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In the actual cultivation process, blind fertilizer application was widespread, resulting in a serious decline in the yield of Pseudostellaria heterophylla. We used the 3414 fertilizer experiment design to study the effects of combined Boron (B), Molybdenum (Mo), and Copper (Cu) on the growth indexes, diurnal changes of photosynthesis, and rapid fluorescence induction dynamics in P. heterophylla. Our results show that the optimal combination of B, Mo, and Cu simultaneously promoted the growth of underground and aboveground parts, and significantly improved the quality of single root tuber and yield per unit area. The best combination was treatment 9 (T9 = B, 1 g/L; Mo, 0.08 g/L; Cu, 0.05 g/L), and resulted in a 35.1% increase in yield per unit area compared with the control group (T1). Although the optimal combined application of microfertilizers did not change the bimodal trend of diurnal variation of photosynthesis, it effectively increased the daily average, peak, and valley values of the photosynthetic rate by alleviating the nonstomatal limitation and the photosynthetic midday depression. Pseudostellaria heterophylla leaves showed greater photochemical activity and less photoinhibition of photosystem II in T9. Major effects were that it helped protect the activity of the oxygen-evolving complex to reduce the oxidative damage of chloroplasts and prevent the dissociation of thylakoid. The microfertilizer application also enhanced the electron receiving ability of the QB and plastoquinone (PQ) electronic pools, thereby increasing the ability of electron transfer from QA to QB. The number of reaction centers per unit area was promoted notably by the fertilization treatment.

Nanomaterials have recently been used as growth stimulants to promote the production of crops in saline-alkali through root application. However, if applied through leaves, little is known about the effect of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) on the root growth and yield, especially for medicinal crops. To fill this gap, a single factor experiment was conducted to explore the effects of Fe3O4 NPs on growth, yield, the dry matter distribution, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic characteristics, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, and polysaccharide content of Pseudostellaria heterophylla by foliar spraying under field conditions. Fe3O4 NPs (20–50 mg·L–1) significantly promoted growth, the dry matter distribution of root and root tuber yield per unit area. Fe3O4 NPs enhanced net photosynthetic rate (Pn) by increasing chlorophyll content. And Fe3O4 NPs increased the daily mean and peak value of Pn, and alleviated the phenomenon of “midday depression” by improving nonstomatal limitation. Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters indicating that Fe3O4 NPs promoted the photochemical activity of PSII and alleviated photoinhibition by enhancing the photochemical use of excess excitation energy. Gray correlation analysis showed that Fe3O4 NPs enhanced the adaptability of P. heterophylla photosynthesis to high temperatures and strong light. Of note, Fe3O4 NPs enhanced the polysaccharide content of the root tuber. Phytotoxic effect was recorded at high NPs (100 mg·L–1) doses. Collectively, Fe3O4 NPs could promote performance of P. heterophylla by improving photosynthetic performance, enhancing its adaptability to the environment, and increasing the distribution ratio of photosynthates to the underground part.

The adventitious roots of some plants will develop into tuberous roots which are widely used in many traditional Chinese medicines, including Pseudostellaria heterophylla. If adventitious root development is inhibited, the yield of Chinese medicinal materials will be reduced. Gibberellic acid is an important phytohormone that promotes plant growth and increases the resistance to drought, flood or disease. However, the effects of gibberellic acid on adventitious roots of Pseudostellaria heterophylla are not clear. Here, we reports GA3 suppressed adventitious root development of Pseudostellaria heterophylla by disturbing the balance of endogenesis hormones. By detecting the contents of various endogenous hormones, we found that the development of adventitious roots negatively correlated with the content of CA3 in tuberous roots. Exogenous GA3 treatment decreased the diameter of adventitious roots, but increased the length of adventitious roots of Pseudostellaria heterophylla. In contrast, blocking the biosynthesis of GA3 suppressed stem growth and promoted the xylem of tuberous roots development. Moreover, exogenous GA3 treatment resulted in imbalance of endogenesis hormones by regulating their synthesis-related genes expression in xylem of tuberous roots. These results suggest GA3 broke the established distribution of hormones by regulating synthesis, transport and biological activation of hormones to activate the apical meristem and suppress lateral meristem. Regulating GA3 signaling during adventitious roots development would be one of the possible ways to increase the yield of P. heterophylla.

A new cyclic peptide, Pseudostellarin K (1), together with thirteen known compounds, including two cyclic peptides (2 and 3), one β-carboline alkaloid (4), two amides (5 and 6), three phenylpropanoids (7-9) and other compounds (10-14), were isolated from the fibrous root of Pseudostellaria heterophylla. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis. Compounds 1, 4-6, 10 were isolated from the genus pseudostellaria for the first time. All compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activities against MCF-7, A549, HCT-116 and SGC-7901 cell lines by MTT assay. Unfortunately, all these compounds displayed weak cytotoxic activities.

