白木香种子脱水耐性的发育变化及贮藏特性

研究白木香种子发育进程中种子性状、萌发能力和脱水耐性的变化,以及不同光温条件对种子萌发的影响和种子的贮藏特性。结果表明：白木香种子在花后78d获得最大干重,进入生理成熟期,此时萌发率接近最大值;胚在花后57～85d,脱水耐性逐渐增强,并在花后85d获得最大脱水耐性。种子萌发的适宜温度范围为25℃-35℃,光照对种子萌发有一定的抑制作用。新鲜自木香种子（含水量27．45％）在4℃低温条件下贮藏1个月后萌发率仅为30％左右,而含水量7．38％的干燥种子在4℃低温条件下贮藏120d,萌发率仍有53．33％,因此,4℃低温和适度脱水有利于种子短期贮藏。白木香种子能忍耐一定程度的脱水,但干燥至含水量7．50％以下时种子会发生损伤,因此推测白木香种子是一种中间性种子。     

南京牛头岗遗址植硅体分析及环境考古意义

牛头岗遗址是江苏南京较大的古文化遗址,遗址文化层中植硅体组合揭示在新石器晚期（约3500Cal．aBP前）,南京地区气候偏暖偏湿;商代（约3500—3000Cal．aBP）,气候温暖湿润;西周早期（约3000Cal．aBP后）,气候又偏暖偏湿。明显的气候波动与全新世中晚期全球气候变化可以对比。相邻何颖遗址的文化内涵和哺乳动物遗存,与牛头岗植硅体组合反映的植被与生态比较一致。新石器晚期至西周时期的气候与环境适宜古代先民的繁衍与生存,南京及滁河流域古文化内涵丰富。     

Distal end of 105-125 loop - A putative reductase binding domain of phthalate dioxygenase

The phthalate dioxygenase system consists of the dioxygenase, PDO, which contains a Rieske [2Fe-2S] center and a Fe(II)-mononuclear center, and the reductase, PDR. Involvement of the distal end of the 105-125 loop of PDO in its interaction with PDR was tested by substituting charged residues in the loop with alanines and by replacing the conserved tryptophan-94. Compared to wild-type PDO, all variants had lower catalytic activity and the Rieske centers were reduced more slowly by reduced PDR. The rates of oxidation of the Rieske centers by oxygen, which represent electron transfer between the Rieske and mononuclear centers, were essentially unaffected. These results suggest that positively charged residues of the distal end of the 105-125 loop are collectively involved in PDR binding with the PDO. Contrary to expectations, Trp94 variants were not directly involved in electron transfer between PDR and PDO. The tryptophan appears to have mainly a structural role, apparently preserving the hydrophilic environment of the Rieske center.     

绿鹭的繁殖习性观察

2001年4－9月在合肥市对绿鹭（Butorides striatus)的繁殖习性进行了观察。绿鹭营巢生境主要选择在建筑物附近的高大阔叶树上,常一树一巢,未见与其他鹭类混群营巢。每巢产3－5枚卵,孵卵期21d,育雏期41d,42日龄后幼鸟离巢飞走,出飞存活率62．5％。育雏期雏鸟主要食物为小型鱼类。在4所大学校园及1处公园统计到有效巢56个,推算绿鹭224只。绿鹭在合肥繁殖属首次记录。     

生境破碎化对丹顶鹤巢位选择的影响

1985、1995年和1998年4－5月,采用查阅保护区历史资料及实地调查方法,对辽宁双台河口国家级自然保护区内丹顶鹤（Grus japonensis)的主要营巢地－东郭苇场和赵圈河苇场的生境破碎化及丹顶鹤在2片苇场中的营巢状况和繁殖种群数量变动情况作了系统的考察和研究,发现丹顶鹤的营巢生境破碎严重,已由成片的芦苇湿地变成91个斑块,其中最小营巢斑块面积为0．37km^2,最小巢间距为304m,比过去资料记载的最小巢区面积缩小了0．72km^2,但繁殖种群数量变动不大,多年来一直维持在30对左右,丹顶鹤为了适应变化了的环境,已采取了缩小巢区面积的生态适应对策。     

Incubation ability of the functional envelope in paper wasp nests (Hymenopteta, Vespidae, Polistes): I. Field measurements of nest temperature using paper models

Temperature characteristics in paper models of Polistes wasp nests with various numbers (N = 7, 19, 37, or 61 cells) and lengths (L = 10–50 mm) of cells were measured in the field. Temperature distribution in a N61L50 model showed that the central cell provided the best thermal conditions in terms of gained temperature and its fluctuation. The mean temperature excess (difference between cell and ambient temperatures) observed in the diel trial 1 (L50 models with different cell numbers) was 1.5°C in N7 model and 2.3°C in N61, whereas in trial 2 (N37 models with different cell lengths) it was 0.6°C in the L10 model (with 10-mm-long cells) and 2.4°C in L50. In these trials, models with larger numbers of cells or longer cells attained a higher temperature. It seemed that length was more effective in gaining higher maximum temperature than the number of cells. By their heat insulation effect, peripheral cell rings ameliorated the temperature fluctuation in cells at the central part of the comb. Models with more and longer cells maintained temperature slightly higher than the ambient level even during the nighttime. Received: March 10, 2000 / Accepted: December 18, 2000     

