Search Results (328)

Aizoon africanum (L.) Klak (Synonym Galenia africana L.) is traditionally used for a variety of medicinal purposes; however, it has been reported to cause liver damage and severe ascites, particularly in sheep and Angora goats in the arid regions of the Western Cape. This study explores its cytotoxic properties to identify potential cytotoxic compound(s) in the plant. The methanolic extract of A. africanum was re-investigated and subjected to various chromatographic techniques, including preparative HPLC, resulting in the isolation of eight compounds (1–8). Structural elucidation was primarily based on NMR data. Among the isolated compounds, four were flavanones, one was a flavonone, and three were chalcones. Notably, compound 8 was identified as a new chalcone, while compounds 2 and 3 were reported for the first time from this plant. The toxicity of these isolated compounds was evaluated against the HepG2 and SH-SY5Y cancer cell lines using the MTT assay. We further investigated markers of cell death using spectrophotometric and luminometric methods. Among the isolated compounds, 7 and 8 exhibited cytotoxic activities within the range of 3.0–20.0 µg/mL. Notably, the compounds demonstrated greater cytotoxicity towards liver-derived HepG2 cells compared to the neuronal SH-SY5Y cell line. Compound 7 (2′,4′-dihydroxychalcone) was identified as inducing apoptosis through the intrinsic pathway without causing overt necrosis. The findings indicate that the phytochemicals derived from A. africanum exhibit differential cytotoxic effects based on cell type, suggesting potential for developing novel anticancer agents, particularly compound 7. Additionally, the identification of compound 8 provides insight into the liver toxicity of this plant observed in sheep in South Africa. Full article

Excavating new salt tolerance genes and utilizing them to improve salt-tolerant wheat varieties is an effective way to utilize salinized soil. The NAC gene family plays an important role in plant response to salt stress. In this study, 446 NAC sequences were isolated from the whole genome of common wheat and classified into 118 members based on subgenome homology, named TaNAC1 to TaNAC118. Transcriptome analysis of salt-tolerant wheat breeding line CH7034 roots revealed that 144 of the 446 TaNAC genes showed significant changes in expression levels at least two time points after NaCl treatment. These differentially expressed TaNACs were divided into four groups, and Group 4, containing the largest number of 78 genes, exhibited a successive upregulation trend after salt treatment. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the TaNAC gene family in 114 wheat germplasms were retrieved from the public database and were subjected to further association analysis with the relative salt-injury rates (RSIRs) of six root phenotypes, and then 20 SNPs distributed on chromosomes 1B, 2B, 2D, 3B, 3D, 5B, 5D, and 7A were correlated with phenotypes involving salt tolerance (p < 0.0001). Combining the results of RT-qPCR and association analysis, we further selected three NAC genes from Group 4 as candidate genes that related to salt tolerance, including TaNAC26-D3.2, TaNAC33-B, and TaNAC40-B. Compared with the wild type, the roots of the tanac26-d3.2 mutant showed shorter length, less volume, and reduced biomass after being subjected to salt stress. Four SNPs of TaNAC26-D3.2 formed two haplotypes, Hap1 and Hap2, and germplasms with Hap2 exhibited better salt tolerance. Snp3, in exon 3 of TaNAC26-D3.2, causing a synonymous mutation, was developed into a Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR marker, K3, to distinguish the two haplotypes, which can be further used for wheat germplasm screening or marker-assisted breeding. This study provides new genes and molecular markers for improvement of salt tolerance in wheat. Full article

