Acid rearrangment of epoxy-germacranolides and absolute configuration of 1beta, 10alpha-epoxy-salonitenolide

The acid-catalyzed cyclization of mono epoxides of cnicin acetonide (3) was investigated. Several 6,12-eudesmanolides were obtained, and their stereochemistry established by extensive spectroscopic analyses. Chemical correlations also led to the assignment of the absolute configuration of 1β,10α-epoxy-salonitenolide (13), a previously isolated natural product. The cytotoxic activities of some compounds were determined against A549 and MCF-7 tumor cell lines. The esterified germacranolides 2–6 were selectively cytotoxic against the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line

The cytotoxic properties of Natural Coumarins Isolated from roots of Ferulago campestris (Apiaceae) and of synthetic ester derivatives aegelinol

Grandivittin (1), agasyllin (2), aegelinol benzoate (3) and felamidin (20), four natural coumarins isolated from Ferulago campestris, and several synthetic ester derivatives of aegelinol (4) were tested against four tumor cell lines. Some of them were shown to be marginally cytotoxic against the A549 lung cancer cell line

Cytotoxic activity of some natural and syntetic sesquiterpene lactones

Several natural and synthetic sesquiterpene lactones with different skeletons were tested and found to be active against nine cancer cell lines. Elemane (4), heliangolane (5) and their hydroxy analogues 9 and 10, all containing an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde substituent, were the most potent compounds

Genetic and physical mapping of flowering time loci in canola (Brassica napus L.)

We identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying variation for flowering time in a doubled haploid (DH) population of vernalisation-responsive canola (Brassica napus L.) cultivars Skipton and Ag-Spectrum and aligned them with physical map positions of predicted flowering genes from the Brassica rapa genome. Significant genetic variation in flowering time and response to vernalisation were observed among the DH lines from Skipton/Ag-Spectrum. A molecular linkage map was generated comprising 674 simple sequence repeat, sequence-related amplified polymorphism, sequence characterised amplified region, Diversity Array Technology, and candidate gene based markers loci. QTL analysis indicated that flowering time is a complex trait and is controlled by at least 20 loci, localised on ten different chromosomes. These loci each accounted for between 2.4 and 28.6 % of the total genotypic variation for first flowering and response to vernalisation. However, identification of consistent QTL was found to be dependant upon growing environments. We compared the locations of QTL with the physical positions of predicted flowering time genes located on the sequenced genome of B. rapa. Some QTL associated with flowering time on A02, A03, A07, and C06 may represent homologues of known flowering time genes in Arabidopsis; VERNALISATION INSENSITIVE 3, APETALA1, CAULIFLOWER, FLOWERING LOCUS C, FLOWERING LOCUS T, CURLY LEAF, SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE, GA3 OXIDASE, and LEAFY. Identification of the chromosomal location and effect of the genes influencing flowering time may hasten the development of canola varieties having an optimal time for flowering in target environments such as for low rainfall areas, via marker-assisted selection