Flavonoids are phytochemical compounds present in many plants, fruits, vegetables, and leaves, with potential applications in medicinal chemistry. Flavonoids possess a number of medicinal benefits, including anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties. They also have neuroprotective and cardio-protective effects. These biological activities depend upon the type of flavonoid, its (possible) mode of action, and its bioavailability. These cost-effective medicinal components have significant biological activities, and their effectiveness has been proved for a variety of diseases. The most recent work is focused on their isolation, synthesis of their analogs, and their effects on human health using a variety of techniques and animal models. Thousands of flavonoids have been successfully isolated, and this number increases steadily. We have therefore made an effort to summarize the isolated flavonoids with useful activities in order to gain a better understanding of their effects on human health.

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Background The sharp increase of plant genome and transcriptome data provide valuable resources to investigate evolutionary consequences of gene duplication in a range of taxa, and unravel common principles underlying duplicate gene retention. Results We survey 141 sequenced plant genomes to elucidate consequences of gene and genome duplication, processes central to the evolution of biodiversity. We develop a pipeline named DupGen_finder to identify different modes of gene duplication in plants. Genes derived from whole-genome, tandem, proximal, transposed, or dispersed duplication differ in abundance, selection pressure, expression divergence, and gene conversion rate among genomes. The number of WGD-derived duplicate genes decreases exponentially with increasing age of duplication events-transposed duplication- and dispersed duplication-derived genes declined in parallel. In contrast, the frequency of tandem and proximal duplications showed no significant decrease over time, providing a continuous supply of variants available for adaptation to continuously changing environments. Moreover, tandem and proximal duplicates experienced stronger selective pressure than genes formed by other modes and evolved toward biased functional roles involved in plant self-defense. The rate of gene conversion among WGD-derived gene pairs declined over time, peaking shortly after polyploidization. To provide a platform for accessing duplicated gene pairs in different plants, we constructed the Plant Duplicate Gene Database. Conclusions We identify a comprehensive landscape of different modes of gene duplication across the plant kingdom by comparing 141 genomes, which provides a solid foundation for further investigation of the dynamic evolution of duplicate genes.

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Chloroplasts play a crucial role in sustaining life on earth. The availability of over 800 sequenced chloroplast genomes from a variety of land plants has enhanced our understanding of chloroplast biology, intracellular gene transfer, conservation, diversity, and the genetic basis by which chloroplast transgenes can be engineered to enhance plant agronomic traits or to produce high-value agricultural or biomedical products. In this review, we discuss the impact of chloroplast genome sequences on understanding the origins of economically important cultivated species and changes that have taken place during domestication. We also discuss the potential biotechnological applications of chloroplast genomes.

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This is the first installment of 2 articles that discuss the biology and pathophysiology of wound healing, review the role that growth factors play in this process, and describe current ways of growth factor delivery into the wound bed. Part 1 discusses the latest advances in clinicians' understanding of the control points that regulate wound healing. Importantly, biological similarities and differences between acute and chronic wounds are considered, including the signaling pathways that initiate cellular and tissue responses after injury, which may be impeded during chronic wound healing.

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In this review we describe and discuss several approaches to selecting higher plants as candidates for drug development with the greatest possibility of success. We emphasize the role of information derived from various systems of traditional medicine (ethnomedicine) and its utility for drug discovery purposes. We have identified 122 compounds of defined structure, obtained from only 94 species of plants, that are used globally as drugs and demonstrate that 80% of these have had an ethnomedical use identical or related to the current use of the active elements of the plant. We identify and discuss advantages and disadvantages of using plants as starting points for drug development, specifically those used in traditional medicine.

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