Pseudostellaria �� segeolsanensis M. Kim & H. Jo (2019: 171) Isotype: KOREA, Jeollabuk-do: Namwon-si, Jucheon-myeon, Gogi-ri, Mt. Segeolsan, 30 April 2018, H. Jo JI 43008 (NIBRVP814955; Fig. 1 -8). Note: The isotype was transferred to KB from JNU. The holotype and another isotype are preserved in KH (!) and NNH (!), respectively., Published as part of Jang, Hyun-Do, Hyun, Chang-Woo, Ryu, Seah & Lee, Sang-Jun, 2022, Type specimens of vascular plants in the herbarium of the National Institute of Biological Resources (II), pp. 229-243 in Phytotaxa 539 (3) on page 232, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.539.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/6364084, {"references":["Jo, H. & Kim, M. (2019) A taxonomic study of the genus Pseudostellaria in Korea. Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy 49: 145 - 178. https: // doi. org / 10.11110 / kjpt. 2019.49.2.145"]}

Pseudostellaria �� bohyeonsanensis M. Kim & H. Jo (2019: 164). Isotype: KOREA, Gyeongsangbuk-do: Cheongsong-gun, Hyeonseo-myeon, Muge-ri, Mt. Bohyunsan, 25 May 2016, H. Jo JG 52502 (NIBRVP814954; Fig. 1 -6). Note: The isotype was transferred to KB from JNU. The holotype is deposited in KH (!), and another isotype is conserved in NNH (!)., Published as part of Jang, Hyun-Do, Hyun, Chang-Woo, Ryu, Seah & Lee, Sang-Jun, 2022, Type specimens of vascular plants in the herbarium of the National Institute of Biological Resources (II), pp. 229-243 in Phytotaxa 539 (3) on page 232, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.539.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/6364084, {"references":["Jo, H. & Kim, M. (2019) A taxonomic study of the genus Pseudostellaria in Korea. Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy 49: 145 - 178. https: // doi. org / 10.11110 / kjpt. 2019.49.2.145"]}

Pseudostellaria heterophylla is a very popular traditional Chinese medicine herb, also called "Taizishen." Discrimination of P. heterophylla from different regions is critical for ensuring the effectiveness of drug use, because the drug effects of P. heterophylla from different regions are diversity of each other. To discriminate P. heterophylla from different regions rapidly and effectively, a model extracted by competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) was established. Original spectra of P. heterophylla in wave number range of 10,000 to 4,000 cm-1 were acquired. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was also used to establish a suitable model. CARS was performed for extracting key wave number variables. We found that the near-infrared spectrum of a series of samples analyzed by Row-center-SG, CARS, and OPLS-DA can effectively distinguish the P. heterophylla from different regions, and the accuracy of OPLS-DA model is also satisfactory in terms of good discrimination rate. These results show that the Row-center-SG, CARS, and OPLS-DA model can be used to identify the P. heterophylla from different regions. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: According to our research results, we can draw a conclusion that our research results may be used to distinguish the traditional Chinese medicine from those from different places of origin and the powder with similar appearance.

Pseudostellaria heterophylla (Miq.) Pax. (Taizishen, TZS) contains a variety of natural active cyclic-peptide compounds (CP). In this article, four kinds of CP monomers were isolated by HPLC and the structures were identified by mass spectrometry. The in vivo absorption of CP was detected by UPLC-MS/MS. The interaction between CP and membrane receptor was analyzed by SPR. As a result, the relative absorption rate of CP was Pesudostellarin B > Heterophyllin B > Pesudostellarin C > Pesudostellarin E. The difference in absorption rate of CP in vivo was related to its interaction with membrane receptors. The absorption mechanism of CP might be different. This is the first report that in vivo absorption study of different CP from TZS and explore its absorption mechanism, laying a theoretical foundation for the research and development of its oral drugs, and providing new ideas for the study of the absorption mechanism of CP from traditional Chinese medicine.

