Ethnopharmacological relevance Many ethnobotanical studies show that people in industrial countries still rely on their traditional knowledge of medicinal plants for self-treatment, although the trend might not be as common as some decades ago. Given the social and public health implications of ethnopharmacological practices, this survey aims at recording and analysing the medicinal plants used in the folk medicine of the Northwest of the Basque Country focusing on how medicinal plants knowledge and practices evolve. Materials and methods Fieldwork consisted of 265 orally consented semi-structured interviews with 207 informants about medicinal uses of plants. Interviews were conducted between September 2008 and January 2011. Informants were on average 76 years old (minimum 45, maximum 95), being more than half of them (112) men. Data collected were structured in use-reports (UR). Following informants' comments, medicinal use-reports were classified as abandoned-UR, when the informants reported that the use was only practiced in the past, and prevalent-UR, when the informants reported to continue the practice. Results and discussion A total of 2067 UR for 139 species that belong to 58 botanical families were recorded, being the most important families Asteraceae, Liliaceae sensu latu and Urticaceae. Some of the most important species are commonly used in other European areas (e.g., Chamaemelum nobile, Urtica dioica and Chelidonium majus). However, there are also plants commonly used in the area such as Helleborus viridis or Coronopus didymus, that are scarcely used in other areas, and whose record is an original contribution of the local pharmacopeia. It is also the case of remedies such as the use of Plantago leaves against strains in a local remedy called zantiritu. Overall, and for all variables analysed (total UR, medicinal use-categories, drug preparation and administration), the percentage of UR being currently practiced (prevalence ratio) was very low (near 30%) suggesting a strong decay in the use of traditional medicinal plants. Exceptionally, some species (Chamaemelum nobile, Verbena officinalis or Anagallis arvensis) had a high prevalence ratio, reflecting the fact that this erosion process is not evolving homogeneously. Informants also reported that new species and medicinal plant uses were entering into the local pharmacopeia via non-traditional sources such as books, courses, or the internet. These modern ways are now being used to spread some traditional remedies that in the past were only orally transmitted. Conclusions This study shows that traditional knowledge is continuously changing, evolving and adapting to the new social and environmental conditions. The image of the local folk medicine as a dying reality doomed to disappear should be reviewed. It also shows the need of a culturally sensitive approach by the official health systems to these practices.

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Background Theobroma cacao L. cultivar Matina 1-6 belongs to the most cultivated cacao type. The availability of its genome sequence and methods for identifying genes responsible for important cacao traits will aid cacao researchers and breeders. Results We describe the sequencing and assembly of the genome of Theobroma cacao L. cultivar Matina 1-6. The genome of the Matina 1-6 cultivar is 445 Mbp, which is significantly larger than a sequenced Criollo cultivar, and more typical of other cultivars. The chromosome-scale assembly, version 1.1, contains 711 scaffolds covering 346.0 Mbp, with a contig N50 of 84.4 kbp, a scaffold N50 of 34.4 Mbp, and an evidence-based gene set of 29,408 loci. Version 1.1 has 10x the scaffold N50 and 4x the contig N50 as Criollo, and includes 111 Mb more anchored sequence. The version 1.1 assembly has 4.4% gap sequence, while Criollo has 10.9%. Through a combination of haplotype, association mapping and gene expression analyses, we leverage this robust reference genome to identify a promising candidate gene responsible for pod color variation. We demonstrate that green/red pod color in cacao is likely regulated by the R2R3 MYB transcription factor TcMYB113, homologs of which determine pigmentation in Rosaceae, Solanaceae, and Brassicaceae. One SNP within the target site for a highly conserved trans-acting siRNA in dicots, found within TcMYB113, seems to affect transcript levels of this gene and therefore pod color variation. Conclusions We report a high-quality sequence and annotation of Theobroma cacao L. and demonstrate its utility in identifying candidate genes regulating traits.

