种子捕食者对针叶树种子的捕食模式及二者的防御适应

在寒温带地区,针叶树种子因其油脂和蛋白含量高,成为许多动物的重要食物来源。在针叶林中,针叶树种子捕食者主要存在2种捕食方式,即传播前捕食和传播后捕食。通常,动物捕食种子的过程被认为是树种实现更新的重要途径。种子为躲避捕食者会形成相应的防御策略,种子的大小、营养、纤维含量、次级代谢产物等特征,通常也是植物种子防御捕食者捕食的策略。同样,这些防御策略一方面会影响种子捕食者的种群动态和取食行为,另一方面也可促使种子捕食者形成反对种子防御的适应对策。因此,研究种子捕食者捕食针叶树种子模式对于进一步认识针叶林中动物取食行为具有重要意义,同时,研究针叶树种子的防御及种子捕食者对其防御的适应策略,将有助于了解动植物之间相互作用。     

松果梢斑螟对虫害诱导寄主防御的抑制作用

以松果梢斑螟（Dioryctria pryeri）-油松（Pinus tabuleaformis）（2年生球果和新梢）为研究对象,探讨梢斑螟幼虫对油松球果小卷蛾（Gravitarmata margarotana）先期虫害诱导寄主防御的抑制作用,以及虫害诱导的负防御机制。结果表明,双萜松脂酸作为油松球果和新梢的主要组成和诱导性防御物质,梢斑螟虫害后球果双萜松脂酸极显著增加,10 d后降低到正常水平;而新梢虫害后,松脂酸显著增加,后随新梢基础含量而增加,10 d后虫害新梢松脂酸显著高于球果。梢斑螟幼虫以小卷蛾虫害球果、健康球果和新梢等部位为食料,均为梢斑螟5龄幼虫下唇腺葡萄糖氧化酶（Glucose oxidase,GOX）活性最高,极显著高于4龄和3龄幼虫;且同一龄期,小卷蛾虫害球果中的梢斑螟幼虫GOX活性最高,显著高于新梢和健康球果中幼虫酶活性。研究发现,虫害后萜类防御物质随幼虫GOX活性升高呈下降趋势。梢斑螟幼虫RNA和P含量比较发现,取食小卷蛾虫害球果、健康球果和新梢3种食料,均为梢斑螟3龄幼虫最高,5龄幼虫最小,差异极显著;但同一龄期,3种食料发育的幼虫,其RNA和P含量间无显著差异。这些结果说明,小卷蛾幼虫的先期危害,诱导了寄主防御,但后来的梢斑螟幼虫通过下唇腺GOX抑制了寄主的诱导防御,使其生长率与健康球果和新梢中的幼虫基本一致。     

防御素构效关系研究进展

防御素是第一大类内源性抗微生物肤,具有广泛的抗菌谱作用,是生物体先天防御系统的重要组成成分.综述了近年国际上对防御素的一级结构、二级结构、三级结构和四级结构及其构效关系研究的最新进展.     

外源茉莉酸和茉莉酸甲酯诱导植物抗虫作用及其机理

综述了茉莉酸(jasmonic acid, JA)和茉莉酸甲酯(methyl jasmo nate, MJA)的分子结构和应用其诱导的植物抗虫作用及其机制。植物受外源茉莉酸或茉莉酸甲酯刺激后,一条反应途径是由硬脂酸途径激活防御基因,另一条途径是直接激活防御基因。防御基因激活后导致代谢途径重新配置,并可能诱导植物产生下列4种效应：（1）直接防御,即植物产生对害虫有毒的物质、抗营养和抗消化的酶类,或具驱避性和妨碍行为作用的化合物;（2）间接防御,即产生吸引天敌的挥发物;（3）不防御,即无防御反应;（4）负防御,即产生吸引害虫的挥发物。     

化学诱抗剂诱导黄瓜抗盐性及其机理

在200 mmol·L^-1 NaCl胁迫条件下,采用根际注射结合叶面喷洒的诱导方法探讨了不同浓度水杨酸、油菜素内酯、壳聚糖、亚精胺4种化学诱抗剂对黄瓜幼苗生长及其生理生化特性的影响.结果表明,4种化学诱抗剂在适宜浓度范围内,显著地降低了黄瓜幼苗的盐害指数和死苗率,以油菜素内酯0.01 mg·L^-1降低幅度最大,比对照分别降低了63.0%和75.0%;显著地促进了超氧化物歧化酶、过氧化物酶、过氧化氢酶等保护酶活性,从而显著降低了丙二醛含量和电解质渗出率,干重含水量显著升高;促进了幼苗的形态建成,植株茎粗、展开叶数及壮苗指数显著提高,壮苗指数以壳聚糖150 mg·L^-1最大,比对照提高了30.9%.说明施用适宜浓度的化学诱抗剂可以诱导黄瓜幼苗的抗盐能力,减缓盐害症状.综合作用效果依次为：油菜素内酯0.005～0.05 mg·L^-1、亚精胺150～200 mg·L^-1、壳聚糖100～200 mg·L^-1和水杨酸50～150 mg·L^-1.     

