Statistical method for testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by DNA polymorphism.

Saponins are steroid or triterpenoid glycosides, common in a large number of plants and plant products that are important in human and animal nutrition. Several biological effects have been ascribed to saponins. Extensive research has been carried out into the membrane-permeabilising, immunostimulant, hypocholesterolaemic and anticarcinogenic properties of saponins and they have also been found to significantly affect growth, feed intake and reproduction in animals. These structurally diverse compounds have also been observed to kill protozoans and molluscs, to be antioxidants, to impair the digestion of protein and the uptake of vitamins and minerals in the gut, to cause hypoglycaemia, and to act as antifungal and antiviral agents. These compounds can thus affect animals in a host of different ways both positive and negative.

/pdf/the-biological-action-of-saponins-in-animal-systems-a-review-21yt7p784a.pdf

The biological action of saponins in animal systems: a review

The main aim of DNA barcoding is to establish a shared community resource of DNA sequences that can be used for organismal identification and taxonomic clarification. This approach was successfully pioneered in animals using a portion of the cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) mitochondrial gene. In plants, establishing a standardized DNA barcoding system has been more challenging. In this paper, we review the process of selecting and refining a plant barcode; evaluate the factors which influence the discriminatory power of the approach; describe some early applications of plant barcoding and summarise major emerging projects; and outline tool development that will be necessary for plant DNA barcoding to advance.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0019254&type=printable

Choosing and Using a Plant DNA Barcode

Twenty-four articles by biologists, ecologists, and other scientists represent a year's progress in the field. Among the topics addressed: the effects of introduced species, paleobiogeography, genetics and geographic structure, marine fisheries management, time as an ecological resource, genetic var

Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

Chloroplasts play a crucial role in sustaining life on earth. The availability of over 800 sequenced chloroplast genomes from a variety of land plants has enhanced our understanding of chloroplast biology, intracellular gene transfer, conservation, diversity, and the genetic basis by which chloroplast transgenes can be engineered to enhance plant agronomic traits or to produce high-value agricultural or biomedical products. In this review, we discuss the impact of chloroplast genome sequences on understanding the origins of economically important cultivated species and changes that have taken place during domestication. We also discuss the potential biotechnological applications of chloroplast genomes.

/pdf/chloroplast-genomes-diversity-evolution-and-applications-in-315mhkr4lo.pdf

Chloroplast genomes: diversity, evolution, and applications in genetic engineering

Background
The internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA is regarded as one of the candidate DNA barcodes because it possesses a number of valuable characteristics, such as the availability of conserved regions for designing universal primers, the ease of its amplification, and sufficient variability to distinguish even closely related species. However, a general analysis of its ability to discriminate species in a comprehensive sample set is lacking.

/pdf/use-of-its2-region-as-the-universal-dna-barcode-for-plants-4r9vsndamf.pdf

Use of ITS2 Region as the Universal DNA Barcode for Plants and Animals

Recent advances on ginseng research in China.

Network pharmacology, based on the theory of systems biology, is a new discipline that analyzes the biological network and screens out the nodes of particular interest, with the aim of designing poly-target drug molecule. It emphasizes maximizing drug efficacy and minimizing adverse effect via the multiple regulation of the signaling pathway. Coincidentally, almost all traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and worldwide ethnomedicine exert therapeutic effect by targeting multiple molecules of the human body. In this overview, we offer a critique on the present perception of TCM and network pharmacology; illustrate the utility of network pharmacology in the study of single herb, medicine pair, and TCM formula; and summarize the recent progress of TCM-based drug discovery inspired by network pharmacology. Network pharmacology could be of great help in decreasing drug attrition rate and thus is essential in rational and cost-effective drug development. We also pinpoint the current TCM issues that could be tackled by the flexible combined use of network pharmacology and relevant disciplines.

Network pharmacology: a Rosetta Stone for traditional Chinese medicine.

Background
Illumina second generation sequencing is now an efficient route for generating enormous sequence collections that represent expressed genes and quantitate expression level. Taxus is a world-wide endangered gymnosperm genus and forms an important anti-cancer medicinal resource, but the large and complex genomes of Taxus have hindered the development of genomic resources. The research of its tissue-specific transcriptome is absent. There is also no study concerning the association between the plant transcriptome and metabolome with respect to the plant tissue type.

/pdf/the-first-insight-into-the-tissue-specific-taxus-20t3hhq4rw.pdf

Peigen Xiao

Papers

Use of ITS2 Region as the Universal DNA Barcode for Plants and Animals

Recent advances on ginseng research in China.

Network pharmacology: a Rosetta Stone for traditional Chinese medicine.

The First Insight into the Tissue Specific Taxus Transcriptome via Illumina Second Generation Sequencing

The genus Polygonatum: A review of ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry and pharmacology.