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The WRKY gene family is an important inducible regulatory factor in plants, which has been extensively studied in many model plants. It has progressively become the focus of investigation for the secondary metabolites of medicinal plants. Currently, there is no systematic analysis of the WRKY gene family in Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. For this study, a systematic and comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of the WRKY gene family was conducted based on the genomic data of S. baicalensis. A total of 77 WRKY members were identified and 75 were mapped onto nine chromosomes, respectively. Their encoded WRKY proteins could be classified into three subfamilies: Group I, Group II (II-a, II-b, II-c, II-d, II-e), and Group III, based on the characteristics of the amino acid sequences of the WRKY domain and genetic structure. Syntenic analysis revealed that there were 35 pairs of repetitive fragments. Furthermore, the transcriptome data of roots, stems, leaves, and flowers showed that the spatial expression profiles of WRKYs were different. qRT-PCR analysis revealed that 11 stress-related WRKYs exhibited specific expression patterns under diverse treatments. In addition, sub cellular localization analysis indicated that SbWRKY26 and SbWRKY41 were localized in nucleus. This study is the first to report the identification and characterization of the WRKY gene family in S. baicalensis, which is valuable for the further exploration of the biological function of SbWRKYs. It also provides valuable bioinformatics data for S. baicalensis and provides a reference for assessing the medicinal properties of the genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pestalafuranones A-E (compounds 1-5), five new 2(5H)-furanones, have been isolated from cultures of an isolate of Pestalotiopsis besseyi. The structures of these compounds were elucidated mainly by analysis of their NMR spectroscopic data and HRESIMS experiments. Pestalafuranones A-C (compounds 1-3) displayed weak inhibitory effects against HIV-1 replication in C8166 cells, whereas pestalafuranones D (4) and E (5) showed moderate antifungal activity against the plant pathogens Verticillium dahiae and Alternaria longipes.