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Abstract Coprinus comatus, widely known as “Jituigu”, is an important commodity and food in China. The yield of C. comatus, however, is substantially reduced by the autolysis of the fruiting bodies after harvest. To gain insight into the molecular mechanism underlying this autolysis, we divided the growth of C. comatus fruiting bodies into four stages: infant stage (I), mature stage (M), discolored stage (D), and autolysis stage (A). We then subjected these stages to de novo transcriptomic analysis using high-throughput Illumina sequencing. A total of 12,946 unigenes were annotated and analyzed with the Gene Ontology (GO), Clusters of Orthologous Groups of proteins (COG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). We analyzed the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between stages I and M, M and D, and D and A. Because the changes from M to D are thought to be related to autolysis, we focused on the DEGs between these two stages. We found that the pathways related to metabolic activity began to vary in the transition from M to D, including pathways named as autophagy—yeast, peroxisome, and starch and sucrose metabolism. This study also speculates the possible process of the autolysis of Coprinus comatus. In addition, 20 genes of interest were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR to verify their expression profiles at the four developmental stages. This study, which is the first to describe the transcriptome of C. comatus, provides a foundation for future studies concerning the molecular basis of the autolysis of its fruiting bodies.

Three new Melanoleuca species, M. chifengense, M. griseoflava and M. pallidorosea, were discovered in the northeast of China. Melanoleuca chifengense is morphologically characterised by its grey to yellowish-grey pileus, decurrent lamellae, grey to yellowish-brown stipe, yellowish-grey context, ellipsoid basidiospores with irregular warts and lack of hymenial cystidia. Melanoleuca griseoflava is mainly characterised by its greyish-brown pileus, adnexed to adnate lamellae, greyish-yellow context, fusiform cystidia and almost reticulate basidiospores. Melanoleuca pallidorosea is characterised by its pinkish-white pileus, white and decurrent lamellae, ellipsoid basidiospores with round and scattered warts and lack of hymenial cystidia. The phylogenetic relationship of the three species was determined by the analyses of the ITS region and the combined data matrix (ITS-nrLSU-RPB2), respectively. The results showed that the three species formed three independent lineages. Based on the combination of both morphological and molecular data, M. chifengense, M. griseoflava and M. pallidorosea were confirmed to be new species. The morphological similarities of the three new species is also discussed.

Objective: Pituitary tumor transforming gene (PTTG) is an important paracrine growth factor involved in early lactotrope transformation and early onset of angiogenesis in pituitary hyperplasia. Emerging evidences have shown that PTTG expression may contribute to the etiology of pituitary adenomas; but individually published studies showed inconclusive results. This meta-analysis aimed to derive a more precise estimation of the correlations of PTTG expression with human pituitary adenomas. Methods: A range of electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE (1966∼2013), the Cochrane Library Database (Issue 12, 2013), EMBASE (1980∼2013), CINAHL (1982∼2013), Web of Science (1945∼2013) and the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) (1982∼2013) without language restrictions. Meta-analysis was performed using the STATA 12.0 software. Crude odds ratio (OR) or standard mean difference (SMD) with its corresponding 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated. Results: Twenty-four clinical cohort studies were included with a total of 1,464 pituitary adenomas patients. The meta-analysis results revealed that patients with invasive pituitary adenomas had higher positive expression of PTTG than those of non-invasive patients (OR  = 6.68, 95%CI  = 3.72–11.99, P<0.001). We also found a significant difference in microvessel density between invasive and non-invasive patients (SMD  = 1.81, 95%CI  = 0.39–3.23, P = 0.013). However, there were no significant difference in PTTG expression between functional and non-functional patients with pituitary adenomas (OR  = 1.11, 95%CI  = 0.58–2.10, P = 0.753). No publication bias was detected in this meta-analysis (all P>0.05). Conclusion: This present meta-analysis suggests that PTTG expression may be associated with tumor invasiveness and microvessel density of pituitary adenomas, while no correlations with functional status was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Characterization and quantitation evaluation of Artemisia argyi by HPLC-DAD-Q-TOF-MS were reported. • The blood glucose level, oral glucose tolerance and small intestinal α -glucosidase inhibitory tests were assessed. • The analysis of the total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant and α -glucosidase inhibitory was measured. • Four characteristic compounds were elucidated by molecular docking. Diabetes is one of the metabolic disorders in the world. It is the prime reason of mortality and morbidity owing to hyperglycemia which is link with numerus obstacles. Artemisia argyi is commonly used as an ingredient in healthy foods as well as an herbal medicine in Asian countries. The present research aims to evaluate the hypoglycemic effects of A. argyi and reveal its the potentially active constituents. The chemical composition was identified by HPLC-DAD-Q-TOF-MS, and fractionation was performed by extraction. The fractions were assessed by the blood glucose level, oral glucose tolerance and small intestinal α -glucosidase inhibitory tests, and an analysis of the total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant and α -glucosidase inhibitory activities. In our efforts to characterize the compounds responsible for hypoglycemic effect, bioactivity-guided fraction of the MeOH extract and chemical investigation of its active EtOAc fraction led to the successful identification of caffeoylquinic acids, which were elucidated by molecular docking, using the crystal structure of S. cerevisiae isomaltase (PD code: 3AXI). In summary, this bio-guided search revealed that caffeoylquinic acids from A. argyi as potential active constituents displayed with hypoglycemic activity, which provided a basis for further study of pharmacological activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]