<Emphasis Type="Italic">Daphnia</Emphasis>species diversity in Kenya,and a key to the identification of their ephippia

The distribution of Daphniaspecies in tropical Africa is poorly known and understood. Daphniaare assumed rare in tropical regions, but systematic studies covering large areas are sparse. We sampled the active community (live zooplankton) and/or the dormant community (diapausing egg banks in the sediment) of 41 standing water bodies in Kenya in search for Daphnia.Overall the dormant communities yielded 11 species of Daphnia, a species richness more than twice the species richness found in the active communities. Dormant community species diversity better reflects the spatial, and particularly the temporal (multi-annual) variation in environmental conditions available to Daphniain these tropical standing waters. Hence, we suggest that the dormant community be taken into account when assessing local zooplankton diversity, especially in fluctuating tropical lake ecosystems, where the presence of each local Daphniaspecies in the active community may be strongly seasonal or erratic. Geographic distribution data from this study are supplemented with previous records of Daphniain East Africa to provide an overview of the known distribution of Daphniain Kenya and neighbouring countries. We also present a detailed key for morphological identification of the ephippia of the 11 Daphniaspecies encountered, complemented with photographs and drawings of diagnostic characters.     

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Using Cryopreserved, Fixed, and Freeze-dried Sperm in Eggs of Nile Tilapia

Gamete preservation techniques are essential in animal husbandry as well as in assisted reproduction for humans. In this research we attempted to use 3 different sperm preservation techniques in combination with newly developed techniques for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to fertilize eggs of a teleost fish, the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Of 47 eggs injected with fresh sperm, 11 (23%) were fertilized, 5 developed abnormally, and 4 developed normally and hatched; from these, one grew to adulthood. Nuclear DNA content of 4 of the abnormal embryos indicated that they were diploid. Flow cytometric analysis of a blood sample from the surviving ICSI fish collected 2 months after fertilization indicated that the fish was diploid. Of 45 eggs injected with cryopreserved sperm, 9 (20%) developed to the blastula stage. Of 40 eggs injected with sperm preserved in 70% methanol, none were fertilized. No injections were possible with freeze-dried Nile tilapia sperm owing to technical difficulties during manipulation. Although the findings described here are limited, they provide the first steps toward using sperm preservation methods in addition to cryopreservation for fertilization in fishes.     

Viability of invertebrate diapausing eggs exposed to saltwater: implications for Great Lakes’ ship ballast management

International shipping has been the dominant vector of nonindigenous species introductions to the Laurentian Great Lakes over the past century. Apparent ballast-mediated invasions have been recorded in recent years, despite the implementation of voluntary ballast water exchange regulations in 1989. Since unregulated no-ballast-on-board vessels currently dominate inbound traffic to the Great Lakes, it has been proposed that live or dormant organisms contained in residual ballast of these vessels may be partially responsible for recent invasions. Alternatively, euryhaline species may pose a significant invasion threat because they can potentially survive ballast exchange. In this study, we explored whether exposure to open-ocean water (32) reduced the viability of invertebrate diapausing eggs in ballast sediments. Sediments collected from three transoceanic ships and from three freshwater habitats were exposed to open-ocean seawater. Egg viability, assessed as the abundance of taxa hatched between exposed and unexposed sediments, was not affected by saltwater exposure in any experiment. Species richness of hatched diapausing eggs was reduced by saltwater exposure in only one of seven trials. Our results indicate that oligostenohaline zooplankton may pose an invasion risk because their diapausing eggs are largely resistant to exposure to open-ocean saltwater.     

Phylogenetic effects, the loss of complex characters, and the evolution of development in calyptraeid gastropods

Abstract Despite considerable theoretical and empirical work on the population genetic effects of mode of development in benthic marine invertebrates, it is unclear what factors generate and maintain interspecific variation in mode of development and few studies have examined such variation in a phylogenetic context. Here I combine data on mode of development with a molecular phylogeny of 72 calyptraeid species to test the following hypotheses about the evolution of mode of development: (1) Is the loss of feeding larvae irreversible? (2) Is there a phylogenetic effect on the evolution of mode of development? (3) Do embryos of direct‐developing species lose the structures necessary for larval feeding and swimming and, if so, is the degree of embryonic modification correlated with the genetic distance between species? The results of these analyses suggest that mode of development evolves rapidly and with little phylogenetic inertia. There are three cases of the possible regain of feeding larvae, in all cases from direct development with nurse eggs. It appears that species with planktotrophic, lecithotrophic, or direct development with nurse eggs all have equal evolutionary potential and retain the possibility of subsequent evolution of a different mode of development. However, species with direct development from large yolky eggs appear to be subject to phylogenetic constraints and may not be able to subsequently evolve a different mode of development. Finally, species that have more recently evolved direct development have less highly modified embryos than older direct‐developing species. Since species with nurse eggs generally have fewer embryonic modifications than those from large yolky eggs, this embryological difference may be the underlying cause of the difference in evolutionary potential.     