This study identified four new keratin-associated protein genes (KRTAP19-n) in sheep: sKRTAP19-1, sKRTAP19-2, sKRTAP19-4, and sKRTAP19-6. These genes are closely related to the previously identified sheep genes KRTAP19-3 and KRTAP19-5, as well as to human KRTAP19-n genes. However, no clear orthologous relationships were found, suggesting complex evolutionary dynamics for this gene family. Extensive nucleotide sequence variation was observed across the four genes. sKRTAP19-1 had four variants, defined by four synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and a variable number of “GGCTAC” hexanucleotide repeats. sKRTAP19-2 had five variants involving seven SNPs, three of which were non-synonymous. sKRTAP19-4 had five variants with nine SNPs (three being non-synonymous) and a three-nucleotide deletion. sKRTAP19-6 had eight variants, defined by 13 SNPs and a two-nucleotide consecutive substitution, with four of the SNPs being non-synonymous. One distinct variant each of sKRTAP19-4 and sKRTAP19-6 was found exclusively in Yanchi Tan sheep, with seven unique nucleotide differences compared to other variants. These unique variants were identical to the Romanov sheep genome in the region amplified (excluding the primer binding regions), suggesting a shared ancestral origin. The findings highlight considerable genetic diversity in ovine KRTAP19-n and lay a foundation for future research into their role in regulating wool fibre characteristics. Full article

This study presents a bibliographic review of the genus Menegazzia in Chile, the first in over two decades, updating new records, the taxonomic placement of the genus, and the synonymization of species. Up to twenty species have been cited in the country, considering that M. albida, M. hollermayeri, and M. norstictca are synonyms of the valid species M. wilsonii, M. dispora, and M sanguinascens. A fully revised dichotomous key and color photographs are included to facilitate accurate identification, especially given the genus’s morphological convergence and sparse reproductive structures. For the first time, the divergence times of Menegazzia lineages are discussed in relation to major Southern Hemisphere geologic events, suggesting a dispersal-driven distribution with a crown age of approximately 21.2 Ma. This review consolidates fragmented data, integrates recent molecular findings, and emphasizes the genus’s value as an ecological and biogeographic indicator in Chilean temperate forests. Full article

Lessertia frutescens (L.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning (synonym Sutherlandia frutescens), commonly known as cancer bush, is one of the most prominently used South African medicinal plants, with a rich history of traditional uses among indigenous communities. Its phytochemical profile showed different metabolites such as amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, flavonoid glycosides, cycloartenol glycosides, and oleanane-type saponins. Moreover, several research studies have highlighted the promising therapeutic effects of L. frutescens in combating various cancer cell lines. Additionally, the plant demonstrated potent immunomodulatory, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, neuroprotective, antistress, and antimicrobial activities. These research findings highlight L. frutescens as a promising candidate for the development of new or complementary therapies for a range of diseases and conditions. This review analyses the chemical and biological properties of L. frutescens based on 154 articles identified through SciFinder. Of these, 78 articles, including two patents, met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Studies focused on agriculture and horticulture were excluded as they fell outside the scope of this research. Full article

This study proposes a new benchmark to evaluate the cultural understanding and natural language processing capabilities of large language models based on Sino-Korean words and four-character idioms. Those are essential linguistic and cultural assets in Korea. Reflecting the official question types of the Korean Hanja Proficiency Test, we constructed four question categories—four-character idioms, synonyms, antonyms, and homophones—and systematically compared the performance of GPT-based and non-GPT LLMs. GPT-4o showed the highest accuracy and explanation quality. However, challenges remain in distinguishing the subtle nuances of individual characters and in adapting to uniquely Korean meanings as opposed to standard Chinese character interpretations. Our findings reveal a gap in LLMs’ understanding of Korea-specific Hanja culture and underscore the need for evaluation tools reflecting these cultural distinctions. Full article

This study presents a taxonomic revision of the genus Macrima Baly, 1878 to advance the understanding of suprageneric, non-monophyletic “Monoleptites”. Through comprehensive morphological examinations of all type specimens, including detailed analyses of male and female genitalia and the structure of the cavitous anterior part of the head, we propose M. roseofulva Medvedev, 2011 and M. ferrugina Jiang, 1990 as new synonyms of M. aurantiaca (Laboissière, 1936), M. bifida Yang, 1992 a new synonym of M. cornuta (Laboissière, 1936), and M. yunnanensis (Laboissière, 1936) as a new synonym of M. pallida (Laboissière, 1936). In addition, M. costatipennis Jacoby, 1896 is transferred to Hoplosaenidea Laboissière, 1933 (comb. nov.). Color photos of habitus, body details, and genitalia are presented for all species. Full article