虫害诱导植物防御的分子机理研究进展

从虫害诱导的系统损伤信号、昆虫特异性激发子、间接防御、直接防御和负防御等方面,综述了虫害诱导植物防御的最新研究进展.在植物与昆虫的相互进化过程中,植物利用诱导防御物质对付昆虫的危害,昆虫则利用其特有的激发子降低植物的防御反应.文中比较了间接防御涉及的4种代谢途径,以及诱导挥发物释放的机制;阐明了虫害诱导植物直接防御的概念、防御物质及其作用机理;分析了虫害诱导植物负防御的机制.同时,也强调了虫害诱导林木防御反应的分子机理.     

信号分子活性氧和NO在土荆芥化感胁迫诱导蚕豆根边缘细胞死亡中的调控

为了探讨入侵植物土荆芥(Chenopodium ambrosioides L.)化感作用如何干扰受体植物的防御功能,以蚕豆(Vicia faba L.)为受体,研究了土荆芥挥发油及其主要成分ρ-对伞花素和α-萜品烯对根边缘细胞活性及其胞外诱捕网厚度的影响,并测定了细胞内信号分子活性氧(Reactive oxygen species, ROS)和NO水平的变化。结果表明:在土荆芥挥发油、ρ-对伞花素和α-萜品烯作用下,蚕豆根边缘细胞粘胶层厚度增加,细胞活性下降,而ROS和NO水平升高,且表现为浓度依赖效应,细胞死亡率、ROS水平和NO水平三者之间存在着显著的正相关(P<0.05)。ROS清除剂抗坏血酸(AsA)、硝酸还原酶抑制剂(NaN₃)和泛Caspase抑制剂Z-VAD-FMK均可有效缓解挥发性物质的细胞致死效应,表明ROS和NO诱导根边缘细胞发生了Caspase依赖性细胞凋亡。上述结果表明土荆芥挥发性化感物质诱导蚕豆根边缘细胞内NO和ROS的水平上升,二者协同作用导致细胞凋亡,引起受体防御功能障碍,从而抑制了植物根系的生长。     

几种农田作物害鼠经济阈值的测定

1 引言 农田害鼠的危害经济阈值是害鼠防治的依据,也是害鼠管理的一个重要指标,王华弟等及邢林等曾报道过这方面的研究,但未能考虑害鼠群落中各种鼠的数量组成比例和危害强度的不同,1983年,在山东     

动物抗低氧胁迫相关基因的表达调控机制

体内氧浓度的稳定是机体维持自身功能的一个必要条件。在低氧条件下,机体内部在低氧信号的刺激下形成一个强大的防御体系以保护自己的组织。在采取防御的过程中,低氧诱导因子-1 (hypoxia inducible factor-1,HIF-1)、血管内皮生长因子(vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF)、促红细胞生成素(erythropoietin, EPO)、核因子-κB (nuclear factor-κB, NF-κB)等基因表达上调。HIF-1是一个与低氧胁迫相关的转录因子,它的激活与体内氧浓度相关。VEGF是HIF-1下游的一个靶基因,它是至今发现的一个在促血管新生方面起着最关键作用的因子。NF-κB能够抑制由低氧引起的细胞凋亡。以上这些基因在动物抗低氧胁迫方面起着重要作用,综述了低氧条件下HIF-1、VEGF、EPO、NF-κB的功能、表达特性以及调控机制。     

Induced systemic protection in plants

Plants, like animals, have inducible disease resistance mechanisms. Induction of systemic protection in plants results in non-specific sensitization to fungal, bacterial and viral agents. The resistance mechanism(s), however, are expressed only after infection. Since, amongst other factors, disease outcome is highly dependent on recognition and activation of defense mechanisms, induced protection may facilitate recognition of the pathogen as non-self and/or provide a faster and more intense host defense response.     

