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Several bamboo species, suitable for temperate climates, have been introduced from southern China as ornamental plants in Europe and in Italy since the XIX century. Bamboos were appreciated also for other commercial purposes afterwards (e.g., food and structural applications) and nowadays in NW Italy (Piedmont and Aosta Valley Regions) the interest in their plantation has been growing. Consequently, many public authorities responsible for environment and biodiversity protection expressed a precautionary attitude for the commerce of bamboos. ‘BambApp’ project was implemented to scrutinize the invasive potential of naturalized bamboo species with a ‘citizen science’ approach, which implied the support of volunteers to collect scientific information through the use of “iNaturalist” app for smartphones. Citizens described each recorded bamboo clump in terms of maximum height, maximum stem diameter, and clump size. The coordinates and a description of the habitat type on the border of the four sides for each clump were required to volunteers as well. Moreover, surveyors had to upload four pictures of the clump, which were used to identify the bamboos at species level. In a ten-month period, 871 validated bamboo populations were recorded in the two regions and nine different species identified. The most widespread species was Phyllostachys aurea (67%), followed by Phyllostachis viridiglaucescens (16%), Pseudosasa japonica (6%), Phyllostachys reticulata (5%), Phyllostachys nigra (2%), Phyllostachys flexuosa (2%), Phyllostachys sulfurea (2%), and Phyllostachys edulis (1%). To quantify the invasive potential of bamboo species a Principal Component Analysis was carried out by using variables related to clump growth. Average elevation ranged between 252 m and 431 m a.s.l. and the clump size ranged between an average of about 27 m2 and about 2160 m2. Phyllostachis reticulata and P. sulfurea were the tallest species with the largest stem diameters, whereas P. aurea was the species forming the largest clumps in terms of occupied surface. The 82% of populations bordered for at least one side with anthropic habitats, 60% with agricultural habitats, and 45% with natural habitats. ‘BambApp’ project, through a citizen science network, successfully provided reliable and comprehensive information to public authorities for re-evaluating the invasive potential of bamboo species in NW Italy and for regulating their commerce.

Damayanto IPGP, Rustiami H, Miftahudin, Chikmawati T. 2020. A Synopsis of Bambusoideae (Poaceae) in Lombok, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 4489-4500. There is little documentation of bamboo on Lombok. Non-native Indonesian bamboos have been reported occurring in Lombok. As such, suspicious bamboo specimens and information in those reports need to be examined and possibly re-determined. This study aimed to provide updated taxonomical information of bamboo species in Lombok and to investigate the accuracy of previous studies regarding the existence of several non-native Indonesian bamboo species on the island (i.e. they do not have original distribution in Indonesia). Data from fieldwork were combined with specimens in Herbarium Bogoriense to create a synopsis of bamboo in Lombok and to develop an identification key to the species. Eleven species of bamboos in Lombok were reported from this study, namely Bambusa glaucophylla, B. maculata, B. multiplex, B. spinosa, B. vulgaris, Dendrocalamus asper, Gigantochloa apus, G. atter, Schizostachyum brachycladum, S. lima, and Thyrsostachys siamensis. Several doubtful species (B. albustiata, B. ventricosa, Guadua angustifolia, S. jaculans, Pseudosasa japonica) were presented to clarify the existence of a non-native Indonesian bamboo in Lombok. Moreover, there is not enough evidence to state Dinochloa sp. occurred in Lombok. The results of this study can be used by stakeholders for bamboo identification and as the baseline taxonomic account for future studies and conservation of bamboo species in Lombok.

Summary Pith cavity formation is critical for bamboo to overcome the bending force during its fast growth; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Multiple approaches, including anatomical dissection, mathematical modelling and transcriptome profiling, were employed in this study to investigate the biology of pith cavity formation in bamboo Pseudosasa japonica. We found that the corruption of pith tissue occurred sequentially and asymmetrically from the top‐centre of the internode down to the bottom, which might be caused by the combined effects of asymmetrical radial and axial tensile forces during shoot‐wall cell elongation and spiral growth of bamboo internodes. Programmed cell death (PCD) in pitch manifested by TUNEL positive nuclei, DNA cleavage and degraded organelles, and potentially regulated by ethylene and calcium signalling pathway, ROS burst, cell wall modification, proteolysis and nutrient recycle genes, might be responsible for pith tissue corruption of Ps. japonica. Although similar physiological changes and transcriptome profiles were found in different bamboo species, different formation rates of pith cavity were observed, which might be caused by different pith cells across the internode that were negatively correlated with the culm diameter. These findings provided a systematical view on the formation of bamboo pith cavity and revealed that PCD plays an important role in the bamboo pith cavity formation.

