Metabolomics analysis of the nutraceutical diversity and physiological quality of Torreya yunnanensis seeds during cold storage.

This study investigated how cold storage affects the nutraceutical diversity and physiological quality of Torreya yunnanensis seeds, using a widely targeted UPLC-MS/MS-based metabolomics analysis. The 373 identified metabolites were divided into nine categories: lipids, phenolic acids, amino acids and derivatives, organic acids, nucleotides, saccharides, vitamins and alcohols. Among them, 49 metabolites showed significant changes after 3 months of cold storage, affecting 28 metabolic pathways. The content of amino acid-related metabolites significantly increased, while the content of sugar-related metabolites decreased during storage. Notably, the content of proline acid, shikimic acid, α-linolenic acid and branched-chain amino acids showed significant changes, indicating their potential role in seed storage. This study deepens our understanding of the nutraceutical diversity and physiological quality of T. yunnanensis seeds during storage, providing insight for conservation efforts and habitat restoration.

Impacts of climate change on species distribution patterns of Polyspora sweet in China.

Climate change is an important driver of species distribution and biodiversity. Understanding the response of plants to climate change is helpful to understand species differentiation and formulate conservation strategies. The genus Polyspora (Theaceae) has an ancient origin and is widely distributed in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests. Studies on the impacts of climate change on species geographical distribution of Chinese Polyspora can provide an important reference for exploring the responses of plant groups in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests with geological events and climate change in China. Based on the environmental variables, distribution records, and chloroplast genomes, we modeled the potential distribution of Chinese Polyspora in the Last Glacial Maximum, middle Holocene, current, and future by using MaxEnt-ArcGIS model and molecular phylogenetic method. The changes in the species distribution area, centroid shift, and ecological niche in each periods were analyzed to speculate the response modes of Chinese Polyspora to climate change in different periods. The most important environmental factor affecting the distribution of Polyspora was the precipitation of the driest month, ranging from 13 to 25 mm for the highly suitable habitats. At present, highly suitable distribution areas of Polyspora were mainly located in the south of 25°N, and had species-specificity. The main glacial refugia of the Chinese Polyspora might be located in the Ailao, Gaoligong, and Dawei Mountains of Yunnan Province. Jinping County, Pingbian County, and the Maguan County at the border of China and Vietnam might be the species differentiation center of the Chinese Polyspora. Moderate climate warming in the future would be beneficial to the survival of P. axillaris, P. chrysandra, and P. speciosa. However, climate warming under different shared socio-economic pathways would reduce the suitable habitats of P. hainanensis and P. longicarpa.

A new fluorescent probe for Al(3+) based on rhodamine 6G and its application to bioimaging.

A water-soluble rhodamine-based derivative (L) has been rationally designed for selective recognition of Al(3+) in aqueous medium with good sensitivity. The addition of Al(3+) to the aqueous solution of L induces a remarkable fluorescence enhancement along with obvious color change detected by the naked eye, due to the ring-opening mechanism of the rhodamine spirolactam, which has been proved by single crystal diffraction analyses directly. The recognizing behavior has been investigated both experimentally and computationally. Furthermore, the fluorescent probe can also be used as a bioimaging reagent for detection of Al(3+) in living cells.