tinctorius was one of the main quality evaluation criterions. Varieties Yutai Honghua, Hefei Honghua and Rucheng Honghua were good resources.</p>

Analysis of intraspecific variation of Chinese Carthamus tinctorius L. using AFLP markers / 药学学报

<p><b>AIM</b>To investigate the intraspecific variation of Carthamus tinctorius L. (safflower) and establish foundation for further breeding of safflower germplasm resource and screening the quality correlation genes.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was carried out to analyze genetic variation of 28 safflower populations collected in China. Unweighed pair-group method of with arithmetical averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis was used to construct a dendrogram and to estimate the genetic distances among the populations.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All populations could be uniquely distinguished using 12 selected primer combinations. Similarity coefficients ranged from 0.48 to 0.96 among the populations. Dendrogram revealed distinct segregation of all the cultivars into three main groups and one midst group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Limited genetic diversity exists within the tested 28 collections at intra specific level and AFLP-based phyiogeny was not absolutely consistent with that based on morphological characters may be due to the interaction effect between genotype and environment.</p>