Induced Fungal Resistance to Insect Grazing: Reciprocal Fitness Consequences and Fungal Gene Expression in the Drosophila-Aspergillus Model System

Background

Fungi are key dietary resources for many animals. Fungi, in consequence, have evolved sophisticated physical and chemical defences for repelling and impairing fungivores. Expression of such defences may entail costs, requiring diversion of energy and nutrients away from fungal growth and reproduction. Inducible resistance that is mounted after attack by fungivores may allow fungi to circumvent the potential costs of defence when not needed. However, no information exists on whether fungi display inducible resistance. We combined organism and fungal gene expression approaches to investigate whether fungivory induces resistance in fungi.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here we show that grazing by larval fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, induces resistance in the filamentous mould, Aspergillus nidulans, to subsequent feeding by larvae of the same insect. Larval grazing triggered the expression of various putative fungal resistance genes, including the secondary metabolite master regulator gene laeA. Compared to the severe pathological effects of wild type A. nidulans, which led to 100% insect mortality, larval feeding on a laeA loss-of-function mutant resulted in normal insect development. Whereas the wild type fungus recovered from larval grazing, larvae eradicated the chemically deficient mutant. In contrast, mutualistic dietary yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, reached higher population densities when exposed to Drosophila larval feeding.

Conclusions/Significance

Our study presents novel evidence that insect grazing is capable of inducing resistance to further grazing in a filamentous fungus. This phenotypic shift in resistance to fungivory is accompanied by changes in the expression of genes involved in signal transduction, epigenetic regulation and secondary metabolite biosynthesis pathways. Depending on reciprocal insect-fungus fitness consequences, fungi may be selected for inducible resistance to maintain high fitness in fungivore-rich habitats. Induced fungal defence responses thus need to be included if we wish to have a complete conception of animal-fungus co-evolution, fungal gene regulation, and multitrophic interactions.     

Transgenic expression of gallerimycin, a novel antifungal insect defensin from the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella, confers resistance to pathogenic fungi in tobacco

A cDNA encoding gallerimycin, a novel antifungal peptide from the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella, was isolated from a cDNA library of genes expressed during innate immune response in the caterpillars. Upon ectopic expression of gallerimycin in tobacco, using Agrobacterium tumefaciens as a vector, gallerimycin conferred resistance to the fungal pathogens Erysiphe cichoracearum and Sclerotinia minor. Quantification of gallerimycin mRNA in transgenic tobacco by real-time PCR confirmed transgenic expression under control of the inducible mannopine synthase promoter. Leaf sap and intercellular washing fluid from transgenic tobacco inhibited in vitro germination and growth of the fungal pathogens, demonstrating that gallerimycin is secreted into intercellular spaces. The feasibility of the use of gallerimycin to counteract fungal diseases in crop plants is discussed.     

Resin-based defenses in conifers

Bark beetle infestation and associated fungal infection are a serious disease problem in conifer species. Conifers have evolved elaborate, constitutive and inducible, terpene-based defense mechanisms to deter insect pests and their symbiotic fungal pathogens. This process involves the secretion of oleoresin, a complex mixture of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and diterpenoid acids. Induced oleoresinosis in grand fir (Abies grandis) provides a model system for studying the regulation of defensive terpene biosynthesis and for identifying relevant genes. The ecological relationships between conifers, beetle pests, beetle predators and fungal pathogens present several possible avenues for manipulating oleoresin composition to improve tree resistance. Possible examples include chemically disguising the host, adding toxins and altering the levels of pheromone precursors, attractants for predators or hormone mimics to disrupt insect development. Strategies and prospects for generating transgenic conifers with increased defense capability are discussed.     

Engineering grapevine for increased resistance to fungal pathogens without compromising wine stability

The vast majority of wine proteins have recently been identified as pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. During the growing season, these proteins are expressed in developmentally dependent and inducible manners in grapevine leaves and grape berries, in which they are believed to play an important role in protection against fungal pathogens and possibly other stresses. Because of their inherent resistance to proteolytic attack and to the low pH values characteristic of wines, vinification can be seen as a "purification strategy" for grape PR proteins. The inevitable consequent accumulation of these proteins in wines becomes a technological nuisance because they adversely affect the clarity and stability of wines. Genetically modified vines underexpressing PR proteins would certainly lead to stable wines but would increase the plant susceptibility to fungal attack, and the actual trend seems to be in the opposite direction, that is overexpressing these proteins to obtain plants with enhanced resistance to pathogens--a trend that will probably augment problems associated with protein instability in the resulting wines.     