Bloom’s taxonomy provides a well-established framework for categorizing the cognitive complexity of assessment questions, ensuring alignment with course learning outcomes (CLOs). Achieving this alignment is essential for constructing meaningful and valid assessments that accurately measure student learning. However, in higher education, the large volume of questions that instructors must develop each semester makes manual classification of cognitive levels a time-consuming and error-prone process. Despite various attempts to automate this classification, the highest accuracy reported in existing research has not exceeded 93.5%, highlighting the need for further advancements in this area. Furthermore, the best-performing deep learning models only reached an accuracy of 86%. These results emphasize the need for improvement, particularly in the application of deep learning models, which have not been fully exploited for this task. In response to these challenges, our study explores a novel approach to enhance the accuracy of cognitive level classification. We leverage a combination of augmentation through synonym substitution, advanced feature extraction techniques utilizing DistilBERT and TF-IDF, and a robust ensemble model incorporating soft voting. These methods were selected to capture both semantic meaning and term frequency, allowing the model to benefit from contextual depth and statistical relevance. Additionally, Bayesian optimization is employed for hyperparameter tuning to refine the model’s performance further. The novelty of our approach lies in the fusion of sparse TF-IDF features with dense DistilBERT embeddings, optimized through Bayesian search across multiple classifiers. This hybrid design captures both term-level salience and deep contextual semantics, something not fully exploited in prior models focused solely on transformer architectures. Our soft-voting ensemble capitalizes on classifier diversity, yielding more stable and accurate results. Through this integrated approach outperformed previous configurations with an accuracy of 96%, surpassing the current state-of-the-art results and setting a new benchmark for automated cognitive level classification. These findings have significant implications for the development of high-quality, scalable assessments in educational settings. Full article

John Strong Newberry described three species of the lobe-fin fish Onychodus (Osteichthyes, Sarcopterygii, Onychodontida) based on parasymphysial teeth, or tusks. Two species, Onychodus sigmoides Newberry, 1857 (type species of the genus) and Onychodus hopkinsi Newberry, 1857, were described from the “fish beds” in the Delaware Limestone (Middle Devonian, Eifelian) of Delaware, Ohio, USA; and one species, Onychodus ortoni Newberry, 1889, was described from the Ohio Shale, Huron Member (Upper Devonian, Famennian) of Perry Township, Franklin County, Ohio. In 1873, Newberry replaced the original species-group definition of O. hopkinsi with a definition based on teeth of different morphology from the West Falls Group (Upper Devonian, Frasnian) of Franklin, New York. Specimens of Newberry’s original Onychodus material, including the primary types, which were long assumed to be lost, have been rediscovered in a 19th-century collection. They show O. hopkinsi to be a junior synonym of O. sigmoides and clarify the species definition of O. sigmoides. Onychodus sigmoides, which is recognized from Middle Devonian strata of the Appalachian Basin in the United States and Canada, shows two end-member shapes of teeth on the parasymphysial whorl: procurved (arcuate) or nearly so proximally and recurved distally (anteriorly). Small teeth are commonly more slender than large teeth, which are robust. Parasymphysial teeth from the Upper Devonian of Ohio and New York are referred to O. ortoni. Full article

An annotated list of liverworts of the Murmansk Region is compiled based on a critical compilation of publications and label data available in the information system CRIS (L.). It includes 210 species, 2 subspecies and 8 varieties, which is 59 species more than in the list of species published in 1982. Ten taxa were excluded through comparison with the previous list and later publications, due to misidentifications or new taxonomical treatments. Annotations for each species include the synonyms under which they were listed for the region; the category of threat in the Red Data Books of Europe, Russia and the Murmansk Region; links to the most representative publications on occurrence in each of nine accepted biogeographic provinces of the region; and at least one specimen number of the KPABG or INEP herbaria in the case of the absence of published data. In total, we provide 259 new records for different provinces based on herbaria KPABG (205 records) and INEP (52 records). Additionally, there are links to publications on the nucleotide sequence data of 149 specimens obtained for 82 species and for 1 variety from the Murmansk Region, including 14 specimens (11 species), published here for the first time. Species threatened in Europe, Russia and the Murmansk Region are discussed and future perspectives of liverwort study in the Murmansk Region are outlined. Full article

