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Momordica charantia L., a typical vegetable with multiple medicinal properties, is widely culti-vated around the world. Anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-cancer, anti-microbial, hypotensive, antioxidant, anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anthelmintic, and protective properties have been well clarified both in vitro and in vivo, which might be due to various phytochemicals, such as carbohydrates, protein, fatty acids, amino acids, phenolic acids, minerals, essential oils, alkaloids, vitamins, flavonoids, and triterpenoids. This review summarizes the active components and medicinal properties of different parts of M. charantia, especially the anti-diabetic and anti-cancer properties, aiming to highlight the medicinal usage of M. charantia and provide valuable references for the development of M. charantia as multifunctional food and medicine.

Flower color is the major characteristics and critical breeding program for most Rhododendron species. However, little is known about their coloration mechanism and color inheritance. In this study, petal pigment constituents of three Rhododendron pulchrum Sweet cultivars with different colors were clarified based on LCESI- MS/MS method. Using a broad-targeted metabolomic approach, a total of 149 flavonoids and their glycosylated or methylated derivatives were identified, including 18 anthocyanins (Pg, Cy, Dp, Pn, Pt, and Mv) and 32 flavonols (mainly kaempferol 3-O-glycosides and quercetin 3-O-glycosides). Moreover, anthocyanins were mainly represented by anthocyanidin-3-O-glycosides (glucoside, rutinoside, galactoside, and di-glycosides). Flavone and C-glycosylated flavone were major second metabolites responsible for the difference among three different R. pulchrum cultivars. The accumulation of total flavonoids displayed a clear phenotypic variation: cultivars 'zihe' and 'fenhe' were clustered together, while 'baihe' was clustered alone in the HCA analysis. The composition and content of anthocyanins were more complex in colored flowers ('zehe' and 'fenhe') than in white flower ('baihe'). This study further enhanced our understanding on the flavonoids profile of flower coloration and will provide biochemical basis for further genetic breeding in Rhododendron species.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) was trans- formed with a pBCACAc vector harboring the Amaranthus caudatus agglutinin (ACA) gene mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Smith and Townsend 1907) Conn. One hundred and eighteen of a total 320 regenerated plants were confi rmed to possess the ACA gene integrated into the potato genome as detected by poly- merase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot analysis. Three transgenic events (referred to as PA1, PA2, and PA3) with one copy of the ACA gene insertion and no obvious phenotypic change were selected and further evaluated for expression level of ACA protein and perfor- mance in insect bioassays. Based on western blot assays, the content of ACA protein in PA1, PA2, and PA3 events was high at 0.11, 0.32, and 0.29%, respectively, of total soluble leaf pro- tein. The propagation of peach-potato aphids (Myzus persicae Sulzer) in the three events was signifi cantly inhibited, with 49, 18.5, and 25 aphids per plant, respectively, compared to 102.5 aphids per plant in nontransformed (NT) controls based on insect bioassays in green- house trials. The results of a fi eld trial (in Bei- jing in 2009) showed that the number of aphids was signifi cantly lower in transgenic plants than in NT. Tuber weight and plant yield of the three transgenic events were signifi cantly higher than those of NT. Our results indicated that PA2 and PA3 can be regarded as potential germplasm to breed new cultivars that may decrease produc- tion loss from resistance to aphids and reduced indirect virus damage.