UNaProd: A Universal Natural Product Database for Materia Medica of Iranian Traditional Medicine.

BACKGROUND: Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) is a holistic medical system that uses a wide range of medicinal substances to treat disease. Reorganization and standardization of the data on ITM concepts is a necessity for optimal use of this rich source. In an initial step towards this goal, we created a database of ITM materia medica. Main Body. Primarily based on Makhzan al-Advieh, which is the most recent encyclopedia of materia medica in ITM with the largest number of monographs, a database of natural medicinal substances was created using both text mining methods and manual editing. UNaProd, a Universal Natural Product database for materia medica of ITM, is currently host to 2696 monographs, from herbal to animal to mineral compounds in 16 diverse attributes such as origin and scientific name. Currently, systems biology, and more precisely systems medicine and pharmacology, can be an aid in providing rationalizations for many traditional medicines and elucidating a great deal of knowledge they can offer to guide future research in medicine. CONCLUSIONS: A database of materia medica is a stepping stone in creating a systems pharmacology platform of ITM that encompasses the relationships between the drugs, their targets, and diseases. UNaProd is hyperlinked to IrGO and CMAUP databases for Mizaj and molecular features, respectively, and it is freely available at http://jafarilab.com/unaprod/.

NaOH low-salt method for chloroplast isolation and highly pure cpDNA preparation from Aeluropus littoralis.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: High-yield pure chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) is necessary for whole genome sequencing. Chloroplast extraction with traditional high-salt methods causes damage to nuclei and destroys the integrity of organelles, which leads to high genomic contamination from the nucleus and mitochondria. To overcome this issue, we modified a traditional high-salt method to obtain a new approach called the NaOH low-salt method (NLS). METHODS AND RESULTS: The NLS method is based on the mild alkaline lysis of plant cells, followed by homogenization with ultrasonic waves and fractionation under reduced osmotic pressure. Results showed that this modified protocol worked efficiently to extract the intact chloroplast from Aeluropus littoralis and other grasses to obtain high-quality pure cpDNA, which was confirmed by fluorescent microscopy, qPCR, and Illumina paired-end sequencing analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with high-salt methods, the NLS method has proven robust for extraction of intact chloroplasts and preparation of high-yield pure cpDNA from grasses.