Glutamicibacter halophytocola sp. nov., an endophytic actinomycete isolated from the roots of a coastal halophyte, Limonium sinense.[Pubmed: 28056223]

A novel actinobacterium, designated KLBMP 5180T, was isolated from the surface-sterilized root of a coastal halophyte, Limonium sinense, collected from the city of Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, eastern China. The isolate was Gram-stain-positive, aerobic and non-motile. The components of the cell-wall peptidoglycan were lysine, glutamic acid and alanine. The predominant menaquinone was MK-9. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, one unknown phospholipid, one unidentified glycolipid and two unidentified lipids. anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0 were the major cellular fatty acids. The DNA G+C content of strain KLBMP 5180T was 60.0 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain KLBMP 5180T belongs to the genus Glutamicibacter and was related most closely to Glutamicibacter nicotianae DSM 20123T (99.3 % similarity), Glutamicibacterarilaitensis Re117T (99.3 %) and Glutamicibacter mysorens LMG 16219T (99.1 %); similarity to other type strains of the genus Glutamicibacter was lower than 98.5 %. However, DNA-DNA relatedness values between strain KLBMP 5180T, G . nicotianae DSM 20123T, G. arilaitensis Re117T and G. mysorens LMG 16219T were 47.5±2.6, 51.3±3.1 and 41.2±4.3 %, respectively. The combination of DNA-DNA hybridization, phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data supported the suggestion that strain KLBMP 5180T represents a novel species of the genus Glutamicibacter, for which the name Glutamicibacterhalophytocola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KLBMP 5180T (=DSM 101718T=KCTC 39692T).

Herbihabitans rhizosphaerae gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family Pseudonocardiaceae isolated from rhizosphere soil of the herb Limonium sinense (Girard).[Pubmed: 27470940]

The taxonomic position of an actinobacterium, designated CPCC 204279T, which was isolated from a rhizosphere soil sample of the herb Limonium sinense collected from Xinjiang Province, China, was established using a polyphasic approach. Whole-cell hydrolysates of strain CPCC 204279T contained galactose and arabinose as diagnostic sugars and meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diamino acid. The muramic acid residues in the peptidoglycan were N-acetylated. The predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H4). The phospholipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol mannosides. The major fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 2-OH, C16 : 1ω9c, iso-C16 : 1 and C16 : 0. The genomic DNA G+C content was 73.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain CPCC 204279T should be placed in the family Pseudonocardiaceae, in which the strain formed a distinct lineage next to the genus Actinophytocola. Signature nucleotides in the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the strain contained the Pseudonocardiaceae family-specific 16S rRNA signature nucleotides and a genus-specific diagnostic nucleotide signature pattern. The combination of phylogenetic analysis and phenotypic characteristics supported the conclusion that strain CPCC 204279T represents a novel species of a new genus in the family Pseudonocardiaceae, for which the name Herbihabitans rhizosphaerae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. Strain CPCC 204279T (=NBRC 111774T=DSM 101727T) is the type strain of the type species.

[Screening and biodiversity of endophytic and rhizosphere bacteria containing ACC deaminase from halophyte Limonium sinense (Girard) Kuntze].[Pubmed: 29717861]

We isolated and screened endophytic and rhizosphere bacteria with 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase from halophyte Limonium sinense (Girard) Kuntze collected from Jiangsu coastal area and investigated their diversity and plant growth promoting potential.

