Morphometric analysis and taxonomic revision of the Vriesea paraibica complex (Bromeliaceae)

The species related to Vriesea paraibica (Bromeliaceae, Tillandsioideae) have controversial taxonomic limits. For several decades, this group has been identified in herbarium collections as V. × morreniana, an artificial hybrid that does not grow in natural habitats. The aim of this study was to assess the morphological variation in the V. paraibica complex through morphometric analyses of natural populations. Two sets of analyses were performed: the first involved six natural populations (G1) and the second was carried out on taxa that emerged from the first analysis, but using material from herbarium collections (G2). Univariate ANOVA was used, as well as discriminant analysis of 16 morphometric variables in G1 and 18 in G2. The results of the analyses of the two groups were similar and led to the selection of diagnostic traits of four species. Lengths of the lower and median floral bracts were significant for the separation of red and yellow floral bracts. Vriesea paraibica and V. interrogatoria have red bracts; these two species are differentiated by the widths of the lower and median portions of the inflorescence and by scape length. These structures are larger in the former and smaller in the latter. Of the species with yellow floral bracts, V. eltoniana is distinguished by longer leaf blades and scapes and V. flava is characterized by its shorter sepal lengths. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 159 , 163–181.     

THE EXTRAORDINARY TRILOBITE FENESTRASPIS (DALMANITIDAE, SYNPHORIINAE) FROM THE LOWER DEVONIAN OF BOLIVIA

Abstract:  The hitherto poorly known, monotypic trilobite genus Fenestraspis from the Lower Devonian of Bolivia is revised and its original assignment to the Synphoriinae supported. The thoracic morphology of the genus remains very poorly known. Fenestraspis is morphologically unusual because of the development of extensive fenestrae in the pleural region of the pygidium and apparently of the thorax; the presence of upwardly directed spines on the cephalon, thorax and pygidium; and the exceptionally large and highly elevated eyes with the palpebral rim projecting outwards above the visual surface. The function of the fenestrae remains uncertain. If they formed openings in the body of the trilobite in life they may have allowed circulation of oxygenated water to the limb exites so that respiration could have been maintained while the trilobite was enrolled. If they were covered with a flexible membrane, they may have been secondary respiratory structures or had a sensory function. The Synphoriinae is regarded as a subfamily of the Dalmanitidae rather than as an independent family of the Dalmanitoidea as proposed by some authors. The type species of the poorly known monotypic genus Dalmanitoides from the Lower Devonian of Argentina is illustrated photographically for the first time and compared with Fenestraspis .     

Separation and toxicity of salithion enantiomers

Enantioseletive toxicities of chiral pesticides have become an environmental concern recently. In this study, we evaluated the enantiomeric separation of salithion on a suite of commercial chiral columns and assessed the toxicity of enantiomers toward butyrylcholinesterase and Daphnia magna. Satisfactory separations of salithion enantiomers could be achieved on all tested columns, that is, Chiralcel OD, Chiralcel OJ, and Chiralpak AD column. However, the Chiralpak AD column offered the best separation and was chosen to prepare micro‐scale of pure salithion enantiomers for subsequent bioassays. The first and second enantiomers eluted on the Chiralpak AD column were further confirmed to be (?)‐S‐salithion and (+)‐R‐salithion, respectively. The half inhibition concentrations to butyrylcholinesterase of racemate, (+)‐R‐salithion, and (?)‐S‐salithion were 33.09, 2.92, and 15.60 mg/l, respectively, showing (+)‐R‐enantiomer being about 5.0 times more potent than its (?)‐S‐form. However, the median lethal concentrations (96 h) of racemate, (+)‐R‐salithion, and (?)‐S‐salithion toward D. magna were 3.54, 1.10, and 0.36 μg/l, respectively, suggesting that (?)‐S‐salithion was about 3.0 times more toxic than (+)‐R‐form. Racemic salithion was less toxic than either of the enantiomers in both bioassays, suggesting that antagonistic interactions might occur between the enantiomers during the toxication action. This work reveals that the toxicity of salithion toward butyrylcholinesterase and D. magna is enantioselective, and this factor should be taken into consideration in the environmental risk assessment of salithion. Chirality 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Enantiomer separation of triazole fungicides by high-performance liquid chromatography

