Indices of water deficit in susceptible and resistant cucumbers in response to infection by cucumber mosaic virus

Indices of water deficit were determined under conditions of non-limited water supply in cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)-infected seedlings of the susceptible cv. Bet Alpha. An increase in the concentration of soluble solids, decrease of water and osmotic potentials, and increase of proline concentration were found in the CMV-infected cotyledons. In the cv. Shimshon, which is resistant to CMV, virus infection caused only a slight change in the concentration of the soluble solids and in the osmotic potential; water potential and proline content were not affected. Concomitantly, infectivity of cotyledons by CMV was much lower in the tolerant cv. Shimshon than in the susceptible cv. Bet Alpha. The possible association of water deficit with virus-induced growth retardation is discussed.     

Preparation of an isomorphous heavy-atom derivative of tobacco mosaic virus by chemical modification with 4-sulpho-phenylisothiocyanate

The reaction of the vulgare and U2 strains of tobacco mosaic virus with 4-sulpho-phenylisothiocyanate has been investigated. The coat protein of the U2 strain has a proline residue at its N-terminus and a lysine residue at position 53. Whereas both residues could be reacted with 4-sulpho-phenylisothiocyanate in the isolated coat protein, only proline-1 was modified during treatment of the intact virus with the same reagent, thereby showing that the loss of reactivity of the ?-amino group of lysine-53 is a consequence of the virus structure. The 4-sulpho-phenylthiocarbamoyl derivative of amino groups shows considerable tautomerism and, as a consequence, it proved possible to prepare a heavy-atom derivative of the intact U2 strain in which methyl mercury nitrate was bound by the modified N-terminal residue of the coat protein.On the other hand, when the intact vulgare strain was treated with 4-sulphophenylisothiocyanate, little or no modification of the ?-amino groups of the two lysine residues (positions 53 and 68) per polypeptide chain was observed. Taking into account previous studies on the reactivity of the amino groups of the coat protein in tobacco mosaic virus vulgare and assuming that all strains and mutants have closely similar three-dimensional structures, these experiments suggest that the N-terminal residue is more exposed (i.e. probably nearer the virus “surface”) than the side-chain of lysine-68, which in turn is more accessible than the side-chain of lysine-53. This interpretation is readily compatible with the results of X-ray diffraction analysis carried out on these chemically modified viruses (Mandelkow &; Holmes, 1974) and lends support to the hope that such methods of preparing heavy-atom derivatives of proteins will be of general use.     

Improved detection of iris severe mosaic virus in secondarily-infected iris bulbs

The influence of wounding and high-temperature treatment on the detection of iris severe mosaic virus (ISMV) in secondarily ISMV-infected iris bulbs was studied. Wounding of the bulbs just after lifting, followed by storage for 3 wk at 17°C or 20°C, increased the detectability of ISMV to 100% reliability. High-temperature treatment and consecutive storage at 17°C induced a similar improvement of detection. It is concluded that a certain degree of stress, such as wounding or high-temperature treatment, ultimately leads to an increase in viral antigens and thus to improvement of detection. It is hypothesised that the virus titre increases by the altered metabolism during the repair reactions as a response to stress applied to the bulbs.     

The cis-expression of the coat protein of turnip mosaic virus is essential for viral intercellular movement in plants

