István Pintér

Polyploidy, phylogeography and Pleistocene refugia of the rockfern Asplenium ceterach : evidence from chloroplast DNA

Chloroplast DNA sequences were obtained from 331 Asplenium ceterach plants representing 143 populations from throughout the range of the complex in Europe, plus outlying sites in North Africa and the near East. We identified nine distinct haplotypes from a 900 bp fragment of trnL‐trnF gene. Tetraploid populations were encountered throughout Europe and further afield, whereas diploid populations were scarcer and predominated in the Pannonian‐Balkan region. Hexaploids were encountered only in southern Mediterranean populations. Four haplotypes were found among diploid populations of the Pannonian‐Balkans indicating that this region formed a northern Pleistocene refugium. A separate polyploid complex centred on Greece, comprises diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid populations with two endemic haplotypes and suggests long‐term persistence of populations in the southern Mediterranean. Three chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) haplotypes were common among tetraploids in Spain and Italy, with diversity reducing northwards suggesting expansion from the south after the Pleistocene. Our cpDNA and ploidy data indicate at least six independent origins of polyploids.

Phylogenetic and biosystematic relationships in four highly disjunct polyploid complexes in the subgenera Ceterach and Phyllitis in Asplenium (Aspleniaceae)

Abstract Phylogenetic studies using DNA sequences of two chloroplast regions, rbc L and trn L-F, demonstrate that the proposed genus Ceterach is a small clade within the large genus Asplenium , and sister to the Phyllitis clade. The Ceterach clade is characterised by irregular anastomosing veins and often densely scaled leaf blades. Its taxonomic status as a group nested within Asplenium is confirmed, and it is accepted here as a subgenus with seven species. The Ceterach clade comprises four lineages that correspond to disjunct polyploid complexes: the A. aureum clade forming a polyploid complex (4×, 6×, 8×) in Macaronesia, the A. ceterach clade forming a polyploid complex (2×, 4×, 6×) in the Mediterranean Basin, the A. paucivenosum clade (4×, 6×) in central Asia, and the A. dalhousiae clade (2×) with a disjunct distribution in the Himalaya, Yemen and Eritrea, and southwestern North America. Asplenium paucivenosum is sister to all other members of the Ceterach clade, whereas A. dalhousiae is sister to the A. aureum clade that includes tetraploid A. aureum , hexaploid A. lolegnamense , and octoploid A. parvifolium . Asplenium ceterach and its variations – including the hexaploid A. ceterach subsp. mediterraneum subsp. nov. first described below – form a monophyletic unit, sister to a clade consisting of A. aureum and A. dalhousiae. Asplenium cordatum from Africa and A. haugthonii from the isolated atlantic island of St. Helena are not members of the Ceterach clade, which suggests that leaf blades with dense indumenta have evolved at least twice within asplenioid ferns. The allotetraploid species A. hybridum has the chloroplast DNA from A. ceterach , and therefore the latter species is the maternal ancestor of the former. The other parent of this hybrid species is A. sagittatum that is nested within the sister clade of Ceterach , the Phyllitis clade comprising A. sagittatum and A. scolopendrium . The findings suggest that the current distribution of Ceterach is either the result of long-distance dispersal or represents fragmented relicts of a previously more widely distributed species.

Sodium halide complexes of ribose derivatives and their unusual crystal structures

Crystalline complexes of D-ribose, D-ribono-1,4-lactone and methyl β-D-ribopyranoside with sodium halides were synthesized and some of their crystal structures determined. Crystal structures of two lactone complexes and a methyl β-D-ribopyranoside reveal the mode of the salt binding and the intricate interplay of cation coordination and hydrogen bonding in these complexes. When complexed with NaBr, the ribopyranoside is in the (1)C(4) shape whereas ribose with no salt present has the (4)C(1) shape. It is also demonstrated that such complexes can be easily prepared in solid state reaction using a ball mill.

C-3 epimers of sugar amino acids as foldameric building blocks: improved synthesis, useful derivatives, coupling strategies

To obtain key sugar derivatives for making homooligomeric foldamers or α/β-chimera peptides, economic and multigram scale synthetic methods were to be developed. Though described in the literature, the cost-effective making of both 3-amino-3-deoxy-ribofuranuronic acid (H–tX–OH) and its C-3 epimeric stereoisomer, the 3-amino-3-deoxy-xylofuranuronic acid (H–cX–OH) from d-glucose is described here. The present synthetic route elaborated is (1) appropriate for large-scale synthesis; (2) reagent costs reduced (e.g. by a factor of 400); (3) yields optimized are ~80% or higher for all six consecutive steps concluding –tX– or –cX– and (4) reaction times shortened. Thus, a new synthetic route step-by-step optimized for yield, cost, time and purification is given both for d-xylo and d-ribo-amino-furanuronic acids using sustainable chemistry (e.g. less chromatography with organic solvents; using continuous-flow reactor). Our study encompasses necessary building blocks (e.g. –X–OMe, –X–OiPr, –X–NHMe, Fmoc–X–OH) and key coupling reactions making –Aaa–tX–Aaa– or –Aaa–tX–tX–Aaa– type “inserts”. Completed for both stereoisomers of X, including the newly synthesized Fmoc–cX–OH, producing longer oligomers for drug design and discovery is more of a reality than a wish.

Origin of problems related to Staudinger reduction in carbopeptoid syntheses

We report the solid phase synthesis of –GG-X-GG– type α/β-carbopeptoids incorporating RibAFU(ip) (1a, tX) or XylAFU(ip) (2a, cX) sugar amino acids. Though coupling efficacy is moderate, both the lengthier synthetic route using Fmoc derivative (e.g., Fmoc-RibAFU(ip)-OH) and the azido derivative (e.g., N3-RibAFU(ip)-OH) via Staudinger reaction with nBu3P can be successfully applied. Both X-ray diffraction, 1H- and 31P-NMR, and theoretical (QM) data support and explain why the application of Ph3P as Staudinger reagent is “ineffective” in the case of a cis stereoisomer, if cX is attached to the preceding residue with a peptide (–CONH–) bond. The failure of the polypeptide chain elongation with N3-cX originates from the “coincidence” of a steric crowdedness and an electronic effect disabling the mandatory nucleophilic attack during the hydrolysis of a quasi penta-coordinated triphenylphosphinimine. Nevertheless, the synthesis of the above α/β-chimera peptides as completed now by a new pathway via 1,2-O-isopropylidene-3-azido-3-deoxy-ribo- and -xylo-furanuronic acid (H-RibAFU(ip)-OH 1a and H-XylAFU(ip)-OH 2a) coupled with N-protected α-amino acids on solid phase could serve as useful examples and starting points of further synthetic efforts.

Transformation of aldose formazans. Novel synthesis of 2-acetamido-2- deoxypentonolactones and a new pent-2-enose formazan

2-Acetamido-2-deoxypentonolactones were synthesized from per-O-acetylated formazans of D-ribose, D- and L-arabinose, respectively. In dimethyl sulfoxide, a novel spontaneous transformation of the per-O-acetyl-pentose formazans into new 3,4,5-tri-O-acetyl-pent-2-enose formazans has been recognized. Additional examples for the occurrence of the isomerism between pseudo-aromatic chelate and open phenylazo-phenylhydrazone system were demonstrated by (1)H NMR spectroscopy in both the unprotected pentose formazans and 3,4,5-tri-O-acetyl-pent-2-enose formazans. Computational calculations supported higher stability of the ring form.