objective(s):ethnopharmacological field surveys demonstrated that many plants, such as gentiana olivieri, helichrysum graveolens, helichrysum plicatum ssp. plicatum, juniperus oxycedrus ssp. oxycedrus, juniperus  communis var. saxatilis, viscum album (ssp. album, ssp. austriacum), are used as traditional medicine for diabetes in different regions of anatolia. the present study was designed to e...

BACKGROUND Species identification of living organisms by standard DNA sequences has been well-accepted. Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) recommends chloroplast regions rbcL and matK as the DNA barcodes for the land plants. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and limitations of rbcL, matK, and 5 other commonly used regions as the DNA barcodes for the medicinal Gentiana and their...

BACKGROUND Macrophages can imbibe low-density lipoprotein (LDL) through scavenger receptors to become foam cells, which is critical in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Mounting evidence suggests that the anti-inflammatory nature of Chinese herbs have the capacity to halt the complex mechanisms underlying atherosclerosis. This study examined the effects of Chinese herbs on foam...

DNA barcoding of plants poses particular challenges, especially in differentiating, recently diverged taxa. The genus Gentiana (Gentianaceae) is a species-rich plant group which rapidly radiated in the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains in China. In this study, we tested the core plant barcode (rbcL + matK) and three promising complementary barcodes (trnH-psbA, ITS and ITS2) in 30 Gentiana species acr...

BACKGROUND The adaptive maintenance of flower color variation is frequently attributed to pollinators partly because they preferentially visit certain flower phenotypes. We tested whether Gentiana lutea-which shows a flower color variation (from orange to yellow) in the Cantabrian Mountains range (north of Spain)-is locally adapted to the pollinator community. METHODS We transplanted orange-f...

Angiosperms diversification was primarily driven by pollinator agents, but non-pollinator agents also promoted floral evolution. Gentiana lutea shows pollinator driven flower color variation in NW Spain. We test whether insect herbivores and livestock, which frequently feed in G.lutea, play a role in G. lutea flower color variation, by answering the following questions: (i) Do insect herbivores...

Objective(s):Ethnopharmacological field surveys demonstrated that many plants, such as Gentiana olivieri, Helichrysum graveolens, Helichrysum plicatum ssp. plicatum, Juniperus oxycedrus ssp. oxycedrus, Juniperus  communis var. saxatilis, Viscum album (ssp. album, ssp. austriacum), are used as traditional medicine for diabetes in different regions of Anatolia. The present study was designed to e...

The genus Gentiana comprises approximately 400 species. Many species have a wide range of pharmacological activities and have been used therapeutically for thousands of years. To provide comprehensive guidance, utilization and quality control of Gentiana species, this review presents updated information concerning the recent application and progress of chemical analysis including phytochemical ...

It was in his Quartet for the End of Time that Olivier Messiaen began a life-long process of discovery, not only into his inner world of colour but, also, into a sound world which eliminated conventional notions of musical time. He regarded himself as a composer and rhythmatician and the task he set himself, in his Quartet, was to produce a rhythmic system that could emulate the patterns of nat...