Search

Germplasm resource is the source of herbal medicine production. Cultivation of superior germplasm resources helps to resolve the serious conflict between long-term population persistence and growing market demand by producing materials with high quality consistently.Cibotium barometzis the original plant of cibotii rhizoma (“Gouji”), a traditional Chinese medicine used in the therapy of pain, weakness, and numbness of lower extremity. Long-history use ofCibotiumhas rendered wild populations of this species declined seriously in China. Without sufficient understanding of species and lineage diversity ofCibotium, it is difficult to propose a targeted conservation scheme at present, let alone selecting high-quality germplasm resources. In order to fill such a knowledge gap, this study sampledC. barometzand relative species throughout their distribution in China, performed genome skimming to obtain plastome data, and conducted phylogenomic analyses. We constructed a well-supported plastome phylogeny of ChineseCibotium, which showed that three species with significant genetic difference distributed in China, namelyC. barometz,C. cumingii, andC. sino-burmaense, a cryptic species endemic to NW Yunnan and adjacent region of NE Myanmar. Moreover, our results revealed two differentiated lineages ofC. barometzdistributed in the east and west side of a classic phylogeographic boundary that probably shaped by monsoons and landforms in China. We also evaluated the resolution of nine traditional barcode loci, and designed five new DNA barcodes based on the plastome data which can discriminate all these species and lineages of ChineseCibotiumaccurately. These novel findings integrated genetic basis will guide conservation planners and medicinal plant breeders to build systematic conservation plans and exploit germplasm resources ofCibotiumin China.

The bHLH transcription factors play pivotal roles in plant growth and development, production of secondary metabolites and responses to various environmental stresses. Although the bHLH genes have been well studied in model plant species, a comprehensive investigation of the bHLH genes is required for tobacco with newly obtained high-quality genome. In the present study, a total of 309 NtbHLH genes were identified and can be divided into 23 subfamilies. The conserved amino acids which are essential for their function were predicted for the NtbHLH proteins. Moreover, the NtbHLH genes were conserved during evolution through analyzing the gene structures and conserved motifs. A total of 265 NtbHLH genes were localized in the 24 tobacco chromosomes while the remained 44 NtbHLH genes were mapped to the scaffolds due to the complexity of tobacco genome. Moreover, transcripts of NtbHLH genes were obviously tissue-specific expressed from the gene-chip data from 23 tobacco tissues, and expressions of 20 random selected NtbHLH genes were further confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR, indicating their potential functions in the plant growth and development. Importantly, overexpressed NtbHLH86 gene confers improve drought tolerance in tobacco indicating that it might be involved in the regulation of drought stress. Therefore, our findings here provide a valuable information on the characterization of NtbHLH genes and further investigation of their functions in tobacco.

The commensurate and incommensurate Haldane phases for the spin-1 bilinear-biquadratic model are investigated using the infinite matrix product state algorithm. The bipartite entanglement entropy can detect a transition point between the two phases. In both phases, the entanglement spectrum shows the double degeneracy. We calculate the nonlocal order parameter of the bond-centered inversion in both phases, which rapidly approaches a saturation value -1 as the segment length increases. The nonlocal order parameter of the bond-centered inversion with a saturation value -1 and the nonzero value string order indicate that the Haldane phase is a symmetry-protected topological phase. To distinguish the commensurate and incommensurate Haldane phases, the transversal spin correlation and corresponding momentum distribution of the structure factor are analyzed. As a result, the transversal spin correlations exhibit different decay forms in both phases.

