Molecular and serological detection of Parietaria mottle virus in Phytolacca americana, a new host of the virus

Parietaria mottle virus (PMoV) is an emerging virus in Mediterranean countries, responsible for severe disease in tomato and pepper crops in the field and protected cultivation. The principal wild reservoir of PMoV is Parietaria officinalis, and only few additional wild plants have been described as natural reservoirs of the virus. During field survey in southern Italy, several plants of Phytolacca americana showing virus-like symptoms were collected. Serological and molecular assays showed that these plants were infected by PMoV. Sequence comparison of the movement protein gene of the PMoV isolate from P. americana showed the greatest similarity to the corresponding sequence from tomato plants growing nearby. These results indicate that P. ameriacana is a new natural host of PMoV, and further investigation is warranted to establish the potential of this host as reservoir of the virus in the field.

Lockdown botany 2020: some noteworthy records of alien plants in Kyiv City and Kyiv Region

Noteworthy records of 11 alien plant species in Kyiv City and Kyiv Region made mainly in 2020 are discussed. In particular, new localities of the following taxa are reported: Amaranthus spinosus, Artemisia tournefortiana, Chenopodium ucrainicum, Celastrus orbiculatus, Datura innoxia, Dysphania ambrosioides, Erechtites hieraciifolius, Mesembryanthemum ×vascosilvae (M. cordifolium × M. haeckelianum; recently described as Aptenia ×vascosilvae and reported here for the first time for Ukraine; earlier this ornamental hybrid was misidentified as Aptenia cordifolia), Parietaria officinalis, Phytolacca americana, Thladiantha dubia. The presence in Ukraine of several additional species, such as Datura wrightii and Phytolacca acinosa s.l. (incl. P. esculenta), that may occur as escaped near places of their cultivation, is reported; these species may be confused with D. innoxia and P. americana, respectively. The growing role of alien plants escaped from cultivation (ergasiophytes) in the present-day processes of formation of the alien flora of Ukraine is emphasized.

Estudio fitoquímico y actividad antimicrobiana de plantas medicinales empleadas para el control de infecciones urinarias

Las enfermedades infecciosas han sido un desafío para la humanidad. A pesar de los avances en la ciencia, aún muchas infecciones no tienen tratamientos efectivos o los microorganismos han generado resistencia a los antibióticos, de manera que las plantas medicinales son una alternativa de tratamiento y reducción de la resistencia. El objetivo de este estudio fue realizar un análisis fitoquímico preliminar y evaluar la actividad antimicrobiana de doce extractos etanólicos deplantas empleadas en la medicina tradicional colombiana como control de infecciones urinarias (IU). Las especies Anthoxanthum odoratum (grama), Urera caracasana (ortigón), Equisetum bogotenses (cola de caballo), Parietaria officinalis (parietaria), Achyrocline bogotensis (vira vira), Kohleria hirsuta (caracola), Taraxacum officinale (diente de león), Sedum praealtum (siempre viva), Portulaca oleracea (verdolaga), Petroselinum sativum (perejil), Zingiber officinale (jengibre) y Uncaria tomentosa (uña de gato) fueron adquiridas en la plaza de mercado Soacha (Cundinamarca) y sometidas a maceración con etanol a temperatura ambiente. La actividad antimicrobiana se evaluó por difusión en agar, microdilución en placa y bioautografía frente a Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) y Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027). Se determino que S. aureus y P. aeruginosa presentaron inhibición frente a cinco extractos en los tres métodos realizados, mientras que E. coli no fue inhibida por ningún extracto. Se estableció mediante bioautografía con reveladores específicos que los esteroides y/o triterpenoides, fenoles y flavonoides son los posibles metabolitos responsables de la actividad. Este tipo de investigaciones propicia estudios orientados al aislamiento de principios activos con utilidad en la elaboración de medicamentos para tratar IU.

Evaluación de la capacidad antioxidante y metabolitos secundarios de extractos de dieciséis plantas medicinales / Evaluation of antioxidant capacity and secondary metabolites of sixteen medicinal plants extracts