Ascochyta versabilis is the fungal pathogen that causes the severe leaf spot disease of Pseudostellaria heterophylla (Miq.) Pax, a vital Chinese herbal plant. Here, we deployed PacBio single-molecule real-time long-read sequencing technology to generate a near-complete genome assembly for the A. versabilis KC1 strain and obtained a total of 9.80 Gb raw reads. These reads were processed into a 41.05 Mb genome assembly containing 95 contigs with N50 of 1.70 Mb and a maximum length of 3.93 Mb. A total of 10,457 gene models, of which 1,004 encode putatively secreted proteins, were identified in the genome. This high-quality genome assembly and gene annotation resource will facilitate the institution of functional genetic studies aimed at providing a better insight into the infection mechanisms of A. versabilis to support the development of effective control strategies for leaf spot disease of P. heterophylla.

Pseudostellaria wuyishanensis, a new species from the Wuyishan National Park, Fujian, China, is described and illustrated. Morphologically, Pseudostellaria wuyishanensis resembles P. heterantha. However, the new species can be distinguished by presence of stolons, 1 line of hairs on the stem, smaller leaf blades, shorter pedicels, and ovary with 2 styles.

Pseudostellaria heterophylla is used in China not only as a functional food but also as an herb to tonify the spleen, enhance immunity, and treat palpitation. Our previous investigation showed that a fraction enriched in glycosides obtained from the roots of P. heterophylla possessed pronounced protective effects on H9c2 cells against CoCl2-induced hypoxic injury. However, the active compounds responsible for the observed effects were still unknown. In the current investigation, pseudosterins A–C (1–3), three new alkaloids with a 1-ethyl-3-formyl-β-carboline skeleton, together with polydatin, have been isolated from the active fraction. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis and quantum chemical calculations. The four compounds showed cardioprotective effects against sodium hydrosulfite-induced hypoxia-reoxygenation injury in H9c2 cells, with the three alkaloids being more potent. This is also the first report of alkaloids with a β-carboline skeleton isolated from P. heterophylla as cardioprotective agents.

—Stellaria (Caryophyllaceae, tribe Alsineae) is a cosmopolitan genus of herbaceous plants that heretofore has lacked a stable estimate of total number of species. Here, we attempted to sample all species currently recognized under the name Stellaria to determine which belong to a core Stellaria genus versus which are masquerading under this name and are instead more closely related to one of several outgroup lineages. Phylogenetic relationships inferred with RAD loci were recovered with generally high levels of support, regardless of age of specimens (here up to 98 yr) utilized for molecular work. Analyses resolved a monophyletic, core radiation of Stellaria that is sister to Cerastium and others. Within core Stellaria, of which we sampled ca. 87% of species, we recovered five primary lineages. However, current infrageneric hypotheses are incongruous with phylogenomic data, and most morphology-based infrageneric hypotheses break down in light of these results. Outside of core Stellaria we recovered numerous other species currently ascribed to Stellaria that are in need of revised generic placement. Based on current results, however, we propose several new taxonomic and nomenclatural renovations within core Stellaria and external to this group as contribution towards stabilization of generic boundaries in Alsineae. These modifications include description of a new genus of Caryophyllaceae from eastern Asia, Nubelaria, as well description of a new genus, Rabelera, to accommodate the lineage previously and more widely known as Stellaria holostea. Nine new combinations are proposed in the genera Adenonema, Cerastium, Mesostemma, Nubelaria, Rabelera, and core Stellaria. Additionally, one new status, one new synonymy, and lectotypes for four species are proposed. We estimate core Stellaria to consist of approximately 112 species, a decrease from many other published species counts. Our results lay a robust foundation for future evolutionary, phylogenetic, and morphological comparisons within Stellaria and among relatives.

Background: Pseudostellaria heterophylla is an important tonic traditional Chinese medicine. However, the molecular changes in the herb from geo-authentic habitat and cultivated bases remain to be explored. Objective: The purpose of this research was to study differences in P. heterophylla from geo-authentic habitat and cultivated bases. Methods: High-throughput technologies of transcriptomic and proteomic were used to identify proteins. Isobaric Tags for Relative and Absolute Quantification (iTRAQ) MS/MS has been utilized to evaluate changes in P. heterophylla from geo-authentic habitat and cultivated bases. Results: In this study, a total of 3775 proteins were detected, and 140 differentially expressed proteins were found in P. heterophylla from geo-authentic habitat and cultivated bases. 44 significantly differential expressed proteins were identified based on functional analysis classified into nine categories. Five differentially expressed proteins were confirmed at the gene expression level by Quantitative realtime PCR. Catabolic metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and response to stress of oxidoreductases and transferases in P. heterophylla from geo-authentic habitat were stronger than in those from cultivated bases, but protein folding and response to stress of heat shock proteins, isomerases, rubisco large subunit-binding proteins, chaperone proteins, and luminal-binding proteins in herbs from cultivated bases were more active. ADG1 and TKTA could be the critical proteins to regulate sucrose; MFP2 and CYS may be the crucial proteins that control the metabolism of fatty acids and amino acids. Conclusion: These results will provide the basic information for exploring the differences in secondary metabolites in P. heterophylla from geo-authentic habitat and cultivated bases and the protein mechanism of its quality formation.

