Abstract Citrus fruits are among the most ancient known and have always attracted the interest of humans, from both a nutritional and a health point of view. Even though there is substantial scientific literature regarding the Citrus genus and associated isolated bioactive compounds, there are still few studies on the botanical features, the phytochemical profiles, and the biological activities for some ancient Citrus fruits as well as for new hybrids that have become part of the international market. We have witnessed both the rediscovery and revaluation of some cultivated ancient fruits in some limited areas and the introduction of new hybrids destined to the food, ornamental, and food design market. This is the first review that sheds light on the botanical and chemical features as well as on the biological properties of Citrus fruits that are under‐investigated, localizing them in an international context. The manuscript focuses in particular on five under‐investigated species: Citrus australasica F. Muell. (Finger lime), Citrus medica L. var. sarcodactylis Swingle (Buddha's hand), Citrus junos Sieb ex Tan. (Yuzu), Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck var . pompia Camarda (Pompia), and Citrus lumia Risso (Lumia).
Abstract A new method is developed to estimate the contemporary effective population size ( N e ) from linkage disequilibrium (LD) between SNPs without information on their location, which is the usual scenario in non‐model species. The general theory of linkage disequilibrium is extended to include the contribution of full‐sibs to the measure of LD, leading naturally to the estimation of N e in monogamous and polygamous mating systems, as well as in multiparous species, and with non‐random distributions of full‐sib family size due to selection or other causes. Prediction of confidence intervals for N e estimates was solved using a small artificial neural network trained on a dataset of over 10 5 simulation results. The method, implemented in a user‐friendly and fast software ( currentNe ), is able to estimate N e even in problematic scenarios with large population sizes or small sample sizes and provides confidence intervals that are more consistent than resampling methods.
A predictable time structure is here quantified by least-squares fitting and polynomial regression in parameters of blood pressure automatically monitored throughout pregnancy in 156 healthy women as well as in 79 women with gestational hypertension or preeclampsia. The results suggest new endpoints to be used for an early identification of gestational hypertension or even preeclampsia.
In a recent letter in Molecular Biology and Evolution, Schierup and Hein (2000a) showed that the likelihood ratio test (LRT) of the molecular clock (Felsenstein 1981) ''wrongly'' rejects the clock hypothesis when recombination has occurred.However, this result should not be taken as a failure of the LRT.Because in the presence of recombination often there is not one single tree describing the history of the sequences, but several, the LRT is correctly rejecting the actual null hypothesis tested, that is, that the data are evolving under a clock on one single tree.To appropriately test the clock hypothesis in the presence of recombination, we need to use a test independent of tree topology.Muse and Weir (1992) proposed a triplet likelihood ratio test to test for equality of evolutionary of rates for two species at a time using a third species as an outgroup (to avoid confusion, I will call this test the relative-rate test [RRT]).The RRT is therefore independent of topology and might be used for potentially recombinant sequences if an outgroup is selected which did not recombine with the ingroup.Here, the performance of the RRT with recombinant data is presented.Recombinant alignments were simulated using the coalescent with recombination (Hudson 1983).A program written in C for this purpose is available from the author.Alignments of 11 sequences (10 recombining ingroup and one nonrecombining outgroup) with 1,000 nt were evolved with a molecular clock under the Jukes-Cantor (JC) model of evolution (Jukes and Cantor 1969).For each level of recombination and diversity, 1,000 replicates were generated.A maximum-likelihood (ML) tree was estimated for each simulated data set under the JCϩ⌫ model of evolution in PAUP* (Swofford 1998) without assuming a clock.The ⌫ distribution for rate variation among sites (Yang 1993) was included because it is known that recombination introduces such rate heterogeneity (Schierup and Hein 2000b), and the likelihood increases significantly when this variation is accounted for.For the ML tree, the likelihood under the unconstrained model, where each lineage is allowed to have its own rate (alternative hypothesis), was compared with the likelihood obtained when the molecular clock was enforced (null hypothesis).If the data are evolving under a clock, the difference in likelihood between these two models should be close to zero.To establish statis-
The B-ring substitution pattern of flavonols is a significant structural feature for their function as free radical scavengers and antioxidants. In this paper, four differently substituted B-ring hydroxylation flavonols (galangin, kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin) and a flavonol glycoside (quercitrin) were studied for their ability to bind BSA by quenching the protein intrinsic fluorescence. From the spectra obtained, the biomolecular quenching constants, the apparent static binding constants, and the binding site values were calculated. The B-ring hydroxylation of flavonols significantly affected the binding/quenching process; in general, the binding affinity increased with the number of hydroxyl groups on the B-ring. The binding constants ( Ka) were determined as myricetin (4.90 x 10(8) L/mol) > quercetin (3.65 x 10(7) L/mol) > kaempferol (2.57 x 10(6) L/mol) > galangin (6.43 x 10(5) L/mol). The glycoside substitute at the C-ring position decreased the binding affinity. The chromatographic retention factor ( K') and logarithms of apparent partition coefficient (log Kow) were linear to the logarithms of apparent binding constants (log Ka) for flavonols with increasing hydroxyl groups on the B-ring. These results showed that the hydrogen bond force play an important role in binding flavonols to BSA. These results are also in agreement with the generally accepted structure-dependent free radical scavenger and antioxidant abilities of flavonols.
