No abstract

Neovascularization is often involved in many diseases and there is no effective treatment for this pathological process. In searching for potential therapies for neovascularization, we screened nineteen pre-selected small molecules isolated from herbal extracts for their possible anti-angiogenic effect in vitro and in vivo. We found that isoliquiritigenin, a chalconoid compound isolated from Chinese herb medicine licorice, potently inhibited vascular endothelial cell (EC) proliferation, migration, tube -like structure formation ex vivo. Western blot analysis shows that exposure of ECs to isoliquiritigenin inhibited extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) phosphorylation. In Matrigel plug assay, isoliquiritigenin effectively blocked fibroblast growth factor-induced in vivo angiogenesis in mice. Consistently, topical application of isoliquiritigenin significantly inhibited chemical injury-induced corneal neovascularization in mice. Collectively, these results suggest that isoliquiritigenin may be a low-cost and effective natural agent to treat angiogenesis-dependent diseases.

The king pigeon is a breed of pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding primarily as a utility breed. In the present work, we report the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of king pigeon for the first time. The total length of the mitogenome was 17,221 bp with the base composition of 30.14% for A, 24.05% for T, 31.82% for C, and 13.99% for G and an A-T (54.22 %)-rich feature was detected. It harbored 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and one non-coding control region (D-loop region). The arrangement of all genes was identical to the typical mitochondrial genomes of pigeon. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of king pigeon would serve as an important data set of the germplasm resources for further study.

No abstract

The Jacobin is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding that originated in Asia. In the present work, we report the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Jacobin pigeon for the first time. The total length of the mitogenome was 17,245 bp with the base composition of 30.18% for A, 23.98% for T, 31.88% for C, and 13.96% for G and an A-T (54.17 %)-rich feature was detected. It harbored 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and 1 non-coding control region. The arrangement of all genes was identical to the typical mitochondrial genomes of pigeon. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Jacobin pigeon would serve as an important data set of the germplasm resources for further study.