提高榨菜离体培养植株再生频率

采用榨菜“浙桐1号”品种为材料,以MS为基本培养基,通过对不同植物生长调节剂的组合和不同外植体等主要因素的筛选,大幅度提高了榨菜离体培养植株再生频率。结果表明,2mg／L6．BA 0．2mg／L2,4-D的组合较为适宜,其不定芽再生频率可达50％,且外植体以下胚轴为好：而CPPU和2,4-D的适宜组合为1．5mg／L 0．2mg／L,其不定芽再生频率高达66．67％,最适外植体为带柄子叶。同时,研究结果显示,添加0．25～1mg／L的GA,对榨菜已分化的不定芽的伸长有抑制作用;子叶柄和下胚轴外植体的分化具有极性现象。     

From plains to inselbergs: species in special habitats as indicators for climate change?

Aim This study proposes a process to select plant species that would provide suitable candidates for monitoring climate change impacts in areas where complete biological inventories are lacking. Location Inselberg floras of nine inselberg landscapes (i.e. isolated mountains) in the arid Desert and Nama Karoo biome in Namibia were analysed to develop a selection process. Methods Data from detailed field surveys were summarized to determine species only occurring on inselberg habitats (i.e. inselberg specialists). Detrended correspondence analysis and a step‐by‐step selection process based on species distribution patterns were used to determine species occurring on inselbergs beyond their zonal distribution ranges. Results The systematic selection process initially identified 88 plant species. Based on field observations and published sources eliminating species (1) with a wide distribution elsewhere, (2) distribution influenced by local effects and (3) for which their status of knowledge of distribution was clearly inadequate, this list was further reduced to 25 species. This included southern species occurring on inselbergs likely beyond their zonal distribution, such as Adenolobus garipensis, Aloe dichotoma and Euphorbia gummifera, as well as savanna and escarpment species at their western zonal distribution edge (e.g. Cordia sinensis, Commiphora glaucescens and Moringa ovalifolia). Main conclusions The step‐by‐step selection process proposed in this study to assist with the selection of indicators for climate change provides an objective tool in areas where biodiversity coverage is not adequate and little is known about physiology, growth and reproductive patterns of individual species. As such it introduces a method for preliminary screening of species, but will require further input based on field observations and expert knowledge.     

Plant-attracted ants affect arthropod community structure but not necessarily herbivory

Abstract.  1. The effectiveness of ants as plant defenders is equivocal for plants that attract ants via extrafloral nectaries (EFNs).
2. This study focused on the myrmecophilic savannah tree Pseudocedrela kotschyi that attracts ants to EFNs and on the arthropod fauna associated with P. kotschyi . Herbivory and arthropod community composition were compared between trees that were dominated by one of three congeneric ant species, Camponotus acvapimensis , C. rufoglaucus , and C. sericeus , and between trees where ants were experimentally excluded and untreated control trees.
3. Short-term ant-exclusion experiments failed to demonstrate a consistent effect of ants on herbivory.
4. Plants dominated by different ant species differed significantly in leaf damage caused by herbivorous insects. The relative ranking of herbivory levels of the trees dominated by different ant species was persistent in three consecutive years.
5. Ants significantly reduced the abundance of different arthropod groups (Araneae, Blattodea, Coleoptera, Homoptera, non-ant Hymenoptera). Other groups, including important herbivores, seemed not to be affected (Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Thysanoptera, Heteroptera).
6. The study suggests that the presence of ants only benefits plants when specific ant species are attracted, and protection by these ants is not counterbalanced by their negative effect on other beneficial arthropods.     

Feeny revisited: condensed tannins as anti-herbivore defences in leaf-chewing herbivore communities of Quercus

Abstract. 1. Community level oak–tannin–insect patterns have been largely unexplored since Paul Feeny's ground‐breaking research. Two hypotheses were tested for Quercus velutina and Q. alba in the Missouri Ozarks: abundance and richness of leaf‐chewing herbivores are negatively correlated with foliar condensed tannin concentrations and variation in condensed tannin concentrations explains variation in herbivore community structure. 2. In 2001, foliar condensed tannins in the understorey and canopy of these two oak species were quantified simultaneously with censuses of herbivores in May, during leaf expansion, and in June and August, when leaves were fully expanded. Thirty‐eight of the 134 species encountered had densities sufficient to be analysed individually (n = 10). Of those, Acronicta increta (Noctuidae) and Attelabus sp. (Curculionidae), both oak specialists, were negatively correlated with condensed tannins in the canopy of Q. alba. One additional specialist, Chionodes pereyra (Gelechiidae), was marginally negatively correlated with condensed tannins in the understorey of Q. velutina. Understorey species richness of May Q. velutina herbivores was negatively correlated with condensed tannins, as were total canopy insect density and species richness of August herbivores on Q. alba. 3. Principal component analysis (PCA) of insect abundances indicated that understorey and canopy Q. velutina and Q. alba had different communities of leaf‐chewing insects. Furthermore, condensed tannin levels contributed significantly to variation in PCA scores for Q. velutina, explaining 25% of the total variation. 4. Overall, these results indicate that specialists were more likely than generalists both to correlate negatively with condensed tannins and to occur in lower tannin habitats; abundance and richness of both early and late season fauna correlated negatively with tannins; and species were more likely to correlate negatively with condensed tannins when feeding on Q. alba than on Q. velutina and when feeding in the canopy than in the understorey. Future studies of tannin–insect interactions should manipulate leaf quality in combination with manipulations of other factors that likely influence community structure.     