Strain BL24T, isolated from bamboo phyllosphere collected in Coimbatore, India, was studied for taxonomic classification. Cells of the strain were aerobic, Gram-stain-positive, motile, catalase- and oxidase-positive rods and grew on media containing methanol. In 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain BL24Tshowed the highest sequence similarities with Paenibacillus phyllosphaeraeKACC 11473T (97.8 %) and Paenibacillus sacheonensisSY01 (95.1 %). DNA-DNA hybridization with P. phyllosphaerae KACC 11473T, phylogenetically the most closely related species, was 21.6 %; this value showed that strain BL24Tbelonged to a different species. The cell-wall peptidoglycan was found to possess meso-diaminopimelic acid and the G+C content of genomic DNA was 52.1 mol %. It contained menaquinone (MK)-7 as the predominant respiratory quinone and the major cellular fatty acids are C16 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, and anteiso-C17 : 0. Based on the molecular and chemotaxonomic markers and physiological properties, strain BL24T (=NRRL B-51698T=CCM 7577T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillusmethanolicusis proposed.

In angiosperms, NADPH: protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) catalyzes the photoreduction of protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) to chlorophyllide (Chlide), the only light-dependent step in chlorophyll biosynthesis. There is a wide variety of gene organization and light- and development-dependent regulatory mechanisms for the POR genes. In this study, a POR homologue, designated PjPORB, was isolated from Pseudosasa japonica cv. Akebonosuji, which is a cultivar of high ornamental value in landscape due to its unique green-white striped leaf phenotype. The full-length PjPORB cDNA was 1567 bp long with a 1185 bp ORF that encoded 394 amino acids. Multiple amino acid sequence alignment showed that the putative PjPORB shared a high similarity to POR homologues from other plant species, and that the cofactor (NADPH)-binding motif and active site motif in particular were highly conserved among all the PORs. Further, PjPORB was overexpressed in Arabidopsis thaliana; and the Pchlide contents of the genetically modified plants were reduced to a larger extent than that of wild type plants, thereby indicating its important role in Pchlide photoreduction. In real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis, PjPORB was expressed at higher levels in leaf samples than in culms and roots, and showed a first increasing-then decreasing expression pattern during the development of white, stripe, and green leaf samples, thus indicating its essential role in leaf development. Although the mRNA levels for PjPORB did not differ considerably among white, stripe, and green leaf samples within the two almost same earlier developmental stages, its expression levels in the late leaf developmental stage fell into two distinct classes: high expression levels in strip and green leaf samples, and low expression levels in white leaf. Collectively, these expression data suggested that PjPORB may be involved in the leaf color variation for P. japonica cv. Akebonosuji.

We carried out an ecological survey for Ceratovacuna japonica, which lives in bamboos, at the experimental field ofNational Academy of Agricultural Science, Suwon and the several natural fields in Korea from 2010 to 2011. Thereleasing methods of C. japonica on Pseudosasa japonica was more effective at the brushing-off method than the pin-ing-attached method. The successful rate of releasing was the highest at green house than others such as at outdoor, vinylgreen house and in a insects net conditions. The survival limit of C. japonica was closely associated with the lowesttemperature (−10 o C) of vegetative limit of P. japonica for over wintering because of two fields of Ilsan lake park andGuri ecological park showed falling down below −15 o C two times in January. It provides for a reasonable distributioninformation of C. japonica that is restricted to south of Han River. However, the middle of Korea has rarely fallen downbelow −10 o C. Therefore, we consider that a successful rearing of C. japonica may be the most suitable in green housecondition to overcome winter period. Key words : Ceratovacuna japonica, Taraka hamada, Pseidosasa japonica, Temperature, Ecology

Taraka hamada is known as the sole aphidophagous lycaenid butterfly in Korea. The species specifically preys upon Ceratovacuna japonica which lives in bamboo forests. During several years, the species has been received attention from the field of industrial insects in order to commercialize as a pet. However, an ecological character of the species have been unclear in Korea. We carried out a survey for basic ecology and distribution of the two species for 2010 to 2012. As the results, both species only cohabit at Pseudosasa japonica in our investigation. C. japonica is widely distributed from the host plant. Population density of T. hamada is synchronized with the density changes of C. japonica. Their densities are gradually decreased from the point to the investigation and significantly declined in mid-june. The maximum population density of both species shows at the basal part of a leaf. The last-larval instar of T. hamada may seem to be reaching at stage. The adults of T. hamada are killed within two minutes when they were exposed to the sun.