An extension of presence/absence coefficients to abundance data: a new look at absence

Abstract. Alternative community analyses, based on quantitative and presence/absence data, are comparable logically if the data type is the only factor responsible for differences among results. For presence/absence indices that consider mutual absences, no quantitative alternatives are known. To facilitate such comparisons, a new family of similarity coefficients is proposed for abundance data. Formally, this extension is achieved by generalizing the four cells of the usual 2 × 2 contingency table to the quantitative case. This implies an expanded meaning of absence: for a given species at a given site it is understood as the difference between the actual value and the maximum detected in the entire study. The correspondence between 10 presence/absence coefficients and their quantitative counterparts is evaluated by graphical comparisons based on artificial data. The behaviour of the new functions is also examined using field data representing post‐fire regeneration processes in grasslands and a chronosequence pertaining to forest regeneration after clear‐cut. The examples suggest that the new coefficients are most informative for data sets with low beta‐diversity and temporal background changes.     

Characterization of a Novel Subtilisin-like Protease Myroicolsin from Deep Sea Bacterium Myroides profundi D25 and Molecular Insight into Its Collagenolytic Mechanism

Collagen is an insoluble protein that widely distributes in the extracellular matrix of marine animals. Collagen degradation is an important step in the marine nitrogen cycle. However, the mechanism of marine collagen degradation is still largely unknown. Here, a novel subtilisin-like collagenolytic protease, myroicolsin, which is secreted by the deep sea bacterium Myroides profundi D25, was purified and characterized, and its collagenolytic mechanism was studied. Myroicolsin displays low identity (<30%) to previously characterized subtilisin-like proteases, and it contains a novel domain structure. Protein truncation indicated that the Pro secretion system C-terminal sorting domain in the precursor protein is involved in the cleavage of the N-propeptide, and the linker is required for protein folding during myroicolsin maturation. The C-terminal β-jelly roll domain did not bind insoluble collagen fiber, suggesting that myroicolsin may degrade collagen without the assistance of a collagen-binding domain. Myroicolsin had broad specificity for various collagens, especially fish-insoluble collagen. The favored residue at the P1 site was basic arginine. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, together with biochemical analyses, confirmed that collagen fiber degradation by myroicolsin begins with the hydrolysis of proteoglycans and telopeptides in collagen fibers and fibrils. Myroicolsin showed strikingly different cleavage patterns between native and denatured collagens. A collagen degradation model of myroicolsin was proposed based on our results. Our study provides molecular insight into the collagen degradation mechanism and structural characterization of a subtilisin-like collagenolytic protease secreted by a deep sea bacterium, shedding light on the degradation mechanism of deep sea sedimentary organic nitrogen.     

A Conserved Salt Bridge between Transmembrane Segments 1 and 10 Constitutes an Extracellular Gate in the Dopamine Transporter

Neurotransmitter transporters play an important role in termination of synaptic transmission by mediating reuptake of neurotransmitter, but the molecular processes behind translocation are still unclear. The crystal structures of the bacterial homologue, LeuT, provided valuable insight into the structural and dynamic requirements for substrate transport. These structures support the existence of gating domains controlling access to a central binding site. On the extracellular side, access is controlled by the “thin gate” formed by an interaction between Arg-30 and Asp-404. In the human dopamine transporter (DAT), the corresponding residues are Arg-85 and Asp-476. Here, we present results supporting the existence of a similar interaction in DAT. The DAT R85D mutant has a complete loss of function, but the additional insertion of an arginine in opposite position (R85D/D476R), causing a charge reversal, results in a rescue of binding sites for the cocaine analogue [³H]CFT. Also, the coordination of Zn²⁺ between introduced histidines (R85H/D476H) caused a ∼2.5-fold increase in [³H]CFT binding (B_max). Importantly, Zn²⁺ also inhibited [³H]dopamine transport in R85H/D476H, suggesting that a dynamic interaction is required for the transport process. Furthermore, cysteine-reactive chemistry shows that mutation of the gating residues causes a higher proportion of transporters to reside in the outward facing conformation. Finally, we show that charge reversal of the corresponding residues (R104E/E493R) in the serotonin transporter also rescues [³H](S)-citalopram binding, suggesting a conserved feature. Taken together, these data suggest that the extracellular thin gate is present in monoamine transporters and that a dynamic interaction is required for substrate transport.     

Exploring the Biological and Chemical Complexity of the Ligases

Using a novel method to map and cluster chemical reactions, we have re-examined the chemistry of the ligases [Enzyme Commission (EC) Class 6] and their associated protein families in detail. The type of bond formed by the ligase can be automatically extracted from the equation of the reaction, replicating the EC subclass division. However, this subclass division hides considerable complexities, especially for the C–N forming ligases, which fall into at least three distinct types. The lower levels of the EC classification for ligases are somewhat arbitrary in their definition and add little to understanding their chemistry or evolution. By comparing the multi-domain architecture of the enzymes and using sequence similarity networks, we examined the links between overall reaction and evolution of the ligases. These show that, whilst many enzymes that perform the same overall chemistry group together, both convergent (similar function, different ancestral lineage) and divergent (different function, common ancestor) evolution of function are observed. However, a common theme is that a single conserved domain (often the nucleoside triphosphate binding domain) is combined with ancillary domains that provide the variation in substrate binding and function.