To establish infection, plant viruses are evolutionarily empowered with the ability to spread intercellularly. Potyviruses represent the largest group of known plant-infecting RNA viruses, including many agriculturally important viruses. To better understand intercellular movement of potyviruses, we used turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) as a model and constructed a double-fluorescent (green and mCherry) protein-tagged TuMV infectious clone, which allows distinct observation of primary and secondary infected cells. We conducted a series of deletion and mutation analyses to characterize the role of TuMV coat protein (CP) in viral intercellular movement. TuMV CP has 288 amino acids and is composed of three domains: the N-terminus (amino acids 1–97), the core (amino acids 98–245), and the C-terminus (amino acids 246–288). We found that deletion of CP or its segments amino acids 51–199, amino acids 200–283, or amino acids 265–274 abolished the ability of TuMV to spread intercellularly but did not affect virus replication. Interestingly, deletion of amino acids 6–50 in the N-terminus domain resulted in the formation of aberrant virions but did not significantly compromise TuMV cell-to-cell and systemic movement. We identified the charged residues R178 and D222 within the core domain that are essential for virion formation and TuMV local and systemic transport in plants. Moreover, we found that trans-expression of the wild-type CP either by TuMV or through genetic transformation-based stable expression could not rescue the movement defect of CP mutants. Taken together these results suggest that TuMV CP is not essential for viral genome replication but is indispensable for viral intercellular transport where only the cis-expressed CP is functional.     

Connecting species’ geographical distributions to environmental variables: range maps versus observed points of occurrence

Connecting the geographical occurrence of a species with underlying environmental variables is fundamental for many analyses of life history evolution and for modeling species distributions for both basic and practical ends. However, raw distributional information comes principally in two forms: points of occurrence (specific geographical coordinates where a species has been observed), and expert-prepared range maps. Each form has potential short-comings: range maps tend to overestimate the true occurrence of a species, whereas occurrence points (because of their frequent non-random spatial distribution) tend to underestimate it. Whereas previous comparisons of the two forms have focused on how they may differ when estimating species richness, less attention has been paid to the extent to which the two forms actually differ in their representation of a species’ environmental associations. We assess such differences using the globally distributed avian order Galliformes (294 species). For each species we overlaid range maps obtained from IUCN and point-of-occurrence data obtained from GBIF on global maps of four climate variables and elevation. Over all species, the median difference in distribution centroids was 234 km, and median values of all five environmental variables were highly correlated, although there were a few species outliers for each variable. We also acquired species’ elevational distribution mid-points (mid-point between minimum and maximum elevational extent) from the literature; median elevations from point occurrences and ranges were consistently lower (median −420 m) than mid-points. We concluded that in most cases occurrence points were likely to produce better estimates of underlying environmental variables than range maps, although differences were often slight. We also concluded that elevational range mid-points were biased high, and that elevation distributions based on either points or range maps provided better estimates.     

末次盛冰期以来观光木的潜在地理分布变迁

观光木(Tsoongiodendron odorum)是木兰科的古老残遗物种, 目前正面临严峻的生存威胁, 属于极小种群濒危植物。通过生态位模型(ENM)能够重建观光木地理分布格局的历史变迁, 探究气候变化对该物种分布的影响, 并了解其地理分布与气候需求间的关系, 从而为全球变暖背景下观光木的保护提供理论基础。该文基于96条现代分布记录和8个环境变量, 采用最大熵(MaxEnt)模型模拟观光木在末次盛冰期、全新世中期、现代和未来(2061-2080年, RCP 8.5)的潜在分布区, 利用SDM toolbox分析观光木的地理空间变化, 并综合贡献率、置换重要值和Jackknife检验来评估气候因子的重要性。研究结果表明: (1)观光木的高度适生区在南岭地区, 末次盛冰期时没有大尺度向南退缩, 很可能在山区避难所原地存活; (2)在全新世中期和未来两个增温的气候情境下, 观光木的分布区均表现为缩减, 其中未来分布的减幅更大, 表明气候变暖对观光木的生长有一定的负面影响; (3)总体上看, 观光木各个时期的地理分布范围相对稳定, 说明观光木对气候变化有一定的适应能力, 人为活动或自身繁育问题可能是致濒的重要原因, 并建议对广东和广西群体进行优先保护。     

