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Ent -homocyclopiamine B ( 1 ), a new prenylated indole alkaloid bearing an alicyclic nitro group along with 2-methylbutane-1,2,4-triol ( 2 ) were isolated from an endophytic fungus Penicillium concentricum of the liverwort Trichocolea tomentella (Trichocoleaceae). The structure of 1 was elucidated through extensive spectroscopic analyses and comparison with data reported for a structurally related nitro-bearing Penicillium metabolite, clopiamine C ( 3 ), which contain an indolizidine ring instead of the quinolizine ring in 1 . The new compound, ent -homocyclopiamine B, exhibited slight growth inhibition against Gram-positive bacteria. Based on the reported biosynthesis of related compounds and the isolation of the mevalonic acid derived compound 2-methyl-1,2,4-butanetriol ( 2 ), we proposed that ent -homocylopiamine B ( 1 ) was biosynthesized from lysine and prenyl group-producing mevalonic pathway.

A new hypotrichous ciliate, Apoterritricha lutea n. g., n. sp., was discovered in a sample of a terrestrial liverwort from Korea. Its morphology was studied using detailed in vivo observation and protargol impregnation. Its phylogenetic relationships were revealed by analyses of the 18S rRNA gene. This new taxon is characterized by a combination of the following traits: (i) ellipsoidal to narrowly ellipsoidal body with an average size of 230 × 85 μm; (ii) two macronuclear nodules and two to five micronuclei; (iii) golden yellow cortical granules, forming small groups along the microtubular appendages of cirri, adoral membranelles, and dorsal kineties; (iv) typically three frontal cirri, one buccal cirrus, four frontoventral cirri, seven midventral cirri, two pretransverse cirri, seven transverse cirri, ca. 38 left, and ca. 36 right marginal cirri; and (v) on average six dorsal kineties, three dorsomarginal kineties, and three caudal cirri. In molecular phylogenies, A. lutea clusters with strong support within a clade containing Afrokeronopsis aurea and several "typical" oxytrichids having golden yellow to brown cortical granules. In this light we propose a hypothesis that is not unambiguously rejected by the present phylogenetic analyses, which shows how the Afrokeronopsis-like pattern could have evolved from a Rubrioxytricha-like ancestor via an Apoterritricha-like stage by cirri-multiplication., (© 2014 The Author(s) Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology © 2014 International Society of Protistologists.)

A sample of the liverwort Cephaloziella varians was collected on 1 January 1999 at Rothera Point on the Wright Peninsula, Adelaide Island, western Antarctic Peninsula and was partially dried and then frozen at -80 degree C. The sample was rapidly defrosted to c. 10 degree C after six years and two months of storage at this temperature. Nematodes, tardigrades and a bdelloid rotifer present in the sample were found to have survived. Of the 159 nematodes recovered from the sample, 49 (31%) were alive: of the tardigrades and rotifers, two of 15 (13%) and one of 48 (2%) had survived, respectively. A Chi-square test showed that there was a significant association between nematode taxon and survival: a greater proportion of Coomansus gerlachei individuals were alive than of Rhyssocolpus paradoxus. A Chi-square test also showed that there was a significant association between phylum and survival: a significantly greater proportion of nematodes or tardigrades were alive than of bdelloid rotifers. We conclude that Antarctic soil metazoans are capable of surviving long-term exposure to low sub-zero temperatures and that there may be taxon-specific effects of freezing on survival.