Southwestern Guangxi Research Articles

DNA Repair Capacity, DNA-Strand Break Repair Gene Polymorphisms, and the Incidence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Southwestern Guangxi of China

The associations between DNA repair capacity (DRC), DNA repair gene polymorphisms, and the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been determined in high-risk areas. The aims of this study were to investigate whether DRC is related to the incidence of HCC and to determine whether polymorphisms in the DNA repair genes that regulate DRC are associated with the risk of HCC. First, a small case-control study was conducted to examine the association between DRC and the incidence of HCC and the environmental and genetic factors regulating DRC. Then, a large case-control study was conducted to determine whether those DNA repair gene polymorphisms shown to regulate DRC were related to the risk of HCC. The median DRC was significantly lower among the cases (0.80) than the controls (0.93). A multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the HBsAg status (p<0.01), ethnicity (p=0.01), and polymorphisms in the XRCC3-241 (p=0.01) and APE1-148 (p=0.03) gene loci may be impact factors for DRC. In the large case-control study, a stratified analysis showed that individuals with the APE1-148-combined genotype GT+TT likely had a significantly higher HCC risk compared with those with only the GG genotype (crude odds ratio=1.93, 95% confidence interval=1.17-3.17) among the Zhuang ethnicity. However, nonsignificant differences were observed between XRCC3-241 polymorphisms and the HCC risk. DRC may be related to the incidence of HCC as determined by environmental and genetic factors found in southwestern part of the Guangxi Province. Gene-environment interactions play an important role in the incidence and progression of HCC.

&lt;p class="HeadingRunIn"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hemiboea&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;angustifolia &lt;/em&gt;(Gesneriaceae), a new species endemic to a tropical limestone area of Guangxi, China&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Hemiboea angustifolia, a new species of Gesneriaceae from Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. The new species is morphologically similar to H. cavaleriei var. paucinervis and H. longgangensis, both found in southwestern Guangxi, China. A description of H. angustifolia, together with illustrations, a distribution map, habitat description, conservation assessment and a diagnostic comparison with H. longgangensis, H. cavaleriei var. cavalerieri and H. cavaleriei var. paucinervis are presented.

Firmiana calcarea sp. nov. (Malvaceae) from limestone areas in Guangxi, China

A new species of Malvaceae, Firmiana calcarea C. F. Liang &amp; S. L. Mo ex Y. S. Huang, is described and illustrated. The new species is similar to F. hainanensis Kosterm., but differs from it by the following characteristics: shrubs, leaf cordate or ovate, entire or 3‐lobed, leaf thinly stellate‐puberulent adaxially, lateral veins 2–4 on each side of midrib, flowers pale‐rose, follicle glabrous, and seeds 2–4 in each follicle. It has been found only in Longgang National Nature Reserve, Longzhou County, southwestern Guangxi, China.

Aspidistra albiflora sp. nov. (Asparagaceae) from southwestern Guangxi, China

Aspidistra albiflora C. R. Lin, W. B. Xu &amp; Yan Liu (Asparagaceae) is described and illustrated as a new species from limestone areas in Guangxi, China. The new species is similar to A. cerina G. Z. Li &amp; S. C. Tang, but differs in having the perianth white by the sides, white pistils, bracts longer than the perianth, anthers only 2 mm long, pistil obconical and stigma slightly enlarged, 4–5 mm in diameter. The new species is currently only known from the type locality in southwestern Guangxi, near the border to northern Vietnam.

Aspidistra punctatoides sp. nov. (Ruscaceae) from limestone areas in Guangxi, China

Aspidistra punctatoides Yan Liu &amp; C. R. Lin (Ruscaceae) is described and illustrated as a new species from limestone areas in southwestern Guangxi, China, near the border with northern Vietnam. It resembles A. punctata Lindl. in leaf size, a campanulate perianth densely covered with purple spots, lobes adaxially with two fleshy keels, and the peltate stigma, but differs by the stigma being adaxially truncate and densely papillate, and by the margin being 3‐ or 4‐lobed with lobes emarginate at apex.