Camellia piloflora S.X. Yang, sp. nov. (Figs. 1 & 2). Type:— CHINA. Guangxi: Debao County, in limestone tiankeng, elev. 400 m, 21 January 2022, S . X. Yang 6868 (holotype KUN1541642; isotypes KUN1544968, K). Diagnosis:— Camellia piloflora is most similar to C. debaoensis R.C. Hu & Y.Q. Liufu, but differs by its sepals puberulent abaxially (vs. glabrous), ovary and styles tomentose (vs. glabrous), filaments pubescent (vs. glabrous) and the outer filaments united for 1/2 (vs. 1/4) of their length from the base. Shrubs, 2−5 m tall; young branches yellowish brown or brown, glabrous, rarely subglabrous; terminal buds glabrous, rarely subglabrous. Leaves alternate; petiole 0.6–1.2 cm long, glabrous, rarely subglabrous; blade elliptic to oblong, 7–11 × 3.5–5.5 cm, thinly leathery, purplish red when young, adaxially dark green and glabrous, shiny, abaxially pale green, sparsely pubescent along midvein and scattered dark brown cork-warts, lateral veins 7−9 pairs, apex acuminate to caudate, margin shallowly serrate with the teeth 1.0−2.0 mm apart, base cuneate to broadly cuneate. Flowers subterminal or axillary, solitary or rarely 2−4 in clusters, 5.5–6.0 cm in diam. Pedicel ca. 2.0–5.0 mm long, glabrous. Bracteoles 4–5, yellowish-green, unequal, 1.0–3.0 × 2.0–4.0 mm, obtuse triangle, lunate to semiorbicular, lowermost bracteoles glabrous on both sides, uppermost ones pubescent on both sides, similar to sepals, margin ciliolate. Sepals 5 (–6), yellowish-green, semiorbicular, round-reniform to suborbicular, 6.0−10.0 × 8.0−14.0 mm, pubescent on both surfaces, margin narrow scarious and ciliate. Petals 8–10, in three whorls, pale yellow, orbicular to elliptic, 2.2−4.5 × 2.2−3.5 cm, pubescent on both surfaces, basally connate to each other and to the stamens for 7–10 mm. Stamens numerous, ca. 3.5 cm long, in 4−5 whorls, filament of the outer whorls basally connate into a tube for ca. 1/2 of the length, outside of the tube and base of the free part of filaments pubescent, filaments of the innermost whorl free, pubescent almost all their length. Ovary ovoid, ca. 6 mm in diam, densely pale yellow tomentose, 3 (–4)-loculed; styles single, 2.6 cm long, apically dividing into 3 (–4) arms of ca. 3–4 mm, basally 3/4 pubescent. Capsule oblate, yellowish green, ca. 6.0 cm in diam, pubescent, with 2 seeds per locule; pericarp ca. 1.0–2.0 mm thick when dry, splitting into 3 valves. Seeds dark brown, hemispherical or cuneate, pubescent. Phenology: —Flowering from January to February; fruiting from September to October. Etymology: —The specific epithet is derived from Latin, “ pilus ”, meaning a hair, and “ flos ”, meaning flower, to referring that the new species has hairy flowers, especially on sepals, petals, stamens and pistils. Vernacular name: —‘ ƚṯfiṯș ’ (mao hua jin hua cha) in Chinese pinyin. Distribution, habitat, and conservation status: — Camellia piloflora grows in the evergreen broad-leaved forests of limestone hills at elevation of 400– 650 m. Only three populations with less than 100 individuals have been found in and near its type locality. Due to the great commercial value, the number of this species may continue to shrink. The location of this species is not the natural reserve, thus can be destroyed by human activity. The area of occupancy is less than 10 km 2 (B2a) with three populations, and the area, extent and/or quality of habitat, and number of mature individuals are declined in future. Therefore, the new species is accessed to Critically Endangered (CR, B2ab (iii, v)), according to Guidelines for using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (IUCN Standards and Petitions Committee 2019). Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — CHINA. Guangxi: Debao County, 30 November 2018, limestone tiankeng, elev. ca. 400 m, S .X. Yang & F.Y. Wu 5895–5901 (KUN); 6 March 2019, limestone tiankeng, elev. ca. 400 m, S .X. Yang & F.Y. Wu 5979–5982 (KUN); 8 March 2019, limestone hills, elev. ca. 650 m, S .X. Yang & F.Y. Wu 5983–5985 (KUN); 8 March 2019, limestone tiankeng, elev. ca. 550 m, S .X. Yang & F.Y. Wu 5986 (KUN); 15 September 2020, limestone tiankeng, elev. ca. 400 m, S .X. Yang, F.Y. Wu & P. M. Ye 6395-6397 (KUN); 16 September 2020, limestone tiankeng, elev. ca. 550 m, S .X. Yang, F.Y. Wu & P. M. Ye 6406–6409 (KUN); 21 January 2022, limestone tiankeng, elev. ca. 400 m, S .X. Yang & F.Y. Wu 6869–6871, 6880 (KUN)., Published as part of Zhang, Qiong, Wu, Fang-Yuan, Huang, Yao-Heng, Ma, Jin-Lin & Yang, Shi-Xiong, 2022, Camellia piloflora (Theaceae), a new yellow camellia from Guangxi, South China, pp. 179-184 in Phytotaxa 574 (2) on pages 179-180, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.574.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/7380906

Zhang, Qiong, Wu, Fang-Yuan, Huang, Yao-Heng, Ma, Jin-Lin, Yang, Shi-Xiong (2022): Camellia piloflora (Theaceae), a new yellow camellia from Guangxi, South China. Phytotaxa 574 (2): 179-184, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.574.2.7, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.574.2.7