Space breeding in medicinal plants is special characteristics in China. Compared with other plants, in spite of a relatively small number, Medicinal plants have more obvious characteristics and advantages. Research on medicinal plants has also been carried into all aspects, such as biological traits, physiology and biochemistry, genomics, as well as differences in chemical composition, and chemical composition analysis is also involved. However, compared with other plants, especially crops and vegetables, biological research is an obvious deficiency, that is mainly reflected in the insufficient genetics and breeding researches, the stability of genetic traits from generation to generation were not followed up and in-depth study in breeding areas was not carried out. If medicinal plants resources from space with the genetic stability good quality were selected, it would address the problem of lack of resources and ease the pressure on wild resources of medicinal plants. It would at the same time play an important role in promoting the development of medicinal botany space breeding and the implementation of modernization of traditional Chinese medicine.
Breeding ; methods ; Plants, Medicinal ; growth & development ; physiology ; Space Flight ; Weightlessness

OBJECTIVETo investigate the space environment on the role of licorice mutagenesis analysis of proteins.

METHODLicorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis) seeds were carried by a recoverable satellite for 18 days (the average radiation dose in the flight recovery module was 0.102 m x d(-1), the orbit semidiameter 350 km, gravity 10(-6)). After return, The satellite-flown seeds and the unflown seeds (ground control) were planted in the fields of experimental farm. The leaves of each group were used for studying the effects of space flight on CAT, SOD activity, the protein content and electrophoresis.

RESULTAfter the space flight, CAT, SOD activity of licorice increased in varying degrees, the difference was significant (P<0.05), two types of enzyme activity of sample from Ordos were higher than that from Hangjinqi. The protein content of licorice increased in a certain extent, the difference was significant (P<0.05), while protein electrophoresis also showed differences, weak new bands appeared.

CONCLUSIONThese results indicated that spaceflight has effect on protein of licorice, these changes may be used as a tool for accelerating the progress in G. uralensis breeding.

Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase ; analysis ; metabolism ; Electrophoresis ; Extraterrestrial Environment ; Glycyrrhiza uralensis ; chemistry ; enzymology ; Plant Proteins ; analysis ; metabolism ; Spacecraft ; Superoxide Dismutase ; analysis ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo substantiate the effects of spaceflight on the glycyrrhizic acid-related gene mutation in Glycyrrhiza uralensis.

METHODLicorice (G. uralensis) seeds were carried by a recoverable satellite for 18 days (the average radiation dose in the flight recovery module was 0. 102 m x d(-1), the orbit semidiameter 350 km, gravity 10(-6)). After returned to the earth, the satellite-flown seeds and the un-flown seeds (ground control) were planted in the fields of experimental farm. The leaves of each group were used for studying the effects of space flight on the glycyrrhizic acid-related gene mutation including ITS sequence and beta-amyrine synthase gene.

RESULTThe ITS sequence of glycyrrhizic acid related gene showed no changes after spaceflight. While beta-amyrine synthase gene had some different points after spaceflight and the different points could get the expression.

CONCLUSIONThe results indicated that spaceflight induce genetic variation in G. uralensis and spaceflight could also have effects on glycyrrhizic acid-related gene mutation in G. uralensis. It may need to further research how the spaceflight induced the mutation of the glycyrrhizic acid related gene. The results suggested that recoverable satellite-flown condition could bring inheritable mutagenic effects on G. uralensis seeds and maybe used as a tool for accelerating the progress in G. uralensis breeding.

Extraterrestrial Environment ; Glycyrrhiza uralensis ; genetics ; metabolism ; Glycyrrhizic Acid ; metabolism ; Mutation ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Space Flight

Though the study on ecology of Chinese traditional medicinal resources methods has achieved great progress in recent years, it is not able to catch the pace of the development of ecology science. Based on the analysis of recent literatures about ecology development trend and Chinese traditional medicinal ecology methods, the progress of Chinese traditional medicinal ecology methods was reviewed, and future study trend was discussed.
Conservation of Natural Resources ; Ecology ; methods ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Research ; trends ; Research Design

OBJECTIVETo study the genetic polymorphism and genetic relationship of different provenances of Leonurus japonicus.

