The longstanding biotic interactions hypothesis predicts that herbivore pressure declines with latitude, but the evidence is mixed. To address gaps in previous studies, we measured herbivory and defence in the same system, quantified defence with bioassays, and considered effects of leaf age. We quantified herbivory and defence of young and mature leaves along a continental gradient in eastern ...

Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are N-glycosylases that remove a specific adenine from the sarcin/ricin loop of the large rRNA in a manner analogous to N-glycosylases that are involved in DNA repair. Some RIPs have been reported to remove adenines from single-stranded DNA and cleave double-stranded supercoiled DNA. The molecular basis for the activity of RIPs on double-stranded DNA is not...

Traditional Chinese medicine Radix phytolaccae is the dried root of Phytolacca acinosa Roxb and Phytolacca americana L. Radix phytolaccae has multiple efficacies of antibiosis, antivirus, antiinflammatory, antitumor, enhancing immunity, eliminating phlegm and relieving asthma. In this study, we developed a tissue (liver, kidney and heart) metabolomic method by gas chromatography-mass spectromet...

BACKGROUND The oral cavity is the store house of different species of microorganisms that are continuously engaged in causing diseases in the mouth. The present study was conducted to evaluate the antibacterial potential of crude extracts of the aerial parts of Phytolacca americana and its natural compounds against two oral pathogens, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Streptococcus mutans, which are...