Rhododendron simsii plays important roles in maintaining ecological system stability in the north temperate zone. However, its natural growth is greatly affected by soil microorganisms, particularly rhizosphere microbes. In this study, a comparative analysis was conducted of the bacterial community structure in the rhizosphere of R. simsii at the old, adult, juvenile, and seedlings stages. The results showed that Proteobacteria (38.53%?47.63%), Actinobacteria (23.45%?34.03%), and Acidobacteria (10.33%?17.79%) were the dominant phyla in the R. simsii rhizosphere. In particular, 3, 5, 42, and 33 OTUs were unique to the soil samples of ?old trees?, ?adult trees?, ?juvenile trees?, and ?seedlings?, respectively. Across four sets of R. simsii rhizosphere microbes sampled from seedlings to old trees, the OTUs first increased, then decreased, and finally increased. Overall, alpha diversity (Chao, ACE, and Sobs) revealed similar trends with the highest value i?n recorded for the rhizosphere sample of ?adult trees? and the lowest for the ?seedlings? sample. The bacterial genera in the rhizosphere samples from ?old trees? and ?adult trees? exhibited close clustering. Notably, the R. simsii population of ?juvenile trees?, demonstrating the highest genetic diversity, were rich in Bradyrhizobium and Streptomycetes. This research serves to benefit the domestication of wild R. simsii and other Rhododendron resources.

Junipers are one of the most diverse groups of gymnosperms today. They are adapted to arid areas of the world. In this study, we analysed the chemical composition of the leaf n-alkanes of 170 individuals belonging to Juniperus communis subsp. communis, J. communis var. saxatilis, J. deltoides and J. macrocarpa from the Balkans. Localities with at least two sympatric populations were chosen to study the chemical composition in order to limit the influence of environmental factors on the chemical composition. The leaf n-alkanes were extracted from the leaves with n-hexane and analysed using GC-MS. In all of the samples, n-C33 was the dominant alkane, with n-C29, n-C31 and n-C35 comprising over 80% of the n-alkane profile. The percentages of these dominant n-alkanes were taxon-specific, thus indicating their chemotaxonomic significance. In all the multivariate statistical analyses, samples belonging to different taxa were separated from each other. While the n-alkane profile can be used as a chemotaxonomic tool in the differentiation of these four taxa, it did not carry a phylogenetic signal. Instead, it reflected ecological adaptations, showing how different taxa have adapted to different arid environments within the study area.

Due to its strong biological, pharmacological, and medical activities and rich chemical content, Liquidambar orientalis, known for its resinous exudate storax, has a widespread and well-established ethnopharmacological use. Although it is known that storax has anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, wound-healing and other ethnomedicinal properties, the number of existing scientific studies is very limited. In this context, the aims of this study were to determine the antibiofilm activity of storax and its cytotoxic and apoptotic effects in A549 lung cancer cells. In addition, with this study, it is also possible to make a very comprehensive biological evaluation by determining the effect of storax on certain microRNA expressions. According to our results, L. orientalis storax decreases cell proliferation in A549 lung cancer cells and the IC50 value was determined at 31.5 ?g/mL at 24h. Storax also induces apoptosis via upregulating CASP3, 8, 9, and Bax gene expression and downregulating Bcl-2 expressions in A549 cells. Furthermore, storax decreases the expression of miR-146a, miR-21, and miR-223, while increasing the expression of miR-155. Storax inhibits biofilm formation and reduces the preformed biofilm of microbial strains including Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 33862), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) and Candida albicans (ATCC 64548). The results suggest that storax has strong cytotoxic, apoptotic and antibiofilm properties and thus promising potential in medicine.

Centaurea sect. Acrocentron comprises several taxonomically intricate groups of taxa, including the Balkan endemic obligate serpentinophytes: C. melanocephala, C. candelabrum and C. albertii. Despite its distinctive morphological characteristics, C. candelabrum was considered conspecific with C. melanocephala. A similar situation pertains to C. albertii, which has largely been considered a synonym of C. melanocephala. Considering that several recent floristic works treat these taxa as separate species distributed in different serpentinite areas of the Balkans, the main objectives of our study were to analyse the taxonomic and chorological relationships between them, and to propose a new taxonomic concept. Our study was based on an extensive revision of herbarium material, including the type specimens, personal field data and observations of living plants. Our comprehensive study showed that the plants previously recognised as C. melanocephala from the Stolovi mountain in central Serbia and those previously recognised as C. candelabrum from northern Albania deserve the rank of distinct species. These species can be easily distinguished from each other by a number of characters, including their general habitus, the dimensions and shape of the basal leaves, and the indumentum of the involucral bracts. Given the only slight differences observed between the populations in Kosovo and Albania, the question of whether C. albertii is conspecific with C. candelabrum or deserves an independent taxonomic status remains unresolved until further detailed integrative studies are conducted. In view of the clear differences in morphological and ecological characteristics which exist within this group compared to other representatives of sect. Acrocentron, we propose the separation of the studied taxa into a separate C. melanocephala complex, as outlined in this paper.

