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Panax notoginseng is one of the traditional precious and bulk-traded medicinal materials in China. Its anticoagulant activity is related to its saponin composition. However, the correlation between saponins and anticoagulant activities in P. notoginseng from different origins and identification of the origins have been rarely reported.We aimed to analyze the correlation of components and activities of P. notoginseng from different origins and develop a rapid P. notoginseng origin identification method.Pharmacological experiments, HPLC, and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy (variable selection) combined with chemometrics methods of P. notoginseng main roots from four different origins (359 individuals) in Yunnan Province were conducted.The pharmacological experiments and HPLC showed that the saponin content of P. notoginseng main roots was not significantly different. It was the highest in main roots from Wenshan Prefecture (9.86%). The coagulation time was prolonged to observe the strongest effect (4.99 s), and the anticoagulant activity was positively correlated with the contents of the three saponins. The content of ginsenoside RgThis method is a powerful analytical tool for the activity analysis and identification of Chinese medicinal materials from different origins.

Essential oils (EOs) have a potent antifungal effect. Traditional Chinese medicines Artemisia argyi and Acorus tatarinowii have significant research value. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) was used to examine the chemical components of EOs from two therapeutic products. Panax notoginseng root rot pathogenic fungi were employed as target strains. The effect of EOs on pathogenic fungi was confirmed using the Oxford cup method and the chessboard method. The findings revealed that the two EOs as well as their principal chemical components exhibited potent inhibitory effects on pathogenic P. notoginseng. The combination of A. argyi, A. tatarinowii and hymexazol improved the inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium solani. This finding demonstrates that EO has strong antifungal properties and has the potential to be widely manufactured and used in agriculture. Thus, it is hypothesized that understanding the antifungal activity of plant EOs, such as those from A. argyi and A. tatarinowii, will aid in the resolution of agricultural cultivation problems, such as crop diseases caused by P. notoginseng, and lay the groundwork for the future development of green pesticides.

Aims Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi was a major constrain in increasing productivity and improving quality of Panax notoginseng. The aim of this research was to evaluate the inhibitory activity of essential oils (EOs) from Asteraceae family, Chrysanthemum indicum and Laggera pterodonta, against pathogenic fungi of P. notoginseng. Methods and results The antifungal activity was investigated using multiple methods, disclosing that the EOs from C. indicum and L. pterodonta are active against hypha growth of different fungi but with different degrees of potency. Checkerboard testing indicated that the combination of EOs with hymexazol had synergistic effect against Pythium aphanidermatum, and exhibited additive effects against bulk of targeted pathogenic fungi. Besides, we found that the baseline sensitivity of Fusarium oxysporum to L. pterodonta EOs was higher than those of C. indicum by means of mycelium growth rate method. Finally, the practicability of those EOs as plant pesticide was confirmed by in vivo model showing that EOs can significantly inhibit the occurrence of root rot of P. notoginseng caused by F. oxysporum. Conclusion Those studies suggest that the EOs from C. indicum and L. pterodonta had the potential to develop into new pollution-free pesticides for the protection of precious Chinese herbal medicines. Significance and impact of the study This study provided a new way of biological control for overcoming the frequent diseases occurrence of P. notoginseng.

To screen natural drugs with strong inhibitory effects against pathogenic fungi related to P. notoginseng, the antifungal activities of garlic and fennel EOs were studied by targeting P. notoginseng disease-associated fungi, and the possible action mechanisms of garlic and fennel EOs as plant fungicides were preliminarily discussed. At present, the antifungal mechanism of EOs has not been fully established. Therefore, understanding the antifungal mechanism of plant EOs is helpful to address P. notoginseng diseases continuous cropping disease-related obstacles and other agricultural cultivation problems. First, the Oxford cup method and chessboard were used to confirm that the EOs and oxamyl had a significant inhibitory effect on the growth of Fusarium oxysporum. F. oxysporum is the main pathogen causing root rot of P. notoginseng and the preliminary study on the antifungal mechanisms of the EOs against F. oxysporum showed that the inhibition of EOs mainly affects cell membrane permeability and cell processes and affects the enzyme activities of micro-organism, to achieve antifungal effects. Finally, an in vivo model verified that both two EOs could significantly inhibit the occurrence of root rot caused by F. oxysporum.

Cuminum cyminum L. (Cumin) is a flavoring agent that is commonly used worldwide, and is rich in essential oil. Essential oils (Eos) have been intensively investigated in regard to their potential for disease control in plants, which is provided a chance for the blossom of green pesticides. The chemical components of Cumin essential oil (CEO) were revealed by GC/MS, such as cuminaldehyde (44.53 %), p-cymene (12.14 %), (-)-β-pinene (10.47 %) and γ-terpinene (8.40 %), and found they can inhibit the growth of P. notoginseng-associated pathogenic fungi in vitro and the inhibitory effect of cuminaldehyde was similar to that of hymexazol. SEM and TEM images demonstrated that cuminaldehyde and CEO increased cell permeability and disrupted membrane integrity. The expression of disease-related genes of Fusarium oxysporum showed that CEO induced the expression of most genes, which disrupted biosynthesis, metabolism and signaling pathways. These studies verified the potential of CEO as a plant fungicide that is environmentally friendly and provided ideas for developing new products for controlling root diseases that affect P. notoginseng.

