Carnivorous mammals as seed dispersers of Myrtus communis (Myrtaceae) in the Mediterranean shrublands

ABSTRACT

The role of carnivorous mammals as seed dispersers of Myrtus communis L. in the Mediterranean environment was studied. Seeds of M. communis were found in faeces of red fox (Vulpes vulpes L.) and carnivores from the genus Martes, at four sites on the Tyrrhenic coast of Southern Italy in the period autumn-winter 1993–1995. All the study sites are covered by Mediterranean shrublands with M. communis as one of the dominant species. Content analysis of fox scats showed that fruits of M. communis constitute a relevant component of the diet of these carnivores, although other food categories were also well represented. Further investigations on the effect of mammal digestion on seed germinability showed that carnivores not only moved the seeds away from the mother plant but also enhanced their germinability. This species was known to be bird- and ant-dispersed and the adaptive implications of a multi-vectorial seed dispersal process is discussed.     

斑纹小贻贝(Mytella strigata)基础生物学与生物入侵

生物入侵是继栖息地破坏之后，全球生物多样性丧失的第二大驱动因素。近年来，原产于南美洲地区的斑纹小贻贝（Mytella strigata）在印度-西太平洋海区被陆续报道，而我国台湾、广东、海南、福建、广西等省份同样发现斑纹小贻贝，且其已经建立可自我维持的种群。但是，作为一种新型入侵生物，斑纹小贻贝尚未引起国内海洋管理部门和科研人员足够重视，亟待查明其在我国沿海的分布现状、扩散趋势和生态影响等，为斑纹小贻贝的检测、监测、防控和管理提供科学依据。综述了斑纹小贻贝的基础生物学特征和全球生物入侵现状，发现国内的斑纹小贻贝源于南美洲加勒比海地区，于2014年左右通过船舶压舱水或船体生物污损的形式侵入我国南方沿海并迅速扩散。此外，斑纹小贻贝在我国的生物入侵处于"引进-传播"阶段，即将大规模扩繁，因此亟需开展应急清除行动。     

Chromosomal location of a gene for resistance to septoria tritici blotch (Mycosphaerella graminicola)in the hexaploid wheat ’Synthetic 6x’

Septoria tritici blotch, caused by the fungus Mycosphaerella graminicola,is currently the major foliar disease of wheat world-wide, and new sources of resistance and knowledge about the genetics of resistance are needed to improve breeding for resistance to this disease. Sears’s ’Synthetic 6x’ hexaploid wheat, derived from a hybrid of Triticum dicoccoides and Triticum tauschii, was resistant to 12 of 13 isolates of M. graminicola tested. Chromosome 7D of ’Synthetic 6x’ was identified as carrying resistance to all 12 isolates in tests of seedlings of inter-varietal chromosome substitution lines of ’Synthetic 6x’ into ’Chinese Spring’ and to two isolates in tests of adult plants. A septoria tritici blotch resistance gene, named Stb5, was identified using the M. graminicola isolate IPO94269 and mapped on the short arm of chromosome 7D, near the centromere, in a population of single homozygous chromosome-recombinant lines for the 7D chromosome. Received: 1 February 2001 / Accepted: 17 April 2001     

Effect of 1,2-benzisoxazole-3-acetic acid on adventitious shoot regeneration and in vitro rooting in apple

 The effect of 1,2-benzisoxazole-3-acetic acid (BOA), compared to 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), on adventitious shoot formation in leaf portions and compared to indolebutyric acid (IBA), on in vitro rooting in the apple (Malus domestica Borkh) cultivars McIntosh and Gala, and one rootstock, Jork 9, was investigated. BOA at 43.0 μm or 2.7 μm at NAA in combination with 17.8 μm benzyladenine (BA), induced the highest number of explants to produce adventitious shoots in Jork 9. In Gala, the combination of 21.5 μm BOA with 1.0 μm thidiazuron (TDZ) or with 22.0 μm BA induced the highest regeneration percentages, 58 and 54%, respectively, giving more satisfactory results than NAA (where only 42% of leaf explants exhibited shoot formation). In McIntosh, the highest percentage of regeneration was obtained with 1.3 μm NAA and 22.0 μm BA, while 51% was the highest response obtained with the BOA treatment. The combination of BOA with TDZ completely inhibited regeneration activity in leaf portions of this cultivar. The shoots of all the genotypes obtained with the most morphogenetic NAA or BOA treatments were excised, multiplied and successfully rooted and hardened. The results demonstrate that the synthetic auxin BOA is active in inducing shoot regeneration from leaf explants of apple and that the activity of BOA in plant regeneration is genotype dependent. When BOA was used to induce rooting in apple microcuttings, lower rooting percentages were obtained than with IBA, showing that the effect of BOA in inducing root formation is very low and that it cannot be used routinely to replace IBA in the in vitro rooting of microcuttings. Received: 18 June 1998 / Revision received: 4 January 1999 / Accepted: 29 January 1999     

