The conversion from kobophenol A into carasinol B, two main chemical constituents of Caragana sinica, was confirmed by in vitro acid-catalyzed epimerization. The result provides important information about the biotransformation of kobophenol A in plants and its metabolism in rats.

Aurone synthase from Coreopsis grandiflora (cgAUS1), catalyzing conversion of butein to sulfuretin in a type-3 copper center, is a rare example of a polyphenol oxidase involved in anabolism. Site-directed mutagenesis around the CuA site of AUS1 was performed, and recombinant enzymes were analyzed by mass spectrometry. Replacement of the coordinating CuA histidines with alanine resulted in the p...

In desertified regions, shrub-dominated patches are important microhabitats for ground arthropod assemblages. As shrub age increases, soil, vegetation and microbiological properties can change remarkably and spontaneously across seasons. However, relatively few studies have analyzed how ground arthropods respond to the microhabitats created by shrubs of different plantation ages across seasons....

Capparis grandiflora was used to treat diarrhoea and other infective disorders in folklore. The present study aims at evaluating the action of chloroform soluble fraction, ethanol soluble fraction and ether soluble fraction of the leaves of Capparis grandiflora against inflammatory diseases. The anti-inflammatory effects were investigated by employing acute inflammatory model i.e.; carrageenan-...

Two Asteraceae species, Clibadium surinamense L. and Montanoa grandiflora D.C., were analyzed to determine the composition of the essential oil and to search for phototoxic compounds. Three parts of the plants were studied, inflorescence, stems and leaves. Intra and interspecific differences were found in the essential oil composition, which was determined by gas chromatography. In the chromato...

Analyzing the dynamics of soil particle-size distributions (PSDs), soil nutrients, and erodibility are very important for understanding the changes of soil structure and quality after long-term land-use conversion. We applied multifractal Rényi spectra (Dq) and singularity spectra (f(α)) to characterize PSDs 35 years after conversions from cropland to shrubland with Caragana microphylla (shrubl...