BACKGROUND There is a need to develop potential new therapies for the management of diabetes and hypertension. Australian medicinal plants collected from the Kuuku I'yu (Northern Kaanju) homelands, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia were investigated to determine their therapeutic potential. Extracts were tested for inhibition of protein glycation and key enzymes relevant to the managem...

Trametes is a cosmopolitan genus of white rot polypores, including the "turkey tail" fungus, T. versicolor. Although Trametes is one of the most familiar genera of polypores, its species-level taxonomy is unsettled. The ITS region is the most commonly used molecular marker for species delimitation in fungi, but it has been shown to have a low molecular variation in Trametes resulting in poorly ...

Bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) expansion into adjacent forests is a widespread phenomenon in subtropical regions, and it has greatly changed the dominance hierarchy from trees to bamboos. This process may be accompanied by changes in productivity, nutrients accumulation and biogeochemical cycles. We compared the net primary production (NPP) and major pools and fluxes of nitrogen (N) in bamboo...

A rapid, simple, sensitive and reproducible RP-HPLC method was developed for the determination of conessine (bioactive steroidal alkaloid) in Holarrhena pubescens, a highly valued medicinal plant extensively used in pharmaceuticals. Separation was achieved on Discovery (R) RP Amide C16 Supelco column (250 μm x 4.6 μm ID) using a mobile phase of acetonitrile: water (95:5 v/v) with flow rate 0.6 ...

An alternative way to increase plant productivity through the use of nitrogen fertilizers is to improve the efficiency of nitrogen utilization via genetic engineering. The effects of overexpression of pine glutamine synthetase (GS) gene and nitrogen availability on growth and leaf pigment levels of two Betula species were studied. Untransformed and transgenic plants of downy birch (B. pubescens...

Ten species of the genus Aulacophora Chevrolat, 1836 are reported for Taiwan. Specimens of A. opacipennis Chûjô, 1962 collected from Southeast Asia were misidentified by Kimoto (1989) and should be identified as A. apicipes Jacoby, 1896. Color photos of habitus and drawings of male and female genitalia from eleven species (including A. apicipes) are presented. The following synonymies are propo...

Water is vital for plant performance and survival. Its scarcity, induced by a seasonal decline in soil water availability or an increase of evaporative demand, can cause failures of the water conducting system. An adequate tolerance to drought and the ability to acclimate to changing hydraulic conditions are important features for the survival of long-lived woody plants in dry environments. In ...

Various culture parameters were optimised for laccase synthesis by Trametes pubescens MB89, including pH, carbon source, nitrogen source, lignocellulosic supplements, and reported inducers. Glucose, in conjunction with a complex nitrogen source at pH 5.0, resulted in the highest laccase yield. Adding ethanol, copper, or 2,5-xylidine prior to inoculation further improved laccase concentrations. ...

Definition of monophyletic supraspecific units in the harpacticoid subfamily Stenheliinae Brady, 1880 has been considered problematic and hindered by the lack of molecular or morphology based phylogenies, as well as by incomplete original descriptions of many species. Presence of a modified seta on the fifth leg endopod has been suggested recently as a synapomorphy of eight species comprising t...