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The κ-opioid receptor (KOR) represents a highly desirable therapeutic target for treating not only pain but also addiction and affective disorders1. However, the development of KOR analgesics has been hindered by the associated hallucinogenic side effects2. The initiation of KOR signalling requires the Gi/o-family proteins including the conventional (Gi1, Gi2, Gi3, GoA and GoB) and nonconventional (Gz and Gg) subtypes. How hallucinogens exert their actions through KOR and how KOR determines G-protein subtype selectivity are not well understood. Here we determined the active-state structures of KOR in a complex with multiple G-protein heterotrimers—Gi1, GoA, Gz and Gg—using cryo-electron microscopy. The KOR–G-protein complexes are bound to hallucinogenic salvinorins or highly selective KOR agonists. Comparisons of these structures reveal molecular determinants critical for KOR–G-protein interactions as well as key elements governing Gi/o-family subtype selectivity and KOR ligand selectivity. Furthermore, the four G-protein subtypes display an intrinsically different binding affinity and allosteric activity on agonist binding at KOR. These results provide insights into the actions of opioids and G-protein-coupling specificity at KOR and establish a foundation to examine the therapeutic potential of pathway-selective agonists of KOR.

Phosphorus (P) is one kind of growth-limiting nutrient for plants, which is taken up by root tissue from the environment as inorganic phosphate (Pi). To maintain an appropriate status of cellular Pi, plants have developed sophisticated strategies to sense Pi level and modulate their root system architecture (RSA) under the ever-changing growth condition. However, the molecular basis underlying the mechanism remains elusive. Inositol polyphosphate kinase (IPK2) is a key enzyme in the inositol phosphate metabolism pathway, which catalyzes the phosphorylation of IP3 into IP5 by consuming ATP. In this study, the function of a rice inositol polyphosphate kinase gene (OsIPK2) in plant Pi homeostasis and thus physiological response to Pi signal were characterized. As a biosynthetic gene for phytic acid in rice, overexpression of OsIPK2 led to distinct changes of inositol polyphosphate profiles and an excessive accumulation of Pi level in transgenic rice under Pi-sufficient conditions. The inhibitory effects of OsIPK2 on root growth were alleviated by Pi-deficient treatment compared with wild-type plants, suggesting the involvement of OsIPK2 in the Pi-regulated reconstruction of RSA. In OsIPK2-overexpressing plants, the altered acid phosphatase (APases) activities and misregulation of Pi starvation induced (PSI) genes were observed in roots under different Pi supply conditions. Notably, the expression of OsIPK2 also altered the Pi homeostasis and root system architecture in transgenic Arabidopsis. Taken together, our findings demonstrated that OsIPK2 plays an important role in Pi homeostasis and root system architecture adjustment in response to different environmental Pi levels in plant.

We report a facile and effective inorganic polycondensation combined with aerosol-spray strategy towards high-performance photocatalyst by fabricating mesoporous Ti

Utilizing energy efficiently could greatly relieve current energy crisis. Therefore, in this article, a simple supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle for waste heat recovery from gas turbine is presented....

Nonstructural carbon (NSC), which represents the relationship between the carbon source and carbon sink, is an important factor that reflects the functions and performance of a tree. However, little is known regarding the time-series responses of NSC storage in evergreen species to different nitrogen (N) fertilization regimes. This study, which was based on a pot experiment, examined the response of the NSC (soluble sugars and starch) storage to different N addition intensities [light N addition (LN): 6.5 g N m−2 a−1; moderate N addition (MN): 13.0 g N m−2 a−1; and heavy N addition (HN): 26.0 g N m−2 a−1)] in saplings of the evergreen species Podocarpus macrophyllus. Our results showed that the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) under MN was significantly higher than that under LN, but was comparable to that under HN. Moreover, saplings subject to MN had a significant higher leaf biomass than that to LN and HN. These results indicated that the C supply via photosynthesis under MN was greater than that under LN and HN. The NSCs reserve under MN was considerable with that under LN, which suggested that saplings in MN group consumed higher and stored lower properties of NSCs than those in LN group. However, saplings under HN stored higher properties of NSCs than those under MN considering that no difference in NSCs pools was found between the two treatments. The leaf N concentrations were found in the increasing sequence of LN