Conodonts and radiolarians through the Cisuralian–Guadalupian boundary from the Pingxiang and Dachongling sections, Guangxi region, South China

Serrated gondolellid conodonts (Jinogondolella) are used to define the Cisuralian–Guadalupian (C–G) or Kungurian–Roadian (K–R) boundary in the stratotype sections of West Texas and in some sections of South China, but in other sections Jinogondolella is absent. This absence has been interpreted to be the result of strong provincialism during this interval and geographic clines have been demonstrated between an Equatorial Warm Water Province (EWWP) and a North Cool Water Province (NCWP). Results from a succession of deep-water limestones in the Pingxiang section, southwestern Guangxi, China, suggest that the distribution of warm-water and cool-water lineages may not in all cases be separated over large geographic scales, but may be segregated in some areas by local changes of water-mass temperature or depth and, in some cases, fossil assemblages from these lineages may be mixed. Two contemporaneous gondolellid evolutionary lineages are represented within warm-water and cool-water conodont assemblages from limestones spanning the Cisuralian–Guadalupian (C–G) boundary in the Pingxiang section, southwestern Guangxi, China. The warm-water conodont lineage begins with the first occurrence (FO) of Mesogondolella saraciniensis, followed by Mesogondolella siciliensis, then M. idahoensis lamberti and finally Mesogondolella pingxiangensis sp. nov. The latter new species lacks serration, but has a platform outline and lateral profile similar to J. nankingensis nankingensis found elsewhere in South China and they may be closely related. Although less common in the samples, a coeval cool-water lineage begins with M. idahoensis idahoensis and develops successively with the evolution of J. nankingensis gracilis; serration is also lacking in the latter species. The lack of serration on these forms is ascribed to some form of environmental control. The contemporaneous appearance of Mesogondolella pingxiangensis and Jinogondolella nankingensis gracilis is correlated with the C–G boundary. This correlation is supported by the co-occurrence of the zonal indices of the cool-water lineage with important zonal radiolarians in a C–G boundary section at Dachongling, southeastern Guangxi. Here the radiolarian assemblages are assigned to the Albaillella foremanae Zone, Pseudoalbaillella globosa Zone and P. fusiformis Zone in ascending order. The first appearance of J. nankingensis gracilis within this succession defines the base of the Guadalupian to be at the base of the P. globosa Zone. Conodont correlation between carbonate ramps of platform margins and radiolarian-bearing pelagic environments has determined that the first appearance of J. nankingensis gracilis precisely defines the base-Guadalupian boundary in the cool-water settings.

Late Cambrian brachiopods from Jingxi, Guangxi Province, South China

The brachiopod fauna of the upper Cambrian (upper Furongian) Guole Formation, northwestern Jingxi County, southwestern Guangxi Province, southern China, comprises six genera and seven species, including one new genus, three new species and two indeterminate species (Obolidae gen. et sp. indet, Acrotretidae gen. et sp. indet., Billingsella guangxiensis, B. costata sp. nov., Guoleella lata gen. et sp. nov., Palaeostrophia jingxiensis, Plectotrophia imparicostata sp. nov.). This is the first systematic description of an upper Cambrian brachiopod fauna composed mainly of calcareous-shelled individuals from China. Brachiopod and trilobite faunal analyses suggest that this fauna has a prominent North American (Laurentian) affinity. It is notably different from the coeval, lingulate-dominated brachiopod fauna of South China, particularly of the Yangtze Platform, but shares some similarity with those of the North China Platform. Preliminary analysis reveals that this brachiopod fauna, named the Billingsella-Palaeostrophia Fauna, lived in a nearshore, shallow water benthic regime with a calcareous muddy substrate.

Geographic distribution patterns and status assessment of threatened plants in China

Large scale heterogeneous distribution of biodiversity has become a hot topic for ecologists and conservationists. A threat status assessment combined with geographic distribution patterns of threatened plants in China has been conducted at a national scale in this study based upon a distribution database that refers to both specimen records and published references. Currently, 302 threatened plant species are cataloged in the “National Protected Key Wild Plants” in China belonging to 92 families and 194 genera. Results of the assessment according to the Categories and Criteria system of The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List indicate that three species have been assessed as Extinct in Wild (EW) while a further 79, 99 and 112 species have been assessed as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU), respectively. Distribution patterns of threatened plants were analyzed with GIS to identify areas of high species diversity. It was found that threatened plant species occur unevenly within counties and are concentrated in the following eight hotspots: the central and southern Hengduanshan mountain area; the southeast regions of Yunnan as well as Xishuangbanna and southwestern Guangxi; the southern Hainan island; the border mountainous regions of Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi provinces; the mountainous regions of southwestern Hubei and northern Hunan; southwestern Zhejiang and western Fujian; central Sichuan and southern Gansu; and the western mountains of Guangdong. Moreover, the 12 counties with the greatest number of threatened plant species represent cumulatively more than 50% of the total listed species and, therefore, are the regions in China that should be prioritized for conservation efforts. By overlapping the map of threatened plant species with the distribution of national nature reserves, a gap was identified in protected areas. This research will ultimately provide insights for prioritizing biodiversity conservation as well as processing the mechanisms of distribution patterns.