Background: miRNAs play a crucial role in plant development and growth by inhibiting the function of targeted gene mRNAs at the post transcription level. However, none miRNAs in Pseudostellaria heterophylla has been reported and their function in morphogenesis of organs and continuous cropping obstacles is still unclear. Results: A total of 163 conserved miRNAs (belonging to 66 families) and 303 level miRNAs were identified and some of them showed specifically up or down regulated expression in different tissues. Further, numbers of unigenes involved in Plant-pathogen interaction and MAPK signaling pathway-plant was targeted by miRNAs from P. heterophylla by using GO and KEGG analysis. Significant negative correlation between expression profiles of 30 miRNAs and their targets gene (37 unigenes) were observed. Further, a large number of genes involving with signal transduction of auxin, zeatin, abscisic acid and jasmonic acid were targeted by identified miRNAs in P. heterophylla. A predicated target gene of a conserved and novel miRNA was validated by 5′RLM-RACE, respectively. A large number of mRNA from four kinds of endophytes was targeted by miRNAs of P. heterophylla, and most genes were targeted by miR414. Conclusion: We report a population of P. heterophylla miRNAs from four different vegetative organs by high throughput sequencing, and analyzed combining with the constructed transcriptome. These results may help to explain the function of miRNA in morphogenesis of organs and defense of endophytes in P. heterophylla, and provide theoretical basis for breeding and genetic improvement of P. heterophylla.

We presented complete chloroplast genome of Prince Ginseng, Pseudostellaria heterophylla which is 149,795 bp long and has four subregions: 81,460 bp of large single copy (LSC) and 16,983 bp of small single copy (SSC) regions are separated by 25,676 bp of inverted repeat (IR) regions including 126 genes (81 CDS, 8 rRNAs, and 37 tRNAs). The overall GC content of the chloroplast genome is 36.5% and those in the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 34.3%, 29.4%, and 42.3%, respectively. Phylogenetic trees of 25 Caryophyllaceae species present phylogenetic position of P. heterophylla among available Pseudostellaria species.

The contamination of Cd and Cu in soil is a great threat to medicinal plant. Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) is a potential soil pH adjuster to reduce metal toxicity. However, how GGBS affects the quality and yield of herbal plants under the stress of Cd and Cu is not clear. This study aims to investigate the quality and yield of a medicinal plant (Pseudostellaria heterophylla) responding to GGBS treatment in Cd and Cu contaminated soil. GGBS with three mass percentages (0%, 3%, 5%) was added into contaminated lateritic soils for planting. Each condition had 21 replicated seedlings. The concentrations of Cd and Cu in plant, amounts of active ingredients (polysaccarides and saponins) in medicinal organ, and tuber properties were measured after harvest. The results showed that under 3% and 5% GGBS treatments, Cd and Cu accumulations in all plant organs (leaf, stem, root and tuber) were reduced by 69.4-86.0% and 10.3-30.1%, respectively. They were below the permissible limits (World Health Organization, WHO). Even though the concentrations of active ingredients in P. heterophylla tuber decreased by up to 35.8%, they still met Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica standard. Besides, the biomass of root tuber increased by 9.8% and 46%, due to 3% and 5% GGBS treatments, respectively. The recommended 5% GGBS treatment in practice can balance the reduction of active ingredients and the increase of plant yield when minimizing Cd and Cu accumulation in tuber.

Pseudostellaria heterophylla, in the family Caryophyllaceae, is an important Chinese medicinal plant commonly used to treat various diseases in children and valued for its ornamental properties. In this study, nodal segments were obtained from wild plants and used as explants to develop an efficient micropropagation protocol for this species. Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1.5 mg·L−1 6-benzyladenine (6-BA) was the most suitable medium for inducing axillary buds and enhancing their growth, and MS medium containing 0.1 mg·L−1 indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) was the most effective for inducing in vitro rooting. To reduce labor, time, and cost, microshoots were rooted under ex vitro conditions. Pretreatments of the shoots with 100 mg·L−1 naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) for 1 min ensured successful rooting in 86.7% of shoots. Comparison of the leaf microstructure between in vitro- and ex vitro-rooted plantlets revealed abnormal stomatal apparatus in the former. The stomatal apparatus of ex vitro plantlets were normal, although the stomatal density was reduced, which indicated that these plantlets were more likely to be able to adapt to environmental conditions in the field. We identified the optimal medium for P. heterophylla multiplication with respect to increased rooting efficiency of micropropagated shoots under ex vitro conditions. This results presented here will be helpful for agricultural cultivation of P. heterophylla.