Background The tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.) cultivar ‘Er Qiao’ is appreciated for its unstable variegated flower coloration, with cyanic and acyanic flowers appearing on different branches of the same plant and occasionally in a single flower or petal. However, the variegation mechanism is still unclear. Results In this study, we found significantly higher contents and more diverse sets of anthocyanins in the cyanic petals than in the acyanic petals. Comparative transcriptome analysis between the two flower types revealed 477 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Quantitative real-time PCR results verified that the transcript levels of the flavonol synthase (FLS) gene were significantly increased in the acyanic petals. Furthermore, we found that a GCGGCG insertion at 246 bp in the flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase (F3’H) gene-coding region constitutes a duplication of the 241–245 bp section and was consistently found only in acyanic flowers. Sequence alignment of the F3’H gene from different plant species indicated that only the acyanic petals of ‘Er Qiao’ contained the GCGGCG insertion. The transformation of Arabidopsis tt7–1 lines demonstrated that the ectopic expression of F3’H-cyanic, but not F3’H-acyanic, could complement the colors in the hypocotyl and seed coat. Conclusion In summary, we found that an indel in F3’H and the upregulation of FLS drastically reduced the anthocyanin content in acyanic petals. Our results provide molecular candidates for a better understanding of the variegation mechanisms in tree peony.

Plant carbon (C) assimilation is expected to nonlinearly increase with continuously increasing nitrogen (N) deposition, causing a N saturation threshold for productivity. However, the response of plant productivity to N deposition rates and further the N saturation threshold still await comprehensive quantization for forest ecosystem. Here, we tested the effect of N addition on aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) of three-year old Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) trees by adding N at 0, 5.6, 11.2, 22.4, and 44.8 g N m

This paper concentrates on the gear tooth crack detection by investigating the effects of tooth crack on the vibration behaviors of a nonlinear spur gear system. Firstly, an analytical tooth crack model is used to calculate the gear mesh stiffness for different crack sizes. Then, a 3 DOF spur gear pair model is developed with consideration of tooth backlash and bearing clearance nonlinearity. The nonlinear frequency responses based on several statistical indicators are obtained to assess the vibration behaviors and fault conditions for the gear system. In addition, the vibration responses in time and frequency domains are also analyzed. Results show that peak and crest factor are the optimal indicators for tooth crack detection. Whereas, the kurtosis hardly works in most cases due to the presence of clearance nonlinearity. Besides, the vibration response characteristics such as time histories, phase diagrams, Poincare maps, FFT spectrums and sidebands, could present indications reflecting the tooth crack propagation to some extent. Therefore, the developed model is capable of predicting the mesh stiffness and vibration behaviors of a cracked gear system, and the corresponding vibration analysis could provide references aiding the tooth crack detection for researchers and engineers.

Triblemma Ching is a genus proposed by Ching Ren-Chang in 1978, and it is composed of two species, Triblemma lancea (Thunb.) Ching and Triblemma zeylanica (Hook.) Ching. There has been much debate on the systematic position of Triblemma, and this genus has always been included in Diplazium. Here, we have described new features of tracheary elements, epidermis, spore, scale, and rachis of Triblemma revealed using light and scanning electron microscopy and proposed that Triblemma is closely related to Athyriopsis, which conflicts with the traditional viewpoint.

In this paper, a novel simple CO2 Rankine cycle to recover LNG cold energy is proposed. The system is driven by ambient air, which is regarded as one of the most convenient and economic heat source. For the reason that the ambient temperature changes with days and seasons, it is necessary to take into account the system behavior with the variations of ambient temperature and mass flow rate. In this study, a detailed off-design performance analysis based on the preliminary design of the system is carried out. A sliding pressure control method is applied to keep the system stably and safely operate at off-design conditions. And the system behavior at design condition are compared with that under off-design conditions using a statistical tool. It is noted that the design value of temperature and mass flow rate of ambient air is 313.15 K and 26.86 kg·s−1. The results indicate that the design cycle thermal efficiency, cold energy recovered from LNG and net power output is 6.75%, 1500.7 kW and 108.7 kW, respectively. With the decrease of ambient air temperature and mass flow rate, almost all the performance indicators decrease. But pump power consumption and efficiency changes slightly. Compared with the design values, cycle thermal efficiency and net power output decreases up to 47% and 60% when the ambient temperature decreases to 293.15 K, and 64% and 75% when the mass flow rate of ambient air decreases to 16 kg·s−1, respectively. Moreover, the smaller mass flow rate of ambient air has greater impact on the system performance than the bigger one.

