Development and Application of Transcriptome-Derived Microsatellites in Actinidia eriantha (Actinidiaceae).

Actinidia eriantha Benth. is a diploid perennial woody vine native to China and is recognized as a valuable species for commercial kiwifruit improvement with high levels of ascorbic acid as well as having been used in traditional Chinese medicine. Due to the lack of genomic resources for the species, microsatellite markers for population genetics studies are scarce. In this study, RNASeq was conducted on fruit tissue of A. eriantha, yielding 5,678,129 reads with a total output of 3.41 Gb. De novo assembly yielded 69,783 non-redundant unigenes (41.3 Mb), of which 21,730 were annotated using protein databases. A total of 8,658 EST-SSR loci were identified in 7,495 unigene sequences, for which primer pairs were successfully designed for 3,842 loci (44.4%). Among these, 183 primer pairs were assayed for PCR amplification, yielding 69 with detectable polymorphism in A. eriantha. Additionally, 61 of the 69 polymorphic loci could be successfully amplified in at least one other Actinidia species. Of these, 14 polymorphic loci (mean NA = 6.07 ± 2.30) were randomly selected for assessing levels of genetic diversity and population structure within A. eriantha. Finally, a neighbor-joining tree and Bayesian clustering analysis showed distinct clustering into two groups (K = 2), agreeing with the geographical distributions of these populations. Overall, our results will facilitate further studies of genetic diversity within A. eriantha and will aid in discriminating outlier loci involved in local adaptation.

Anti-hepatitis B virus lignans from the root of Streblus asper.

Four new lignans, strebluslignanol F (1), (7'R,8'S,7″R,8″S)-erythro-strebluslignanol G (2), isomagnaldehyde (3) and isostrebluslignanaldehyde (4), along with 12 known lignans (5-16) were isolated from the ethyl acetate-soluble part of MeOH extract of the root of Streblus asper. Their structures were elucidated through various spectroscopic methods, including 1D NMR ((1)H NMR, (13)C NMR), 2D NMR (HMQC, HMBC and NOESY) and HRMS. The stereochemistry at the chiral centers was determined using CD spectra, as well as analyses of coupling constants and optical rotation data. The isolated lignans were evaluated for their anti-HBV activities in vitro using the HBV transfected HepG2.2.15 cell line. The most active lignans, (7'R,8'S,7″R,8″S)-erythro-strebluslignanol G, magnolol, isomagnolol and isolariciresinol, exhibited significant anti-HBV activities with IC50 values of 1.58, 2.03, 10.34 and 3.67 µM, respectively, for HBsAg with no cytotoxicity, and of 3.24, 3.76, 8.83 and 14.67 µM, respectively, for HBeAg with no cytotoxicity. (7'R,8'S,7″R,8″S)-erythro-Strebluslignanol G and magnolol showed significant anti-HBV activities to inhibit the replication of HBV DNA with the IC50 values of 9.02 and 8.67 µM, respectively.

[Studies on the polysaccharide SGPS2 from the fruits of Siraitia grosvenorii].

OBJECTIVE: To study the structure of the polysaccharides constituents in the fruits of Siraitia grosvenorii (Swingle) C. Jeffrey. METHODS: SGPS2 was purified by DEAE-cellulose and Sephadex G-200 column chromatography, the component and structure of SGPS2 were analyzed on the basis of spectral and chemical studies by HPLC, IR analysis, partial hydrolysis with acid, methylation analysis, GC and 13C-NMR. RESULTS: The molecular weight of SGPS2 was 650 000. Polysaccharide was composed of L- made up of (1 --> 2, 4) linked rhamnose, (1 --> 4) linked rhamnose residues in main chain; and (1 --> 2) linked rhamnose, (1 --> 3) linked rhamnose in side chains. Terminal residues attached main chain to rhamnose. CONCLUSION: SGPS2 was composed of rhamnose and curonic acid.