High-resolution cyclostratigraphy of geochemical records from Permo-Triassic boundary section of Dongpan, southwestern Guangxi, South China

Spectral analysis is applied to geochemical data from a deep-water Permian-Triassic Boundary (PTB) section across PTB in Dongpan, Guangxi for high-resolution cyclostratigraphic research. The characteristics of the Milankovitch Cycles have been well recorded in the strata of the Dongpan section. Spectrum on Ce/La records shows especially that the ratios among its three preponderant cycles in the section are 5:2:1, which well displays the phenomenon of the sedimentary cycles driven by orbital force. The Milankovitch theory is further confirmed by the Paleozoic records.

Latest Permian deep-water ostracods from southwestern Guangxi, South China

Abstract. A very diverse ostracod fauna was discovered in the latest Permian strata of the Dongpan section, southwestern Guangxi, South China. Fifty-one species belonging to twenty-eight genera were identified and described, including two new species (Bairdia dongpanensis n. sp. and Spinomicrocheilinella anterocompressa n. sp). This type of assemblage, with nineteen palaeopsychrospheric species and four pelagic species, is the first world-wide deep-water ostracod fauna reported from the latest Permian strata and the first one recorded in the Permian of China. The palaeoenvironmental analysis allows one to propose an evaluation of the bathymetry variation along the Dongpan section.

The last Permian deep-water fauna: Latest Changhsingian small foraminifers from southwestern Guangxi, South China

Free specimens of small foraminifers are not commonly reported from Permian strata. A foraminiferal fauna with free tests accompanied by abundant radiolarians has been discovered from uppermost Permian, upper Changhsingian strata in the Liuqiao Section, southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, South China. SEM microphotography and thin sections of free specimens were both used for the study of external and internal morphological features. In most cases the wall structure is not preserved because of recrystallization, however, most species could be identified based on test morphology. Twenty species (six new) of fourteen genera (one new) have been identified. The new genus and new species are: Dalongella n. gen., Dalongella fusiformis n. gen. n. sp., Glomospirella ? mamilla n. sp., Glomospirella ? curva n. sp., Hemigordius ? yini n. sp., Geinitzinita changhsingensis n. sp. and Pseudolangella costata n. sp. The composition of this fauna is quite different from similar age small foraminiferal faunas reported from South China. Furthermore, the presence of radiolarians and cool-water brachiopods probably implies that the fauna is from a deep-water environment.

A checklist of Tetrigoidea (Orthoptera) from Zuojiang Area, southwestern Guangxi, China, with the description of two new species

In this paper we provide checklist of 26 species of Tetrigoidea ground grasshoppers (Scelimenidae, Metrodoridae and Tetrigidae) from the Zuojiang Area, a natural reserve located near Nanning City in the southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of southwestern China. In addition, two new species: Coptotettix zaujiangensis sp. nov. and Euparatettix obliqucosta sp. nov. of Tetrigidae are described. Type specimens are deposited at the Institute of Zoology, Shaanxi Normal University, and College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University.

Eoshumardia (Trilobita, Cambrian), a junior synonym of Koldinioidia

Well-preserved internal and external moulds of a shumardiid species are described from the late Furongian (Late Cambrian) “Fengshan Formation” at Poben, Napo, southwestern Guangxi, which is close to the type locality of Shumardia orientalis, the type species of Eoshumardia. All features observed on the internal moulds indicate that the new material is definitely S. orientalis, whereas the morphology of the external moulds indicates that S. orientalis should be referred to Koldinioidia. The change of generic assignment of the type species means that Eoshumardia is a junior synonym of Koldinioidia.