Background R2R3 myeloblastosis (MYB) genes are widely distributed in plants and comprise one of the largest transcription factor gene families. They play important roles in the regulatory networks controlling development, metabolism, and stress responses. Researches on functional genes in tree peony are still in its infancy. To date, few MYB genes have thus far been reported. Results In this study, we constructed a comprehensive reference gene set by transcriptome sequencing to obtain R2R3 MYB genes. The transcriptomes of eight different tissues were sequenced, and 92,837 unigenes were obtained with an N50 of 1662 nt. A total of 48,435 unigenes (77.98%) were functionally annotated in public databases. Based on the assembly, we identified 57 R2R3 MYB genes containing full-length open reading frames, which clustered into 35 clades by phylogenetic analysis. PsMYB57 clustered with anthocyanin regulation genes in Arabidopsis and was mainly transcribed in the buds and young leaves. The overexpression of PsMYB57 induced anthocyanin accumulation in tobacco, and four detected anthocyanin structural genes, including NtCHS, NtF3’H, NtDFR, and NtANS, were upregulated. The two endogenous bHLH genes NtAn1a and NtAn1b were also upregulated and may work in combination with PsMYB57 in regulating anthocyanin structural genes. Conclusions Our study offers a useful reference to the selection of candidate MYB genes for further functional studies in tree peony. Function analysis of PsMYB57 is helpful to understand the color accumulation in vegetative organs of tree peony. PsMYB57 is also a promising resource to improve plant color in molecular breeding.

Additional file 2: Table S2. Primers used for PCR amplification of MYB genes.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Primers used for qRT-PCR analysis of tree peony and transgenic tobacco samples.

Additional file 5: Table S1. Statistics of assembly quality. Table S2. KEGG enrichment of the DEGs between cyanic and acyanic flowers. Table S3. Primers used for qRT-PCR.

Additional file 4: Table S4. Unigene annotation in public databases.

Freshly consumed peaches ( Prunus persica L. Batsch) can cause allergic reactions in the worldwide population because of the presence of four classes of allergens (Pru p 1, Pru p 2, Pru p 3, and Pru p 4). Fruit bagging has been widely practiced in peach cultivation to improve fruit quality; however, its effect on the expression of peach allergen-encoding genes remains unknown. In this study, the influence of fruit bagging with opaque paper bags on the major peach allergen-encoding genes, including Pru p 1.01, Pru p 1.06B, Pru p 2.01B, Pru p 2.02, Pru p 3.01, Pru p 4.01, and Pru p 4.02, were measured by means of real-time PCR. A significant reduction in transcript accumulation was observed for all of the selected genes in the epicarps of the bagged peach fruits, whereas slight increases were observed in the mesocarps for these genes, with the two exceptions of Pru p 2.02 and Pru p 3.01. For most of these genes, much higher transcripts were determined in the epicarps than in the mesocarps. Taken together, a significant reduction in the transcription rate of the allergen-encoding genes in the whole peach fruit was achieved by shading with opaque paper bags. According to these data, modifications in growing practices of peach may help to obtain fruits with lower levels of allergens and thus contribute to reducing potential allergenic risks in consumers.

Thinning and understory removal, which are commonly used in forest management, are expected to affect litter decomposition. However, little is known about how litter decomposition rates change in stands subject to both thinning and understory removal. This knowledge gap is urgent to be filled because the two practices are often applied simultaneously. In the present study, an experiment containing a complete factorial combination of thinning and understory removal was arranged in a Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation. Litter decomposition rate was determined by using litter bags, and litter bags with different mesh sizes (0.1 mm and 2 mm) were used to identify the effect of soil mesofauna on decomposition. The temperature, moisture, and microbial abundance of surface soil were also measured. Results showed that thinning did not change litter decomposition rate, partly because of the unresponsive soil temperature, moisture, and abundance of microbial groups following thinning. Understory removal markedly restricted litter mass loss by more than 20%. Despite an obvious decrease in soil microbial abundance following understory removal, this should not account for why understory removal lowered litter decomposition rate, because this negative effect on litter mass loss disappeared when soil mesofauna was excluded. In addition, no interaction between thinning and understory removal was detected on litter decomposition. We emphasized that (1) Understory removal retard litter decomposition by suppressing the activity of soil mesofauna rather than by reducing microbial abundance; (2) Understory removal caused an equal reduction in litter mass loss regardless of thinning treatment. We believe that these results provide an important guidance for evaluating the effect of thinning and understory removal on some ecological processes associated with litter decomposition (i.e. soil formation and CO2 emission from the soil to the atmosphere) in a fir plantation.