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Reduced pollination success, as a function of habitat loss and fragmentation, appears to be a global phenomenon. Disruption of pollinator movement is one hypothesis put forward to explain this pattern in pollen limitation. However, the small size of pollinators makes them very difficult to track; thus, knowledge of their movements is largely speculative. Using tiny radio transmitters (0.25 g), we translocated a generalist tropical 'trap-lining' hummingbird, the green hermit (Phaethornis guy), across agricultural and forested landscapes to test the hypothesis that movement is influenced by patterns of deforestation. Although, we found no difference in homing times between landscape types, return paths were on average 459+/-144 m (+/-s.e.) more direct in forested than agricultural landscapes. In addition, movement paths in agricultural landscapes contained 36+/-4 per cent more forest than the most direct route. Our findings suggest that this species can circumvent agricultural matrix to move among forest patches. Nevertheless, it is clear that movement of even a highly mobile species is strongly influenced by landscape disturbance. Maintaining landscape connectivity with forest corridors may be important for enhancing movement, and thus in facilitating pollen transfer.

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Background The nuclear DNA amount in an unreplicated haploid chromosome complement (1C-value) is a key diversity character with many uses. Angiosperm C-values have been listed for reference purposes since 1976, and pooled in an electronic database since 1997 (http://www.kew.org/cval/homepage). Such lists are cited frequently and provide data for many comparative studies. The last compilation was published in 2000, so a further supplementary list is timely to monitor progress against targets set at the first plant genome size workshop in 1997 and to facilitate new goal setting. Scope The present work lists DNA C-values for 804 species including first values for 628 species from 88 original sources, not included in any previous compilation, plus additional values for 176 species included in a previous compilation. Conclusions 1998-2002 saw striking progress in our knowledge of angiosperm C-values. At least 1700 first values for species were measured (the most in any five-year period) and familial representation rose from 30 % to 50 %. The loss of many densitometers used to measure DNA C-values proved less serious than feared, owing to the development of relatively inexpensive flow cytometers and computer-based image analysis systems. New uses of the term genome (e.g. in 'complete' genome sequencing) can cause confusion. The Arabidopsis Genome Initiative C-value for Arabidopsis thaliana (125 Mb) was a gross underestimate, and an exact C-value based on genome sequencing alone is unlikely to be obtained soon for any angiosperm. Lack of this expected benchmark poses a quandary as to what to use as the basal calibration standard for angiosperms. The next decade offers exciting prospects for angiosperm genome size research. The database (http://www.kew.org/cval/homepage) should become sufficiently representative of the global flora to answer most questions without needing new estimations. DNA amount variation will remain a key interest as an integrated strand of holistic genomics.

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Anthocyanidin synthase (ANS), an enzyme of the biosynthetic pathway to anthocyanin, has been postulated to catalyze the reaction(s) from the colorless leucoanthocyanidins to the colored anthocyanidins. Although cDNAs have been isolated that encode putative ANS, which exhibits significant similarities in amino acid sequence with members of a family of 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxygenases, no biochemical evidence has been presented which identifies the actual reaction that is catalyzed by ANS. Here we show that anthocyanidins are formed in vitro through 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxidation of leucoanthocyanidins catalyzed by the recombinant ANS and subsequent acid treatment. A cDNA encoding ANS was isolated from red and green formas of Perilla frutescens by differential display of mRNA. Recombinant ANS tagged with maltose-binding-protein (MBP) was purified, and the formation of anthocyanidins from leucoanthocyanidins was detected by the ANS-catalyzed reaction in the presence of ferrous ion, 2-oxoglutarate and ascorbate, being followed by acidification with HCI. Equimolar stoichiometry was confirmed for anthocyanidin formation and liberation of CO2 from 2-oxoglutarate. The presumptive two-copy gene of ANS was expressed in leaves and stems of the red forma of P. frutescens but not in the green forma plant. This corresponds to the accumulation pattern of anthocyanin. The mechanism of the reaction catalyzed by ANS is discussed in relation to the molecular evolution of a family of 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxygenases.

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