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Short beak and dwarfism syndrome virus (SBDSV) is a newly emerging distinct duck-origin goose parvovirus that belongs to the genus Dependovirus. Our previous studies have found that SBDSV was highly pathogenic to Cherry Valley ducklings and mule ducklings. However, little is known about its pathogenicity to other waterfowls. In the present study, the pathogenicity of SBDSV was evaluated in domesticated waterfowl including Muscovy ducklings, Sheldrake ducklings and domestic goslings. All experimentally infected birds exhibited remarkable growth retardation, anorexia and diarrhea similar to naturally infected birds. Interestingly, atrophic beaks and protruded tongues were not observed in all infection groups. At necropsies, no diagnostic pathological lesions were observed. Viral antigens existed in most organ tissues such as heart, liver, spleen, kidney, pancreas and intestine. All ducks in Muscovy duckling and Sheldrake duckling infected groups and 70% goslings in infected groups were seropositive for goose parvovirus (GPV) antibodies at 21 dpi with the average titers as 2 8.4 , 2 6.9 , 2 4.0 , respectively. Muscovy ducklings were more prominent in viral load and weight loss with a higher GPV antibodies titer than Sheldrake ducklings and goslings. Taken together, SBDSV exhibits a wide range of pathogenicity to main domesticated waterfowl with variable symptoms and cause considerable economic losses in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Inter-simple sequence repeat markers (ISSR) were used to estimate genetic diversity within and among 10 populations of Rhodiola chrysanthemifolia along Nianqingtangula Mountains and Brahmaputra, a species endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and an endangered medicinal plant. Of the 100 primers screened, 13 produced highly polymorphic DNA fragments. Using these primers, 116 discernible DNA fragments were generated of which 104 (89.7%) were polymorphic, indicating substantial genetic diversity at the species level. Genetic diversity measured by the percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) at the population level ranged from 21.97% to 48.8%. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that the genetic variation was found mainly among populations (77.3%), but no regional differentiation was discernible. Variance within populations was only 22.7%. The main factor responsible for this high level of differentiation among populations is probably the historical geographical and genetic isolation of populations in a harsh mountainous environment. Concerning the management of R. chrysanthemifolia, the high genetic differentiation of populations indicates the necessity of conserving the maximum possible number of populations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: To clarify the relationship between two genera, Draba and the narrow genus Coelonema, endemic to the QilianMountains of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, phylogenetic analyses were conducted using nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS, and the chloroplast DNA trnL, from Coelonema draboides and 30 species of Draba representing eight sections, including 25 species of Chinese Draba, seven of which were endemic to the study region. The results unambiguously support several previously published proposals to unite Coelonema with Draba and accommodate C. draboides in the latter genus on the basis of morphological re-examination. Our molecular data presented here also provide evidence that these two genera should be combined as a monophyletic group with high support. In addition, it is estimated that Draba may have originated about 1.36–2.71 Mya, with C. draboides diverging from Draba about 0.15–0.31 Mya, based on the molecular calibration of ITS datasets. The assumed speciation and rapid expansion of these two genera is likely to have occurred in the eastern edge of the QilianMountains area according to molecular phylogeny and estimated divergence times, which correspond well with the known geological and paleobotanical histories of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sinopodophyllum hexandrum is an important traditional Tibetan medicinal plant with great development potential in pharmaceutical industry because of the presence of major bioactive lignans such as podophyllotoxin (PT) that are widely used in combination therapy of cancer. In this study, a green and efficient method for the extraction of PT from S. hexandrum was established by optimized subcritical water extraction (SWE) combined with macroporous resin enrichment. Response surface methodology was introduced for SWE optimization to obtain the maximum yield of PT. The maximum extraction efficiency was achieved under the following conditions: extraction pressure 4 MPa, extraction solvent to feed ratio 18 mL/g, extraction temperature 180 °C, and SW flow rate 2.5 mL/min. Subsequently, an efficient macroporous resin enrichment method was developed to further purify PT in the crude extract obtained from SWE. D101 resin was selected as a proper adsorbent owing to its adsorption and desorption properties, whereas its adsorption process was found to be consistent with a pseudo-second-order model. The optimized loading amount was 3 BV of extract solution, and the desorption conditions were as follows: First, the product was eluted with deionized water until no sugar was detected in the effluent, followed by 6 BV of 20% aqueous ethanol elution and then by 15 BV of 60% aqueous ethanol elution. After the treatment with D101 resin, the concentration of PT increased from 8.3% in the crude extract to 61.5% in the final product. Moreover, the recovery yield of PT extracted with SW combined with D101 resin enrichment was 74.6%. The results show that SWE combined with macroporous resin enrichment is a green, effective, and low-cost technique for the extraction of PT from S. hexandrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gentiana straminea is a popular Tibetan medicine that has been used for thousands of years in China to treat various diseases and conditions. Although it has multiple pharmaceutical purposes and important economic plant resource in China, transcriptome and molecular base still known limited. In flowering season, samples were collected from different tissues, using the NGS Illumina. Solexa platform, about 58.85 million sequencing reads were generated and assembled de novo, yielding 78,764 high quality unigenes with an average length of 1090 bp. Gene Ontology (GO), KEGG pathway mapping showed that 49,033 of these were identified as putative homologs of annotated sequences in the protein databases. Among them, candidate genes associated with iridoid, flavonoid and anthocyanin were identified. Further the key enzymes involved to iridoid and flavonoid synthesis pathway were analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) on different tissues, the flower and root had the higher expression than leaves. In addition, 7591 SSR markers were identified from the unigenes of the G . straminea transcriptome. The foundation of G . straminea provided the important resource for facilitating to study molecular and functional genomics of it and related this species on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural information of grassland changes on the Tibetan Plateau is essential for understanding alterations in critical ecosystem functioning and their underlying drivers that may reflect environmental changes. However, such information at the regional scale is still lacking due to methodological limitations. Beyond remote sensing indicators only recognizing vegetation productivity, we utilized multivariate data fusion and deep learning to characterize formation-based plant community structure in alpine grasslands at the regional scale of the Tibetan Plateau for the first time and compared it with the earlier version of Vegetation Map of China for historical changes. Over the past 40 years, we revealed that (1) the proportion of alpine meadows in alpine grasslands increased from 50% to 69%, well-reflecting the warming and wetting trend; (2) dominances of Kobresia pygmaea and Stipa purpurea formations in alpine meadows and steppes were strengthened to 76% and 92%, respectively; (3) the climate factor mainly drove the distribution of Stipa purpurea formation, but not the recent distribution of Kobresia pygmaea formation that was likely shaped by human activities. Therefore, the underlying mechanisms of grassland changes over the past 40 years were considered to be formation dependent. Overall, the first exploration for structural information of plant community changes in this study not only provides a new perspective to understand drivers of grassland changes and their spatial heterogeneity at the regional scale of the Tibetan Plateau, but also innovates large-scale vegetation study paradigm., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)