The color-batching problem is frequently raised in automotive paint shops. This paper focuses on the implementation issues in obtaining color-oriented batches of cars with selectivity banks prior to painting. Two batching strategies, conventional physical resequencing and integrated physical & virtual resequencing, are considered. A rule-based fill approach and a heuristic-based release approach are presented, which can be jointly utilized on a rolling horizon basis when the strategy of conventional resequencing is applied. Moreover, two virtual resequencing techniques are introduced, both of which can be individually integrated into physical resequencing while integrated resequencing is used. Computational experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed strategies and approaches. It is shown that integrated resequencing can generally obtain noticeably better batching results than conventional resequencing. Additionally, the impact of several factors on color-batching, including bank configuration, WIP, and size of look-ahead area, are discussed.

In the context of climate change, more frequent and severe extreme climate events are expected, which could lead to increased leaf fall before senescence. The decomposition of those abnormal fallen leaf litters may play a pivotal role in affecting the carbon (C) cycle in terrestrial ecosystems. Nevertheless, how their decomposition responds to temperature increase has rarely been studied, which limits the accurate estimation of the response of soil C dynamics to global warming and associated feedback. In the present study, green leaves (GL) were used to represent abnormal fallen leaf litters, and we compared the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of the decomposition of GL with that of the corresponding senescent litters (SL) from nine species, which are widely distributed in subtropical China. Results showed that GL experienced a faster decomposition than SL. Conversely, the Q10 of GL decomposition was significantly lower than that of SL decomposition. We also found that the Q10 values of litter decomposition correlated positively with the C:N ratio and the lignin:N ratio, which supported the “C quality temperature” hypothesis. Furthermore, Q10 was negatively controlled by phospholipid fatty acids of total microbes, fungi, and bacteria in soils. Experimental warming evidently increased the metabolic quotient of litter decomposition (qCO2); a greater increase occurred in the decomposition of SL rather than that of GL. A positive correlation between Q10 and warming-induced relative change in qCO2 was also detected. We highlighted that the increasing inputs of abnormal fallen leaf litters caused by climate change could decrease the Q10 of litter decomposition.

How tree growth and the underlying photosynthesis of leaves, especially those multi-aged leaves, change after the application of both pruning and understory removal remains unclear. In this study, the tree growth and photosynthetic responses of various-aged needles to pruning, understory removal and their interactions were investigated in a Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation. The biochemical and stomatal limitations to photosynthesis was separated by the combined measurements of stable carbon (δ 13C) and oxygen (δ 18O) isotopes in needles. Our results showed that the tree growth rates did not respond to pruning, understory removal, and their interactions. Pruning significantly stimulated the net photosynthetic rates (PA) and stomatal conductance (gs) of remaining foliage (especially the current- and one-year-needles). Although pruning had no effect on needle total nitrogen (N) concentration, the concentrations of water-soluble N (NS), the ratio of water-soluble N to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-insoluble N (NS/ND), and the photosynthetic N use efficiency (PNUE) were higher in needles of pruned trees compared with the unpruned trees. A significant and positive correlation between PNUE and NS/ND was also detected. The constant δ 13C and declined δ 18O in the current-year-needles from pruned trees suggested that both the photosynthetic capacity and the gs were responsible for the enhancement in PA of the youngest needles. Conversely, in the previous year needles, δ 13C and δ 18O were not significantly different between the control and pruned trees. Consistent with the response of tree growth rate, the foliar photosynthesis also did not exhibit changes following understory removal in both pruned and unpruned stands. We highlighted that pruning caused an up-regulation in PA of remaining foliage, thereby mitigating the negative effects of canopy loss on carbon assimilation.