To develop natural fungicides against Panax notoginseng disease, the antifungal effects of Syzygium aromaticum essential oils (EOs) against the pathogenic fungi causing P. notoginseng disease were investigated. The effects of EOs from S. aromaticum buds and fruits on the growth of pathogenic mycelia were determined with in vitro antifungal experiments using the Oxford cup method. The results suggested that S. aromaticum EOs had a strong inhibitory effect on the growth of pathogenic fungi. At a dose of 50 mg/mL, the inhibitory effects of S. aromaticum buds EOs was greater than those of S. aromaticum fruits. Then the chemical constituents of the S. aromaticum EOs were analyzed by GC–MS. The results indicated that the eugenol content was the highest, accounting for 57.95% of the total constituents in the S. aromaticum buds EOs and 39.26% in the S. aromaticum fruits EOs. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of EOs, the major constituents, and hymexazol were evaluated. In addition, the antifungal effect of their combination was also determined by the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC). When the buds EOs were combined with hymexazol, they had a synergistic effect in inhibiting Pythium aphanidermatum, Botrytis cinerea, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. The combination of S. aromaticum fruit EOs with hymexazol showed an additive effect on Fusarium solani, P. aphanidermatum, and B. cinerea. The preventive effect of S. aromaticum bud EOs combined with hymexazol was up to 60.77% in in vivo experiments. Overall, S. aromaticum EOs had a broad spectrum of antifungal activities against pathogenic fungi influencing the growth of P. notoginseng, which would provide a scientific basis for the ecological control of P. notoginseng disease.

Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F.H.Chen (Araliaceae), of which the dry root and rhizome are precious traditional Chinese medicine, suffers severely from diseases during planting. Essential oils (EOs) with antimicrobial activity are a possibility for the development of green pesticides. We extracted EOs from Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. and Eupatorium fortunei Turcz., respectively and tested their inhibitory rates on fungi isolated from diseased P. notoginseng by the Oxford cup method. The compounds of the EO were identified by GC/MS and the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the EOs and their main components were evaluated by the 96-well plate method. We also mixed P. cablin EO, E. fortunei EO and hymexazol in pairs to explore whether their combinations produce stronger antifungal effects than individual components. Finally, we evaluated the effects of the EOs against Fusarium oxysporum in vivo. P. cablin EO and E. fortunei EO exhibited different antifungal activities against fungi, with the inhibitory rates of 21.02 %-100 % and 54.84 %-100 % and MICs of 0.07-0.88 mg/mL and 0.20-1.17 mg/mL, respectively. Pogostone (24.96 %) and thymol (15.64 %) were the major compounds of P. cablin EO and E. fortunei EO, respectively, and they exhibited stronger antifungal activities than EOs, with MICs of 0.008-0.078 mg/mL and 0.12-0.31 mg/mL, respectively. Moreover, hymexazol was mixed with E. fortunei EO, and the inhibitory effect against Cylindrocarpon destructans was enhanced with a synergistic effect. The disease incidence and disease index of EO treatments decreased significantly in vivo. Based on our study, P. cablin EO and E. fortunei EO have great potential to be developed into green fungicides for use in agriculture to control diseases of P. notoginseng.

The frequent disease of Panax notoginseng caused by the pathogenic fungi in field cultivation has become the major threaten to the sustainable development of it. The present study was conducted to find natural agent with potential inhibition against pathogen. Therefore, the inhibitory effects of Cinnamomum cassia (L.) J.Presl essential oils (EOs) against P. notoginseng associated pathogenic fungi were conducted both in vitro and in vivo experiments. The results of the Oxford cup test revealed that C. cassia dry bark EO (50 mg/mL) had significant inhibitory activity on the growth of all tested fungi, and the growth of various pathogens was completely inhibited, except for that of Fusarium solani. Therefore, the constituents of C. cassia EOs were analyzed by GC/MS, and the research demonstrated that the main constituents of C. cassia dry bark EO were trans-cinnamaldehyde (75.65 %), (E)-2-methoxycinnamaldehyde (6.08 %), cinnamaldehyde (3.47 %) and cinnamyl acetate (1.02 %). The MIC results showed that C. cassia dry bark EO and the main compounds had good antifungal effect on the tested strains, and the inhibitory effect was similar to that of hymexazol (chemical pesticide). By analyzing the value of the fraction inhibitory concentration index (FICI), additive effects, irrelevant effects and synergistic effects were observed after the mixture of hymexazol against various pathogens. Moreover, in vivo model showed that C. cassia dry bark EO could reduce the occurrence of anthrax in P. notoginseng. To widen the resources of C. cassia available, the compositions of both C. cassia fresh bark and leaf EOs were also tested and many common compositions existed among them. Taken together, it was concluded that C. cassia EO had the potential use in the field to reduce the pathogenic disease.

