β-Amyloid (Aβ) deposition elicits a toxic effect on neurons and plays a crucial role in the etiology and/or progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Polyphenols found in fruits are endorsed for nutritional intervention in AD, since they are known to have extensive therapeutic properties apropos of brain health owing to their anti-oxidative effects against Aβ and neural reactive oxygen species (...

Herba epimedii (Epimedium), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used as a kidney tonic and antirheumatic medicine for thousands of years. In Epimedium, flavonoids have been demonstrated to be the main bioactive components (BCs). However, the molecular biosynthetic and regulatory mechanisms of flavonoid-derived BCs remain obscure. In this study, we isolated 12 structural genes and tw...

We identified two glycosyltransferases that contribute to the structural diversification of flavonol glycosides in grapevine (Vitis vinifera): glycosyltransferase 5 (Vv GT5) and Vv GT6. Biochemical analyses showed that Vv GT5 is a UDP-glucuronic acid:flavonol-3-O-glucuronosyltransferase (GAT), and Vv GT6 is a bifunctional UDP-glucose/UDP-galactose:flavonol-3-O-glucosyltransferase/galactosyltran...

Polar auxin transport (PAT) plays key roles in the regulation of plant growth and development. Flavonoids have been implicated in the inhibition of PAT. However, the active flavonoid derivative(s) involved in this process in vivo has not yet been identified. Here, we provide evidence that a specific flavonol bis-glycoside is correlated with shorter plant stature and reduced PAT. Specific flavon...

1. The flavonoid constituents o f Flaveria bidentis have been identified as the 3-O-glucosides of kaempferol, 6 -m ethoxykaem pferol and 6 -methoxyquercetin (patuletin), as well as six flavonol sulfate esters belonging to quercetin and isorhamnetin. The two latter glucosides are reported here for the first time in this species; whereas quercetin-3,7-disulfate, is a novel compound from nature. 2...

Flower color is the main character throughout the plant kingdom. Though substantial information exists regarding the structural and regulatory genes involved in anthocyanin and flavonol biosynthesis, little is known that what make a diverse white vs. red color flower in natural species. Here, the contents of pigments in seven species from varied phylogenetic location in plants with red and whit...

Flavonoids are one of the major plant pigments for flower colour. Not only coloured anthocyanins, but also co-pigment flavones or flavonols, accumulate in flowers. To study the regulation of early flavonoid biosynthesis, two R2R3-MYB transcription factors, GtMYBP3 and GtMYBP4, were identified from the petals of Japanese gentian (Gentiana triflora). Phylogenetic analysis showed that these two pr...

A new flavonol triglycoside, rhamnocitrin-3-O-neohesperoside-4'-O-glucoside was isolated from the ethanol extract of Cadaba glandulosa together with two known diglycosides rhamnocitrin-3-O-neohesperoside and rhamnetin-3-neohesperoside. Characterization of the three compounds was achieved by various spectroscopic methods.

The crude ethanol extract obtained from the root of Phyllanthus acuminatus Vahl was found to inhibit growth in the P388 leukemia system in mice. Kupchan and coworkers traced the significant pharmacological properties to a bisabolane sesquiterpene glycoside, (+)-phyllanthoside (0' Although the structure of the corresponding aglycon (+)-phyllanthocin (2) was elucidated by single-crystal X-ray dif...

The biosynthetic gene cluster for the aromatic polyketide steffimycin of the anthracycline family has been cloned and characterized from "Streptomyces steffisburgensis" NRRL 3193. Sequence analysis of a 42.8-kbp DNA region revealed the presence of 36 open reading frames (ORFs) (one of them incomplete), 24 of which, spanning 26.5 kb, are probably involved in steffimycin biosynthesis. They code f...