Cryptochrome 2 from Lilium × formolongi Regulates Photoperiodic Flowering in Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.

The photoperiodic flowering pathway is essential for plant reproduction. As blue and ultraviolet-A light receptors, cryptochromes play an important role in the photoperiodic regulation of flowering. Lilium × formolongi is an important cut flower that flowers within a year after seed propagation. Floral induction is highly sensitive to photoperiod. In this study, we isolated the CRYPTOCHROME2 gene (LfCRY2) from L. × formolongi. The predicted LfCRY2 protein was highly homologous to other CRY2 proteins. The transcription of LfCRY2 was induced by blue light. LfCRY2 exhibits its highest diurnal expression during the floral induction stage under both long-day and short-day photoperiods. Overexpression of LfCRY2 in Arabidopsis thaliana promoted flowering under long days but not short days, and inhibited hypocotyl elongation under blue light. Furthermore, LfCRY2 was located in the nucleus and could interact with L. × formolongi CONSTANS-like 9 (LfCOL9) and A. thaliana CRY-interacting basic-helix-loop-helix 1 (AtCIB1) in both yeast and onion cells, which supports the hypothesis that LfCRY2 hastens the floral transition via the CIB1-CO pathway in a manner similar to AtCRY2. These results provide evidence that LfCRY2 plays a vital role in promoting flowering under long days in L. × formolongi.

Synthesis of carbon-14 labeled ZJ0712, a novel strobilurin fungicide.

ZJ0712, a broad-spectrum fungicidal ingredient of strobilurin, exhibits a high protective and curative activity against plant pathogenic fungi. To support the study on its metabolism, residue, environmental behavior, and fate for safety evaluation, two versions of carbon-14 labeled ZJ0712, methyl (E)-2-(2-((2,5-dimethylphenoxy)methyl)phenyl)-3-methoxy[2-14 C]acrylate (2) and methyl (E)-2-(2-((2,5-dimethyl[phenyl-U-14 C6 ]phenoxy)methyl)phenyl)-3-methoxyacrylate (3), were synthesized from barium [14 C]carbonate in 6-step yield of 47% and from 2,5-dimethyl[phenyl-U-14 C6 ]phenol in the yield of 91%, respectively.

2,4-Di-bromo-1,3-dihy-droxy-9H-xanthen-9-one.

The title compound, C13H6Br2O4, derived from xanthone, a fundamental structural framework of active ingredients in many medicinal plants, and was synthesized by bromination of 1,3-di-hydroxyxanthen-9-one with N-bromo-succinimide. The mol-ecular conformation is essentially planar, the dihedral angle between the benzene rings being 1.1 (4)°. This conformation is favorable for the formation of an intra-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bond between a hy-droxy group and the xanthone carbonyl group. In the crystal, mol-ecules are associated into chains along the b-axis direction via C=O⋯H-O hydrogen bonds involving the other hy-droxy group.

[Electro-optic modulation based study on spectrum resolution of static Fourier transform spectrometer].

In the static interferometer system, the variable refractive crystal LiNbO3 with electro-optic modulation was used in static Fourier transform interferometer, where both sides load phase opposite modulation signal separately so to raise the spectrum resolution in the same size of the instrument by the increment of optical path difference. According to the derivation of the optical path difference function with refraction modulation, the maximum optical path difference was calculated and the spectrum resolution was analyzed to be 16.7 times previous one when the refraction modulation was 0.030 in the same size of interferometer. The simulation result indicated that the refractive modulation would be reduced when the wavelength increased, and the value of optical path difference will be bigger when the chi' increased. In actual detection process, because spectral region 500-1 100 nm is relatively narrow, the spectrum distortion by the wavelength change is not big and may be compensated through the demarcation. This method can increase the optical path difference without mechanical scanning, and possibly raises spectrum resolution of the static interferometer.

Mitochondrial-Targeted and Near-Infrared Fluorescence Probe for Bioimaging and Evaluating Monoamine Oxidase A Activity in Hepatic Fibrosis.

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is a promising diagnostic marker for cancer, depression, Parkinson's disease, and liver disease. The fluorescence detection of MAO-A in living animals is of extreme importance for the early diagnosis of related diseases. However, the development of specific and mitochondrial-targeted and near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence MAO-A probes is still inadequate. Here, we designed and synthesized four NIR fluorescence probes containing a dihydroxanthene (DH) skeleton to detect MAO-A in complex biological systems. The specificity of our representative probe DHMP2 displays a 31-fold fluorescence turn-on in vitro, and it can effectively accumulate in the mitochondria and specifically detect the endogenous MAO-A concentrations in PC-3 and SH-SY5Y cell lines. Furthermore, the probe DHMP2 can be used to visualize the endogenous MAO-A activity in zebrafish and tumor-bearing mice. More importantly, it is the first time that the MAO-A activity of hepatic fibrosis tissues is detected through the probe DHMP2. The present study shows that the synthesized DHMP2 might serve as a potential tool for monitoring MAO-A activity in vivo and diagnosing related diseases.

7H-Chromeno[3,2-h]quinolin-7-one methanol monosolvate.

The four-ring system in the title compound, C(16)H(9)NO(2)·CH(3)OH, is planar (r.m.s deviation = 0.03 Å); the methanol solvent mol-ecule forms a hydrogen bond to the quinoline N atom.

Pharmacologic Effect of Miao Medicine Illicium simonsii Maxim. on Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Rats.

OBJECTIVES: To study the pharmacologic effect and mechanism of action of Miao medicine Illicium simonsii Maxim. (ISM) in treating rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: Sixty rats were randomly divided to six groups: normal control (normal), collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model (model), CIA + tripterygium glycosides (TG), CIA + ISM high dose oral (ISM-H), CIA + ISM low-dose oral (ISM-L), and CIA + ISM topical application (ISM-T). The treatment doses were selected based on published reports and folk medicine practice. The outcome measurements included paw swelling, joint pathology, organ index, blood count, T helper 17 (Th17) cell count, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) level. RESULTS: Compared to the CIA model group, all treatment groups showed a significant reduction in paw swelling, blood vessel pathology, Th17 cell count, and IL-6 levels (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). All treatment groups showed alleviated foot swelling and lower total number of white blood cells, and these effects were observed earlier with oral ISM than topical ISM. The effect of ISM was weaker than that of TG. In addition, less organ damage was observed with topical ISM than oral ISM but better than TG. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that, by downregulating Th17 cells, ISM inhibits the production of Il-6, thereby alleviating the proliferation of endothelial and rheumatoid-like cells and leukocytosis in CIA rats, ultimately eliminating foot swelling.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 1-hydroxyl-3-aminoalkoxy xanthone derivatives as potent anticancer agents.

A series of novel 1-hydroxyl-3-aminoalkoxy xanthone derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for in vitro anticancer activity against four selected human cancer cell lines (nasopharyngeal neoplasm CNE, liver cancer BEL-7402, gastric cancer MGC-803, lung adenocarcinoma A549). Most of the synthesized compounds exhibit effective cytotoxic activity against the four tested cancer cell lines with the IC50 values at micromolar concentration level. Some preliminary structure-activity relationships were also discussed. In this series of derivatives, compound 3g shows excellent broad spectrum anticancer activity with IC50 values ranging from 3.57 to 20.07 µM. The in vitro anticancer activity effect and action mechanism of compound 3g on human gastric carcinoma MGC-803 cell were further investigated. The results showed that compound 3g exhibits dose- and time-dependent anticancer effects on MGC-803 cells through apoptosis, which might be associated with its decreasing intracellular calcium and the mitochondrial membrane potential.