From the chloroform extract of the fresh fruits of Diospyros maritima BLUME (Ebenaceae), five new naphthoquinone derivatives, 2,7'-dimethyl-2',3-bijuglone (27), 2,7'-dimethyl-3,3'-bijuglone (28), 2,7'-dimethyl-6,8'-bijuglone (29), 7,7'-dimethyl-3,3'-ethylidenebijuglone (30), and 2',7-dimethyl-3,6'-ethylidenebijuglone (31), were isolated, in addition to twenty-one known naphthoquinone derivative...

BACKGROUND Skin diseases have been of major concern recently due to their association with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS). The study area (northern Maputaland) has the highest HIV infection rate in South Africa, which made them more prone to a wide range of skin conditions. Fungal infections due to the hot climate and overcrowding household...

Senecio changii (Asteraceae: Senecioneae), a new species from Muli, Sichuan, southwestern China, is described. It is distinguished in Chinese Senecio s.s. by having lyrate-pinnatisect to pinnatisect leaves and a single terminal large discoid capitulum which is somewhat nodding. Evidence from floral micromorphology, karyology and molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the nuclear ITS/ETS seque...

Hippea maritima (Miroshnichenko et al. 1999) is the type species of the genus Hippea, which belongs to the family Desulfurellaceae within the class Deltaproteobacteria. The anaerobic, moderately thermophilic marine sulfur-reducer was first isolated from shallow-water hot vents in Matipur Harbor, Papua New Guinea. H. maritima was of interest for genome sequencing because of its isolated phylogen...

Structural genomics is emerging as a principal approach to define protein structure-function relationships. To apply this approach on a genomic scale, novel methods and technologies must be developed to determine large numbers of structures. We describe the design and implementation of a high-throughput structural genomics pipeline and its application to the proteome of the thermophilic bacteri...

Provisioning the young is an important form of insect parental care and is believed to improve the survival and growth of the young. Anisolabis maritima Bonelli (Dermaptera: Anisolabididae) is a cosmopolitan species of earwig that shows sub-social behavior in which the females tend clutches of eggs in soil burrows. The defensive and provisioning behaviors of these females were examined in this ...

The importance of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) in microalgae was widely reported. In this study, six isolated microalgae from Teluk Aling, Penang National Park were screened for PUFA contents. Isochrysis maritima showed the best polyunsaturated fatty acids essential for aquaculture species compared to other microalgal species tested. This species is a good choice as aquaculture feed due to...

Extracts from Alternanthera maritima are used in Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases. Bioassay-guided fractionation of A. maritima aerial parts yielded an ethanolic crude extract, its butanolic fraction and seven isolated flavonoids (two aglycones, two O-glycosides and three C-glycosides) with antioxidative activity. The ability of these samples to ...

An NADH oxidase from the anaerobic hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima was purified. The enzyme was very active in catalyzing the reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide with an optimal pH value of 7 at 80 degrees C. The V(max) was 230 +/- 14 mumol/min/mg (k(cat)/K(m) = 548,000 min(-1) mM(-1)), and the K(m) values for NADH and oxygen were 42 +/- 3 and 43 +/- 4 muM, respectively. Th...

Bacterial actin homologue MreB is required for cell shape maintenance in most non-spherical bacteria, where it assembles into helical structures just underneath the cytoplasmic membrane. Proper assembly of the actin cytoskeleton requires RodZ, a conserved, bitopic membrane protein that colocalises to MreB and is essential for cell shape determination. Here, we present the first crystal structur...