Enantiomer separation is one of the most important prerequisites for the investigation of environmental enantioselective behaviors for chiral pesticides. In the present study, the enantiomer separation of 7 triazole fungicides, i.e., hexaconazole (1), triadimefon (2), tebuconazole (3), diniconazole (4), flutriafol (5), propiconazole (6), and difenoconazole (7), were evaluated using normal phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Chrialcel OD column and Chrialcel OJ column were used. The influence of column temperature was studied for the optimization of the resolution as well as the type and percentage of organic modifier in the mobile phase. The retention factors for the enantiomers of all investigated compounds decreased as the temperature increased. The natural logarithms of the selectivity factors (lnalpha) of hexaconazole (1), tebuconazole (3), flutriafol (5), propiconazole (6) and difenoconazole (7) depended linearly on the inverse of temperature (1/T) while the corresponding values for triadimefon (2) and diniconazole (4) kept unchanged in the studied temperature range 10-35 degrees C. Van't Hoff plots afforded thermodynamic parameters, such as the apparent change in enthalpy DeltaH degrees , the apparent change in entropy DeltaS degrees and the apparent change in DeltaDeltaH degrees and DeltaDeltaS degrees . The thermodynamic parameters (DeltaH degrees , DeltaS degrees , DeltaDeltaH degrees and DeltaDeltaS degrees ) were calculated in order to provide an understanding of the thermosynamic driving forces for enantioseparation. The established method shows perspective to be used for preparing micro-scale amount of pure enantiomers of the chiral triazoles studied.     

Soluble MD2 increases TLR4 levels on the epithelial cell surface

The accessory protein MD2 has been implicated in LPS-mediated activation of the innate immune system by functioning as a co-receptor with TLR4 for LPS binding at the cell surface. Epithelial cells that play a role in primary immune response, such as in the lung or gut, often express TLR4, but are dependent on circulating soluble MD2 (sMD2) to bind TLR4 to assemble the functional receptor. In this study, we show that sMD2 incubation with HEK293 epithelial cells transfected with TLR4 increases the cell surface levels of TLR4 in the absence of LPS. Dose response studies reveal that a threshold sMD2 concentration (approximately 450 nM) stimulates maximal TLR4 levels on the cell surface, whereas higher concentrations of sMD2 (approximately 1800 nM) reduce these enhanced TLR4 levels. We show evidence that MD2 multimer formation is increased at these higher concentrations of sMD2 and that addition of LPS to sMD2-stimulated cells masks the enhanced TLR4 cell surface levels, most likely due to the LPS-induced downregulation of TLR4 by endocytosis following receptor stimulation. All together, these results support a model in which sMD2 binds to TLR4 and increases TLR4 levels at the cell surface by preventing TLR4 turnover through the endocytic pathway. Thus, sMD2 may prime epithelial cells for enhanced immunoresponsive function prior to LPS exposure.     

Microsatellite loci for the stingless bee Melipona rufiventris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Eight microsatellite primers were developed from ISSR (intersimple sequence repeats) markers for the stingless bee Melipona rufiventris. These primers were tested in 20 M. rufiventris workers, representing a single population from Minas Gerais state. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 5 (mean = 2.63) and the observed and expected heterozygosity values ranged from 0.00 to 0.44 (mean = 0.20) and from 0.05 to 0.68 (mean = 0.31), respectively. Several loci were also polymorphic in M. quadrifasciata, M. bicolor, M. mandacaia and Partamona helleri and should prove useful in population studies of other stingless bees.     