Limonium sinense and gallic acid suppress hepatitis C virus infection by blocking early viral entry.[Pubmed: 25865056]

A preventive vaccine against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains unavailable and newly developed drugs against viral replication are complicated by potential drug-resistance and high cost. These issues justify the need to develop alternative antiviral agents and expand the scope of strategies for the treatment of hepatitis C, such as targeting viral entry. In this study, we explore the bioactivity of Limonium sinense (L. sinense) and its purified constituents against HCV life cycle using subgenomic replicon and infectious HCV culture systems. Data indicated that the water extract from the underground part of L. sinense (LS-UW) exhibited potent inhibitory activity against HCV at non-cytotoxic concentrations. LS-UW targeted early HCV infection without affecting viral replication, translation, and cell-to-cell transmission, and blocked viral attachment and post-attachment entry/fusion steps. Bioactivity analysis of major constituents from LS-UW through viral infectivity/entry assays revealed that gallic acid (GA) also inhibits HCV entry. Furthermore, both LS-UW and GA could suppress HCV infection of primary human hepatocytes. Due to their potency and ability to target HCV early viral entry, LS-UW and GA may be of value for further development as prospective antivirals against HCV.

Isolation and identification of anti-tumor polysaccharide LSP21 from Limonium sinense (Girard) Kuntze.[Pubmed: 24991730]

Limonium sinense (Girard) Kuntze is a traditional Chinese folk medicine used for the treatment of fever, hemorrhage, hepatitis and other disorders. Recently, it was found that the crude polysaccharides from L. sinense (LSP) has significant anti-tumor activity. However, research on the isolation and identification of anti-tumor polysaccharide fractions from LSP has not yet been reported. In this study, three polysaccharides LSP11, LSP21, LSP31 were isolated and purified from LSP by using DEAE-52 cellulose column and Sephadex G-100 column chromatography. It was found that LSP21 exhibited the most significant inhibitory effect on the growth of HepG2 cells in vitro. Further research showed that LSP21 inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner and could induce cell body shrinkage, chromatin condensation, and reduction in the number of tumor cells with normal morphology which suggested that its cytotoxicity on tumor cell might be related to both inhibition on cell proliferation and inducement of cell death. Finally, the structural characteristics of LSP21 were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC). The results showed that LSP21 is a heteropolysaccharide with an average molecular weight of 1.31×10(6) Da and consists of glucose, galactose and mannose in the ratio of 1.77:1:2.38.

Molecular characterization and population genetic diversity of Limonium sinense based on nuclear ribosomal DNA and ISSR.[Pubmed: 24159804]

The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) have been applied to authenticate Limonium species and their corresponding herb samples. One species specific primer was designed and the amplification product is 200 bp (Limonium sinense) by using this primer. No band was observed with other Limonium species. The phylogenetic relationship of Limonium species were studied using ribosomal DNA ITS and the adulterants (L. bicolor, L. aureum and L. wrightii) were clustered with L. sinense in NJ tree. Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) was used to assess genetic diversity and population structure of L. sinense and a high level of genetic diversity was detected (H(E) = 0.2573, PPB = 85.71%) with POPGENE. Based on AMOVA analysis, there was moderate variation between pairs of populations with phi(ST) from 0.1744 to 0.5131 and on average 28.81% of the genetic variation occurred among populations. Five main clusters were shown in UPGMA dendrogram using TFPGA. The results showed that SNP and ARMS could be used to authenticate not only Limonium species but related herbs on rDNA internal transcribed spacer region. Possible strategies should be implemented for conservation of this endemic herb.

Analysis of genetic variability and population structure of the endemic medicinal Limonium sinense using molecular markers.[Pubmed: 23506829]

Limonium sinense is an endemic medicinal herb used to treat fever, hemorrhage and other disorders. In the present study, population genetic diversity was elucidated using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) primers. Percentage of polymorphic bands, Nei's gene diversity and Shannon's information index revealed a high level of genetic diversity at species level. The analysis of molecular variance revealed that 69.88% (RAPD), 71.19% (ISSR) and 70.97% (AFLP) of variability were partitioned among individuals within populations, which indicated the coherent trend by Gst (0.3849/0.3577/0.3670). Gene flow number (Nm) was 0.581/0.618/0.612, which indicated that there was a limited gene exchange between populations. The UPGMA clustering results showed that the genetic distance had no significant correlation with geographic distance. These results indicate that these markers were reliable tools for the differentiation and determination of the genetic diversity among the populations of L. sinense and the conservation of existing natural population is necessary.