The people of Tengger, Indonesia have used plants as traditional medicine for a long time. However, this local knowledge has not been well documented until recently. Our study aims to understand the utilization of plants in traditional medicine by the people of Tengger, who inhabit the Ngadisari village, Sukapura District, Probolinggo Regency, Indonesia. We conducted semi-structured and structured interviews with a total of 52 informants that represented 10% of the total family units in the village. The parameters observed in this study include species use value (SUV), family use value (FUV), plant part use (PPU), and the relative frequency of citation that was calculated based on fidelity level (FL). We successfully identified 30 species belonging to 28 genera and 20 families that have been used as a traditional medicine to treat 20 diseases. We clustered all the diseases into seven distinct categories. Among the recorded plant families, Poaceae and Zingiberaceae were the most abundant. Plant species within those families were used to treat internal medical diseases, respiratory-nose, ear, oral/dental, and throat problems. The plant species with the highest SUV was Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (1.01), whereas the Aloaceae family (0.86) had the highest FUV. Acorus calamus L. (80%) had the highest FL percentage. The leaves were identified as the most used plant part and decoction was the dominant mode of a medicinal preparation. Out of the plants and their uses documented in our study, 26.7% of the medicinal plants and 71.8% of the uses were novel. In conclusion, the diversity of medicinal plant uses in the Ngadisari village could contribute to the development of new plant-based drugs and improve the collective revenue of the local society.

The later steps of carotenoid biosynthesis involve the formation of cyclic carotenoids. The reaction is catalyzed by lycopene b-cyclase (LCY-B), which converts lycopene into b-carotene, and by capsanthin-capsorubin synthase (CCS), which is mainly dedicated to the synthesis of k-cyclic carotenoids (capsanthin and capsorubin) but also has LCY-B activity. Although the peptide sequences of plant LCY-Bs and CCS contain a putative dinucleotide-binding motif, it is believed that these two carotenoid cyclases proceed via protic activation and stabilization of resulting carbocation intermediates. Using pepper (Capsicum annuum) CCS as a prototypic carotenoid cyclase, we show that the monomeric protein contains one noncovalently bound flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) that is essential for enzyme activity only in the presence of NADPH, which functions as the FAD reductant. The reaction proceeds without transfer of hydrogen from the dinucleotide cofactors to b-carotene or capsanthin. Using site-directed mutagenesis, amino acids potentially involved in the protic activation were identified. Substitutions of alanine, lysine, and arginine for glutamate-295 in the conserved 293-FLEET-297 motif of pepper CCS or LCY-B abolish the formation of b-carotene and k-cyclic carotenoids. We also found that mutations of the equivalent glutamate-196 located in the 194-LIEDT-198 domain of structurally divergent bacterial LCY-B abolish the formation of b-carotene. The data herein reveal plant carotenoid cyclases to be novel enzymes that combine characteristics of non-metal-assisted terpene cyclases with those attributes typically found in flavoenzymes that catalyze reactions, with no net redox, such as type 2 isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase. Thus, FAD in its reduced form could be implicated in the stabilization of the carbocation intermediate.

The most abundant posttranslational modification in nature is the attachment of preassembled high-mannose-type glycans, which determines the fate and localization of the modified protein and modulates the biological functions of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored and N-glycosylated proteins. In eukaryotes, all mannose residues attached to glycoproteins from the luminal side of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) derive from the polyprenyl monosaccharide carrier, dolichol P-mannose (Dol-P-Man), which is flipped across the ER membrane to the lumen. We show that in plants, Dol-P-Man is synthesized when Dol-P-Man synthase1 (DPMS1), the catalytic core, interacts with two binding proteins, DPMS2 and DPMS3, that may serve as membrane anchors for DPMS1 or provide catalytic assistance. This configuration is reminiscent of that observed in mammals but is distinct from the single DPMS protein catalyzing Dol-P-Man biosynthesis in bakers' yeast and protozoan parasites. Overexpression of DPMS1 in Arabidopsis thaliana results in disorganized stem morphology and vascular bundle arrangements, wrinkled seed coat, and constitutive ER stress response. Loss-of-function mutations and RNA interference-mediated reduction of DPMS1 expression in Arabidopsis also caused a wrinkled seed coat phenotype and most remarkably enhanced hypersensitivity to ammonium that was manifested by extensive chlorosis and a strong reduction of root growth. Collectively, these data reveal a previously unsuspected role of the prenyl-linked carrier pathway for plant development and physiology that may help integrate several aspects of candidate susceptibility genes to ammonium stress.

