Plasticity of repetitive DNA in response to metal stress in Bryophytes

Abstract

The relationship between environmental stresses and the genome was investigated by examining the behaviour of repetitive DNA in response to lead or cadmium in two Bryophytes, differing from a physiological and an ecological point of view, namely the aquatic moss L. riparium and the terricolous moss F. hygrometrica. Using different experimental approaches, a direct relationship was shown to exist in these two mosses between the metal-induced stress and repetitive DNA. In fact, in both organisms, metal treatment was accompanied by a selective amplification of some GC-rich repetitive DNA sequences forming peculiar agglomerates inside the nucleus; this amplification is quantitatively proportional to the time of exposure of the plants to the metals and stops upon removal of the metal from the culture medium. Results show that ribosomal DNA sequences are involved in this metal-induced repetitive DNA agglomerate formation, although they are not the only repetitive sequences present within the heterochromatic DNA agglomerates. The plasticity of the genome of the Bryophytes in response to external stimuli, and the fact that repetitive DNA is involved in this plasticity are discussed.     

地质封存二氧化碳与深地微生物相互作用研究进展

地质封存将工业和能源相关领域生产活动产生的二氧化碳（CO₂）进行捕集并注入到深部地下岩石构造中,以实现长期储存的目标,是降低温室气体排放、实现CO₂长期封存的重要可行性手段之一。向深部地下地质构造中注入大量CO₂会导致深地环境发生显著变化,进而引起原生微生物活性及群落结构发生明显改变。因此,地质封存CO₂能够直接或间接影响深地微生物驱动的生物地球化学过程。同时,微生物在短期和长期的超临界CO₂（scCO₂）胁迫作用下,也会通过不同的适应性进化方式影响CO₂在地下环境中的迁移、转化和赋存形态。本文介绍了国内外二氧化碳捕获与封存发展现状以及地质封存CO₂影响条件下的scCO₂-水-微生物-矿物的相互作用领域的最新科研进展,并展望了利用深地微生物强化CO₂固定以及将其转化为高附加值产物的潜力。     

苦荞NAC转录因子FtNAC17的鉴定及表达分析

植物特有的NAC转录因子参与植物生长发育和逆境响应。研究苦荞中NAC转录因子在非生物胁迫中的应答,为阐明基因功能提供理论依据。以苦荞为试验材料,克隆一个NAC家族基因,对其进行生物信息学分析。通过荧光定量PCR技术检测该基因在干旱、低温、盐、茉莉酸甲酯、脱落酸和赤霉素胁迫时的响应情况。该基因编码272个氨基酸,将其命名为FtNAC17,GenBank登录号为MT641452。基因结构分析表明,FtNAC17由2个外显子和1个内含子组成。氨基酸序列多重比对和进化关系分析表明,FtNAC17蛋白与拟南芥ANAC002亲缘关系最近,属于NAC转录因子家族中同一亚组。FtNAC17对干旱、低温、盐等非生物胁迫均有不同程度的响应。     

抗逆相关AP2/EREBP转录因子研究进展

干旱、低温、土地盐碱化等非生物胁迫是影响植物生长发育以及作物产量的重要因素。近年来大量研究表明,多种转录因子参与调控植物对各种生物及非生物胁迫的应答与防御反应,与此同时人们对其作用机理的探索也日渐深入。AP2/ERF转录因子家族是植物所特有的一类转录因子,在拟南芥中该家族至少有146个成员;而在水稻中该基因家族多达181个,是已知水稻转录因子基因中最大的家族。这些编码含有一个保守APETALA(AP2)结构域的蛋白质可能在植物多个发育过程及应答外界环境信号过程中发挥重要功能。综述了AP2/EREBP类转录因子的结构特征及其功能特性,并重点讨论了它们在植物抗逆中的调控作用及其在植物抗逆性分子遗传改良上的意义。     

