Molecular phylogenetic analyses of Macaronesian Lotus and related genera were conducted to assess their biogeographic history and taxonomy. Macaronesian Lotus, which are typically classified within one of two subgenera, Lotus subgenus Pedrosia or L. subg. Rhyncholotus, are diagnosed by the presence of a forked or toothed style and differences in corolla morphology. Maximum parsimony and Bayesia...

BACKGROUND The cellular and molecular mechanisms of adipose tissue biology have been studied extensively over the last two decades. Adipose tissue growth involves both an increase in fat cell size and the formation of mature adipocytes from precursor cells. To investigate how natural substances influence these two processes, we examined the effects of lotus leaf extract (Nelumbo nucifera-extrac...

We report on a black metamaterial of gold fabricated on a lotus leaf that was used as a template. In spite of the extremely thin gold coating (10-nm thick) on the lotus leaf, the surface shows reflectivity below 0.01 over the entire visible spectral range. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations suggest that the low reflectivity stems from the secondary structures on the lotus leaf, w...

Here we present the first successful attempt to programme the surface properties of nanostructured soft biological tissues by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The nanopatterned surface of lotus leaf was tuned by 3-125 nm TiO2 thin films. The lotus/TiO2 composites were studied by SEM-EDX, XPS, Raman, TG-DTA, XRR, water contact angle and photocatalysis measurements. While we could preserve the supe...

Since the first studies published in the fifties and sixties (Nakaoki et al., 1956; Harney and Grant, 1964; Bate-Smith, 1965), many authors have investigated the flavonoid chemistry of Lotus corniculatus (Table 1 and Table 2) and demonstrated the richness and diversity of flavonoid compounds in this species. Some authors have examined the variation with altitude of the flavonoid content of Lotu...

Lotus species are forage legumes with potential as pastures in low-fertility and environmentally constrained soils, owing to their high persistence and yield under those conditions. The aim of this work was the characterization of phenetic and genetic diversity of salt-tolerant bacteria able to establish efficient symbiosis with Lotus spp. A total of 180 isolates able to nodulate Lotus cornicul...

Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), which is distributed widely throughout Asia, Australia and North America, is an aquatic perennial that has been cultivated for over 2,000 years. It is very stimulating that almost all parts of lotus have been consumed as vegetable as well as food, especially the seeds. Except for the nutritive values of lotus, there has been increasing interest in its potential as func...

This study aimed to examine the nutrient utilization of rump round meat and lotus root using young (32 wk) and aged hens (108 wk) as an animal model. Rump round meat and lotus root were prepared with or without enzymatic treatment. For each age group of laying hens, a total of 24 Hy-Line Brown laying hens were randomly allotted to one of two dietary treatments with six replicates. For rump roun...

Mitral cells are major projection neurons of the olfactory bulb (OB) that form an axonal bundle known as the lateral olfactory tract (LOT). After axonal bundle formation, collateral branches sprout from primary axons of the LOT. Recently, we identified LOT usher substance (LOTUS) as an endogenous Nogo receptor-1 (NgR1) antagonist and demonstrated that LOTUS contributes to the formation of the L...