Traditional Chinese medicine Panax notoginseng is a valuable geo-authentic herbal material. The difference of growth environment in different producing areas has significant influence on the quality of traditional Chinese medicine, and origin identification is an important part of the quality assessment of P. notoginseng. In this study, Fourier transform mid-infrared (FT-MIR) and near infrared (NIR) sensor technologies combined with single spectra analysis and multi-sensor information fusion strategy (low-, mid- and high-level) for the origin identification of 210 P. notoginseng samples from five cities in Yunnan Province, China. FT-MIR spectra were considered to play a greater role in data analysis than NIR spectra. Random forest (RF) was used to establish classification models. The result of the random forest Boruta (RF-Bo) model and the random forest variable selection (RF-Vs) model based on high-level multi-sensor information fusion strategy was satisfactory. In addition, the RF-Bo model based on high-level multi-sensor information fusion strategy was faster and simpler in data analysis and the accuracy was 95.6%.

Panax notoginseng root is a traditional Chinese herb, of which the yield and quality have been seriously affected by microorganisms, and is commonly used to treat various kinds of bleeding. In this experiment, the effects of the antifungal properties of essential oils (EOs) from five kinds of Rutaceae plants on the growth of three kinds of pathogens were studied to develop natural, environmentally friendly antifungal agents. Citrus medica EO was found to have stronger inhibitory effects on the growth of pathogenic fungi in vitro than other EOs with the Oxford cup method, of which the chemical composition was further investigated by GC/MS. The major components were d-limonene (22.79 %) and γ-terpinene (9.71 %). The antifungal activities were evaluated by MIC and FIC assays. In these assays, C. medica EO, d-limonene and γ-terpinene were effective against three pathogens of P. notoginseng with MIC values ranging from 0.12 to 12.05 mg/mL. The association between hymexazol and C. medica EO showed a high synergistic effect with lower FIC index values (FICi=0.31-2.00). Furthermore, C. medica EO was further assessed in P. notoginseng planted in a continuous cropping soil (CCS) and was found to reduce the disease incidence and disease severity compared with P. notoginseng planted in CCS only without EO addition. This finding suggested that C. medica EO has potential as a natural environmentally antifungal agent against pathogens of P. notoginseng, ensuring its safety.

Objective: To study the differential expression of Nogo-B in preeclampsia placental tissue and normal placental tissue and its correlation with illness-related molecule expression. Methods: Placental tissue of preeclampsia puerperas and normal pregnancy puerperas was collected, PCR method was used to detect mRNA contents of Nogo-B and apoptosis genes (Fas, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9) and Elisa was used to detect protein contents of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, CD40L and VCAM-1) and endothelial injury molecules (LOX-1, ox- LDL, PTX3 and ADM). Results: mRNA content of Nogo-B in preeclampsia placental tissue was significantly higher than that in normal placental tissue and the more severe the disease, the higher the mRNA content of Nogo-B; mRNA contents of Fas, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 as well as protein contents of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, CD40L, VCAM-1, LOX-1, ox- LDL, PTX3 and ADM in preeclampsia placental tissue were significantly higher than those in normal placental tissue; mRNA content of Nogo-B was positively correlated with mRNA contents of Fas, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 as well as protein contents of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, CD40L, VCAM-1, LOX-1, ox-LDL, PTX3 and ADM. Conclusions: Nogo-B expression in preeclampsia placental tissue significantly increases, and the molecule can regulate the generation of apoptosis genes, inflammatory factors and endothelial injury molecules to be involved in the occurrence of preeclampsia.

This study was designed to characterize compounds from two thousands of insects of Blaps japanensis. With this purpose, pipajiains A-C (1-3), three novel phenolic derivatives, pipajiains D (4) and E (5), two new natural occurring compounds, and four known substances were isolated thereof. Their structures were identified by spectroscopic methods. Biological activities of all these compounds towards EV71, tuberculosis, COX-2, ROCK1/2, and JAK3 kinases were evaluated.

