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This study aimed to evaluate the effects of various plant-derived carotenoid extracts on growth parameters and skin coloration of golden trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus). Five groups of fish were fed diets containing carotenoid sources from the petal extracts of the leopard tree (Caesalpinia ferrea), wild sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia), marigold (Tagetes erecta), yellow bells (Tecoma stans), Wedelia chinensis (Wedelia chinensis), along with a control group, each diet had a carotenoid concentration of 0.25 g/kg feed. The diets were based on the same fundamental ingredients and administered for 56 days. Results showed significant differences in growth parameters among the different diets, with wild sunflower and marigold petal extracts proving most effective in enhancing the skin coloration of golden trevally. High yellow (CIE b*), ranging from 17.2 to 18.8, were observed (Minolta CR-400), compared to only 12.2 ± 0.34 in the control group. Additionally, the carotenoid content in the tissue of the various groups differed significantly (p < 0.05), with the highest level of carotenoids (71.2 ± 2.9 µg/g tissue) detected in the fish skin of the dietary marigold flower group (UV-visible spectrophotometry). It is suggested that the petals of wild sunflowers and marigolds can efficiently improve body pigmentation and growth performance in golden trevally, indicating that these plant-derived carotenoids may have potential applications in aquaculture.

A new plant species, Camellia vanlangensis, belonging to the Archecamellia section is described from Thanh Hoa Province, northern Vietnam. It grows up to 8 m tall and has big golden yellow flowers up to 8 cm wide. The flower is a solitary, subterminal, cup-shaped, with glabrous pedicel, 5-6 persistent bracteoles, 9-10 persistent orange-green sepals, and 10-11 petals. It has 130-150 stamens in 5 whorls, glabrous 3-5-loculed ovary, 3-5 distinct styles, 5-rigged and apex sunken of capsule. A detailed comparison between new species and two close related species, C. impressinervis and C. calcicola, is provided. Preliminary IUCN conservation status of this species is assigned as Critically Endangered (CR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new species of Oreocharis (Gesneriaceae) are described and illustrated. These new species grow in pairs in montane forests in Yunnan province, China. One pair grows in Wenshan county, Southeast Yunnan, viz. Oreocharis eriocarpa W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and O. wenshanensis W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and another pair grows in Yongde county, Southwest Yunnan, viz. O. fulva W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and O. lacerata W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui. Their morphological and geographical relationship with similar species is discussed and the IUCN endangered status is provided, based on the available data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The petals of Rosa rugosa are generally pink and purple, never yellow. Although new varieties of R. rugosa have been bred, no yellow variety has ever been obtained. Therefore, the use of roses in garden settings has been restricted. Three R. rugosa hybrid cultivars ( R. rugosa ‘Miaoyu’, ‘Rudiepianpian’ and ‘Jiaomeisanbian’) were bred in our laboratory using wild R. rugosa ‘Hunchun’ as the female parent and Rosa xanthina as the male parent. The petals of these cultivars appear yellow, at least in part; thus, these cultivars represent the first R. rugosa with yellow flowers. To investigate the causes of this yellow petal color, the petals of these materials were studied at both the physiological and molecular levels. Anthocyanins are the most important chromogenic substances in plants. In this study, six types of anthocyanins, cyanidin-3- O -glucoside (Cy3G), cyanidin-3,5-di- O -glucoside (Cy3G5G), pelargonidin-3- O -glucoside (Pg3G), pelargonidin-3,5-di- O -glucoside (Pg3G5G), peonidin-3- O -glucoside (Pn3G) and peonidin-3,5-di- O -glucoside (Pn3G5G), were analyzed in the petals of the new R. rugosa cultivars and their parents. All of the above anthocyanins were found in the petals of ‘Hunchun’, and a small amount of Cy3G5G was present in ‘Miaoyu’ and ‘Jiaomeisanbian’, but no anthocyanins were found in R. xanthina or ‘Rudiepianpian’. Moreover, the expression levels of seven structural genes ( RrCHS , RrCHI , RrF3H , RrFLS , RrF3′H , RrDFR and RrANS ) in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway were quantitatively analyzed via qRT-PCR. We concluded that RrFLS , RrDFR and RrF3′H are the key genes controlling petal color in these different rose varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims Angiosperms display remarkable diversity in flower colour, implying that transitions between pigmentation phenotypes must have been common. Despite progress in understanding transitions between anthocyanin (blue, purple, pink or red) and unpigmented (white) flowers, little is known about the evolutionary patterns of flower-colour transitions in lineages with both yellow and anthocyanin-pigmented flowers. This study investigates the relative rates of evolutionary transitions between different combinations of yellow- and anthocyaninpigmentation phenotypes in the tribe Antirrhineae. Methods We surveyed taxonomic literature for data on anthocyanin and yellow floral pigmentation for 369 species across the tribe. We then reconstructed the phylogeny of 169 taxa and used phylogenetic comparative methods to estimate transition rates among pigmentation phenotypes across the phylogeny. Key Results In contrast to previous studies we found a bias towards transitions involving a gain in pigmentation, although transitions to phenotypes with both anthocyanin and yellow taxa are nevertheless extremely rare. Despite the dominance of yellow and anthocyanin-pigmented taxa, transitions between these phenotypes are constrained to move through a white intermediate stage, whereas transitions to double-pigmentation are very rare. The most abundant transitions are between anthocyanin-pigmented and unpigmented flowers, and similarly the most abundant polymorphic taxa were those with anthocyanin-pigmented and unpigmented flowers. Conclusions Our findings show that pigment evolution is limited by the presence of other floral pigments. This interaction between anthocyanin and yellow pigments constrains the breadth of potential floral diversity observed in nature. In particular, they suggest that selection has repeatedly acted to promote the spread of single-pigmented phenotypes across the Antirrhineae phylogeny. Furthermore, the correlation between transition rates and polymorphism suggests that the forces causing and maintaining variance in the short term reflect evolutionary processes on longer time scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new species of Oreocharis (Gesneriaceae) are described and illustrated. These new species grow in pairs in montane forests in Yunnan province, China. One pair grows in Wenshan county, Southeast Yunnan, viz. Oreocharis eriocarpa W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and O. wenshanensis W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and another pair grows in Yongde county, Southwest Yunnan, viz. O. fulva W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui and O. lacerata W.H. Chen & Y.M. Shui. Their morphological and geographical relationship with similar species is discussed and the IUCN endangered status is provided, based on the available data., (Wen-Hong Chen, Ya-Mei Zhang, De-Ming He, Yong-Liang Li, Yu-Min Shui.)