珍稀濒危植物大花万代兰的花粉团发育及其分类学意义

万代兰属的属间界限划定及其亲缘关系重建是兰科分类系统中的难解之谜。该研究采用常规石蜡切片技术观察了珍稀濒危植物大花万代兰的一对深裂花粉团的形成机制、花药壁发育模式、小孢子发生及雄配子体发育等的胚胎学特征。结果表明：(1)大花万代兰早期的花药原基分化出一对侧生药室,每个药室的小孢子囊中央分化出一条在花药成熟时会降解的不育隔膜组织,形成两个不等深裂的花粉团。(2)发育完整的花药壁有5~9层,包括2~6层药室内壁,符合多层型花药壁发育类型;绒毡层细胞为单核,腺质型,在花药成熟时,表皮、中层和绒毡层皆降解,仅留下2~6层纤维性加厚的药室内壁。(3)小孢子母细胞经过连续型胞质分裂形成正四面体和左右对称的小孢子四分体,小孢子四分体继续保持在同一个胼胝质内,完成有丝分裂形成了2 细胞型的四合花粉;四合花粉两两紧密排列,且由于隔膜组织的降解,最终发育为一对深裂的花粉团。根据现有兰花花药发育资料,分析了大花万代兰花粉团发育的胚胎学特征的分类学意义,为万代兰属错综复杂的系统分类提供了新资料。     

雨生红球藻虾青素合成研究进展

虾青素是一种重要的次级类胡萝卜素,具有高活性的抗氧化功能,广泛应用于食品保健、医药、水产养殖等领域。雨生红球藻是一种在胁迫条件下能够大量积累虾青素的微藻。文中回顾了雨生红球藻虾青素的生物合成研究的进展,包括虾青素生物合成的诱导与调控、虾青素合成与光合作用及脂类代谢的关系等研究现状。     

雨生红球藻中虾青素的研究与应用

雨生红球藻是单细胞微藻,其中的虾青素具有抗氧化、抗肿瘤、预防心脑血管疾病等多种生物活性,在食品、医药、保健品、化妆品及养殖业有诸多用途。概述了雨生红球藻虾青素含量影响因素,雨生红球藻培养方法、虾青素的提取方法及其应用领域等最新研究成果,为虾青素的开发利用提供帮助。     

洞察景观环境影响蜜蜂之新视角: 肠道微生物

作为生态服务提供者的传粉蜜蜂与景观生态息息相关, 而以农田为主的景观组成显著降低了传粉蜜蜂的多样性。目前调查研究显示, 农田的扩张与蜜蜂多样性下降相关, 且农药残留对蜜蜂损害严重。景观中的开花植物决定了蜜蜂的食物(营养)组成, 其中花粉蛋白含量与蜜蜂的生长发育紧密相关。尽管研究已证实景观环境会显著影响蜜蜂蜂群的发展和个体的生长繁殖能力, 但未来还需要加强景观组成变化直接作用于蜜蜂的机制研究。另一方面, 大量研究表明蜜蜂肠道共生菌是影响宿主健康的重要因素: 可促进宿主吸收营养和抵抗病原菌。作为传粉者, 蜜蜂接触到的主要外部环境——花粉和花蜜都含有特殊的微生物, 很多研究暗示花源微生物是蜜蜂肠道菌来源之一。研究表明景观环境相关的食物(营养)、农药残留以及环境微生物都会显著影响肠道微生物。现有少量的研究证明不同景观的蜜蜂肠道微生物有差异, 景观环境可能通过作用于蜜蜂肠道微生物进而影响蜜蜂健康。然而不同景观环境中的微生物, 尤其是花源微生物和蜜蜂肠道菌之间的关联有待证明。景观对蜜蜂肠道微生物的影响值得研究, 希望可以从肠道菌的视角鉴别对蜜蜂友好的景观环境, 进而指导土地合理利用和蜜蜂保护。     

Pollen-Ovule Ratio and Gamete Investment in Pedicularis （Orobanchaceae）

The Pedicularis species provides ideal materials to study floral evolution because of their substantial flower variation based on a narrow genetic basis, even though they are almost exclusively pollinated by bumblebee. These traits allow us to detect the evolutionary trends of floral parameters without considering genetic background and the difference of pollination vectors. The pollen-ovule ratio is widely used to estimate the pattern of resource investment in two sexual functions in flowering plants. Forty species representing all of the corolla types in Pedicularls were used to study pollen-ovule ratio, gamete investment, and their correlations. Results show that pollen-ovule ratio does not differ among both different corolla types and taxonomic groups. It is therefore suggested that pollen-ovule ratio should be a parallel evolution. The correlations between pollen-ovule ratio and pollen size （-）, and ovule size （＋） can be successfully explained in terms of sex allocation theory. The biological significance of such relationships was also discussed. Additionally, we analyzed the pattern of resource investment into female gamete, which has been somewhat neglected, and found that plants have different patterns of gamete investment between the two sexual functions.     