Gentiana rigescens Franch. ex Hemsl has long been used as a phytotherapeutic agent in various ethno-medical systems of East Asia, especially in China. However, the quality of medicinal materials varies from different geographical regions, so it is necessary to establish a fast and reliable geographical authentication method. In our study, roots, stems and leaves of G. rigescens from eight different origins (including 873 individuals) of southwest China were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra combined with pattern recognition technology, including principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) methods. Two information fusion methods combined with two data mining methods were used to further improve the classification performance. The results showed that PCA could hardly distinguish these origins. PLS-DA model was more suitable for the geographical origins classification. The classification performance of PLS-DA model based on the leaf FTIR matrix was better than those based on root datasets, which indicated that leaf tissues could be employed in the identification of geographical origins of G. rigescens effectively. In addition, the full spectral information derived from the fusion of infrared spectra in different regions showed the best ability to identify the geographical origins of wild G. rigescens, which had the potential to be a promising analytical tool for rapidly geographical authentication of more valuable herbal medicines.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Panax L. (Araliaceae) is globally-recognized plant resource suitable for the globalization of traditional Chinese medicines. It has traditionally been used as tonic agents in various ethnomedicinal systems of East Asia, especially in China. It is often used to regulate bodily functions and considered as adjuvant therapy for tumor, resuscitation of traumatic hemorrhagic shock, etc. Aim of this review This review systematically summarized the information on distributions, botanical characteristics, traditional uses, chemical components and biological activities of the genus Panax, in order to explore and exploit the therapeutic potential of this plant. Materials and methods The available information about genus Panax was collected via the online search on Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, Baidu Scholar, Science Direct, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Springer search. The keywords used include Panax, saponin, secondary metabolites, chemical components, biological activity, pharmacology, traditional medicinal uses, safety and other related words. The Plant List ( www.theplantlist.org ) and Catalogue of Life: 2019 Annual Checklist ( www.catalogueoflife.org/col/ ) databases were used to provide the scientific names, subspecies classification and distribution information of Panax. Results Panax is widely assessed concerning its phytochemistry and biological activities. To date, at least 748 chemical compounds from genus Panax were isolated, including saponins, flavonoids, polysaccharides, steroids and phenols. Among them, triterpenoid saponins and polysaccharides were the representative active ingredients of Panax plants, which have been widely investigated. Modern pharmacological studies showed that these compounds exhibited a wide range of biological activities in vitro and in vivo including antineoplastic, anti-inflammatory, hepatorenal protective, neuroprotective, immunoregulatory, cardioprotective and antidiabetic activities. Many studies also confirmed that the mechanisms of organ-protective were closely related to molecular signaling pathways, the expression of related proteins and antioxidant reactions. To sum up, genus Panax has high medicinal and social value, deserving further investigation. Conclusions The genus Panax is very promising to be fully utilized in the development of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products. However, there is a lack of in-depth studies on ethnomedicinal uses of Panax plants. In addition, further studies of single chemical component should be performed based on the diversity of chemical structure, significant biological activities and clinical application. If the bioactive molecules and multicomponent interactions are discovered, it will be of great significance to the clinical application of Panax plants. It is an urgent requirement to carry out detailed phytochemical, pharmacology and clinical research on Panax classical prescriptions for the establishment of modern medication guidelines. Exploring the molecular basis of herbal synergistic actions may provide a new understanding of the complex disease mechanisms and accelerate the process of pharmaceutical development.

In order to control the occurrence of Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen diseases, the antifungal effects and action mechanism of essential oils (EOs) against the pathogenic fungi were investigated. The antifungal effect of Mentha haplocalyx Briq. and Schizonepeta tenuifolia Briq. essential oils (EOs) were determined in vivo and in vitro to develop green fungicides to eradicate fungi pathogens affecting Panax notoginseng. The inhibition rates of M. haplocalyx and S. tenuifolia EOs (50 mg/mL) on Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Cylindrocarpon destructans, Pythium aphanidermatum, Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Rhizoctonia solani reached 100.00 % and were assessed by the Oxford cup method. The chemical constituents of M. haplocalyx and S. tenuifolia EOs were analyzed by GC–MS. Low MIC values of M. haplocalyx EO, S. tenuifolia EO and its main components against six fungal strains from P. notoginseng were found, which indicated all have substantial antifungal activity. Furthermore, synergistic effects between the EOs and the agrochemical hymexazol against P. notoginseng pathogens were observed. F. oxysporum was chosen as dominant fungi pathogen to investigate the mechanism of action of M. haplocalyx EO. The antifungal effect of M. haplocalyx EO on F. oxysporum in vitro was investigated. The high M. haplocalyx EO concentrations inhibited the spore germination rates, mycelia dry weights and spore yields and disturbed the mycelia soluble protein and reducing sugar contents; it also increased the cell membrane permeability. M. haplocalyx EO also induced decreased SDH and NADH oxidase activities and caused extreme alterations in ultrastructures compared with the control. Altogether, the antifungal mechanism of M. haplocalyx EO may seemed to consist in penetrating and dissolving the mitochondrial membranes. Overall, M. haplocalyx EO and its major compounds show potential to be used as natural alternatives to commercial fungicides for controlling F. oxysporum infection of P. notoginseng.

