The antioxidant and anticancer properties of a medicinal plant, Betula platyphylla var. japonica were investigated. The total methanol extract of B. platyphylla var. japonica had protective effects against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the Chinese hamster lung fibroblast (V79-4) cell line and induced apoptotic cell death in human promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cells, a cancer cell line. B. platyp...

DNA fingerprinting has become an important tool for diversity assessment and varietal identification in plant breeding programs. Semi- random PCR primers targeting intron-exon splice junctions (ISJ) were used to evaluate the potential of these markers in identification and classification of rice genotypes. A total of 12 ISJ primers were used for screening fourteen Egyptian rice genotypes, inclu...

OBJECTIVES Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a highly conserved molecular chaperone important in the maturation of a broad spectrum of protein. In this study, an HSP90 gene was isolated from Asian paddle crab, Charybdis japonica, as a bio-indicator to monitor the marine ecosystem. METHODS This work reports the responses of C. japonica HSP90 mRNA expression to cellular stress by endocrine disru...

BACKGROUND The Lonicera japonica has been used as natural and healthy drink for its anti-inflammatory effect and pleasant odor in China and Taiwan. METHODS 2D electrophoresis was used to analyze the proteins involved in photoactivated Lonicera japonica-induced CH27 cell apoptosis. The fluorescent dyes MitoTracker Red CMXRos, calcein AM and JC-1 were used to elucidate mitochondrial function. T...

Rice has been cultivating and utilizing by humans for thousands of years under diverse environmental conditions. Therefore, tremendous genetic differentiation and diversity has occurred at various agro-ecosystems. The significant indica-japonica differentiation in rice provides great opportunities for its genetic improvement. In the present investigation, a total of 42 polymorphic InDel markers...

Two new sesquiterpene alcohols have been isolated from the aerial parts of Jasonia glutinosa D. C. The structure of these sesquiterpenes were characterized by 1D and 2D NMR techniques (DQCOSY. TOCSY, NOESY, HMQC and HMBC) as (11R)-eudesm-4-en-11,12-diol and (11R)-eudesmane-5alpha, 11,12-triol.

The presence of flavonoid aglycones in bud ex­ cretions has been stressed and they have been stud­ ied in great detail by one of us in the 1970s. Exu­ date flavonoids were reported for members of the genera Aesculus (Hippocastanaceae, [1]), for Alnus, Betula, and Ostrya (Betulaceae, see [2]), for Populus (Salicaceae; see e.g. [3] and ref. therein), for Prunus (Rosaceae, [4]), and for Rhamnus (R...

The S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent methyltransferase superfamily plays important roles in plant development. The buds of Lonicera japonica are used as Chinese medical material and foods; chinese people began domesticating L. japonica thousands of years ago. Compared to the wild species, L. japonica var. chinensis, L. japonica gives a higher yield of buds, a fact closely related to positive s...