Hybridization may lead to introgression of genes among species. Introgression may be bidirectional or unidirectional, depending on factors such as the demography of the hybridizing species, or the nature of reproductive barriers between them. Previous microsatellite studies suggested bidirectional introgression between diploid Betula nana (dwarf birch) and tetraploid B. pubescens (downy birch) ...

Background and objectives: Betulinic acid (BA), oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) are well-known pentacyclic triterpenoids (PTs), which are produced by plants. They possess a variety of beneficial effects including anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antitumor, anti-HIV, antimicrobial, gastroprotective, and antihyperlipidemic activities. In the present study, quantitative determination...

Antioxidants are vital substances which possess the ability to protect the body from damage caused by free radical-induced oxidative stress. A variety of free radical scavenging antioxidants exist within the body which many of them are derived from dietary sources like fruits, vegetables and teas. This article describes a test method for screening the antioxidant activity of 60 Iranian plant...

We compared the water-use characteristics of co-occurring mature Quercus cerris L. and Quercus pubescens Willd. trees growing in resource-limited (mainly water) hilly habitats in Tuscany, Italy. The species differed in their distribution along soil water gradients and in their access to, and use of, water, even though the study year was wetter than average, though with a summer drought. Compare...

background and objectives: betulinic acid (ba), oleanolic acid (oa) and ursolic acid (ua) are well-known pentacyclic triterpenoids (pts), which are produced by plants. they possess a variety of beneficial effects including anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antitumor, anti-hiv, antimicrobial, gastroprotective, and antihyperlipidemic activities. in the present study, quantitative determination...

This study investigated the degradation and enzymatic saccharification of cornstalk by white-rot and brown rot fungi. The fungal strains Trametes pubescens Cui 7571, Trametes velutina Dai 10149, and Antrodia wangii Cui 7568 were analyzed in solid-state fermentation cultures. Various extracellular enzyme activities were assessed to determine biochemical changes during the degradation process. Fo...

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is one of the major tropical fruit crops worldwide, but it is limited throughout its range by papaya ringspot virus type P (PRSV-P). Previous genetic studies identified a functional PRSV-P resistance marker in a mapping population of F2 plants of Vasconcellea pubescens (resistant to PRSV-P) × Vasconcellea parviflora (susceptible to PRSV-P) and showed that the marker ex...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Changes in number of trichomes and in composition and concentrations of their exudates throughout leaf development may have important consequences for plant adaptation to abiotic and biotic factors. In the present study, seasonal changes in leaf trichomes and epicuticular flavonoid aglycones in three Finnish birch taxa (Betula pendula, B. pubescens ssp. pubescens, and B. pub...

Fruit abscission as a response to herbivory is well-documented in many plant species, but its effect on further damage by mobile herbivores that survive fruit abscission is relatively unstudied. Physalis plants (Solanaceae) abscise fruit containing feeding larvae of their main frugivore, Heliothis subflexa Guenée (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a specialist moth. We tested the ability of H. subflexa ...