The root of Panax notoginseng (P. notoginseng) is one of the most highly valuable medicinal herbs in China owing to its pronounced hemostatic and restorative properties. Despite this important fact, growing P. notoginseng is seriously limited by root-rot diseases. In studies aimed at developing a solution to this problem, environment-friendly essential oils (EOs) of five medicinal plants of the family Zingiberaceae were tested for their inhibitory effects on the growth of three main soil pathogens associated with the root-rot diseases of P. notoginseng. The results showed that the EOs of Alpinia katsumadai Hayata and Zingiber officinale Roscoe promote significant reductions in the mycelium growth of the pathogen in vitro at a concentration of 50 mg mL-1, which is much higher than that needed (5 mg mL-1) to reduce growth by the positive control, flutriafol. Furthermore, the chemical components of the two EOs were determined by using GC-MS analysis. Eucalyptol was found to account for more than 30% of the oils of the two plants, with the second major components being geranyl acetate and α-terpineol. These substances display different degrees of fungistasis in vitro. To further determine the effects of the EO of Zingiber officinale (Z. officinale) in vivo, soilless cultivation of P. notoginseng with pathogen inoculation was conducted in a greenhouse. Addition of the petroleum ether extract (approximately equal to EO) of Z. officinale to the culture matrix causes a large decrease in both the occurrence and severity of the P. notoginseng root-rot disease. The decreasing trend of net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), and transpiration rate (Tr) were all alleviated. In addition, the activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content were also largely reduced after pathogen infection, with the root activity being higher than that of the control. Taken together, the findings reveal that the EOs from plants might serve as promising sources of eco-friendly natural pesticides with less chemical resistance.

The variation on origin and growth environment could make a holistic impact on the secondary metabolites and quality of traditional Chinese medicine. In recent years, the origin of Panax notoginseng is spread from the genuine producing area of Wenshan to surrounding cities. The content of three saponins, as an indicator, is to ensure the quality of Panax notoginseng in Chinese pharmacopoeia. However, a single indicator is limited to comprehensive quality evaluation of Panax notoginseng. In this study, the total flavonoids content of Panax notoginseng was determinated by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics, as a rapid prediction model of total flavonoids content, was establish to provide some basic information for rapid and holistic quality assessment of Panax notoginseng. A total of 96 UV-Vis and FTIR spectra of Panax notoginseng originated from 12 regions were collected. The UV-Vis spectra of samples were recorded at 268 nm, and the content of total flavonoids was calculated based on standard linear equation of rutin. Pre-processing data were calculated with first (1D) and second derivative (2D), Savitsky-Golay smoothing with seven, nine, and eleven points. 2/3 of the 96 individuals were selected to form the training set by using Kennard-stone algorithm, and the rest were used as prediction set. Training set data were used to establish the orthogonal signal correction-partial least squares regression (OSC-PLSR) model and the 1/7 cross-validation method was used for screening optimal numbers of principal component, the prediction set was utilized to verify the accuracy and reliability of the OSC-PLSR model. Results showed that: (1) The correlation coefficient r of standard rutin was 0.9997, and the linear concentration range was from 5.6 to 72.0 μg·mL(-1), namely, there were good correlation between the absorbance and concentration. (2) The Panax notoginseng contained higher content of total flavonoids (more than 7 mg·g(-1)) in three genuie producing areas of Wenshan, Luoping county and Shilin county. (3) After the same points of Savitsky-Golay smoothing, the model predictive ability of 2D is better than that of 1D, and the predictive ability of different processing model has an obvious difference. (4) In all prediction models, the 2D+SG 7+OSC-PLSR (R(2)(pre)=0.976 1, RMSEP=0.325 2) and 2D+SG 11+OSC-PLSR (R(2)(pre)=0.946 9, RMSEP=0.382 0) model showed an excellent predictive effect, the value of RMSEP was below 0.4, and the predicted values were close to the detection values. The result indicated that FTIR combined with OSC-PLSR could accurately predict the content of total flavonoids. It could provide a rapid, simple, and effective method for the holistic quality control of Panax notoginseng.

