生物处理策略改善麸皮酚类化合物的生物可及性*

麸皮为谷物加工副产物,麸皮酚类物质具有重要的营养特性和药理效应,但麸皮酚类物质大多以结合态形式存在,生物可及性较低,如何实现麸皮中酚类物质有效释放,提高生物利用度存在挑战。综述了麸皮酚类化合物营养特性及其存在形式,以及酶促降解法、微生物发酵法等生物处理策略在提高酚类生物可及性的研究进展;并指出,麸皮预处理技术耦合混菌发酵技术是驱动麸皮酚类物质高效释放的有效途径。探究混合菌种体系的互作关系及其作用机制,关联预处理麸皮的结构变化与降解增效之间的关系,为麸皮高附加值利用以及相关功能性食品开发提供理论依据。     

玉米雄穗性状遗传结构与形成分子机制*

玉米为雌雄同株异花植物,其雄穗着生于植株顶部,雌穗腋生。雄穗一方面需产生足量花粉以保证雌穗授粉结实,另一方面由于对下部叶片的遮蔽作用和自身营养需求,其生长发育会同时影响叶片光合作用效率和能量分配,因此优化雄穗结构是提高玉米产量的重要措施之一。玉米雄穗性状包括雄穗分枝数、雄穗分枝长度、雄穗主轴长度、雄穗分枝总长度、雄穗分枝角度等,均为多基因控制的数量性状。自20世纪90年代,研究者开始利用数量性状位点(quantitative trait locus,QTL)定位方法解析玉米雄穗性状遗传结构;随着玉米自交系B73等参考基因组释放,以及DNA微阵列、基因组重测序等高通量基因分型技术的日益成熟,全基因组关联分析(genome-wide association study, GWAS)成为数量性状遗传研究的主流方法,目前已鉴定出大量玉米雄穗性状遗传位点。通过总结雄穗性状遗传定位研究结果,构建一致性图谱并挖掘定位热点区间,有助于进一步了解雄穗性状遗传结构特征及指导雄穗性状候选基因克隆。此外,通过对调控雄穗发育的已知基因进行功能分类,可为解析玉米雄穗发育的遗传网络和调控通路提供理论支撑。     

Chemical compositions by using LC–MS/MS and GC–MS and antioxidant activities of methanolic extracts from leaf and flower parts of Scabiosa columbaria subsp. columbaria var. columbaria L.

The members of the Scabiosa genus are one of the traditional medicinal plants used in the treatment of many diseases, in particular the treatment of scabies. In this study, it was aimed to determine antioxidant activities and chemical composition of methanolic extracts of leaves and flowers of Scabiosa columbaria subsp. columbaria var. columbaria. The phenolic contents of both parts of the plant were analyzed by LC–MS/MS. A total of 6 phenolic compounds were determined and chlorogenic acid was the major compound in both flower and leaf parts of the plants, with 5936.052 µg/g and 8021.666 µg/g, respectively. 6 different methods were used to determine the antioxidant activity of the plant parts. Both leaf and flower parts of the plant showed high antioxidant activity in all tested methods and the antioxidant activity values of the leaf part were measured higher than those of the flower part for four tests. The methanol extracts of the plant parts was analyzed with GC–MS and number of the essential oil compounds in the leaf and flower parts were determined as 17 and 13, respectively. Linalool compound was also found to be common in both parts of the plant. The major compounds of the essential oils were identified as 4-Octadecenal (30.01%) in the flower and carvone (35.44%) in the leaf. In addition, terpene derivatives was determined as 90.32% of the highest essential oil group in the leaf, while this value was determined as 1.42% in the flower. For the flower, aromatics were determined as the main component group with 21.31%.     

Interpreting biogeographical boundaries among Afrotropical birds: spatial patterns in richness gradients and species replacement