Mass Production of Intergeneric Chromosomal Translocations through Pollen Irradiation of Triticum durum-Haynaldia villosa Amphiploid

Haynaldia villosa possesses a lot of important agronomic traits and has been a powerful gene resource for wheat improvement. However, only several wheat-H, villosa translocation lines have been reported so far. In this study, we attempted to develop an efficient method for inducing wheat-H, villosa chromosomal translocations. Triticum durum- Haynaldia villosa amphiploid pollen treated with 1 200 rad ^60Co-y-rays was pollinated to Triticum aestivum cv. ＇Chinese Spring＇. Ninety-eight intergeneric translocated chromosomes between T. durum and H. villosa were detected by genomic in situ hybridization in 44 of 61 M1 plants, indicating a translocation occurrence frequency of 72.1%; much higher than ever reported. There were 26, 62 and 10 translocated chromosomes involving whole arm translocations, terminal translocations, and intercarlary translocations, respectively. Of the total 108 breakage-fusion events, 79 involved interstitial regions and 29 involved centric regions. The ratio of small segment terminal translocations （W.W-V） was much higher than that of large segment terminal translocations （W-V.V）. All of the M1 plants were self-sterile, and their backcross progeny was all obtained with ＇Chinese Spring＇ as pollen donors. Transmission analysis showed that most of the translocations were transmittable. This study provides a new strategy for rapid mass production of wheat-alien chromosomal translocations, especially terminal translocations that will be more significant for wheat improvement.     

Astaxanthin Accumulation in the Green Alga Haematococcus pluvialis： Effects of Cultivation Parameters

The green alga, Haematococcus pluvlalis Flotow is used as a source of the ketocarotenoid astaxanthin for application in fish aquaculture, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Ceils of the green alga were induced by the application of different light and starvation conditions to evaluate the effect in astaxanthin accumulate. The conditions used for the Induction were high light intensity （170 μmol·m^-2·s^-1）, iron starvation, sulfur starvation and phosphate starvation. The results show that stresses applied in culture, which interfere with cell division, trigger the accumulation of astaxanthin. Notably, sulfur starvation results in a massive accumulation of this commercially important carotenoid.     

Survival of boll weevil （Coleoptera： Curculionidae） adults after feeding on pollens from various sources

The survival of overwintering boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis （Boheman）, adults on non-cotton hosts in the Lower Rio Grande Valley （LRGV） of Texas was examined from 2001 to 2006. The success of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program, which was reintroduced into the LRGV in 2005, depends on controlling overwintering boll weevil populations. Laboratory studies were conducted using boll weevil adults that were captured in pheromone traps from September through March. The number of adults captured per trap declined significantly in the field from fall to the beginning of spring （3.5-7.0-fold）. The proportion of trapped males and females did not differ significantly. The mean weight of boll weevil adults captured in September was 13.3 mg, while those of captured adults from November to February were significantly lower and ranged from 6.7 to 7.8 mg. Our results show that boll weevil adults can feed on different plant pollens. The highest longevity occurred when adults were fed almond pollen or mixed pollens （72.6 days and 69.2 days, respectively） and the lowest when they fed on citrus pollen or a non-food source （9.7 days or 7.4 days, respectively）. The highest adult survival occurred on almond and mixed pollens [88.0%-97. 6% after 1st feeding period （10 days）, 78.0%-90.8% after 3rd feeding period （10 days）, 55. 0%-83.6% after 5th feeding period （10 days）, and 15.2%-32.4% after lOth feeding period （10 days）]. The lowest adult survival occurred on citrus pollen [52.0%-56.0% after 1st feeding period （10 days）, 13.3% after 3rd and 5th feeding periods （10 days）, and 0 after 6th feeding period （10 days）]. Pollen feeding is not a behavior restricted to adult boll weevils of a specific sex or physiological state. Understanding how boll weevil adults survive in the absence of cotton is important to ensure ultimate success of eradicating this pest in the subtropics.     

魅力四射的花粉微观世界

花粉是种子植物的雄性生殖细胞,是在植物生命周期中不可缺少的重要组成部分。虽然它们很微小,肉眼看不见,但在扫描电子显微镜下,却呈现出一个绚丽多彩、魅力四射的微观世界。它们的形态各异,表面纹