Endophytic fungi or endophytes exist widely inside the healthy tissues of living plants, and are important components of plant micro-ecosystems. Over the long period of evolution, some co-existing endophytes and their host plants have established a special relationship with one and another, which can significantly influence the formation of metabolic products in plants, then affect quality and quantity of crude drugs derived from medicinal plants. This paper will focus on the increasing knowledge of relationships between endophytic fungi and medicinal plants through reviewing of published research data obtained from the last 30 years. The analytical results indicate that the distribution and population structure of endophytes can be considerably affected by factors, such as the genetic background, age, and environmental conditions of their hosts. On the other hand, the endophytic fungi can also confer profound impacts on their host plants by enhancing their growth, increasing their fitness, strengthening their tolerances to abiotic and biotic stresses, and promoting their accumulation of secondary metabolites. All the changes are very important for the production of bioactive components in their hosts. Hence, it is essential to understand such relationships between endophytic fungi and their host medicinal plants. Such knowledge can be well exploited and applied for the production of better and more drugs from medicinal plants.

Portulaca oleracea L., belonging to the Portulacaceae family, is commonly known as purslane in English and Ma-Chi-Xian in Chinese. It is a warm-climate, herbaceous succulent annual plant with a cosmopolitan distribution. It is eaten extensively as a potherb and added in soups and salads around the Mediterranean and tropical Asian countries and has been used as a folk medicine in many countries. Diverse compounds have been isolated from Portulaca oleracea, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, polysaccharides, fatty acids, terpenoids, sterols, proteins vitamins and minerals. Portulaca oleracea possesses a wide spectrum of pharmacological properties such as neuroprotective, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiulcerogenic, and anticancer activities. However, few molecular mechanisms of action are known. This review provides a summary of phytochemistry and pharmacological effects of this plant.

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Polydatin is one of main compounds in Polygonum cuspidatum, a plant with both medicinal and nutritional value. The possible hepatoprotective effects of polydatin on acute liver injury mice induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and the mechanisms involved were investigated. Intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 (50 µl/kg) resulted in a significant increase in the levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA), also a marked enhancement in the expression of hepatic tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and nuclearfactor-kappa B (NF-κB). On the other hand, decreased glutathione (GSH) content and activities of glutathione transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were observed following CCl4 exposure. Nevertheless, all of these phenotypes were evidently reversed by preadministration of polydatin for 5 continuous days. The mRNA and protein expression levels of hepatic growth factor-beta1 (TGF-β1) were enhanced further by polydatin. These results suggest that polydatin protects mice against CCl4-induced liver injury through antioxidant stress and antiinflammatory effects. Polydatin may be an effective hepatoprotective agent and a promising candidate for the treatment of oxidative stress- and inflammation-related diseases.

Xin et al. (2019) presented 3D seismic velocity models (VP and VS) of crust and uppermost mantle of continental China using seismic body-wave travel-time tomography, which are referred to as Unified Seismic Tomography Models for Continental China Lithosphere 1.0 (USTClitho1.0). Compared with previous models of continental China, the VP and VS models of USTClitho1.0 have the highest spatial resolution of 0.5°–1.0° in the horizontal direction and are useful for better understanding the complex tectonics of continental China. Although USTClitho1.0 is implicitly constrained by surface-wave data by using the VS model from surface-wave tomography and the converted VP model as initial models for body-wave travel-time tomography, the predicted surface-wave dispersion curves from USTClitho1.0 do not fit the observed data well. Here, we present updated 3D VP and VS models of the continental China lithosphere (USTClitho2.0) by joint inversion of body-wave arrival times and surface-wave dispersion data. Compared with the previous joint inversion scheme of Zhang et al. (2014), similar to Fang et al. (2016), it is further improved by including the sensitivity of surface-wave dispersion data to VP in the new joint inversion system. As a result, the shallow VP structure is also better imaged. In addition, the new joint inversion scheme considers the large topography variations between the eastern and western parts of China. Thus, USTClitho2.0 better resolves the upper-crustal structure of the Tibetan plateau. Compared with USTClitho1.0, USTClitho2.0 fits both body-wave arrival times and surface-wave dispersion data. Thus, the new velocity models are more accurate and can serve as a better reference model for regional-scale tomography and geodynamic studies in continental China.

The last volcanic eruptions at the intraplate Wudalianchi volcanic field in northeast China were ~300 yr ago. Recent ambient noise tomography (ANT) imaged a potential magma chamber beneath one of its volcanoes, the Weishan volcano, which last erupted at ca. 50 ka. To image the spatial distribution of the magmatic system and estimate the melt fractions beneath the Weishan volcano, we use a dense magnetotelluric (MT) network (average site spacing of ~1 km) around the Weishan cone to image a three-dimensional (3-D) resistivity structure beneath the volcano. For the first time, 3-D MT inversion illuminates the high-resolution spatial distribution of a very low-resistivity body of ~0.3–3 Ω·m at depth of ~2–15 km beneath the Weishan volcano. From the 3-D resistivity model, it can be deduced there exists a magma chamber in the upper and middle crust. From both low-velocity anomalies from ANT and low-resistivity anomalies from MT imaging, melt fractions of magma reservoirs are reliably estimated to be >~15%. From the morphology of magma reservoirs and the shallow magma chamber, the Weishan volcano can be best described by the model of transcrustal magmatic system. Considering the significant melt fractions and active earthquakes and tremors occurring around magma reservoirs, the Weishan volcano is likely in an active stage with magma recharging. Therefore, it needs more active monitoring for better forecasting of its potential future eruptions.