PREMISE OF THE STUDY We developed new microsatellite primers for the alpine bellflower Campanula scheuchzeri. Allelic polymorphisms will be used to study differentiation along elevation gradients of C. scheuchzeri populations and in the co-occurring sister-species C. rotundifolia in the Alps. METHODS AND RESULTS We analyzed C. scheuchzeri from three high-elevation sites and C. rotundifolia fr...

Although specialized interactions, including those involving plants and their pollinators, are often invoked to explain high species diversity, they are rarely explored at macroevolutionary scales. We investigate the dynamic evolution of hummingbird and bat pollination syndromes in the centropogonid clade (Lobelioideae: Campanulaceae), an Andean-centered group of ∼550 angiosperm species. We dem...

Three new piperidine alkaloids were isolated from stems, leaves and flowers of Lobelia laxiflora L. (Campanulaceae). The structures of racem. cis-8,10-diethyl-3,4-dehydrolobelidiol (1), racem. trans-8-ethyl-10-phenyl-3,4-dehydrolobelidiol (2) and racem. cis-8-ethyl-10-phenyl-3, 4-dehydrolobelidiol (3) were established by spectral analyses. The residues obtained from the ethanol extracts from st...

We report on new techniques we have developed for reconstructing phylogenies on whole genomes. Our mathematical techniques include new polynomial-time methods for bounding the inversion length of a candidate tree and new polynomial-time methods for estimating genomic distances which greatly improve the accuracy of neighbor-joining analyses. We demonstrate the power of these techniques through a...

Codonopsis lanceolata (Campanulaceae) have been traditionally used to treat lung inflammatory diseases, such as asthma, tonsillitis, and pharyngitis. The present study was performed to evaluate the cognitive-enhancing effects of steamed and fermented C. lanceolata in scopolamine-induced memory impairments in mice. Cognitive abilities were determined by the Morris water maze and passive avoidanc...

The roots of Codonopsis cordifolioidea (classified as campanulaceae cordifolioidea), locally known as Tsoong, have been used as a tonic food. The major components isolated from Tsoong have been demonstrated to present anti‑human immunodeficiency virus‑1 activities and cytotoxicity against various tumor cell lines. However, the possible effects of the novel compound isolated from Tsoong, cordifo...

BACKGROUND Platycodon grandiflorum is the only species in the genus Platycodon of the family Campanulaceae, which has been traditionally used as a medicinal plant for its lung-heat-clearing, antitussive, and expectorant properties in China, Japanese, and Korean. Oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins were the main chemical components of P. grandiflorum and platycodin D was the abundant and main bi...