The Pinaceae, or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, piñons, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly known as Coniferales. Pinaceae are supported as monophyletic by their protein-type sieve cell plastids, pattern of proembryogeny, and lack of bioflavonoids. They are the largest extant conifer family in species diversity, with between 220 and 250 species in 11 genera, and the second-largest in geographical range, found in most of the Northern Hemisphere, with the majority of the species in temperate climates, but ranging from subarctic to tropical. The family often forms the dominant component of boreal, coastal, and montane forests. One species, Pinus merkusii, grows just south of the equator in Southeast Asia. Major centres of diversity are found in the mountains of southwest China, Mexico, central Japan, and California.
Oryza sativa, also known as rice, is the plant species most commonly referred to in English as rice. It is the type of farmed rice whose cultivars are most common globally, and was first domesticated in the Yangtze River basin in China 13,500 to 8,200 years ago.
The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) is a planthopper species that feeds on rice plants. These insects are among the most important pests of rice, which is the major staple crop for about half the world's population. They damage rice directly through feeding and also by transmitting two viruses, rice ragged stunt virus and rice grassy stunt virus. Up to 60% yield loss is common in susceptible rice cultivars attacked by the insect. The BPH is distributed throughout Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, North and South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Their alternative host plant other than rice is Leersia hexandra.
Daidzein is a naturally occurring compound found exclusively in soybeans and other legumes and structurally belongs to a class of compounds known as isoflavones. Daidzein and other isoflavones are produced in plants through the phenylpropanoid pathway of secondary metabolism and are used as signal carriers, and defense responses to pathogenic attacks. In humans, recent research has shown the viability of using daidzein in medicine for menopausal relief, osteoporosis, blood cholesterol, and lowering the risk of some hormone-related cancers, and heart disease. Despite the known health benefits, the use of both puerarin and daidzein is limited by their poor bioavailability and low water solubility.
Brandt's vole,, also known as the steppe vole, is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is native to shrublands and grasslands in Russia, Mongolia and northern China.
Blood stasis (BS) is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), described as a slowing or pooling of the blood due to a disruption of heart qi. Blood stasis is also described by practitioners of TCM in terms of yin deficiency, qi deficiency and qi stagnation. For non-practitioners of TCM it is sometimes explained in terms of hematological disorders such as hemorrhage, congestion, thrombosis or local ischemia, and in terms of tissue changes. TCM practitioners believe it is an important underlying pathology of many disease processes despite the fact that objective, consistent methods for measuring the presence of blood stasis syndrome are not readily available. Blood stasis is associated with justifications for acupuncture and herbal treatments.
Salidroside (rhodioloside) is a glucoside of tyrosol found in the plant Rhodiola rosea. It has been studied, along with rosavin, as one of the potential compounds responsible for the putative antidepressant and anxiolytic actions of this plant. Salidroside may be more active than rosavin, even though many commercially marketed Rhodiola rosea extracts are standardized for rosavin content rather than salidroside.
Helicoverpa assulta, the oriental tobacco budworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. H. assulta adults are migratory and are found all over the Old World Tropics including Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Chenghai Lake (Chinese: 程海; pinyin: Chénghaǐ) is a mesotrophic plateau lake in Yunnan Province, China. The lake has a total area of about 77.22 square kilometres (29.81 sq mi). The average depth is 25.7 metres (84 ft), with an elevation of 1,503 metres (4,931 ft). the water storage capacity is about 19.87×108m3. Chenghai Lake is one of only three lakes in the world where Spirulina is found naturally.
In molecular biology mir-365 microRNA is a short RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms.
Quinclorac is a selective herbicide used primarily to control weeds in rice crops, but is also used on other agricultural crops and is found in some household herbicides for lawn use. Most lawn maintenance companies use the product for the control of annual grass weeds like crabgrass.
Li Jiayang is a Chinese agronomist and geneticist. He is Vice Minister of Agriculture in China and President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). He is also Professor and Principal investigator at the Institute of Genetics and Development at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Azospirillum is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic, non-fermentative and nitrogen-fixing bacterial genus from the family of Rhodospirillaceae. Azospirillum bacteria can promote plant growth.
Non-invasive micro-test technology (NMT) is a scientific research technology used for measuring physiological events of intact biological samples. NMT is used for research in many biological areas such as gene function, plant physiology, biomedical research, and environmental science.
Lycopodium japonicum is a common species of plant in the genus Lycopodium in the clubmoss family. It is widespread in China, Japan and countries of Southern Asia. It has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of sprains, strains and myasthenia, and research is ongoing into its efficacy. A type of alkaloid with an unusual structure, labelled lycojaponicumins A through E, were isolated from the plant in 2012.
Wiebesia pumilae is a fig wasp species in Genus Wiebesia, Family Agaonidae. W. pumilae is the pollinator of Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang and Ficus pumila var. pumila. The scientific name was first published as Blastophagapumilae in 1967 by Hill.
Fomesafen is the ISO common name for an organic compound used as an herbicide. It acts by inhibiting the enzyme protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) which is necessary for chlorophyll synthesis. Soybeans naturally have a high tolerance to fomesafen, via metabolic disposal by glutathione S-transferase. As a result, soy is the most common crop treated with fomesafen, followed by other beans and a few other crop types. It is not safe for maize/corn or other Poaceae.
Indaziflam is a preemergent herbicide especially for grass control in tree and bush crops.
Aclonifen is a diphenyl ether herbicide which has been used in agriculture since the 1980s. Its mode of action has been uncertain, with evidence suggesting it might interfere with carotenoid biosynthesis or inhibit the enzyme protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO). Both mechanisms could result in the observed whole-plant effect of bleaching and the compound includes chemical features that are known to result in PPO effects, as seen with acifluorfen, for example. In 2020, further research revealed that aclonifen has a different and novel mode of action, targeting solanesyl diphosphate synthase which would also cause bleaching.
Pydiflumetofen is a broad spectrum fungicide used in agriculture to protect crops from fungal diseases. It was first marketed by Syngenta in 2016 using their brand name Miravis. The compound is an amide which combines a pyrazole acid with a substituted phenethylamine to give an inhibitor of succinate dehydrogenase.