Renewable energy is difficult to utilize efficiently due to its intermittent. Energy storage system is commonly considered to be an effective solution to stabilize fluctuations of renewable energy. In this paper, a novel liquid carbon dioxide energy storage system (LCES) with two artificial storage tanks based on Rankine cycle is proposed. A comparative study is carried out between the LCES and the liquid air energy storage system (LAES) to evaluate their performance. Thermodynamic models are established, then energy and exergy analyses are carried out for both systems. The effects of key parameters on both system performance are compared. Finally, the influence of the solar energy as a heat source on the performance of LCES is analyzed. The results show that LCES has a relatively high round trip efficiency (RTE) and exergy efficiency compared to LAES, but a lower energy generated per unit volume (EVR). The RTE, exergy efficiency and EVR of the LCES system under design conditions are 45.35%, 67.2% and 18.06 kWh/m3, while those of the LAES are 37.83%, 45.48%, and 101.6 kWh/m3, respectively. However, for LAES system, the total volume of liquid tanks is 2493 m3, which is close to the total volume of LCES (2383 m3), because it need extra four tanks for cold medium storage. The solar fluctuations have little effect on the turbine inlet temperature of the LCES.

Red leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativaL.) is popular due to its high anthocyanin content, but poor leaf coloring often occurs under low light intensity. In order to reveal the mechanisms of anthocyanins affected by light intensity, we compared the transcriptome ofL. sativaL. var.capitataunder light intensities of 40 and 100 μmol m−2s−1. A total of 62,111 unigenes were de novo assembled with an N50 of 1,681 bp, and 48,435 unigenes were functionally annotated in public databases. A total of 3,899 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected, of which 1,377 unigenes were up-regulated and 2,552 unigenes were down-regulated in the high light samples. By Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis, the DEGs were significantly enriched in 14 pathways. Using gene annotation and phylogenetic analysis, we identified seven anthocyanin structural genes, includingCHS,CHI,F3H,F3′H,DFR,ANS, and3GT, and two anthocyanin transport genes,GSTandMATE. In terms of anthocyanin regulatory genes, five MYBs and one bHLH gene were identified. AnHY5gene was discovered, which may respond to light-signaling and regulate anthocyanin structural genes. These genes showed a log2FC of 2.7–9.0 under high irradiance, and were validated using quantitative real-time-PCR. In conclusion, our results indicated transcriptome variance in red leaf lettuce under low and high light intensity, and observed a anthocyanin biosynthesis and regulation pattern. The data should further help to unravel the molecular mechanisms of anthocyanins influenced by light intensity.

Hydroxycinnamic acid amides (HCAAs) are a class of antimicrobial metabolites involved in plant defense against necrotrophic pathogens, including Alternaria brassicicola and Botrytis cinerea. The agmatine coumaryl transferase (AtACT) is the key enzyme that catalyzes the last reaction in the biosynthesis of HCAAs, including p-coumaroylagmatine (CouAgm) and feruloylagmatine in Arabidopsis thaliana. However, the regulatory mechanism of AtACT gene expression is currently unknown. Yeast one-hybrid screening using the AtACT promoter as bait isolated the key positive regulator ORA59 that is involved in jasmonic acid/ethylene (JA/ET)-mediated plant defense responses. AtACT gene expression and HCAAs biosynthesis were synergistically induced by a combination of JA and ET. In the AtACT promoter, two GCC-boxes function equivalently for trans-activation by ORA59 in Arabidopsis protoplasts, and mutation of either GCC-box abolished AtACT mRNA accumulation in transgenic plants. Site-directed mutation analysis demonstrated that the specific Leu residue at position 228 of the ORA59 EDLL motif mainly contributed to its transcriptional activity on AtACT gene expression. Importantly, MEDIATOR25 (MED25) and ORA59 homodimer are also required for ORA59-dependent activation of the AtACT gene. These results suggest that ORA59 and two functionally equivalent GCC-boxes form the regulatory module together with MED25 that enables AtACT gene expression and HCAAs biosynthesis to respond to simultaneous activation of the JA/ET signaling pathways.

