From Tiny Acorns to Great Oaks

From little acorns to tall oaks: from boranes through organoboranes.

Oaks, acorns, and the geographical ecology of acorn woodpeckers

We investigated the geographical ecology of acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) using 30 years of Audubon Christmas Bird Counts and data on the diversity and abundance of oaks. Spatial autocorrelation in acorn woodpecker population densities is not significantly greater than zero both in either the southwestern United States, where populations are often locally isolated, or along the Pa...

microRNAs Tiny Regulators with Great Potential

Animal genomes contain an abundance of small genes that produce regulatory RNAs of about 22 nucleotides in length. These microRNAs are diverse in sequence and expression patterns, and are evolutionarily widespread, suggesting that they may participate in a wide range of genetic regulatory pathways.

Acorns containing deeper plumule survive better: how white oaks counter embryo excision by rodents

Several squirrel species excise the embryo of acorns of most white oak species to arrest germination for long-term storage. However, it is not clear how these acorns counter embryo excision and survive in the arms race of coevolution. In this study, we simulated the embryo excision behavior of squirrels by removing 4 mm of cotyledon from the apical end of white oak acorns differing in embryo de...

Anti-Inflammatory Oleanolic Triterpenes from Chinese Acorns.

Acorns play an important role in human history and are a source of food and recipes for many cultures around the world. In this study, eleven oleanolic triterpenes, one of which was novel, were isolated from Chinese acorns (Quercus serrata var. brevipetiolata). The chemical structure of the novel triterpene, which was identified as 2α,3β,19α-trihydroxy-24-oxo-olean-12-en-28-oic acid (1), was es...