The presence of cleistogamous and chasmogamous flowers on the same plant individual is considered to represent a “mixed” reproductive strategy. If a cleistogamous species also exhibits clonal propagation, then competition for limited resources is assumed to exist among the three reproductive modes. To date, however, the relationships and interactions among cleistogamous, chasmogamous, and clonal modes of reproduction have received little attention. In this study, we performed manipulative experiments to investigate the interactions among these different types of reproduction in the perennial herbaceous plant species Pseudostellaria heterophylla. The results showed that 66.4%–87.6% of individuals produce chasmogamous flowers and that the fruiting rates of these flowers in each surveyed population were between 23.5% and 77.4%. Furthermore, we found that 8.3% of the individuals of this species show inbreeding depression. We also detected significant negative correlations between the production of chasmogamous and cleistogamous flowers and between cleistogamous flower production and root tuber mass. However, chasmogamous flower production in an individual plant was found to have little influence on its subsequent clonal propagation. We propose that the plasticity of reproductive strategies observed in P. heterophylla is due to changes in the resource pool and resource allocation.

The quality of Pseudostellaria heterophylla depends on the growing area of the plants greatly. Compared with near infrared spectroscopy employed to discriminate the geographic regions before, the Raman signal is more obvious. So far, discrimination of P. heterophylla from different regions by Raman spectroscopy has not yet been realized. Hence, Raman spectroscopy coupled with chemometric methods to rapidly and effectively discriminate P. heterophylla from different regions was studied. Original spectra of P. heterophylla in wavenumber range of 4000–100 cm−1 were acquired. Then, a steady and exact model, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), was constructed. And competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) was further used to extract effective wavelength spectral characteristic variables. Results show that CARS-PLS-DA model is an appropriate model to discriminate the P. heterophylla, with determination coefficient of calibration (R2C), root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV), determination coefficient of prediction (R2P), and root mean squared error of prediction (RMSEP) are 0.9468, 0.1979, 0.9665, and 0.1120, respectively. These results demonstrated that the built method is useful and effective to discriminate P. heterophylla from different regions, which provide a new idea in the application of rapid field test.

Triterpene saponins are primary bioactive compounds in the tuberous roots of Pseudostellaria heterophylla, which is one of well-known traditional Chinese medicines. Squalene synthase (SQS) is the key speed-limiting enzyme of saponin biosynthesis pathway. Here, we cloned and analyzed a SQS gene in P. heterophylla. The full length cDNA of SQS was cloned and designated PhSQS (GenBank accession no. KY436585). The open reading frame (ORF) of PhSQS contains 1245 bp and encodes a putative protein of 414 amino acids. In-silico analysis of amino acid sequence of PhSQS showed a conserved isoprenoid family domain and catalytic sites and the three-dimensional (3D) structure of PhSQS was not deviated from that of the SQSs from other species. The phylogenetic relationship of PhSQS was more closely related to that from Beta vulgaris. The semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed the expression level of PhSQS was significantly higher in root tissue than that of other tissues. Our results suggest that PhSQS is a candidate of functional gene of squalene synthase and may be involved in triterpene saponin biosynthesis.

Background/Aims: To investigate the potential therapeutic effect of novel polysaccharide H-1-2 from pseudostellaria heterophylla against type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and elucidate the underling molecular mechanisms. Methods: Relative expression of HIF1α and Sirt1 in T2DM patients was determined via real-time PCR. The direct binding of HIF1α on Sirt1 promoter was validated by ChIP assay. The inhibitory regulation of Sirt1 by HIF1α was analyzed using luciferase reporter assay. The endogenous protein of HIF1α and Sirt1 in response to H-1-2 treatment was quantified by western blotting. The blood glucose, secreted insulin and serous lipid profiles were measured with ELISA kits. Results: We consolidated that HIF1α and Sirt1 was dysregulated in T2DM patients and subjected to H-1-2 modulation. H-1-2 significantly inhibited hypoxia and up-regulated Sirt1 expression in EndoC-βH1 cells. Accordingly, H-1-2 enhanced glucose-stimulation insulin secretion and improved blood glucose and lipid profiles in T2DM cells, and elevated the glucose and insulin tolerance simultaneously. Furthermore, we demonstrated that H-1-2 alleviated T2DM via inhibition of hypoxia and up-regulation of Sirt1 in isolated pancreatic β-cells from T2DM rats. Conclusion: Our data unambiguously demonstrated H-1-2 administration alleviated T2DM by enhancing Sirt1 expression through inhibition of hypoxia.