绿盲蝽捕食棉铃虫卵的CO Ⅰ标记检测方法

绿盲蝽Apolygus lucorum Meyer-Dür不仅取食棉花等多种农作物,而且还具有一定的捕食行为。利用棉铃虫细胞色素氧化酶Ⅰ（COⅠ）的基因序列,设计了检测绿盲蝽对棉铃虫Helicoverpa armigera Hübner卵捕食作用的特异引物。PCR分析结果表明,该引物可特异性检测绿盲蝽体内棉铃虫卵DNA片段,取食3粒棉铃虫卵绿盲蝽的检测半衰期为1.77 h。此检测方法为进一步评价绿盲蝽在农业生态系统中的地位与功能提供了技术平台。     

Cleavage and survival of Xenopus embryos exposed to 8 T static magnetic fields in a rotating clinostat

In this study, we examined cleavage and survival of fertilized Xenopus embryos exposed to 8 T static magnetic fields (SMFs). We investigated fertilized Xenopus embryos exposed to magnetic field either in static chamber or in a rotating culture system. Our results showed that the exposure to the strong magnetic field of 8 T changed the third cleavage furrow from the usual horizontal one to a perpendicular one; however, when the direction of gravity was randomized by exposing embryos to magnetic field in a rotating culture system, the third cleavage furrow were formed horizontally, a finding which suggests that the observed distortion of the third cleavage furrow in magnetism-exposed embryos was accomplished by altering gravity effects which were elicited by diamagnetic force due to high gradient magnetic field. Our results also showed that the exposure to the strong magnetic field did not damage survival. These results demonstrate that SMF and altering gravity cause distortion of the third cleavage furrow and show that effects of exposing cleavage embryos to magnetic field were transient and did not affect the post-cleavage development. We also showed that strong magnetic field is not hazardous to the cleavage and blastula-gastrula transition of developing embryonic cells.     

黄颡鱼卵水霉病病原的分离鉴定及其无性繁殖特性

【目的】对黄颡鱼卵水霉病病原进行分离鉴定,并对其无性繁殖特性进行研究。【方法】采用传统方法从患水霉病的黄颡鱼卵上进行丝状真菌的分离,然后通过人工感染实验证实分离菌株的致病性,通过形态学观察和ITS rDNA序列分析对致病菌株进行鉴定,并进一步通过单因子法研究其无性繁殖特性。【结果】从患水霉病的黄颡鱼卵上分离了4株丝状真菌,经人工感染试验证实其中一株丝状真菌HP对黄颡鱼卵具有致病性,并进一步研究了其形态与无性繁殖特性,开展了ITS rDNA序列分析。实验结果表明,菌株HP菌丝为透明管状结构,中间无横隔,分枝较少;游动孢子囊多数呈棒状,游动孢子发育成熟后从孢子囊中释放出来,并迅速游离;能够产生第二孢孢子;新孢子囊以内层出的方式产生;藏卵器呈球形,与雄器同枝或异枝。菌株HP的ITS rDNA序列与GenBank基因库中水霉属菌株自然聚类,同源性高达99%,与多子水霉菌株Arg4S(GenBank登录号GQ119935)的亲缘关系最近。结合形态特征与ITS序列鉴定的结果,判定菌株HP为多子水霉(Saprolegnia ferax)。此外,菌株HP在5°C-35°C、pH 4-10范围内均能产生游动孢子,产生游动孢子的最适温度和pH分别为20°C和7,而且5-25 mg/L福尔马林和0.25 1.25 mg/L二硫氰基甲烷对菌株HP产生游动孢子具有明显的抑制作用。【结论】分离鉴定了黄颡鱼卵水霉病病原,并确定了其无性繁殖特性,可以作为该病防治用药的依据。     

Effects of winter conditions on Daphnia dynamics and genetic diversity in a dimictic temperate reservoir