The root of Panax notoginseng (P. notoginseng) is one of the most highly valuable medicinal herbs in China owing to its pronounced hemostatic and restorative properties. Despite this important fact, growing P. notoginseng is seriously limited by root-rot diseases. In studies aimed at developing a solution to this problem, environment-friendly essential oils (EOs) of five medicinal plants of the family Zingiberaceae were tested for their inhibitory effects on the growth of three main soil pathogens associated with the root-rot diseases of P. notoginseng. The results showed that the EOs of Alpinia katsumadai Hayata and Zingiber officinale Roscoe promote significant reductions in the mycelium growth of the pathogen in vitro at a concentration of 50 mg mL−1, which is much higher than that needed (5 mg mL−1) to reduce growth by the positive control, flutriafol. Furthermore, the chemical components of the two EOs were determined by using GC-MS analysis. Eucalyptol was found to account for more than 30% of the oils of the two plants, with the second major components being geranyl acetate and α-terpineol. These substances display different degrees of fungistasis in vitro. To further determine the effects of the EO of Zingiber officinale (Z. officinale) in vivo, soilless cultivation of P. notoginseng with pathogen inoculation was conducted in a greenhouse. Addition of the petroleum ether extract (approximately equal to EO) of Z. officinale to the culture matrix causes a large decrease in both the occurrence and severity of the P. notoginseng root-rot disease. The decreasing trend of net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), and transpiration rate (Tr) were all alleviated. In addition, the activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content were also largely reduced after pathogen infection, with the root activity being higher than that of the control. Taken together, the findings reveal that the EOs from plants might serve as promising sources of eco-friendly natural pesticides with less chemical resistance.

Replanting obstacles of Panax notoginseng caused by complex factors, including pathogens, have received great attention. In this study, essential oils (EOs) from either Alpinia officinarum Hance or Amomum tsao-ko (Zingiberaceae) were found to inhibit the growth of P. notoginseng-associated pathogenic fungi in vitro. Subsequent GC-MS analysis revealed the chemical profiles of two plant derived EOs. Linalool and eucalyptol were found to be abundant in the EOs and tested for their antifungal activities. In addition, the synergistic effects of A. tsao-ko EOs and hymexazol were also examined. These findings suggested that Zingiberaceae EOs might be a good source for developing new green natural pesticides fighting against root-rot of P. notoginseng.

Polyphyllin is the main active constituent in Paris which was a traditional Chinese medicine. In order to evaluate the quality of Paris rapidly and ensure the efficacy in clinical therapy, we quantified the contents of polyphyllin Ⅰ, polyphyllin Ⅱ and polyphyllin Ⅶ using infrared spectroscopy with partial least squares regression(PLSR). The method for evaluating the quality of Paris was established. Infrared spectra of 78 samples from various species in different origins were collected. The contents of polyphyllin Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅶ were determined by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The HPLC data were combined with the spectral data to predict the contents of three polyphyllin rapidly. Multiplicative signal correction(MSC), standard normal variate(SNV), orthogonal signal correction(OSC), first derivative and second derivative were utilized for the spectral preprocessing. Then, the optimized spectral data were used to establish the quantitative prediction model based on PLSR. The results showed that the best spectral pretreatment of polyphyllin Ⅰ and Ⅱ were MSC+OSC+2nd Der and that of polyphyllin Ⅶ was MSC+SNV+OSC+2nd Der. In the quantitative calibration model, the determination coefficients (R²) of polyphyllin Ⅰ, polyphyllin Ⅱ and polyphyllin Ⅶ were 0.930 8, 0.934 8 and 0.912 3, respectively while the Root mean square error of estimation(RMSEE) were 1.855 0, 0.632 3 and 0.001 6 mg•g⁻¹, respectively. In the verification model, the R² of polyphyllin Ⅰ, polyphyllin Ⅱ and polyphyllin Ⅶ were 0.948 8, 0.703 6 and 0.801 7, respectively, and the root mean square error of prediction(RMSEP)were 1.704 6, 1.227 8 and 0.002 0 mg•g⁻¹, respectively. Because of the predictive value of quantitative model was closed to the real value, the effect of the model was good. The model of polyphyllin Ⅰ and Ⅱ were better than that of polyphyllin Ⅶ. The developed method was non-destructive, fast, and accurate. It was feasible to determine the content of polyphyllin in Paris.

Paris Polyphylla Smith var. yunnanensis (Franch.) Hand.-Mazz (“Dian Chonglou” in Chinese) is a famous herbal medicine in China, which is usually well known for activities of anti-cancer, hemolysis, and cytotoxicity. In this study, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy coupled with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares regression (PLSR) was applied to discriminate samples of P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis harvested in different years and determine the content of polyphyllin I, II, VI, and VII in P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis. Meanwhile, ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was used to study the dynamic changes of P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis harvested in different years (4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, and 13 years old). According to the UPLC-MS/MS result, the optimum harvest time of P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis is 8 years, due to the highest yield of four active components. By the PCA model, P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis could be exactly discriminated, except that two 8-year-old samples were misclassified as 9-year-old samples. For the prediction of polyphyllin I, II, VI, and VII, the quantitative results are satisfactory, with a high value for the determination coefficient (R 2) and low values for the root-mean-square error of estimation (RMSEE), root-mean-square error of cross-validation (RMSECV), and root-mean-square error of prediction (RMSEP). In conclusion, FT-IR combined with chemometrics is a promising method to accurately discriminate samples of P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis harvested in different years and determine the content of polyphyllin I, II, VI, and VII in P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis.