This study is aimed at identifying the distribution of vascular plants growing at Mt. Dosolsan in Yanggu-gun, Gangwon-do. Field surveys were conducted for each season from March 2014 to November 2016. The flora of study area is found to consist of 516 taxa, 91 families, 296 genus, 455 species, four subspecies, 50 varieties, and seven forma. Rare plants were found to be of 31 taxa. Among them, rare plant species consisted of critically endangered species (CR degree): 2 (Lilium dauricum Ker Gawl., Cypripedium macranthos Sw.), endangered species (EN degree): 5 (Loranthus tanakae Franch. & Sav. etc.), vulnerable species (VU degree): 7 (Dryopteris laeta (Kom.) C.Chr. etc.), and least concerned (LC degree): 17 (Botrychium virginianum (L.) Sw. etc.). In all the surveyed areas, a total of 20 taxa (Pseudostellaria setulosa Ohwi etc.) were found to be endemic to Korea. The floristic special plants found in the surveyed areas were two taxa of grade V, 24 taxa of grade IV, and 31 taxa of grade III. The naturalized plants were identified as 15 taxa and included Chenopodium album L., Lotus corniculatus L., Robinia pseudoacacia L. etc.

Paclobutrazol (PP333) can enhance the resistance capabilities of plants to stress conditions. In this study, PP333 were sprayed on the lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) accumulator plant Pseudostellaria maxi...

A water-soluble, pectic polysaccharide named as 0.5MSC-F isolated from Pseudostellaria Heterophylla with a molecular weight of 4.8×104Da that was composed of rhamnose, galactose, arabinose, and galacturonic acid which the major monosaccharide contents range up to 63.20%. Where the main chain was consists of 1,4-linked galacturonic acid and a small amount of 1,2-linked rhamnose was embedded into backbone to connect alternative galacturonic acid in the form of Rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I) structure. 1, 5-linked arabinose through C-4 of 1, 2-linked rhamnose, another 1, 3 or 1,6-linked galactose through C-4 of 1, 2-linked rhamnose, was interconnected to branch chain. 0.5MSC-F could obviously stimulated insulin secretion of islet cells cultured in high glucose are of potential practical value in the hypoglycemic action. Radioisotopes 99mTc-labeled-0.5MSC-F was analyzed by SPECT/CT image after oral in rats. At 2h post ingestion, above 40% of the radioactivity was observed in the intestine, but no found in the heart, liver, and kidney. Conjecturing absorption of 99mTc-labeled 0.5MSC-F might via intestinal mucosa absorption into the systemic circulation.

Pseudostellaria heterophylla (family Caryophyllaceae) is a perennial herbaceous plant. Its tuberous roots are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine. It is mainly cultivated in a geo-authentic production zone located in the Guizhou, Anhui, Shandong, and Fujian provinces of China (Zhao et al. 2016). The herb is widely used for treating lung diseases and as a spleen tonic (Pang et al. 2011). A severe leaf black spot disease was observed on P. heterophylla in China, from 2018 to 2020. Plants displayed water-soaking symptoms in the early stage of infection, then the watery areas turned brown-red and a black mold appeared on the lesions. At a later stage, the leaf spots showed concentric rings surrounded by a yellow halo, and the initial infection site became dry and necrotic (Supplementary Figure S1). Nine infected plants were collected from three cultivation fields in Shibing County (N 27°4'21", E 108°8'0"), Guizhou province, on April 13th, 2019. The fungus was consistently isolated from symptomatic leaves on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium according to the method described by Larran et al (2002). A total of 22 isolates were obtained, including 7 isolates of Arcopilus and 15 isolates of Trichoderma. The growth rates of isolate MJ2-2b on PDA and oatmeal agar (OA) medium were 3 to 5 mm/day at 25 °C (Supplementary Figure S2A and S2B). Mycelium of isolate MJ2-2b was dense, yellowish-brown on PDA, while it was sparse, bright-red on OA. Also, the mycelium secreted brownish-red pigment on both PDA and OA. Ascomata when mature were water drop and limoniform. Lateral hairs were brown, erect or flexuous, tapering towards the tips. Ascospores when mature were greyish-white to grey, limoniform, or fusiform to pyriform (Supplementary Figure S2C and S2D). Further, the beta-tubulin gene (Tub2) of the fungus was amplified by using primer pairs T1 and TUB4Rd as described by Wang et al (2016) and subjected to sequencing. NCBI nucleotide BLAST results showed that sequences from seven isolates had a 99.86% identity with A. aureus (strain ChL-C, GenBank accession No. MG889987.1) (Supplementary Figure S2F). Molecular phylogenetic analysis by maximum likelihood method using MEGA 7 confirmed that the fungal isolate clustered with A. aureus. Hence, the causal agent was identified as A. aureus based on morphological and molecular characteristics. The sequence was deposited in GenBank (accession No. MW531453). Pathogenicity tests were conducted on 15-day old tissue-cultured seedlings according to Ghanbary et al (2018) (Supplementary Figure S3). Leaves of 16 seedlings were inoculated with 1×1 mm 5-day-old PDA-grown mycelial plugsof the fungal isolate. The experiment was repeated 3 times. After 10 days, the inoculated leaves showed the same symptoms observed on plants in the field. The associated fungal pathogen was consistently re-isolated from the inoculated seedlings and identified by Tub2 gene sequencing. At present, there are no reports of A. aureus causing disease of plants. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf black spot disease on P. heterophylla caused by A. aureus in China.

