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Covering: up to 2019 The large and medicinally important tropical plant genus Plectranthus (Lamiaceae) was recently split into three separate genera on the basis of molecular and morphological evidence; Plectranthus sensu stricto, Coleus and Equilabium. We found striking differences between the diterpenoids which strongly support this taxonomic split. Coleus is characterised by abietanes oxygenated at C-14 such as royleanones, spirocoleons and acylhydroquinones, which could be useful chemotaxonomic markers to distinguish this genus from Plectranthus s.s. In contrast, the abietanes in Plectranthus s.s. lack C-14 oxygenation, but are often acylated with unusual acids. Equilabium species do not seem to produce diterpenoids. The structures of the nearly 240 abietanes so far reported from Coleus and Plectranthus and their distribution are presented. The aim of this Highlight is to provide an overview of the differences in diterpenoid diversity between these newly defined genera, which are relevant to predict which previously understudied species could hold untapped potential for their medicinal and other economic uses, and to underpin future research on how these plants have evolved to synthesise distinct abietane types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covering: 1960 to 2013 Aristolochic acids are known for causing aristolochic acid nephropathy, a renal fibrosis often associated with urothelial carcinoma. Aristolochic acid I and II are considered to be the cause of these nephrotoxic and carcinogenic effects. However a variety of aristolochic acid analogues, including aristolactams and 4,5-dioxoaporphines have been reported. Their implications in aristolochic acid nephropathy have possibly been overlooked. In this report, in vivo and in vitro toxicity and mutagenicity of these three classes of compounds are discussed. Furthermore, the review gives an update of aristolochic acids, aristolactams and 4,5-dioxoaporphines reported between 2003 and 2013 and their biological activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of American cochineal species (Dactylopius genus) can provide important information for the study of historical works of art, entomology, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and foods. In this study, validated species of Dactylopius, including the domesticated cochineal D. coccus, were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) and submitted to multivariate data analysis, in order to discriminate the species and hence construct a reference library for a wide range of applications. Principal components analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA) models successfully provided accurate species classifications. This library was then applied to the identification of 72 historical insect specimens of unidentified species, mostly dating from the 19th century, and belonging to the Economic Botany Collection, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. With this approach it was possible to identify anomalies in how insects were labelled historically, as several of them were revealed not to be cochineal. Nevertheless, more than 85% of the collection was determined to be species of Dactylopius and the majority of the specimens were identified as D. coccus. These results have shown that HPLC-DAD, in combination with suitable chemometric methods, is a powerful approach for discriminating related cochineal species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]