El presente estudio evaluó la capacidad antioxidante de los extractos de dieciséis plantas medicinales: escoba amarga (Parthenium hysterophons), ajenjo (Artemisia absinthium), guarumo (t), chaya (Cnidoscolus chayamansa), borraja (Borago officinalis), balsa (Ochroma sp.), linaza (Linum usitatissimum), hierba Luisa (Cymbopogon citratus), toronjil (Melissa officinalis), buganvilla (Bougainvillea spectabilis), alcachofa (Cynara scolymus), guaviduca (Piper carpunya), altamisa (Ambrosia cumanensis), diente de león (Taxacum officinales), buscapina (Parietaria officinalis) y moringa (Moringa oleifera). Para ello, se usó el método DPPH (radical 1,1-difenil-2-picrilhidrazil); además, se realizaron ensayos de reconocimiento de metabolitos secundarios a fin de obtener los primeros indicios de compuestos de interés fitoquímico. La actividad captadora de radicales libres de los extractos se expresó como valor de IC50 (μg/mL) (cantidad necesaria para inhibir la formación de radicales DPPH en un 50%). El valor bajo de IC50 refleja mejor acción eliminadora de radicales libres. Aunque la mayoría de las muestras evaluadas mostraron buena capacidad antioxidante con este método (DPPH), los ensayos de los extractos hidro-alcohólicos demuestran que la alcachofa (IC50 9,89 μg/mL), moringa (IC50 11,4 μg/mL) y borraja (IC50 14,0 μg/mL) presentaron mayor capacidad antioxidante. Mediante las pruebas químicas de caracterización, se detectó la presencia de flavonoides, taninos, triterpenos, alcaloides y saponinas en la mayoría de las especies analizadas (aproximadamente 56-69%); tan sólo un 20% de las mismas mostró la presencia de polifenoles, glucósidos cianogénicos, lactonas, cumarinas, esteroles y antraquinonas. Según los resultados, se podría considerar a estas plantas como fuentes prometedoras de metabolitos secundarios con actividad antioxidante. ABSTRACTThis study evaluated the antioxidant capacity of sixteen medicinal plants: Escoba amarga (Parthenium hysterophons), ajenjo (Artemisia absinthium), guarumo (Cecropia obtusifolia), chaya (Cnidoscolus chayamansa), borraja (Borago officinalis), balsa (Ochroma sp.), linaza (Linum usitatissimum), hierba Luisa (Cymbopogon citratus), toronjil (Melissa officinalis), buganvilla (Bougainvillea spectabilis), alcachofa (Cynara scolymus), guaviduca (Piper carpunya), altamisa (Ambrosia cumanensis), diente de León (Taxacum officinales), buscapina (Parietaria officinalis)and moringa (Moringa oleifera). For this, the DPPH (radical 1, 1-difenil-2-picrilhidrazil) method was used; furthermore, recognition assays of secondary metabolites were performed, in order to obtain the first signs of phytochemical compounds of interest. The free radical scavenging activity of the extracts was expressed as IC50 value (g/mL) (necessary amount to inhibit the formation of 50% of DPPH radical). The low value of IC50 reflects better free radical scavenging action. Although most of the samples tested showed good antioxidant capacity with this method (DPPH), tests of hydroalcoholic extracts show that alcachofa (IC50 9.89 mg/mL), moringa (IC50 11.4 mg/mL) and borraja (IC50 14.0 mg/mL) were those with higher antioxidant capacity. Through chemical characterization tests, the presence of flavonoids, tannins, triterpenes, alkaloids and saponins were detected in most of the analyzed species (approximately 56-69%); only 20% of them showed the presence of polyphenols, cyanogenic glycosides, lactones, coumarins, anthraquinones and sterols. According to the results obtained, these plants might be considered as promising sources of secondary metabolites with antioxidant activity.

Plant Ethnoveterinary Practices in Two Pyrenean Territories of Catalonia (Iberian Peninsula) and in Two Areas of the Balearic Islands and Comparison with Ethnobotanical Uses in Human Medicine

This paper presents the results of an ethnobotanical study centred in veterinarian uses in two Catalan Pyrenean regions (Alt Empordà -AE- and High River Ter Valley -AT-, Iberian peninsula) and two Balearic Islands areas (Formentera -FO- and northeastern Mallorca -MA-). In the areas studied, 97 plant species have been claimed to be useful for veterinary purposes. A total of 306 veterinary use reports have been gathered and analysed. The ten most reported plants areTanacetum parthenium(24 use reports),Parietaria officinalis(15),Ranunculus parnassifolius(14),Meum athamanticum(13),Olea europaea(13),Quercus ilex(12),Ruta chalepensis(12),Sambucus nigra(10) andThymus vulgaris(10). According to comprehensive reviews, a high number of novelties for plant ethnoveterinary are contributed: 34 species and one subspecies, 11 genera, and three families have not been reported in previous works in this field, and 21 species had only been mentioned once. Several ethnoveterinary uses are coincidental with those in human medicine. Although ethnoveterinary practices are less relevant than in the past in the territories considered, as in all industrialised countries, the knowledge on plant properties and applications is still rich and constitutes a large pool of evidence for phytotherapy, both in domestic animals and humans.