This study examined the optimal ingredient mixing ratio for the preparation of steamed cake containing mugwort (Artemisia princeps var. orientalis) powder. After preliminary studies, the following ingredient ranges were determined; 110∼129% sugar, 3∼8% mugwort powder, 10∼25% oil. Among the different mixture designs, the D-optimal design was chosen for analysis. The results of F-test, specific gravity, viscosity, volume and color values (L, a, b), hardness decided a linear model, while the sensory characteristics (color, taste, texture and overall acceptance) decided a quadratic model. The fitness analysis results showed that in all characteristic, the probabilities were significant within 0.05%; thus, the models were accepted as appropriate. The response surface and trace plot results showed that increasing amounts of mugwort powder decreased the brightness, and increased redness and yellowness. As the level of added oil increased, the softness of the cake increased. Cake samples received low sensory evaluation scores when sugar, mugwort powder, and oil were added above their optimal levels. The optimum formulations by the numerical and graphical methods, were similar, and with the numerical method presented as: sugar, mugwort powder, and oil at 120.7%, 5.1%, and 16.2%, respectively(flour weight basis). The above results demonstrate the feasibility of adding mugwort powder to sponge cake, and therefore, the commercialization of mugwort powder cake marketed as a functional food is deemed possible.Key words : optimization, steamed, sponge cake, mugwort powder, D-optimal design, mixture designs

This study was conducted to investigate the flora of Mt. Jang located at Haeundae-Gu in Busan. The survey for the flora was carried out from Oct. 2008 to Sep. 2009. The results were obtained as follows. The flora consists of 5 forms, 22 varieties, 238 species, 198 genera, 91 families, 47 orders, 7 classes, and 3 divisions as total 265 taxa. The typical communities were Osmunda japonica com., Stephanandra incisa com., Gleichenia japonica com., Eurya japonica-Pinus thunbergii com., Styrax japonica-Pinus thunbergii com., and Smilax china com. which were distributed along Forest Bathing Area and Yangun Falls, Miscanthus sinensis for. purpurascens com., Carpinus turczaibovii var. coreana com and Pseudosasa japonica were distributed around the top of mountain. According to the ecological characteristic species, the evergreen plants were observed 15 taxa 14 genera 13 families, the naturalized plants 18 taxa 17 genera 10 families, the specific plants categorized by Ministry of Environment 20 taxa 18 genera 18 families, the endangered plant 1 specie Utricularia yakusimensis, and the cultivated plants were observed 21 taxa 18 genera 14 families.

Spontaneous leaf color variation in bamboo provides the opportunity to study the mechanisms of leaf color formation and the breeding of ornamental bamboos. Despite the fact that many genes are known to be involved in leaf color variation in model plants, molecular mechanisms governing natural leaf color variation in bamboo have remained obscure. This study aimed to identify the genes responsible for the occurrence of such phenomena in bamboo using the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method between green and albino leaves in Pseudosasa japonica f. A total of 1062 and 1004 differentially expressed transcripts were obtained from the forward and reverse SSH libraries, respectively. Subsequently, 59 differentially expressed unigenes with potential roles in leaf color formation, predicted via computational analysis of their functional relevance, were selected for further analysis using qPCR. Ten genes, involved in photosynthesis, plastid development, and cation signal transduction, showed 2-fold changes in expression levels between green and albino leaves. Further expression pattern analyses of these genes at three developmental stages revealed much lower expression abundance of Lhca1-encoded chlorophyll a/b binding protein in the albino leaves than in the green leaves. Our results suggest that, together with the concatenated negative pressure for subsequent photosynthetic processes, the albino phenotype is at least partly attributable to chloroplast inner membrane damage or to the impairment of photosynthetic pigment accumulation, which results from low Lhca1 expression.

The performance-enhancing effects of Pseudosasa japonica were investigated in mice using an adjustable-current water pool. Compared to the control group, a 1.5-fold increase in swimming time was observed in the mouse group administered an 80% ethanol extract (PJE) of the leaves of P. japonica. The blood lactate level, an important indicator of fatigue, was significantly lower (28%, P