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Sterols are vital for cellular functions and eukaryotic development because of their essential role as membrane constituents. Sterol biosynthetic intermediates (SBIs) represent a potential reservoir of signaling molecules in mammals and fungi, but little is known about their functions in plants. SBIs are derived from the sterol C4-demethylation enzyme complex that is tethered to the membrane by Ergosterol biosynthetic protein28 (ERG28). Here, using nonlethal loss-of-function strategies focused on Arabidopsis thaliana ERG28, we found that the previously undetected SBI 4-carboxy-4-methyl-24-methylenecycloartanol (CMMC) inhibits polar auxin transport (PAT), a key mechanism by which the phytohormone auxin regulates several aspects of plant growth, including development and responses to environmental factors. The induced accumulation of CMMC in Arabidopsis erg28 plants was associated with diagnostic hallmarks of altered PAT, including the differentiation of pin-like inflorescence, loss of apical dominance, leaf fusion, and reduced root growth. PAT inhibition by CMMC occurs in a brassinosteroid-independent manner. The data presented show that ERG28 is required for PAT in plants. Furthermore, it is accumulation of an atypical SBI that may act to negatively regulate PAT in plants. Hence, the sterol pathway offers further prospects for mining new target molecules that could regulate plant development.

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Abstract. Oktafitria D, Febriyantiningrum K, Jadid N, Nurfitria N, Rahmadani F, Amrullah A, Hidayati D. 2019. Assessment of reclamation success of former limestone quarries in Tuban, Indonesia, based on soil arthropod diversity and soil organic carbon content. Biodiversitas 20: 1743-1747. The reclamation for sustainable ecosystem in mined land, including revegetation, is an obligatory program stipulated by the Indonesian government. This study evaluated the ecological improvement of revegetated land at the reclamation sub-areas (RSAs) of former limestone quarries in Tuban, East Java, Indonesia. The RSAs were coded as RSA 2010, RSA 2014, and RSA 2016 which represented the initial year of revegetation as well as the reclamation soil-material, namely the rejected soil-products, topsoil, and spoils, respectively. Soil insects were collected from ten sampling plots at each RSA using pitfall traps. The data of arthropods were analyzed to describe the community structure by determining the Shannon Diversity Index (H’), Simpson’s index (D), Sorensen's similarity and Shannon evenness index (E). The soil organic carbon (SOC) content from the soil composites was analyzed according to the Walkley and Black method. The results showed that SOC value at RSA 2010 (1.851±0.38%) was higher than that at SRA 2014 (1.694±0.29%) and SRA 2016 (0.947±0.10%). There were 18 families found from eight orders of soil insects (Coleoptera, Diplura, Diptera, Entognatha, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Neuroptera, and Orthoptera) and one order from terrestrial crustacea i.e., Isopoda, family Tylidae. The ecological indices of RSA 2014 (H’=1.15; D=0.47; E=0.61) and RSA 2016 (H’=1,19; D=0.47; E=0.57) were higher than those of RSA 2010 (H’=0,61; D=0.71; E=0.43). The Pearson analysis indicated moderate negative correlation (r=0.55) between soil arthropod diversity index and SOC. The diversity of soil arthropods at reclaimed area indicated that the reclamation was successful. Based on the study, we recommend that reclamation is done using mine spoil or topsoil rather than rejected soil products.