调亏灌水和分蘖干扰对冬小麦生长的补偿效应

为探索抑制个体功能的生长冗余以实现群体性能优化并挖掘作物高产潜力的途径,通过桶栽试验,选择分蘖能力中等的小偃22号和分蘖能力较强的郑麦7698,对比研究2种灌水模式（全生育期充分灌水和分生育期调亏灌水）和3种分蘖干扰（从拔节期开始去除所有小分蘖,仅保留主茎和1个大分蘖;抽穗期去除所有无效分蘖;以不作任何干扰为对照）,来模拟不同水分供应和不可预测干扰对冬小麦生理生长、产量和水分利用效率的补偿机制.结果表明： 2个冬小麦品种均存在生长冗余.与小偃22号相比,郑麦7698有效分蘖数较高,但穗部性状较差.调亏灌水和抽穗期去除无效分蘖均可减少生长冗余,弱化竞争能力,改变源 库关系,提高资源分配.但冗余消除过度（拔节期干扰）则会破坏植株固有的根冠平衡和功能结构,导致生长的不足补偿.与对照相比,调亏灌水联合抽穗期去除无效分蘖可在时空尺度上充分开发和利用作物自身调控潜力实现补偿生长,在不显著影响籽粒产量的同时可提高水分利用效率20.4%～25.4%,是适宜的减冗增效措施.     

Optimising the capacity of field trials to detect the effect of genetically modified maize on non‐target organisms through longitudinal sampling

To assess risks of cultivation of genetically modified crops (GMCs) on non‐target arthropods (NTAs), field tests are necessary to verify laboratory results and in situations where exposure pathways are very complex and cannot be reproduced in the laboratory. A central concern in the design of field trials for this purpose is whether the tests are capable of detecting differences in the abundance or activity of NTAs in a treated crop in comparison with a non‐treated comparator plot. The detection capacity of a trial depends on the abundance and variability of the taxon, the values assumed for type I (α) and II (β) errors, and the characteristics of the trial and statistical design. To determine the optimal trial layout and statistical analysis, 20 field trials carried out in Spain from 2000 to 2009 to assess risks of GMCs on NTAs were examined with α and β set at 0.05 and 0.20, respectively. In this article we aim to determine the optimal number of sampling dates during a season, or longitudinal samples, in the design of field trials for assessing effects of GM maize on NTAs, and the ones that contribute most to achieving detectable treatment effects (d_c) less than 50% of the mean of the control. Detection capacities are a function of the number of individual samples taken during the season but a high number of samples is rarely justified because gains of repeated sampling can be relatively low. These gains depend primarily on field tests relative experimental variability in individual samplings (i.e. experimental variability relative to the mean of the control in each sampling date) which in turn depends on the sampling method (visual counts, pitfall traps or yellow sticky traps) and the density (or abundance) of the taxon in question. Taxa showing more density (or abundance) have less relative experimental variability. The smaller the experimental variability, the lower the profit of increasing the number of sampling dates. Sticky traps have a good effect detection capacity and need very few sampling dates, whereas visual counts and pitfall traps have a poorer effect detection capacity and need more individual samples to achieve d_c values lower than 50%. In maize field trials, it is recommended to concentrate sampling efforts in certain growth stages; the optimal ones for achieving an acceptable detection capacity are variable but, in general, samples in the first half of the season render better detection capacity than samples in the second half.     

On the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the conformational stability of globular proteins

The model developed for cold denaturation (Graziano, PCCP 2010, 12, 14245‐14252) is extended to rationalize the dependence of protein conformational stability upon hydrostatic pressure, at room temperature. A pressure− volume work is associated with the process of cavity creation for the need to enlarge the liquid volume against hydrostatic pressure. This contribution destabilizes the native state that has a molecular volume slightly larger than the denatured state due to voids existing in the protein core. Therefore, there is a hydrostatic pressure value at which the pressure−volume contribution plus the conformational entropy loss of the polypeptide chain are able to overwhelm the stabilizing gain in translational entropy of water molecules, due to the decrease in water accessible surface area upon folding, causing denaturation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 103: 711–718, 2015.     

When to rely on maternal effects and when on phenotypic plasticity?

Existing insight suggests that maternal effects have a substantial impact on evolution, yet these predictions assume that maternal effects themselves are evolutionarily constant. Hence, it is poorly understood how natural selection shapes maternal effects in different ecological circumstances. To overcome this, the current study derives an evolutionary model of maternal effects in a quantitative genetics context. In constant environments, we show that maternal effects evolve to slight negative values that result in a reduction of the phenotypic variance (canalization). By contrast, in populations experiencing abrupt change, maternal effects transiently evolve to positive values for many generations, facilitating the transmission of beneficial maternal phenotypes to offspring. In periodically fluctuating environments, maternal effects evolve according to the autocorrelation between maternal and offspring environments, favoring positive maternal effects when change is slow, and negative maternal effects when change is rapid. Generally, the strongest maternal effects occur for traits that experience very strong selection and for which plasticity is severely constrained. By contrast, for traits experiencing weak selection, phenotypic plasticity enhances the evolutionary scope of maternal effects, although maternal effects attain much smaller values throughout. As weak selection is common, finding substantial maternal influences on offspring phenotypes may be more challenging than anticipated.     

The Plasma Membrane Calcium Pump in Pancreatic Cancer Cells Exhibiting the Warburg Effect Relies on Glycolytic ATP

Evidence suggests that the plasma membrane Ca²⁺-ATPase (PMCA), which is critical for maintaining a low intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i), utilizes glycolytically derived ATP in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and that inhibition of glycolysis in PDAC cell lines results in ATP depletion, PMCA inhibition, and an irreversible [Ca²⁺]_i overload. We explored whether this is a specific weakness of highly glycolytic PDAC by shifting PDAC cell (MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1) metabolism from a highly glycolytic phenotype toward mitochondrial metabolism and assessing the effects of mitochondrial versus glycolytic inhibitors on ATP depletion, PMCA inhibition, and [Ca²⁺]_i overload. The highly glycolytic phenotype of these cells was first reversed by depriving MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1 cells of glucose and supplementing with α-ketoisocaproate or galactose. These culture conditions resulted in a significant decrease in both glycolytic flux and proliferation rate, and conferred resistance to ATP depletion by glycolytic inhibition while sensitizing cells to mitochondrial inhibition. Moreover, in direct contrast to cells exhibiting a high glycolytic rate, glycolytic inhibition had no effect on PMCA activity and resting [Ca²⁺]_i in α-ketoisocaproate- and galactose-cultured cells, suggesting that the glycolytic dependence of the PMCA is a specific vulnerability of PDAC cells exhibiting the Warburg phenotype.     

Effects of density dependence,zooplankton and temperature on blue whiting Micromesistius poutassou growth

Blue whiting Micromesistius poutassou mean total length at age in the north‐east Atlantic Ocean was found to vary by around ±6% during the period 2004–2011 and mean mass at age by ±22% during the years 1981–2013. Linear modelling provided strong evidence that these phenotypic growth variations can be explained by trophic conditions, mainly negative density dependence and also food availability, and a negative long‐term temperature effect on asymptotic size.