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Decaying bamboo in freshwater is a unique eco-environment for fungi. Three new Distoseptispora (Distoseptisporaceae) species, D. meilingensis, D. yongxiuensis and D. yunjushanensis from submerged decaying bamboo culms in Jiangxi Province, China, were discovered, based on phylogenetic analyses and morphological characters. The combined data of ITS-LSU-SSU-Tef1 sequences were used to infer the phylogenetic relationship between D. meilingensis, D. yongxiuensis, D. yunjushanensis and related species. Both molecular analyses and morphological data supported D. meilingensis, D. yongxiuensis and D. yunjushanensis as three independent taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lingguizhugan decoction (LGZG), a classic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, has been used to treat obesity and hyperlipidemia in recent years, but the related mechanisms underlying the regulation of lipid metabolism by LGZG are not clear yet. Here, we reported the effectiveness and possible mechanisms of LGZG on rats with fatty liver disease induced by high-fat diet (HFD). Our results demonstrated that LGZG significantly attenuated HFD-induced fatty liver disease, as measured by body weight, liver index, epididymal fat pad-body weight ratio (EFP/BW), liver injury, and hepatic triglycerides (TG) probably through increasing serum thyroid hormone levels, improving beta-oxidation (via modulation of TRβl and CPT1A expression), metabolism and transport (through modulation of SREBP-lc, ACSL and ApoBlOO expression) of fatty acid. In addition, we discovered the herbal combination with the properties of warming yang to relieve water retention in the formula and proposed the biological basis of LGZG conventional effect via further study on disassembled formula. This study, for the first time, revealed the mechanisms through which LGZG regulates lipid metabolism. Furthermore, our study suggested that it might be feasible to understand the scientific implications of TCM from the perspective of classic formulas' conventional efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]