Blaps japanensis is a medicinal insect used for the treatment of a variety of disorders in Yi-nationality of Yunnan province, China. In the present study, two new compounds, named pipajiains F and G (1 and 2), along with four known compounds, 3-indolealdehyde (3), L-tryptophan (4), ginsenine (5), and anoectochine (6) were isolated from B. japanensis. Their structures were identified on the basis of spectroscopic methods. Compound 1 is a phenolic compound bearing a pyridine-1-ium-1carboxylate motif in the structure which made 1 an unusual architecture. Compounds 2 is an indole alkaloid derivative. Biological activities of all these compounds towards COX-2, ROCK1/2, and JAK3 kinases were evaluated.

Two new compounds, pilosuloside A (1) and pilosulain A (2), one new natural occurring compound (3), and twelve known compounds (4-15), were isolated from the roots of Codonopsis pilosula. Their structures were elucidated by a combination of spectroscopic methods. Regulation of SIRT1 activity by all the compounds was evaluated. The results showed that 4 could activate SIRT1 in a concentration-dependent manner.

Development of the recombinant inbred line populations (RILs) is important basis to detect QTLs for cold tolerance at booting stage in rice. A set of 230 RILs derived from the cross of Towada and Kunmingxiaobaigu were used for evaluation of low-temperature response on major agronomic traits of plant height (PH), panicle length (PL), panicle exsertion (PE), spikelet fertility (SF), specific spikelet fertility (SSF), and spikelets per panicle (SPP) under natural low-temperature growing environments in Yunnan Province, China. The results showed PH, PE, and SPP were mainly attributed by genotypes. PL was mainly influenced interactively by the genotypes × environments. SF and SSF were mainly controlled by the environments. Under the five different growth environments, F values of the six agronomic traits mentioned above ranged from 4.019 to 97.284. Significant difference was revealed between the lines. Under every environment, it indicated significantly positive correlation between SF and SSF, with correlation coefficients ranged from 0.826 to 0.885. It indicated significantly positive correlation between PH, PL, and PE. Under five different growing environments, variation coefficients of the six characters ordered in SSF (66.3%) > PE (57.4%) > SP (37.2%) > SPP (16.2%) > PH (9.6%) > PL (6.4%). SSF, PE and SF were most sensitive to low temperature stress at booting stage, while SPP, PH and PL being least. The RILs of Towada/Kunmingxiaobaigu can be used as a genetic population to investigate cold tolerance at booting stage. SSF, PE and SF are most sensitive to cold tolerance at booting stage in rice. So far the the variation of PH, PL, and SPP related to cold tolerance are not clear under natural low-temperature environment. More tested environments and years are required to identify and evaluate cold tolerance at booting stage in rice.

The genetic diversity of the 34 populations of wild rice Oryza meyeriana Baill. distributed in Yunnan Province, China was analyzed using 13 inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. A total of 168 bands were amplified, of which 135 polymorphic bands were discovered and the percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) was 80.36%. A genetic diversity was revealed as Nei's gene diversity (H) = 0.2666 and Shannon information index (I) = 0.4028 at population level. The 34 populations were divided into different groups based on administrative regions, latitude and longitudes, river areas, altitudes of their origins, and their indexes such as Na (number of alleles), Ne (effective number of alleles), H, I and PPB were calculated. Richer genetic diversity was found in the wild rice populations distributed in Simao Prefecture than that in Lingcang Prefecture or Xishuangbanna Prefecture whereas the least genetic diversity was in Baoshan Prefecture or Dehong Prefecture. Rich genetic diversity was also discovered in the wild rice populations originated from higher than 710 m altitude around the middle and lower reaches of the Lancang River belonging to the Pacific Ocean drainage system. The 34 populations could be classified into two groups, one group covered the wild rice distributing in Simao Prefecture only while the other group covered ones in Lingcang, Xishuangbanna and Dehong Prefectures. The issue on how to effectively conserve the wild rice germplasm was discussed.

The pathogenicity of 36 isolates of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), which were collected from japonica rice varieties in the Yunnan Plateau, China, was evaluated. It was evaluated on 29 rice varieties including a set of seven varieties to identify pathogenicity, i.e., Haonuoyang, TN1, Kogyoku, Zhenzhu'ai, IR26, Nanjing 33, and Kinmaze, which may be considered as a set of differential varieties for Xoo races from Yunnan japonica rice. The efficiency of the seven varieties was further confirmed. The results showed reversible and specific interactions between isolates and varieties. The isolates were classified into nine pathotypes from pathotyp I to IX according to their pathogenic reactions on the seven rice varieties. The pathotype V was the epidemic, whereas pathogen VII was the most pathogenic. Most japonica varieties grown in the Yunnan Plateau were susceptible to Xoo. The rice lines IRBB21 (Xa-21), Zhachanglong (Xa-22t, Xa-24t), and IR1545-339 (xa-5), which were resistant to all the isolates tested, can be used as donors of resistant genes for bacterial blight in japonica rice breeding in the Yunnan Plateau.