The genus Peronospora, an obligate biotrophic group belonging to Oomycota, causes serious damage to a variety of wild and ornamental plants, as well as cultivated crops, such as beet, rose, spinach, and tobacco. To investigate the diversity of Peronospora species parasitic to Stellaria and Pseudostellaria (Caryophyllaceae) plants in Korea, we performed a morphological analysis on dried herbarium specimens and molecular phylogenetic inferences based on internal transcribed spacer rDNA and cox2 mitochondrial DNA sequences. As a result, it was confirmed that there are four species of Peronospora parasitic to specific species of Stellaria and Pseudostellaria, all of which were hitherto unrecorded in Korea: P. alsinearum (ex Stellaria media), P. stellariae-aquaticae (ex Stellaria aquatica), P. stellariae-uliginosae (ex Stellaria alsine), and P. pseudostellariae (ex Pseudostellaria palibiniana). In addition, Peronospora specimens parasitic to Pseudostellaria davidii differed morphologically from P. pseudostellariae owing to the large and ellipsoidal conidia; this morphological discrepancy was also validated by the high genetic divergence between the two species. Peronospora casparyi sp. nov. is described and illustrated here.

Ornamental grasses are considered the trendy elements of modern landscape design. Representatives of the genus Festuca (fescue) feature a variety of decorative color of the leaves and stems. In the article the results of studying features of the seasonal rhythm of growth and development, morphometric parameters, and the use in phytodesign of six species of the genus Festuca : F. pseudodalmatica Krajina, F. circummediterranea Patzke, F. nigrescens Lam., F. rochelii Kit., F. heterophylla Lam., and F. filiformis Pourret are presented. All plants were grown by seedling method from the seed obtained in different years of botanical gardens of Russia and Europe. In culture in the Republic of Bashkortostan they well grow and develop during the growing period, pass all the stages of the life cycle, and form seeds. In the study of phenology observed the onset of the main phases of plant development according to standard procedures was made. The measures were conducted for 10 model plants of each taxon in the phase of mass flowering. Statistical processing of morphometric data was carried out according to the standard technique in MS Excel 2003 using standard metrics. The studied species differ in morphometric parameters: the most tall was F. rochelii (the average 94.1 cm), the lowest species in the Botanic garden of Ufa was F. pseudostellaria (39.6 cm). F. pseudodalmatica formed the greatest number of generative shoots (155), which distinguished it more decorative during flowering. Species of the genus Festuca are promising for cultivation not only for Ufa and cities of the South Urals, but for Central Russia in general. They are recommended for use in phytodesign for rockeries, mixed borders, and garden grasses.

To understand the correlation between the contents of five heavy metals (including arsenic, As; cadmium, Cd; copper, Cu; mercury, Hg; and lead, Pb) and Pseudostellaria heterophylla quality in Baiyi Country of Wudang District, nine samples of P. heterophylla and planting soil were collected in the research area. After pre-treatment, the samples were sent to ALS Minerals–ALS Chemex (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine their heavy metal contents. The average contents of the heavy metals in P. heterophylla are not higher than the limited standard value (LSV) of the heavy metals, and they generally conform to quality requirements. Except for Cd, the bioconcentration factors ( BFs ) of the heavy metals are not higher than 0.5, and those for Pb and As are especially low. Cd is slightly enriched in P. heterophylla and the other heavy metals are not. There is a significant positive correlation between the Cu and As in planting soil, a more significant positive correlation among of As, Cd and Pb in P. heterophylla , and the correlations among the other elements are not significant. The levels of enrichment of As, Cd, Cu and Pb contents are very severe, minor, not enriched and moderate in planting soil, respectively. As and Pb are mainly derived from anthropogenic activities. In particular, very severe As pollution by anthropogenic sources occurs. In addition, Cd and Cu are mainly from naturally occurring sources, and Cd may be impacted by anthropogenic activities.