The pigmented cells in defined region of a petal constitute the petal spots. Petal spots attract pollinators and are found in many angiosperm families. Several cultivars of tree peony contain a single red or purple spot at the base of petal that makes the flower more attractive for the ornamental market. So far, the understanding of the molecular mechanism of spot formation is inadequate. In this study, we sequenced the transcriptome of the purple spot and the white non-spot of tree peony flower. We assembled and annotated 67,892 unigenes. Comparative analyses of the two transcriptomes showed 1,573 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), among which 933 were up-regulated, and 640 were down-regulated in the purple spot. Subsequently, we examined four anthocyanin structural genes, including PsCHS, PsF3’H, PsDFR and PsANS, which expressed at a significantly higher level in the purple spot than in the white non-spot. We further validated the digital expression data using quantitative real-time PCR. Our result uncovered transcriptome variance between the spot and non-spot of tree peony flower, and revealed that the co-expression of four anthocyanin structural genes was responsible for spot pigment in tree peony. The data will further help to unravel the genetic mechanism of peony flower spot formation.

The effect of calcium ion on peony aging was studied. Different four calcium ion concentrations (0mmol/L,100mmol/L,250mmol/L, 500mmol/L) was setted. Leaf of the peony Roufurong on same growth pe riod was cultured in vitro, Chlorophyll concentration was measured per four days. The results revealed that calcium ion concentrations at 100mmol/L gave the slowest aging speed among four samples, and when calcium ion concentrations was 500mmol/L, peony was aging fastest.

The Young leaves of green beans sprouts were used as experimental materials, total DNA was extracted by using methods including magnetic bead and traditional SDS methods. Integrality and purity of nucleic acids were detected with agarose gel electrophoresis, ultraviolet absorption and PCR.The results showed that: the total DNA of green beans sprouts extracted by using magnetic beads method had the advantages of high yield and high quality, agarose gel electrophoresis bands is clear and complete, meeting the requirements of the follow-up molecular biology experiments. the total DNA extracted by using SDS method has the characteristics of low production, impurities, easily degradable, agarose gel electrophoresis bands is not clear and complete. Experiments also demonstrated: Compared with SDS method, magnetic beads method to extract DNA had the advantages of simple operation, short time-consuming, stable, high purity, more conducive to rapid DNA detection.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of obstructive jaundice on Infectious Complications of the patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy.One-hundred and sixteen consecutive patients without preoperative biliary drainage underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy from January 2006 to April 2010 and their data of post-operative complication were analyzed. Different level of bilirubin and different times of jaundice on infectious complications of the patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were analysis.Patients with severe jaundice (Total bilirubin ≥5 mg/dL; n = 55), had a higher incidence in subsequent infectious complications than the patients with total bilirubin level of less than 5 mg/dL (n = 61) (36.06% vs. 56.36%, p0.05). The patients with preoperative TB level of 5 or more sub classified according to the duration of jaundice. However, two groups without statistical significance in terms of post-operative complications. There were no significant differences in post-operative mortality rate among the different groups.The elevated serum bilirubin increases the rate of infectious complications of the patients underwent pancreaticoduodeneotomy.

A series of novel 4-(2-fluorophenoxy)quinoline derivatives containing 4-oxo-1,4-dihydrocinnoline-3-carboxamide moiety were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro biological activities against c-Met kinase and six typical cancer cell lines (A549, H460, HT-29, MKN-45, U87MG and SMMC-7721). All the prepared compounds showed moderate to excellent antiproliferative activity, and the analysis of their structure–activity relationships indicated that 2-chloro or 2-trifluoromethyl substituted phenyl group on the 1-position of cinnoline ring was more favorable for antitumor activity. In this study, a promising compound 33 , with a c-Met IC 50 value of 0.59 nM, was identified as a multitargeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

In this study, isoegomaketone(IK) was isolated from Perilla frutescens(L.), a Chinese herbal. The effects of IK were examined by cell viability assay, colony formation assay, xenograft tumor assay and western blotting in HCC cells. We found that IK inhibited cell viability, and its administration decreased tumor volume and weight profoundly. The presence of IK(10nmol/l) produced a dramatic decrease of pAkt, while total Akt level was not affected. The data suggested that IK from perilla suppressed HCC tumor growth via blocking PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.