All articles starting with L
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Leucanthemum
Leucanthemum (oxeye daisies, marguerites) is a genus of 51 accepted Asteraceae species native from the Azores and Europe to the Russian Far East and Iran, including Leucanthemum vulgare, the oxeye daisy.
Leucanthemum vulgare
Leucanthemum vulgare, oxeye daisy (formerly Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), a rhizomatous Asteraceae perennial native from Europe to Siberia and Iran, introduced worldwide and a noxious pasture weed producing up to 26,000 seeds per plant.
Leuchter report
The Leuchter report is a 1988 document by Fred A. Leuchter Jr. denying the homicidal gas chambers at Auschwitz; courts and scientists have rejected it.
Leucine
Leucine (symbol Leu or L) is an essential hydrophobic amino acid and one of three branched-chain amino acids, notable for activating mTORC1 and for its role in muscle protein synthesis.
Leucine enkephalin
Leucine enkephalin, or Leu-enkephalin, is an endogenous opioid pentapeptide with the sequence Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Leu, first isolated from pig brain and published by Hughes and Kosterlitz in 1975.
Leucine-rich repeat
Leucine-rich repeat (LRR): a 20–30 amino acid leucine-rich protein motif forming horseshoe-shaped solenoid domains used for protein-ligand binding, innate immunity receptors (TLR, NLR), plant LRR-RKs, and disease-linked proteins like LRRK2.
Leucine-rich repeat domain
Leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain: tandem 20-30 residue leucine-rich motifs forming curved horseshoe solenoids for protein and ligand binding; seven classes, found in TLRs, NLRs, and plant receptor kinases, linked to over sixty human diseases.
Leucine-rich repeat-containing protein
Leucine-rich repeat-containing proteins (LRR proteins) are proteins built from tandem 20–30 residue leucine-rich repeats forming curved solenoid domains for protein binding; central to TLR, NLR, and plant LRR-RLK immune receptors, nervous system development, and over sixty human diseases.
Leucinodes orbonalis
Leucinodes orbonalis, the eggplant (brinjal) fruit and shoot borer, is an Asian crambid moth whose larvae bore into eggplant shoots and fruits; African records are misidentifications, and the EU judged it a non-quarantine pest in 2024.
Leucippe and Clitophon
Leucippe and Clitophon (Τὰ κατὰ Λευκίππην καὶ Κλειτοφῶντα) is an ancient Greek novel in eight books by Achilles Tatius of Alexandria, circulating by the mid-2nd century CE.
Leucippus (Λεύκιππος)
Leucippus (Λεύκιππος), fifth-century BCE Greek philosopher, originator of ancient atomism: infinite indivisible atoms moving in void. Teacher or associate of Democritus; attested by Aristotle, denied by Epicurus; works The Great World System and On Mind.
Leuciscus idus
Leuciscus idus, the ide or orfe, is a Eurasian freshwater fish of the minnow family found in large lowland rivers from Europe to the Russian Far East.
Leucism
Leucism is a developmental pigmentation condition in animals: neural crest melanocytes fail to form or migrate, leaving white skin, hair, or feathers with normally colored eyes, unlike albinism's pink eyes.
Leucochloridium paradoxum
Leucochloridium paradoxum, the green-banded broodsac, is a trematode flatworm whose colorful pulsating sporocysts fill Succinea snail eyestalks like caterpillars, luring birds that serve as definitive hosts in its rectum-dwelling adult stage.
Leucocoprinus birnbaumii
Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, the flower pot parasol or plantpot dapperling, is a small sulfur-yellow saprotrophic mushroom, the most common mushroom on indoor potting soil; harmless to plants but poisonous if eaten.
Leucocortinarius
Leucocortinarius, or White Webcap genus, is a small Agaricales genus type species L. bulbiger, a webcap-like mushroom with white spore print and bulbous stipe base; placed in Amanitaceae (Pluteineae) by 2024 phylogeny with low support.
Leucokinin
Leucokinins (LKs) are a family of insect and other invertebrate neuropeptides first isolated from Leucophaea maderae in 1986; they act as neuromodulators defined by the C-terminally amidated FX₁X₂WGamide motif.
Leuconostoc
Leuconostoc: genus of gram-positive, heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria (type species L. mesenteroides, van Tieghem 1878, family Lactobacillaceae). Initiates sauerkraut and kimchi fermentation, aids dairy aroma, produces dextran; GRAS but an opportunistic pathogen in immunodepressed patients.
Leuconostoc carnosum
Leuconostoc carnosum (Shaw and Harding 1989) is a lactic acid bacterium from chill-stored meats, a spoilage organism in vacuum-packed products and, as strains 4010 and DSM 32756, a bacteriocin-producing protective culture against Listeria with GRAS status.
Leuconostoc mesenteroides
Leuconostoc mesenteroides, type species of Leuconostoc, is a heterofermentative lactic acid bacterium that initiates sauerkraut fermentation, produces industrial dextran, and carries subspecies mesenteroides, dextranicum, and cremoris.
Leucopaxillus giganteus
Leucopaxillus giganteus, the giant funnel (Aspropaxillus giganteus), is a large edible saprobic mushroom of Tricholomataceae forming grassland fairy rings, with caps to 45 cm, and a source of clitocine, antitumor polysaccharides, and antibacterial peptides.
Leucopetra
Leucopetra (Λευκόπετρα, "white stone"): a promontory near Rhegium in Calabria, modern Punta di Pellaro, and a Macedonian village near Beroia with a sanctuary of the Autochthonous Mother of the Gods.
Leucophaeus
Leucophaeus is a small New World gull genus in Laridae holding the Laughing, Lava, Gray, Franklin's, and Dolphin Gulls, moved out of Larus after Pons et al.'s 2005 mitochondrial phylogeny.
Leucophore
Leucophore: a white neural crest-derived pigment cell of some fishes (medaka, zebrafish, killifish, guppy) and cephalopods, containing uric acid or purine crystals in leucosomes that scatter light; genetically closer to xanthophores than iridophores.
Leucoraja erinaceus
Leucoraja erinaceus, the little skate, is a small skate in the family Rajidae living on the northwest Atlantic seabed from North Carolina to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Leucospermum
Leucospermum, the pincushions, is a genus of 48 Proteaceae shrubs from southern Africa, centered in the Cape Floristic Region; named by Robert Brown in 1810, with new sections Hamata and Secundifolia described in 2022.
Leucothea (ctenophore)
Leucothea is a genus of lobate ctenophores (comb jellies) in family Leucotheidae, order Lobata, established by Mertens in 1833, with synonyms Alcinoe and Chiaia; species include L. multicornis, a large open-ocean copepod feeder reaching 20 cm.
Leucothoe
Leucothoe (doghobble) is a genus of five evergreen Ericaceae shrubs native to East Asia and the western and southeastern United States, reduced from about 45 species after phylogenetic splits into Agarista, Eubotrys, and Eubotryoides.
Leuctra tropaion
Leuctra tropaion: the victory trophy the Thebans set up after defeating Sparta at Leuctra in 371 BCE; a white marble monument described by Pausanias, found in pieces by Orlandos at Marmara.
Leuctridae
Leuctridae, the rolled-winged or needle stoneflies, is a Holarctic family of Plecoptera with 18 genera and about 400 species; wings roll around the body at rest, larvae are stream detritivores and clean-water bioindicators.