1. Winter conditions shape plankton dynamics and community composition in temperate regions, but their effect on dynamics and genetic composition of cyclical parthenogens like Daphnia is largely unclear. 2. For 5 years, we studied the dynamics, hatching from resting eggs and genetic structure of a D. galeata × longispina hybrid complex in a dimictic, temperate reservoir. Our main hypothesis was that higher spring densities and an earlier population peak will be observed after warmer winters, with a lower genetic diversity because of a lower contribution of resting eggs to population growth. 3. The study period could clearly be categorised into cold‐winter years (n = 3) and warm‐winter years (n = 2). Daphnia densities at the end of spring overturn were ～10‐fold lower after cold winters than after warm ones, but no pattern emerged concerning the timing and the height of the population peak in early summer. 4. Hatching intensity from resting eggs was higher and contributed up to 8.5% to Daphnia abundance in a cold‐winter year compared to a negligible contribution in a warm‐winter year. Consistent with this finding, new multilocus genotypes (MLGs) adding to the overwintering stock after the end of spring overturn and presumably originating from resting eggs increased genetic diversity and attained high frequencies within the population only after a cold winter. New MLGs were recorded also after warm winters, but they never gained dominance and no shift in genetic diversity was observed. However, genetic diversity was not generally reduced after warm winters. 5. Our results confirm earlier findings that winter conditions have only a limited effect on the main growth phase and the peak of Daphnia during late spring and early summer. However, winter conditions determine the contribution of resting eggs to the population development, which may profoundly alter the genetic composition of the population compared to the previous season.     

A reliable method for sexing unincubated bird eggs for studying primary sex ratio

In birds, offspring sex ratio manipulation by mothers is now well established with potentially important consequences for evolution and animal breeding. In most studies on primary sex ratio of birds, eggs are sexed after incubation by the use of PCR methods targeted to the sex-linked CHD1 genes. Sexing of unincubated eggs would be preferred, but as fertile and infertile blastodiscs cannot be distinguished macroscopically, errors could arise from PCR amplifications of parental DNA associated with the vitelline membrane of infertile eggs. In this study, we stained blastodiscs without the vitelline membrane with Hoechst 33342. This allowed unequivocal distinction between fertile and infertile blastodiscs. Fertile blastodiscs contained thousands of fluorescent nuclei, whereas no nuclei were seen in infertile eggs. In addition, after nucleic acid analysis, fertile blastodiscs yielded much stronger chromosomal DNA and CHD1-targeted PCR bands on agarose gels compared with infertile blastodiscs. These findings indicate that fertile blastodiscs contain much more embryonic DNA than parental DNA, allowing reliable sexing of the fertile eggs. The differences between fertile and infertile blastodiscs in chromosomal DNA and CHD1 PCR banding intensities alone could also be used to distinguish fertile from infertile eggs without using Hoechst staining. We conclude that identifying fertile blastodiscs either by Hoechst staining or by analyzing the yield of chromosomal DNA and CHD1-PCR products, combined with CHD1-targeted PCR amplification, presents an easy and reliable method to sex unincubated eggs.     

小鼠受精卵微注射Cdc25b mRNA可提高卵裂率并促进受精卵发育

为了观察Cdc25B蛋白及PKA/Cdc25B 信号途径在小鼠受精卵发育中的作用,将突变型和野生型Cdc25b转录成 mRNA,显微注射到小鼠受精卵中,放入含有或不含有dbcAMP的M16中,相差显微镜下观察受精卵卵裂情况;用蛋白激酶活性测定方法检测MPF的活性;利用Western 印迹检测Cdc2-Tyr15的磷酸化状态.结果显示,未加dbcAMP的Cdc25b- S321A mRNA注射组与Cdc25b-WT组相比,能够提前使受精卵发生G ₂/M期转变,导致卵裂,并明显提高卵裂率;MPF的活性测定和Cdc2-Tyr15磷酸化状态的检测结果也显示,Cdc25b-S321A组先于Cdc25b-WT组提前激活MPF.此外, Cdc25b-S321A mRNA注射组可以有效恢复由PKA引起的受精卵G ₂期阻滞,显著增加卵裂率;MPF的活性测定和Cdc2-Tyr15磷酸化状态的检测结果也显示,在PKA持续激活的情况下,对比于Cdc25b-WT组,Cdc25b-S321A组提前激活MPF.因此,在小鼠受精卵发育过程中PKA主要通过磷酸化Cdc25B的321位丝氨酸,从而调控MPF的激活与失活来控制有丝分裂进程.