Begonia fangii (sect. Coelocentrum, Begoniaceae), a new species from limestone areas in Guangxi, China

Begonia fangii, a new species of sect. Coelocentrum from limestone areas in southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, is described and illustrated. Somatic chromosome number (2n = 30) is here reported. Begonia fangii is similar to B. hemsleyana (sect. Platycentrum) in having palmately compound leaves, but it is sharply distinct in having long creeping stem (vs. erect stein with a short rhizome); leaf with (3-)4-5(-7) [vs. (6-)7-10(-12)] leaflets; styles 3 (vs. 2); and ovary I-locular with parietal placentation (vs. ovary 2-locular with axile placentation).

Genetic deletion of detoxific enzyme gstm1 and GSTT1 as a host susceptible factor for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective: To study the gene polymorphisms of GSTT1 and GSTM1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients and controls in an incidental area to evaluate the relationship between specific genotype and genotype combinations of these polymorphisms with the risk of NPC. Methods: Cases and controls all came from the Southwestern Guangxi. DNAs were extracted from their WBC. PCR technique was used to calculate the deletion rate of the two detoxific enzyme genes. Results: In this high risk area of NPC, the residents had high level deletion rates of 47.4% (64/135) Ml and T1 40.7% (55/135). The deletion rates were even higher in NPC patients, 61.5% (56/91) for Ml and 59.3% (54/91) for T1 respectively. There were statistical significances compared with control,P<0.05 andP<0.01 for Ml and T1 respectively. The difference was more significant in terms of combined Ml and T1 deletion between patients and controlsx 2=12.533,P=0.002. Conclusion: The combined deletion of detoxific enzyme genes GSTM1 and GSTT1 may be an important genetic susceptible factor for NPC in Guangxi.

Four New Names in Chinese and Vietnamese Zingiberaceae

Four New Names in Chinese and Vietnamese Zingiberaceae

Introduction to and classification of manganese deposits of China

Manganese (Mn) ore deposits are widely distributed in China and can be divided into six types based on origin and subsequent modifications: (1) sedimentary, (2) volcanic-sedimentary, (3) metamorphosed, (4) hydrothermally modified, (5) hydrothermal, and (6) supergene. Sedimentary and supergene Mn ore deposits are economically the most important. Mn ore deposits and ore-bearing sequences are distributed temporally from the Proterozoic through the Quaternary, but they principally are Middle Proterozoic, Sinian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic and Quaternary ages. The largest Mn metallogenic periods in China are Sinian and Devonian, in contrast to the widespread Proterozoic, Cretaceous and Oligocene Mn deposits found elsewhere in the world. Mn-bearing stratigraphic successions in China can be divided into six types of lithologic associations: (1) black shale series, (2) chert–mudstone–limestone, (3) carbonate, (4) mudrock–carbonate, (5) volcanic-sedimentary, and (6) Epeirogenic clastic rock types. The most important Mn metallogenic regions in China are: (1) Yanliao, (2) border of Hunan–Sichuan–Guizhou–Hubei Provinces, (3) Southern Shaanxi and northeastern Sichuan, (4) Middle Guizhou and eastern Yunnan, (5) Southwestern Guangxi, (6) Southeast Yunnan, (7) Hunan–Guangxi–Guangdong–Fujian, and (8) Xinjiang. The most striking characteristics of Mn ore deposits in China are the wide distribution in geological ages and variety of compositional types of ores, such as Fe–Mn, B–Mn, P–Mn, Co–Mn, Ca–Mn, Ca–Mg–Mn, among others. The primary Mn ores of China are mainly Mn carbonates.

A female black gibbon,Hylobates concolor subspecies, from Northeastern Vietnam

The Hainan black gibbon, Hylobates concolor hainanus,was originally believed to be endemic to Hainan Island. The authors of some recent reports suggest that the subspecies also occurs on the mainland in northeastern Vietnam (Dao Van Tien, 1983) and that it has only recently been exterminated in southwestern Guangxi Province, China (Fooden et al.,1987). Others disagree and propose that these populations should be identified as H. c. concolor (Ma and Wang, 1986; Ma et al.,1988). A female from northeastern Vietnam lived for many years at the Tierpark Berlin. This report provides a preliminary description of this adult female, demonstrating that it cannot be attributed to H.c. hainanus.In some characteristics the specimen resembles H. c. concolor,but in others it is unique. This female provides the first evidence that the distribution area of the proposed mainland population of H. c. hainanusin northeastern Vietnam also contains a previously unrecognized population which either belongs to H.c. concoloror possibly represents a new subspecies of the black gibbon (H. concolor).