城市群新冠疫情时空分布格局与分异机制的地理探测

自从2019年12月湖北武汉爆发新型冠状病毒（COVID-19）以来,疫情在全国范围内迅速传播并蔓延。城市群既是我国新型城镇化主体特定的空间组织形态,也是相互连接的城市网,集合了相当数量不同性质、类型和等级规模的城市,城市群经济发展程度较高、人口密度大,交通发达,是疫情传染扩散-关联的重点区域,因而跨区域感染风险高,联防联控难度大。以疫情集中地区城市群为研究对象,通过核密度分析聚焦重点研究的城市群,从多层空间尺度对疫情在数量、人口迁移和空间分布上进行测度,利用空间自相关分析疫情分布特征,运用地理探测器方法客观地测度城市群疫情发展的差异性主导因素,从景观格局中挖掘相关主导因子,为生态、安全的空间规划和治理提供科学依据和思路。结果显示：①全国范围感染人数核密度高值区的空间分布与长江中游城市群和三大沿海城市群范围耦合,首位核心城市确诊感染数在城市群中占比均较高,城市群疫情扩散分布呈现典型的由核心城市向外辐射的特征,湖北地区迁出的人数对迁往地区的疫情形势构成一定程度的影响;②全国范围的COVID-19感染人数和感染增长率分布存在显著空间集聚特征,城市群范围感染人数的空间聚集性从长江中游城市群向其他城市群依次减弱;③地理探测器识别出人口密度、城乡建设、交通、卫生、科技、生态绿地为疫情的主导因素,并且交互后所产生的共同作用增加了对疫情的解释力;④生态与建设用地景观格局对疫情的解释能力较强,其中建设用地的聚集性和生态用地的蔓延性为主要因子。     

福州市公园外来入侵植物初步调查与分析

[目的] 了解福州市公园的外来入侵植物种类组成,分析其原产地及入侵等级等情况,能够为福州外来入侵植物的扩散、防控以及生物多样性保护提供参考依据。[方法] 对福州市4个区49个公园的外来入侵植物种类、原产地、生活型、入侵频度、危害程度（入侵等级）等进行调查和分析。[结果] 在调查的福州市所有公园内均有入侵植物分布,目前有入侵植物66种,隶属25科,其中菊科、豆科、苋科3个科为优势科,共计33种（占50.00%）;从来源上看,大多数原产于美洲,其次是非洲、欧洲、亚洲;以草本植物为主,共有55种（占83.30%）;从入侵频度看,入侵频度超过50%的入侵植物有7种,其中小蓬草的频度最高,为87.76%;从入侵等级来看,其中恶性（1级）入侵植物16种,严重（2级）入侵植物14种,局部（3级）入侵植物12种,一般（4级）入侵植物11种,有待观察类（5级）13种。[结论] 当前福州市公园内的外来植物入侵现象比较严重,应当加强该区域的入侵植物监测与预警,防止入侵植物扩散从而造成重大生态危害。     

基于CLIMEX预测黑角负泥虫在中国的潜在地理分布

【目的】研究黑角负泥虫在我国的潜在地理分布及其入侵风险程度。【方法】运用适生性分析软件CLIMEX 4. 0对黑角负泥虫在我国的潜在地理分布进行模拟,将模拟结果在地理信息系统软件Arc GIS10.2下进行插值分析,并绘制黑角负泥虫的潜在地理分布示意图。【结果】黑角负泥虫高度适生区主要集中在我国的华北平原、黄土高原南部及云贵高原北部;中度适生区主要集中在华北平原北部、黄土高原北部及东北平原地区;低度适生区则多分布在中高度适生区的过渡区域及我国新疆天山南北两侧地区。限制黑角负泥虫在我国分布的主要胁迫因素为干胁迫和冷胁迫,且其影响的区域主要分布在我国的西北和东北地区。【结论】黑角负泥虫在我国潜在地理分布范围广,适生程度高。目前,黑角负泥虫已经传播到我国的新疆和内蒙古等省(自治区),但由于地理隔离的存在和自身较弱的扩散条件,并没有传入气候适宜度较高的东部地区。随着东西部经济交流的不断增多,黑角负泥虫随人为因素进一步扩散的可能性将不断增加。因此,建议检疫部门做好检疫工作,严防黑角负泥虫的传播扩散。