This study reports the first complete mitochondrial genomes of three egg parasitoid wasps parasitizing Nilaparvata lugens—Pseudoligosita nephotetticum, Anagrus frequens, and Anagrus nilaparvatae. Genome sizes ranged from 15,429 to 15,889 bp, with all three mitogenomes displaying strong A + T bias, standard gene content, and characteristic strand asymmetries. While A. frequens and A. nilaparvatae exhibited conserved gene orders, extensive gene rearrangements, including multiple inversions in both protein-coding genes (PCGs) and tRNAs, were observed in P. nephotetticum. Codon usage analyses revealed a preference for codons ending in A or U. The non-synonymous (Ka) to synonymous (Ks) substitution ratio analysis identified signs of positive selection in multiple PCGs, particularly in atp8, nad6, and nad3, suggesting possible adaptive evolution related to host-searching behavior. Secondary structure analyses showed the loss of trnL1 in all Anagrus species, while trnS1 and trnR lacked the DHU arm, indicating possible derived traits in Mymaridae. Phylogenetic analysis was the first time to describe the relationship of the genus Anagrus within Mymaridae from the perspective of 13 protein genes. Furthermore, the grouping of (Pseudoligosita + Megaphragma) + Trichogramma was supporting the distinct evolutionary lineage of Pseudoligosita. This work provides new molecular resources and phylogenetic insight for Chalcidoidea, with implications for parasitoid evolution and biological control strategies. Full article

Charipinae taxonomy has been always very problematic because of the large number of described species and unclear interspecific limits. Following the morphological characterisation, molecular information is now used to determine the boundaries between species. In this context, we compared two cosmopolitan species: Alloxysta victrix (Westwood, 1833) and Alloxysta consobrina (Zetterstedt, 1838). Material from Alloxysta tscheki (Giraud, 1860) and Alloxysta leunisii (Hartig, 1841) was also included. An integrative phylogenetic study was performed using three molecular markers (COI, ITS2, and 16S) and a morphological matrix. Inter- and intraspecific genetic distances were calculated and compared with previous data. The results showed no differences between interspecific and intraspecific distances for the four studied species and no clear phylogenetic structure, in contrast to other well-resolved Charipinae species included in our analyses. In light of these findings, three new junior synonyms are established under A. victrix (Westwood, 1833): A. consobrina (Zetterstedt, 1838) n. syn., A. tscheki (Giraud, 1860) n. syn., and A. leunisii (Hartig, 1841) n. syn. Full article

India and Sri Lanka are known to exhibit high levels of biological diversity with many endemic taxa, such as the enigmatic scorpion genus Charmus Karsch, 1879. Members of this genus are rarely encountered in the field and are also known to be morphologically very similar, which impedes their systematic assessment. Our dedicated efforts towards sampling the members of the genus resulted in the collection of important material, which allowed us to carry out a thorough systematic revision of the genus using an integrated taxonomic approach. We propose several taxonomic changes based on the results of a detailed morphological study supported by molecular data. Charmus indicus Hirst, 1915 is synonymized with Charmus laneus Karsch, 1879, owing to the lack of morphological differences and low genetic divergence between the two taxa. We designate a neotype for Charmus sinhagadensis Tikader and Bastawade, 1983, and describe a new species from Sirumalai (Tamil Nadu, India). Moreover, we provide the first molecular phylogeny of Charmus based on Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI), 16S rRNA (16S) and 28S rRNA (28S) genes. The phylogenetic position of the genus within the family Buthidae C. L. Koch, 1837 is also tested using an independent genome-wide dataset (Ultraconserved Elements). Topological congruence and discrepancies between the phylogenies generated with Sanger sequences and the Ultraconserved Elements are commented on, and the reliability of these datasets when evaluating phylogenetic relationships at different hierarchical levels is further discussed. Full article