Pb和Cd单一及复合胁迫条件下溪荪(Iris sanguinea)生长及金属离子积累特征分析

采用水培法,对Pb和Cd单一及复合胁迫(500 mg·L-1Pb、25 mg·L-1 Cd、500 mg·L-1pb-25 mg·L-1Cd)条件下溪荪(Iris sanguinea Donn ex Horn.)幼苗不同部分的生长及Pb、Cd、Zn、Cu、K和Na积累状况进行了研究.结果显示:在Pb单一胁迫条件下,溪荪幼苗地下部分干质量较对照降低了18.2％,地上部分干质量和耐性指数均与对照无显著差异;在Cd单一胁迫条件下,地下部分与地上部分的干质量较对照分别降低了16.4％和14.1％,耐性指数降低了7％;在Pb-Cd复合胁迫条件下,溪荪幼苗不同部分的干质量以及耐性指数均与对照无显著差异.在Pb单一及Pb-Cd复合胁迫条件下,幼苗不同部分的Pb含量均明显高于对照,Pb单一胁迫处理组幼苗地上部分和地下部分的Pb含量分别比Pb-Cd复合胁迫处理组高19.8％和16.0％.在Cd单一及Pb-Cd复合胁迫条件下,幼苗不同部分的Cd含量均明显高于对照,Pb-Cd复合胁迫处理组幼苗地上部分和地下部分的Cd含量分别为Cd单一胁迫处理组的2.02和5.74倍.经Pb和Cd单一及复合胁迫后,幼苗不同部分的Zn、Cu和Na含量均明显高于对照,而K含量则低于对照;地上部分的Zn、K和Na含量均高于地下部分,但Cu含量在幼苗不同部分的变化趋势则有所不同.比较结果表明:Pb-Cd复合胁迫对溪荪幼苗的Pb积累有促进作用、对Cd积累有抑制作用,表现出拮抗作用;溪荪对Pb胁迫的耐性相对更强,对Pb和Cd及其他金属元素有一定的积累能力,可用于Pb污染环境尤其是湿地Pb污染环境的修复.     

蒙古沙冬青冷冻胁迫SMART cDNA文库的构建及序列分析

以强抗逆植物蒙古沙冬青 (Ammopiptanthus mongolicus)为材料,用SMART技术构建了其在冷冻胁迫下的全长cDNA文库。原始文库滴度为9.44?06 pfu.mL-1,重组率为98.3%,插入片段长度在0.5~2.5kb,平均达到1kb。扩增文库滴度为1.98?010pfu.mL-1。从原始文库中随机挑取480个阳性克隆进行序列分析,获得348个Unigene,其中有些是逆境应答相关基因和新基因。此外,以扩增文库为模板,经PCR方法克隆到读码框为1083bp的沙冬青类RD22基因。这些结果表明所建文库质量较高,可以满足后续研究的要求。     

Seasonal variability of forest sensitivity to heat and drought stresses: A synthesis based on carbon fluxes from North American forest ecosystems

Climate extremes such as heat waves and droughts are projected to occur more frequently with increasing temperature and an intensified hydrological cycle. It is important to understand and quantify how forest carbon fluxes respond to heat and drought stress. In this study, we developed a series of daily indices of sensitivity to heat and drought stress as indicated by air temperature (T_a) and evaporative fraction (EF). Using normalized daily carbon fluxes from the FLUXNET Network for 34 forest sites in North America, the seasonal pattern of sensitivities of net ecosystem productivity (NEP), gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) and ecosystem respiration (RE) in response to T_a and EF anomalies were compared for different forest types. The results showed that warm temperatures in spring had a positive effect on NEP in conifer forests but a negative impact in deciduous forests. GEP in conifer forests increased with higher temperature anomalies in spring but decreased in summer. The drought‐induced decrease in NEP, which mostly occurred in the deciduous forests, was mostly driven by the reduction in GEP. In conifer forests, drought had a similar dampening effect on both GEP and RE, therefore leading to a neutral NEP response. The NEP sensitivity to T_a anomalies increased with increasing mean annual temperature. Drier sites were less sensitive to drought stress in summer. Natural forests with older stand age tended to be more resilient to the climate stresses compared to managed younger forests. The results of the Classification and Regression Tree analysis showed that seasons and ecosystem productivity were the most powerful variables in explaining the variation of forest sensitivity to heat and drought stress. Our results implied that the magnitude and direction of carbon flux changes in response to climate extremes are highly dependent on the seasonal dynamics of forests and the timing of the climate extremes.     

植物膜联蛋白的结构及功能研究进展

膜联蛋白是一类同源的水溶性多功能蛋白,可以在依赖和不依赖Ca²⁺的环境下与内膜和质膜结合或形成跨膜结构,存在于部分原核生物以及全部的真核生物中,在大多数高等生物中以多基因家族形式存在。植物膜联蛋白在结构上通常只有第1和第4个重复单元是保守的;在功能上可以与细胞骨架结合,具有过氧化物酶活性、核酸水解酶活性和离子通道功能,参与响应盐、干旱、高低温、重金属、损伤等非生物胁迫以及真菌、病虫害等生物胁迫。膜联蛋白基因在植物体的大部分器官及整个生育期均有表达,并且表达量随着植株发育和内外环境的改变而变化,在植物的抗逆性反应中起重要作用。该文对近年来国内外有关植物膜联蛋白的结构和功能,尤其是其在植物逆境生理方面的相关研究进行综述,以期为植物膜联蛋白的深入研究和植物抗逆研究提供思路。