We report a new taxonomic entity of Nitella megacephala sp. nov. (Charales, Charophyceae) from Korea. The characean algae collected from two sites (Haenam-gun and Kangjin-gun) had distinctive morphological characteristics representing a new Nitella species. Those samples showed a light-green color in gross morphology and a plant body length up to 13 cm. Moreover, the two-celled dactyls and head formation differed clearly from closely related Nitella species (N. moriokae, N. spiciformis, and N. translucens). From a molecular phylogenetic analysis of rbcL DNA sequences, Nitella megacephala sp. nov formed a single clade with N. translucens, N. moriokae and N. spiciformis, and was distantly related to those three species as a sister taxon. In the terms of interspecific sequence variation, Nitella megacephala showed 3.2–5.5% pairwise distance values with sister groups in phylogenetic tree (N. translucens, N. moriokae and N. spiciformis) and 3.2–9.1% with other of Nitella species. In contrast, its sister group species differed 0.3–1.7% at the interspecific level. These unique morphological and molecular taxonomic characteristics clearly support the establishment of this taxonomic entity as a new species in the genus Nitella (Nitella megacephala sp. nov.)
We examined the anti-inflammatory properties of Nostoc commune HCW0811 in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophage cells. The anti-inflammatory activity of HCW0811 on viability of treated cells was assessed by measuring the level of expression of NO, prostaglandin E 2 and proinflammatory cytokines, namely interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α in HCW0811 treated RAW 264.7 macrophages. HCW0811 was non-toxic to cells and inhibited the production of cytokines in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition its treatment suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in a dose-dependent manner, and concomitantly decreased the protein expressions of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. Moreover, the levels of the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase family proteins such as extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, p38, and nuclear factor kappa B were reduced by HCW0811. These findings suggest that the HCW0811 collected from Daejeon National Cemetery have anti-inflammatory effects, and demonstrated its efficacy in cell-based in vitro assays.
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