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is a recently emerged viral pathogen in the Tobamovirus genus first observed in 2014 in the Middle East that has since spread worldwide, causing significant losses in greenhouse tomato production. ToBRFV is easily mechanically transmitted and can escape the durable Tm-2² resistance gene, facilitating its global spread. Seed companies have identified novel sources of resistance and introduced these resistance traits into commercial cultivars. The identity, number, and mechanisms of these putative novel resistance genes are largely unknown but could be exerting selective pressures on ToBRFV. Here, we report 15 new ToBRFV genomic sequences from Canadian greenhouse production systems in susceptible and novel resistant or tolerant cultivars collected since 2023. We combined these sequences with five other Canadian ToBRFV genomes previously deposited in Genbank and a further five consensus sequences derived from metagenomic-based wastewater monitoring sequence data and conducted phylogenetic analysis. Most Canadian sequences grouped together when compared with 332 publicly available international sequences, but several isolates appeared distantly related, suggesting multiple introductions to Canadian production systems. High sequence identity between samples suggest movement of ToBRFV between independent greenhouses, highlighting areas where biosecurity can be improved. Several novel non-synonymous polymorphisms identified in the p126 and movement protein (MP) open reading frames (ORFs) were unique to Canadian sequences and associated with infection of novel resistant tomato cultivars. Many polymorphisms in the p126 ORF are located in a region of the protein associated with Tm-1 resistance-breaking isolates of tomato mosaic virus and ToBRFV, but have not been previously reported. Four novel polymorphisms in MP were also identified and do not appear to be associated with sites previously identified as interacting with Tm-2² and could be related to other unknown resistance genes. Together, these results confirm the difficulties in preventing the transmission of ToBRFV, identify putative adaptations to novel and existing resistance genes, and emphasize the urgent need for the cloning and characterization of these new sources of resistance to ToBRFV. Full article

Background: Insecticide resistance challenges the vector control efforts towards malaria elimination and proving the development of complementary tools. Targeting the genes that are involved in mosquito fertility and susceptibility to Plasmodium with small molecule inhibitors has been a promising alternative to curb the vector population and drive the transmission down. However, such an approach would require a comprehensive knowledge of the genetic diversity of the targeted genes to ensure the broad efficacy of new tools across the natural vector populations. Methods: Four fertility and parasite susceptibility genes were identified from a systematic review of the literature. The Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) found within the regions spanned by these four genes, genotyped across 2784 wild-caught Anopheles gambiae s.l. from 19 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, were extracted from the whole genome SNP data of the Ag1000G project (Ag3.0). The population genetic analysis on gene-specific data included the determination of the population structure, estimation of the differentiation level between the populations, evaluation of the linkage between the non-synonymous SNPs (nsSNPs), and a few statistical tests. Results: As potential targets for small molecule inhibitors to reduce malaria transmission, our set of four genes associated with Anopheles fertility and their susceptibility to Plasmodium comprises the mating-induced stimulator of oogenesis protein (MISO, AGAP002620), Vitellogenin (Vg, AGAP004203), Lipophorin (Lp, AGAP001826), and Haem-peroxidase 15 (HPX15, AGAP013327). The analyses performed on these potential targets of small inhibitor molecules revealed that the genes are conserved within SSA populations of An. gambiae s.l. The overall low Fst values and low clustering of principal component analysis between species indicated low genetic differentiation at all the genes (MISO, Vg, Lp and HPX15). The low nucleotide diversity (>0.10), negative Tajima’s D values, and heterozygosity analysis provided ecological insights into the purifying selection that acts to remove deleterious mutations, maintaining genetic diversity at low levels within the populations. None of MISO nsSNPs were identified in linkage disequilibrium, whereas a few weakly linked nsSNPs with ambiguous haplotyping were detected at other genes. Conclusions: This integrated finding on the genetic features of major malaria vectors’ biological factors across natural populations offer new insights for developing sustainable malaria control tools. These loci were reasonably conserved, allowing for the design of effective targeting with small molecule inhibitors towards controlling vector populations and lowering global malaria transmission. Full article