The mechanism of the hyperglycaemic action of synthetic peptides related to the C-terminal sequence of human growth hormone

Synthetic part sequences of human pituitary growth hormone (hGH 176–191 and hGH 177–191) corresponding to residues 176–191 or 177–191 of the hormone have been tested for their effects on glycogen and pyruvate metabolism in the rat, both in vivo and in vitro. When injected, the peptides caused transient increases in blood glucose and lactate, while decreasing the activity ratio of glycogen synthase in muscle, adipose tissue and liver and of pyruvate dehydrogenase in muscle and adipose tissue, but not in liver. These decreases were associated with the conversion of the enzymes from their active to their inactive forms, since the peptides did not affect the total amount of either the synthase or the dehydrogenase. The time course of the effect on the enzymes was similar to that for the effect on blood metabolites, and responses for synthase were produced over the range 0.07–7 nmols hGH 177–191/kg body weight. Phosphorylase activity was not affected by the peptides, nor was the capacity to dispose of injected L-lactate. Experiments with adipocytes and hepatocytes showed that the peptides also affected glycogen synthase and pyruvate dehydrogenase activities in vitro. The peptides had no effect on the overall rate of gluconeogenesis from lactate by hepatocytes. However, at times corresponding to those at which glycogen synthase was inactivated, the peptides caused increased incorporation of lactate into free glucose and decreased incorporation into glycogen. It was concluded that the peptides acted directly on their target tissues, and that the observed hyperlactataemia was the result of the inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase. The addition lactate increased the flux through the gluconeogenic pathway, and appeared as glucose because the peptide also inactivated glycogen synthase. Thus, the hyperglycaemia produced by hGH 177–199 and related peptides is explicable in terms of a modified Cori Cycle.     

Die Entwicklung der Zellforschung

Obwohl erst im 17. Jahrhundert begonnen, hat die Zellforschung doch bald zur Formulierung allgemein-biologischer Theorien geführt und trägt auch heute ständig weiter zu fundamentalen Theorienbildungen bei. Die Entwicklung der Zellforschung verdient daher als Paradigma für die Gewinnung naturwissenschaftlicher Einsichten besonderes Interesse: An ihr können Grundbedingungen wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisfortschrittes gut verdeutlicht werden als Wechselspiel von Methodenerweiterung und Konzeptualisierung des Neuentdeckten. Erst eineinhalb Jahrhunderte nach der Erstbeobachtung von Zellen gelang die Formulierung der “Zellentheorie”. Auf der durch sie geschaffenen, konzeptionellen Grundlage war es vielen biologischen und medizinischen Disziplinen möglich, von einem beobachtend-beschreibenden (“induktiven”) zu einem experimentierenderklärenden (“deduktiven”) Status vorzustoßen. Ein außergewöhnlicher Erfolg war dabei der Cytogenetik beschieden. Dagegen war der Versuch, in den subzellulären und submikroskopischen Bereich vorzudringen, nur teilweise erfolgreich (Polarisationsmikroskopie, Nägelis Micellartheorie). Ein breiter Durchbruch gelang in diesem Sektor erst um 1950 durch eine beinahe einmalige zeitliche Kumulierung methodischer Fortschritte, wobei vor allem Zellfraktionierung und Elektronenmikroskopie eine entscheidende Rolle spielten. Zusammen mit der vorausgegangenen Entwicklung “flankierender” Wissenschaften (insbesondere der Makromolekularen Chemie) wurde so die Etablierung der modernen Zellbiologie möglich. Einige ihrer bedeutendsten Aussagen werden diskutiert (Zellkompartimentierung und genetische Kontinuität ohne Nucleinsäuren; Zweiteilung der Organismenwelt nach der Zellorganisation; Evolution zellulärer Organismen und Symbiontentheorie). Abschließend wird versucht, Bedingungen und Erfordernisse von wissenschaftlichem Fortschritt allgemein zu formulieren und daran die heutige Wissenschaftswirklichkeit kritisch zu messen.