Aim We analyse the geographical distribution of 1911 Afrotropical bird species using indices of three simple biogeographic patterns. The first index, the frequency of species with range edges (T_e), is formulated to map directly the density of species distribution limits, for comparison with the results of traditional biogeographical classification and ordination procedures, in order to show variations in the strength and breadth of transition zones. The other two indices are formulated to seek to distinguish as directly as possible between two components within these transition-zone patterns: contributions from gradients in species richness (T_g); and contributions from replacements among species (T_r). We test the ability of these indices to discover the same boundaries among Afrotropical bird faunas as one popular procedure for classifying areas (TWINSPAN) and then use them to look for geographical trends in the different kinds of transition zones. Location The analysis is restricted to the sub-Saharan or Afrotropical region, excluding the Arabian Peninsula, Madagascar and all offshore islands. Methods We record the presence of each species in 1961 1°×1° grid cells of the map. To apply the three indices, each (core) grid cell in turn is compared with its neighbouring eight cells in the grid. The range edges index (T_e) counts the number of species with range edges between the core cell and the surrounding cells. The richness gradients index (T_g) counts the largest difference in species richness measured diametrically across the core cell in any direction when there is a consistent trend in richness along this line of three cells. The species replacements index (T_r) counts the number of species pairs recorded within a nine-cell neighbourhood that are not corecorded within any of the cells. Values for each of the 1961 grid cells are calculated and used to produce colour-scale maps of transition zones. Results Large-scale spatial patterns of variation in density of range edges (T_e) are consistent with classifications of the same data and with most previous biogeographical classifications proposed for the region. Variation in richness gradients (T_g) and species replacements (T_r) explain different parts of this pattern, with transition zones around humid forests in the equatorial region being dominated by species replacement, and transition zones around deserts (most extensive in the north and south) being dominated by richness gradients. Main conclusions The three indices distinguish the spatial arrangement and intensity of different kinds of transition zones, thereby providing a first step towards a more rigorous mechanistic understanding of the different processes by which they may have arisen and are maintained. As an example of one such pattern shown by our analyses of Afrotropical birds, there is evidence for a broad latitudinal trend in the nature of transition zones in faunal composition (following the latitudinal distribution of the different kinds of habitat transitions), from being dominated by species replacements near the equator to being dominated by richness gradients further from the equator.     

Primary succession over sixty years on hundred-year old islets in Lake Hjälmaren,Sweden

New islands were created as a result of an artificial lowering of the water table of Lake Hjälmaren in 1882–1886 and the floras of 40 such islands have been monitored ever since plant colonization started in 1886. Data used in this paper are from belt-transects across ten of these islands which were analysed in 1927–29 and reanalysed in 1986. During this 60-year period shading by trees has increased and shading and litter accumulation have affected the ground flora. Succession includes aspects of both convergence and divergence. Species of dry, open sites and shore species have been excluded from the island interiors, making these parts of the islands more similar, but there has simultaneously been an increased variability of vegetation types of shaded, mesic habitats. There have been no consistent trends in beta-diversity between the two surveys. Differences in successional patterns between island interiors and shore habitats are attributed to an outward migration of plant species and to differences in disturbance regimes.     

Seasonal variation in antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of frequently used medicinal bulbous plants from South Africa

The growing popularity of traditional medicine and the unrestricted collection of medicinal plants from the wild have put many of the slow growing bulbous plant species at the risk of over-exploitation and extinction in South Africa. This study was aimed at comparing the phytochemical composition and biological (antibacterial and anticandidal) activities of bulb and leaf extracts of Tulbaghia violacea, Hypoxis hemerocallidea, Drimia robusta and Merwilla plumbea between spring, summer, autumn and winter seasons, with the view of promoting the use of leaves, as a conservation strategy. Antibacterial and anticandidal activities of petroleum ether (PE), dichloromethane (DCM), 80% ethanol and water extracts of bulbs and leaves were tested against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria and the fungus Candida albicans using the microdilution bioassay. Spectrophotometric methods were used to evaluate saponin and phenolic compositions for the four seasons. Leaf and bulb extracts exhibited comparable anticandidal activity (MIC < 1 mg/ml) in all the plant species in all seasons. Only ethanol and water extracts of H. hemerocallidea corms (autumn and winter) showed correspondingly good fungicidal activity amongst the bulbs tested. Antibacterial activity was fairly comparable between bulbs and leaves with at least one extract of each plant species showing some good MIC values in most of the seasons. The best antimicrobial activities were recorded in winter and autumn seasons, with MIC values as low as 0.2 mg/ml in the DCM bulb extracts of T. violacea (winter) against K. pneumoniae and S. aureus. The amounts of total phenolic compounds in all plant samples were generally higher in spring compared to the other seasons. Condensed tannin, gallotannin and flavonoid levels, depending on the sample, were either higher in spring or winter except for H. hemerocallidea (corm) which had higher gallotannin levels in autumn. Total saponin levels were higher in winter in all plant samples. Although variation was observed in the phytochemical concentrations between the bulbs and leaves of each plant species, their antimicrobial activities were fairly comparable. Leaves may be used as substitutes for bulbs in the treatment of bacterial and fungal ailments.     

沉水植物功能性状研究的思考

植物的功能性状是指植物体具有的与生长、存活和繁殖紧密相关的一系列核心植物属性,这些性状通常有非常重要的生态学意义。目前,基于植物功能性状的研究已经快速扩展到生态学研究的众多领域。沉水植物是一类与水环境关系密切的生态类群,对浅水湖泊生态系统的结构和功能有重要的意义。之前对功能性状研究主要集中在陆生木本植物,尚无对沉水植物（沉水草本）功能性状的综述。本研究根据沉水草本与陆生植物功能性状的差异,基于陆生植物功能性状研究中的几个重要问题对现有沉水草本植物功能性状的研究进行归纳和梳理。最后对未来沉水植物功能性状的研究方向进行了展望,提出在当前全球气候变化背景下,功能性状研究也可用于指导淡水生态系统的修复。