Bruceantin

C. torulosa, known as the Himalayan or Bhutan cypress, is a significant evergreen conifer that typically reaches heights between 20 and 45 m. This species is primarily found in the Himalayan regions of Bhutan, northern India, Nepal, and Tibet. In this study, we utilized ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (UPLC‐QTOF‐MS) in positive ion mode, along with chemometric analysis, to investigate the metabolomic profiles of C. torulosa needles collected from 14 geographically distinct areas in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Various statistical techniques, including ANOVA, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), violin plots, scatter plots, box‐and‐whisker plots, and heatmaps, were employed to illustrate the relative quantitative differences among compounds based on their peak intensities across these regions. Our investigation revealed 34 marker compounds consistently detected across all samples (locations). These compounds were screened using rigorous filtering criteria, incorporating a moderated t‐test and multiple testing adjustments using the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) approach. Furthermore, we pioneered the identification of the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways in C. torulosa, providing new insights into its metabolic profile. This work establishes a foundational reference for future research into the species metabolome, helping guide studies in areas like genetic diversity, ecological adaptations, and climate resilience in C. torulosa. Mapping these pathways deepens scientific knowledge of C. torulosa's metabolic processes, contributing to a clearer understanding of its unique biochemical makeup.

Successful cell division requires faithful division and segregation of organelles into daughter cells. The unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has a single, large chloroplast whose division is spatiotemporally coordinated with furrowing. Cytoskeletal structures form in the same plane at the midzone of the dividing chloroplast (FtsZ) and the cell (microtubules), but how these structures are coordinated is not understood. Previous work showed that loss of F-actin blocks chloroplast division but not furrow ingression, suggesting that pharmacological perturbations can disorganize these events. In this study, we developed an imaging platform to screen natural compounds that perturb cell division while monitoring FtsZ and microtubules and identified 70 unique compounds. One compound, curcumin, has been proposed to bind to both FtsZ and tubulin proteins in bacteria and eukaryotes, respectively. In C. reinhardtii, where both targets coexist and are involved in cell division, curcumin at a specific dose range caused a severe disruption of the FtsZ ring in chloroplast while leaving the furrow-associated microtubule structures largely intact. Time-lapse imaging showed that loss of FtsZ and chloroplast division failure delayed the completion of furrowing but not the initiation, suggesting that the chloroplast division checkpoint proposed in other algae requires FtsZ or is absent altogether in C. reinhardtii.