The culm length, panicle length, spikelets per panicle and panicle exsertion were evaluated by using F(subscript 2:3) population including 200 lines derived from the cross of indica and japonica Milyang 23/Jileng 1 under five different environments of Beijing (natural normal growing environment), Kunming (natural cold environment), Gongzhuling of China (cold water irrigation) and Chuncheon of Korea (natural normal growing environment and cold water irrigation), and QTLs of these traits were analyzed by using SSR markers. The results showed that 44 QTLs related to these agronomic traits were detected under five different growing environments, and these QTLs have been located on 11 chromosomes except chromosome 9. The QTLs for qCL1a, qCL1b, qCL5a, qCL6b, qPL1a, qPL3a, qPL6b, qPL6c, qPL7b, qSP8b, qSP1c, qSP11a, qSP12, and qPE1 have been detected under more than two growing environments, and those that were little affected by environments, were stable QTLs. Among them, qCL1a, qCL1b, qPL1a, qSP1c, and qPE1 explained 24.2-55.2%, 22.7-39.9%, 12.5-27.7%, 14.4-33.5%, and 26.6-28.7% of observed phynotypic variation, respectively, which were major genes mainly appearing as overdominance. These QTLs cause the increase in action to culm length, panicle length, spikelets per panicle, and panicle exsertion under cold environment, showing that these QTLs were correlated with cold tolerance.

On-farm conservation and utilization of crop landraces have been proposed as means of conserving plant germplasm, in contrast to ex situ germplasm conservation, but little is known about the effectiveness of this approach. This paper reports the findings from a survey conducted in 15 unique ethnic groups of the Yunnan Province on the conservation and utilization of paddy rice, wheat (including wheat, barley, oats, and rye) and maize landrace varieties through participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and questionnaires. The surveyed regions covered 306 villages (the village group) from 237 administrative villages in 124 towns (township) distributed in 36 counties of 11 prefectures (city) in Yunnan Province. The survey showed that 44.8%, 77.5%, and 37.3% of the visited villages had lost their paddy rice, wheat, and maize landraces, respectively. A total of 901 landraces were collected, including 371 rice, 119 wheat, and 411 maize varieties, respectively. There were 2.9 on-farm varieties on average per village, 3.3, 8.0 and 5.2 varieties on average per 100 households, 1 000 peasants and 100 Ha farmland areas, respectively. Among the 306 villages, two villages (Laomian and Qingkou) maintained the highest crop diversity with 18 varieties (including 10 rice and 8 maize varieties) and 14 paddy rice varieties. Also, on-farm varieties in different ethnic groups varied significantly from each other, ranging from 16 to 120 varieties per group. The diversity of paddy rice varieties was the highest, ranging from 1 to 72, and the diversity was mainly distributed in southern, southwest Yunnan of tropical, subtropical ethnic regions. The wheat varieties ranged from 0 to 47 and distributed in northern, northwest Yunnan of high altitude, temperature, and cold ethnic regions. The maize varieties ranged from 4 to 40. These patterns of variation in on-farm varieties are directly associated with traditional culture and custom for the ethnic minorities and reflect the lack of improved varieties for the local special environments. These findings confirm the role of on-farm conservation in plant genetic resources in China and provide baseline information for better on-farm conservation and utilization of plant germplasm in China.

To reveal the genetic variation of rice paddy landraces across 30 years, we compared the genetic variation of between 6 paddy rice landraces grown in Yuanyang Hani's terraced fields in Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province in the 1970s (past-grown landraces) and 6 paired ones that have been grown during the past decade (current-grown landraces) using 60 SSR markers. The results showed that one to four alleles were amplified in 60 loci and 159 alleles in all the landraces tested. The number of alleles from the current-grown landraces decreased by 7 alleles compared to the past-grown landraces. The average number of alleles (Na), effective number of alleles (Ne), locus polymorphism information content (PIC), and genotype diversity (H') of the past-grown landraces were higher than those of the current-grown landraces, with Na of 2.5672.450, Ne of 2.0521.968, PIC of 0.4690.439, and H' of 0.7680.722. The average genetic similarity coefficient (GS) of the past-grown landraces was 0.437 with a range from 0.200 to 0.700 based on the 60 SSR markers, and the average GS of the current-grown landraces was 0.473 with a range from 0.117 to 0.667. In conclusion, the genetic diversity in current-grown landraces was decreased compared to the past-grown landraces, and the degree of variation in some of the allele locus varied in different rice landraces as a result of 30 years' natural and artificial selection.