天童米槠-木荷群落主要树种的结构及空间格局

种群的结构和空间格局是植物群落的重要特征.以浙江天童米槠（Castanopsis carlesii）-木荷（Schima superba）群落为对象,应用永久样方法和每木调查法调查了群落种类组成和结构,并对10个主要常绿阔叶树种的种群结构和空间格局进行了分析,种群结构分析包括胸径级结构和垂直层次结构,空间格局分析包括各种不同垂直层次个体的空间分布格局和空间关联,并考虑了空间关联的尺度依赖.所选10个种总体RBA值达到81.9﹪,包含了群落的全部5个优势种,SDI指数除黑山山矾（Symplocos heishanensis）为正值外,其余9种皆为负值,各个种在垂直空间上占据了不同的位置.不同种之间以及同种不同层次之间表现出复杂多样的分布格局,体现出多级复合分布特征,但多数种整体上表现为集群分布或基本分布成分为个体群.空间关联在不同种之间、同种不同层次之间以及不同空间尺度上发生了分化,随尺度的增加,正关联增加而负关联减少.各个物种通过占据不同的水平和垂直空间,并采取不同的生活史对策,在群落中得以共存,从而导致了群落高的生物多样性的形成和维持.     

用RACE技术扩增并克隆牛BMP4基因3'端序列

RACE技术是一项扩增基因末端序列的新技术。该研究从牛BMP4基因出发,以牛软骨的RNA为模板,按照不同物种BMP4基因的相似性设计特异引物,运用PCR和RACE技术扩增并获得了特异片段,该片段经PCR、酶切和测序验证,证实所克隆序列为牛BMP4的3′端序列,包含有1170bp组成的开放读码框(ORF),编码389个氨基酸,3′非编码区121bp个核苷酸和poly(A)15。同源性分析结果表明,牛BMP4 cDNA最大开放读码框所推测的氨基酸序列与已知人、小鼠、大鼠、狗、羊和鸡等真核生物BMP4氨基酸序列进行比较,分别有94.5%、93.1%、91.9%、87.4%、94.2%、79%的同源性。这为克隆其他物种的BMP4基因提供了依据,同时牛骨形态发生蛋白的测序为我们更好的理解牛的生骨机理提供帮助。     

Effects of light on cyanide‐resistant respiration and alternative oxidase function in Arabidopsis seedlings

Mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX), the unique respiratory terminal oxidase in plants, catalyzes the energy wasteful cyanide (CN)‐resistant respiration and plays a role in optimizing photosynthesis. Although it has been demonstrated that leaf AOX is upregulated after illumination, the in vivo mechanism of AOX upregulation by light and its physiological significance are still unknown. In this report, red light and blue light‐induced AOX (especially AOX1a) expressions were characterized. Phytochromes, phototropins and cryptochromes, all these photoreceptors mediate the light‐response of AOX1a gene. When aox1a mutant seedlings were grown under a high‐light (HL) condition, photobleaching was more evident in the mutant than the wild‐type plants. More reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and inefficient dissipation of chloroplast reducing‐equivalents in aox1a mutant may account for its worse adaptation to HL stress. When etiolated seedlings were exposed to illumination for 4 h, chlorophyll accumulation was largely delayed in aox1a plants. We first suggest that more reduction of the photosynthetic electron transport chain and more accumulation of reducing‐equivalents in the mutant during de‐etiolation might be the main reasons.     

Genetic uniformity characterizes the invasive spread of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a clonal aquatic plant

Aquatic plant invasions are often associated with long‐distance dispersal of vegetative propagules and prolific clonal reproduction. These reproductive features combined with genetic bottlenecks have the potential to severely limit genetic diversity in invasive populations. To investigate this question we conducted a global scale population genetic survey using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers of the world’s most successful aquatic plant invader –Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth). We sampled 1140 ramets from 54 populations from the native (South America) and introduced range (Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, Central America and the Caribbean). Although we detected 49 clones, introduced populations exhibited very low genetic diversity and little differentiation compared with those from the native range, and ～80% of introduced populations were composed of a single clone. A widespread clone (‘W’) detected in two Peruvian populations accounted for 70.9% of the individuals sampled and dominated in 74.5% of the introduced populations. However, samples from Bangladesh and Indonesia were composed of different genotypes, implicating multiple introductions to the introduced range. Nine of 47 introduced populations contained clonal diversity suggesting that sexual recruitment occurs in some invasive sites where environmental conditions favour seedling establishment. The global patterns of genetic diversity in E. crassipes likely result from severe genetic bottlenecks during colonization and prolific clonal propagation. The prevalence of the ‘W’ genotype throughout the invasive range may be explained by stochastic sampling, or possibly because of pre‐adaptation of the ‘W’ genotype to tolerate low temperatures.