Fungal metabolic plasticity and sexual development mediate induced resistance to arthropod fungivory

Prey organisms do not tolerate predator attack passively but react with a multitude of inducible defensive strategies. Although inducible defence strategies are well known in plants attacked by herbivorous insects, induced resistance of fungi against fungivorous animals is largely unknown. Resistance to fungivory is thought to be mediated by chemical properties of fungal tissue, i.e. by production of toxic secondary metabolites. However, whether fungi change their secondary metabolite composition to increase resistance against arthropod fungivory is unknown. We demonstrate that grazing by a soil arthropod, Folsomia candida, on the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans induces a phenotype that repels future fungivores and retards fungivore growth. Arthropod-exposed colonies produced significantly higher amounts of toxic secondary metabolites and invested more in sexual reproduction relative to unchallenged fungi. Compared with vegetative tissue and asexual conidiospores, sexual fruiting bodies turned out to be highly resistant against fungivory in facultative sexual A. nidulans. This indicates that fungivore grazing triggers co-regulated allocation of resources to sexual reproduction and chemical defence in A. nidulans. Plastic investment in facultative sex and chemical defence may have evolved as a fungal strategy to escape from predation.     

Loss of compatibility might explain resistance of the Arabidopsis thaliana accession Te-0 to Golovinomyces cichoracearum

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The establishment of compatibility between plants and pathogens requires compliance with various conditions, such as recognition of the right host, suppression of defence mechanisms, and maintenance of an environment allowing pathogen reproduction. To date, most of the plant factors required to sustain compatibility remain unknown, with the few best characterized being those interfering with defense responses. A suitable system to study host compatibility factors is the interaction between Arabidopsis thaliana and the powdery mildew (PM) Golovinomyces cichoracearum. As an obligate biotrophic pathogen, this fungus must establish compatibility in order to perpetuate. In turn, A. thaliana displays natural variation for susceptibility to this invader, with some accessions showing full susceptibility (Col-0), and others monogenic dominant resistance (Kas-1). Interestingly, Te-0, among other accessions, displays recessive partial resistance to this PM. RESULTS: In this study, we characterized the interaction of G. cichoracearum with Te-0 plants to investigate the basis of this plant resistance. We found that Te-0[ACUTE ACCENT]s incompatibility was not associated with hyper-activation of host inducible defences, Te-0 plants allowed germination of conidia and development of functional haustoria, but could not support the formation of mature conidiophores. Using a suppressive subtractive hybridization technique, we identified plant genes showing differential expression between resistant Te-0 and susceptible Col-0 plants at the fungal pre-conidiation stage. CONCLUSIONS: Te-0 resistance is likely caused by loss of host compatibility and not by stimulation of inducible defenses. Conidiophores formation is the main constraint for completion of fungal life cycle in Te-0 plants. The system here described allowed the identification of genes proposed as markers for susceptibility to this PM.     

Inducible and constitutive kynureninases. Control of the inducible enzyme activity by transamination and inhibition of the constitutive enzyme by 3-hydroxyanthranilate.

The inducible kynureninase from Neurospora crassa is inactivated by incubation with L-alanine or L-ornithine. The inactivated enzyme is resolved to the apoenzyme by dialysis. Reactivation of the apoenzyme is achieved by incubation with pyridoxamine 5'-phosphate plus pyruvate, as well as with pyridoxal 5'-phosphate. The kynurenine hydrolysis proceeds linearly in the presence of added pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, or pyridoxamine 5'-phosphate plus pyruvate. These findings indicate that the fungal inducible kynureninase can act as an amino-transferase to control the enzyme activity, and that the control mechanism is similar to that reported for the bacterial kynureninase (Moriguchi, M. & Soda, K. (1973) Biochemistry 12, 2974-2980). The ratio of kynureninase activity to aminotransferase activity was determined with bacterial and fungal enzymes. All the inducible kynureninases from various fungal species examined are also controlled by the transamination. In contrast, the pig liver kynureninase and the fungal constitutive enzymes are little or not at all affected by preincubation with amino acids. Thus, the present regulatory mechanism does not operate in these constitutive-type enzymes. The rate of hydrolysis of L-3-hydroxykynurenine by the pig liver enzyme decreases with increase in the incubation time; the enzyme is inhibited by 3-hydroxyanthranilate produced from L-3-hydroxykynurenine. The inhibition is found in all the constitutive-type enzymes, suggesting that 3-hydroxyanthranilate plays a regulatory role in NAD biosynthesis from tryptophan.