Using light and scanning electron microscopy, we studied the pollen morphology of six species (one of which are endemic) of Chinese Pseudostellaria. All species were studied for the first time. Results of this study indicated that pollen grains of Pseudostellaria are spheroidal or spheroidal-polyhedral in shape and small or medium in size and pantoporate. Each pollen grain has 12-16 round pores. These pores are apart from each other by 5.77-7.73 μm and each has 7-13 granules in the operculum region. These features have important taxonomic significance. In addition, their pollen grains have thin exine with microechinate-punctate-perforate surface ornamentation. Pollen features do not support the traditional infrageneric classification of Pseudostellaria into two sections, but support that Pseudostellaria is closely related to other species of the Odontostemma clade.

Pseudostellaria heterophylla is one of the well-known traditional Chinese medicines and has been used in clinics for 100 years in China. The chemistry and pharmacology of P. heterophylla were reviewed to understand its active compounds. Then analysis of these compounds related to quality control of this herb was discussed. For the analysis of chemicals, three aspects have been discussed in this review. The first two aspects focused on the methodologies for analysis of cyclic peptides and carbohydrates in P. heterophylla, respectively. The last one dealt with the other methods used for identification of P. heterophylla. Some rich chemicals such as oligosaccharides in this plant were rarely evaluated. Many analyses were performed on this plant, however, few of them were accepted as quality control method.

Radix Pseudostellariae, the root of Pseudostellaria heterophylla (Miq.) Pax, has historically been used as medicine food homology plant for thousand years in China. Herein, PHP, a water soluble polysaccharides from Radix Pseudostellariae, was isolated and identified by HPGPC, GC–MS, FT-IR, and scanning electron microscopy. Results showed that PHP (Mw = 1.07 × 104 kDa) mainly consisted of rhamnose, galacturonic acid, glucose, galactose, arabinose, fucose in a molar ratio of 0.055:0.208:0.306:0.055:0.753:0.594:0.014. It contained nine types of linkages, including → 6)-Galp(A)-(1→, →6)-Galp-(1→, →3)-Arap-(1→, Galp-(1→, →3)-Rhap-(1→, Glup-(1→, →3)-Araf-(1→, →2,3,4)-Manp-(1 → and → 3,4)-Fucp-(1→. Morphology analysis showed that PHP took flakes with irregular size and properties. It significantly activated TLR4 in vivo. In DSS induced mouse-acute-colitis molds, PHP90-3a improved and the colon length was on ulcerative in mice. the production of IL-1β and TNF-α were decreased. The intestinal mucosa was more complete, there were much more goblet cells, and the infiltration of lymphocytes and neutrophils was significantly decreased. The content of SCFA increased, whereas acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid increased. 16S RNA sequencing and OTUs cluster analysis revealed that Bacteroides and Pseudomonas were the dominant intestinal flora. The analysis of community thermogram showed that the abundance ratio of Pseudomonas and Bacteroides (F/B) was significantly lower than the dominant group and significantly inhibited the levels of Verrucomicrobia and Akkermansia. Altogether, the data suggested that the anti-inflammatory activity might be implicated with the activation of TLR4 signal pathways, reducing IL-1β and TNF-α, and the regulation of mucosal immunity and the composition of intestinal flora.

Based on the different affinities of graphene oxide (GO) toward ssDNA and dsDNA, a fluorescence assay using split G-rich probes and magnetic GO (Fe3O4/GO) was developed for authentication of Pseudostellaria heterophylla based on the ITS sequences. In this assay, the probes mixed with Fe3O4/GO nanoparticles, hybridize with T-DNA for a double-stranded structure and then their G-rich sequences can fold into a G-quadruplex which combines hemin for DNAzyme. After magnetic separation, the DNAzyme supernatant can catalyze 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA) oxidation with H2O2 and release a fluorescence signal. Herein, the Fe3O4/GO nanoparticles play an important role in decreasing the background signal by absorbing the excess probes and hemin. This assay allows the analysis of T-DNA in the range of 1.0 × 10−14 to 1.0 × 10−7 mol L−1 with a low detection limit of 1.87 × 10−15 mol L−1. In addition, this newly designed assay allows specific authentication of Pseudostellaria heterophylla from different provenances.