Aegilops tauschii is a wild diploid goat-grass which occupies a vast range in Central Eurasia and comprises three different gene-pools: TauL1, TauL2, and TauL3. Multivariate statistical analysis of the transcriptomes from the leaf tissue of 40 A. tauschii accessions, 18 of TauL1, 20 of TauL2, and 2 of TauL3, revealed that the gene-pools of A. tauschii distinctly and essentially differ in their genetic expression patterns. Statistically significant differential gene expression of 2349, 376, and 272 were observed between TauL1 and TauL2; TauL1 and TauL3; TauL2 and TauL3, respectively. These findings indicate substantial adaptive intraspecies divergence in A. tauschii.

Xanthium spinosum is a cosmopolitan annual herb used in traditional medicine worldwide. Although known from ethnobotanical studies, the species is scarcely investigated from the aspects of phytochemistry and biological activity. Therefore, the phenolic composition and biological activity of X. spinosum were examined. Plant specialised metabolites (phenolics) extracted from the roots, leaves and fruits with dichloromethane:methanol (1:1) were analysed by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). In total 10 phenolic compounds were identified and quantified. Six compounds were common to all the extracts. Chlorogenic acid was the most abundant constituent in all the extracts (4.262 mg/g in the fruit extract, 0.820 mg/g in the leaf extract, and 0.540 mg/g in the root extract). The biological activity (antimicrobial and antibiofilm) of the extracts was tested against 12 microfungi and 12 bacterial strains by the microdilution method. All the extracts exhibited moderate antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity and inhibited the growth of most of the examined microorganisms. The obtained results indicate the potential role of the tested extracts in pharmacy and medicine.

Alpine scrubs (Roso pendulinae-Pinetea mugo) and dwarf heaths (Loiseleurio procumbentis-Vaccinietea) are an exceptional assemblage of rich floristic units which contribute significantly to the overall diversity on the Balkan Peninsula. The main edificators of these types of habitats are mostly glacial relicts. Additionally, they are of the arctic, alpine, and boreal distribution types, which further emphasises their importance from the conservation point of view. We investigated their taxonomic richness, endemism, patterns of spatial distribution and diversification in the central Balkans as well as their coenotic composition using a comprehensive dataset (15,609 species occurrence data). The analyses were conducted at three hierarchical levels taking into account the ecological and geographic diversity of the alpine scrubs and dwarf heaths in the study area. The results obtained showed that in the alpine scrubs and dwarf heaths of the central Balkans 902 taxa (829 species and 73 subspecies) had been recorded, and that the proportion of endemics in these habitats is extremely high (ca. 22%). Our results further showed that in 180 randomly selected plots of medium size (? 10 and < 100 m2), the registered regional floristic richness for the unique sample size was 527 species, placing the alpine region of the Balkan Peninsula in second place among the richest alpine regions in the world. Moreover, significant regional differences in species composition were observed within the research area, with floristic richness and diversity increasing from north to south.

The aim of the study was to investigate the antibacterial activity of selected strains of the genus Hericium, belonging to basidiomycetes, from the IBK Mushroom Culture Collection of the M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. A total of 14 strains including H. abietis, H. cirrhatum, H. coralloides, and H. erinaceus were investigated. The strains were cultivated on a liquid glucose-peptone-yeast medium. Both the homogenised mycelium and filtrate of these fungi were evaluated against gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus, and Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria by the disk diffusion and cylinder methods. The activity of the strains varied significantly. Depending on the techniques assay, species, strain, and stage of fungal development, the inhibition zone of the tested bacteria ranged from 5.3 mm to 20.0 mm. In general, the antibacterial potential of the culture filtrates of the investigated species was significantly higher than their mycelia activity. The homogenised mycelium showed potentially good results only against E. coli. The antibacterial activities of the H. abietis and H. cirrhatum species were observed for the first time. To the best of our knowledge, the ability of H. coralloides to inhibit the growth of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus has not been previously reported. The obtained results indicate the ability of the studied Hericium species to produce antibacterial metabolites with a wide and narrow spectrum of action which might have potential health benefits and could be recommended for the further analysis, isolation and identification of potentially promising antibacterial compounds in pharmacology.

Sphagnum jensenii, S. fallax var. isoviitae, and S. pylaesii were found as new to Turkey and Southwest Asia following a bryological field trip to the Giresun province of Turkey. Sphagnum fallax var. isoviitae was also new to Asia. Descriptions, illustrations, world distribution, ecology, and comparisons with related species are presented.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of different nickel concentrations and light in combination with storage conditions and storage time on the seed germination ability of two serpentine-endemic nickel hyperaccumulating species (Bornmuellera emarginata and B. tymphaea). The seeds of both species were collected from natural populations in the Pindus Mountain range, Greece in early July and stored in a refrigerator (4?C) and in laboratory conditions (22?C). The seeds were exposed to a range of nickel concentrations typical of non-ultramafic-ultramafic gradient in two light environments (12 h photoperiod and continuous darkness). The nickel concentration only had a significant effect on B. emarginata, decreasing its seed germination rate with increasing Ni concentrations. The storage temperature significantly affected the germination percentage of both species and it was higher at 4?C compared to 22?C. A higher germination rate (> 60%) was observed for 5-8-month-old seeds, but both species generally showed significantly higher germination rates in the tests conducted seven months after seed ripening in the field. A higher germination rate was observed in a 12-hour photoperiod than in continuous darkness only for B. tymphaea. This study provides guidelines on the germination capacity of two obligate nickel hyperaccumulators with a potential for use in agromining systems.