Colorectal cancer is the most common malignant cancer in developing countries. Canarium odontophyllum, also known as "Dabai" or "Borneo Olive" is among the natural plants that can potentially be used as an anticancer agent. This study aims to determine the antiproliferative activities and cytotoxicity effects of acetone extract from C. odontophyllum stem bark against human colorectal cancer cell lines HCT 116 and HT 29. Acetone extract of C. odontophyllum stem bark exerted a significant cytotoxic effect on HCT 116 and HT 29 cells determined by MTT assay at the concentration of 12.5 μg/mL to 200 μg/mL for 24, 48, and 72 hours treatment. It was found that acetone extract of C. odontophyllum stem bark inhibited proliferation of HCT 116 with an IC50 value of 184.93 ± .0 μg/mL, 61.24 ± .1 μg/mL, 79.98 ± .029 for 24, 48 and 72 hours respectively. The findings also showed that acetone extract of C. odontophyllum stem bark revealed a lower inhibitory effect against HT-29 with an IC50 value of more than 200 μg/mL for 24, 48 and 72 hours. However, acetone extract of C. odontophyllum stem bark at similar concentrations and time points did not show any cytotoxic effect to normal colorectal fibroblast cell CCD18-Co. In conclusion, the acetone extract of C. odontophyllum stem bark exhibited more sensitivity against HCT 116 than HT 29. Its antiproliferative ability towards HCT 116 and HT 29 cells provides insight that this extract may serve as an anticancer agent against colorectal cancer.
The estuarine firefly, Pteroptyx tener, aggregates in the thousands in mangrove trees lining tidal rivers in Southeast Asia where they engage one another in a nocturnal, pre-mating ritual of synchronised courtship flashes. Unfortunately, populations of the species by virtue of being restricted to isolated estuarine rivers systems in the region, are at risk of genetic isolation. Because of this concern we undertook the task of sequencing and characterising the mitochondrial DNA genome of P. tener, as the first step towards helping us to characterise and better understand their genetic diversity. We sequenced and assembled the mitochondrial DNA genome of P. tener from two male and female specimens from the district of Kuala Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia and announce the molecules in this publication. We also reconstructed the phylogenetic trees of all available lampyrids mitogenomes and suggest the need to re-examine our current understanding of their classification which have largely been based on morphological data and the cox1 gene. Separately, our analysis of codon usage patterns among lampyrid mitogenomes showed that the codon usage in a majority of the protein-coding genes were non-neutral. Codon usage patterns between mitogenome sequences of P. tener were, however, largely neutral. Our findings demonstrate the usefulness of mitochondrial genes/mitogenomes for analysing both inter- and intra- specific variation in the Lampyridae to aid in species discovery in this highly variable genus; and elucidate the phylogenetic relationships of Pteroptyx spp. from the region.