METHODGenetic relationship in 19 provenances, which came from nationwide origins were measured by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with ISSR marker.

RESULTTwenty ISSR primers were selected from 100 ISSR primers and used for ISSR amplification. A total of 164 bands were generated, of which 117 bands were polymorphic bands (the percentage of polymorphic band, PPB = 71.34%). The similarity coefficients were calculated with NTsys 2.10e software and the dendrogram were constructed with UPGMA. Nineteen samples were divided into 3 types using the cluster analysis according to their genetic similarity coefficient.

CONCLUSIONResults from the cluster analysis were correlated significantly with the morphological characteristics and geographical location of 19 samples. The data indicate that ISSR technique is useful to determine genetic diversity and genetic relationship among Leonurus provenances, providing a scientific basis for genetic breeding, differentiation and new cultivar selection.

China ; DNA Primers ; genetics ; Genetic Markers ; Genetic Variation ; Leonurus ; classification ; genetics ; Phylogeny ; Polymorphism, Genetic

OBJECTIVEWith the purpose of selecting adequate quality and high production of Schizonepeta tenuifolia, the comparative experiments were carried out on different strain of S. tenuifolia in 2007.

METHODThe test fields were divided into blocks randomly, and the agronomy characters were investigated in harvest time; the content of volatile oil was measured by steam distillation and the pulegone were determined by HPLC.

RESULTThe yield of S4 was 18.63% and 29.99% higher than that of CK1 and CK2, respectively. The contents of volatile oil and pulegone were also higher than those of CK and other strains in this test.

CONCLUSIONS4 shows the advantages of high production, strong disease resistance and high active components. S4 would be extended as the good breed in production.

Agriculture ; Breeding ; Lamiaceae ; chemistry ; genetics ; growth & development ; physiology ; Quality Control ; Time Factors ; Volatilization

In this paper, the production and marketing of medicinal materials of plant origin are sorted and analyzed. The total annual yield and total output value are presented. The resources sustainable development is discussed by three aspects, i.e., the yield Top 60 items, rare and endangered species and several wild drugs should be deeply concerned. Relevant measures and implementation are recommended respectively.
Conservation of Natural Resources ; economics ; Endangered Species ; Marketing ; Materia Medica ; economics ; Plants, Medicinal ; growth & development

OBJECTIVETo probe into the new idea along with establishment of a novel method for dynamic monitoring and early-warning on the wild resources of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs).

METHODThe alterations of wild traditional Chinese medicinal resources were assessed through the price ratio between drug and foodstuff (PRDF) indicating the balance between supply and demand of the specific TCMs, referred to the price ration between pork to foodstuff which is used in national monitoring to the balance between pork supply and demand.

RESULTSince the price of rice was tightly controlled by government, it was selected as a relatively stable reference to build the PRDF in order to take away the non-marketing influence to TCMs price such as CPI and inflation rate. The modified relative alteration trend of TCMs price had been researched through comparing different formulae to build PRDF, including absolute average month price of TCMs, month average price ratio of TCMs to foodstuff (rice) , month-on-month change of TCMs to rice, year-on-year change of TCMs to rice, and difference in value of period-on-period change (DVPPC). In the research, Cordyceps, Glycyrrhiza and totally five herbs were selected as model drugs and the price data were collected from 2002 to 2008. The results showed that DVPPC calculated of relative long time window was more sensitive and stable to reflect the relative alteration trend of TCMs price. For instance, the DVPPC of Ligustici showed continuously increase trend in recent years. This suggested appearance of unbalance between supply and demand of Ligustici, and forced policy intervention to maintain reasonable and continuable utilization of Ligustici resource.

CONCLUSIONThe proposed method and the formula of DVPPC revealed some useful guidance for dynamic monitoring the wild resources of TCMs.

Conservation of Natural Resources ; economics ; Food ; economics ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; economics ; Nonlinear Dynamics