A six-arm olfactometer permitting simultaneous observation of insect attraction and odour trapping

Abstract.  Behavioural assays to study insect attraction to specific odours are tedious, time consuming and often require large numbers of replications. Olfactometer and flight tunnel tests can usually only be conducted with one or two odour sources at a time. Moreover, chemical information on the odour sources has to be obtained in separate analytical studies. An olfactometer was developed in which six odours can be tested simultaneously for their relative attractiveness while during the assays, part of each test odour can be trapped for further analyses. The effectiveness of this six-arm olfactometer was tested by observing the responses of the solitary endoparasitoid Cotesia marginiventris (Cresson) to host-induced odours from young maize plants. For statistical analyses, we used log-linear models were adapted to account for overdispersion and possible positional biases. Female wasps responded extremely well in tests where they were offered a single odour source, as well as in tests with multiple choices. The responses of wasps released in groups were the same as those released individually and it was found that females did not attract or repel each other, but males preferred arms in which females had been released. Dose–response tests with varying numbers of plants or host larvae on plants revealed that the wasps responded in a dose-related manner, thus showing that the system is well suited to measure relative preference. The clear choices of the insects amongst six possibilities provided substantial statistical power. Gas chromatographic analyses of sampled air revealed clean and effective odour trapping, which largely facilitates the comparison of results from behavioural assays with the actual blends of volatiles that were emitted by the various odour sources. Advantages and disadvantages compared to other methods are discussed.     

马尾松毛虫及其寄主松属植物的地史初步考证

初步考证了我国重要的森林害虫———马尾松毛虫DendrolimuspunctatusWalker及其寄主松 (科 )属植物的化石起源 ,认为马尾松毛虫衍生为一个新的物种的时间 ,不应早于中生代的侏罗纪 ,很可能是侏罗纪与白垩纪早期的某个时期 ;并初步探讨了第三纪以来中国古地质、古气候变化对现今马尾松毛虫的分布、遗传多样性的空间格局及其历史成因的可能影响 ,文史还涉及许多重要的生物地质历史事件 ,对于理解马尾松毛虫在同样的地质时期的动态等具有重要的参考意义     

植物学的发展趋势及国家自然科学基金委员会植物学科资助状况

根据植物学的发展趋势和植物学科的特点,对该学科采取的资助策略是“重视前沿领域,扶持弱势学科,关注新的学科生长点”;学科资助项目数和经费数逐年增加,2004年投入经费和资助项目数是2001年的2倍;简要介绍了学科遴选项目的原则和2004年度项目申请和资助的情况,提供了2004年度植物学科资助项目一览表。     

甲型肝炎病毒衣壳蛋白融合基因植物表达载体的构建 与遗传转化柑桔的研究

基因工程领域的研究进展使得植物体成为具有重要经济价值的药用蛋白的生产体系。以含甲型肝炎病毒结构基因cDNA的克隆载体pCDNAⅡA16为模板,用甲型肝炎病毒衣壳蛋白融合基因特异引物进行PCR扩增,得到全长2.2kb衣壳蛋白融合基因序列。经测序鉴定后正向克隆于植物表达载体pBI121中,衣壳蛋白融合基因位于pBI121质粒T-DNA左右边界区间内,处于CaMV35S启动子控制之下。经限制性内切酶分析和PCR鉴定后利用冻融法将重组质粒pBI121-A导入根癌农杆菌LBA4404。以锦橙 (Citrus. Sinensis Osbeck) 上胚轴为转化材料,通过根癌农杆菌介导法将衣壳蛋白融合基因转 化到植物基因组中。120株转化外植体经卡那霉素50 mg/L筛选,其中13株生长状况良好未出现白化现象的拟转化芽微嫁接到实生砧木继续培养。PCR分析证明,13株拟转化植株中有5株植物基因组中已导入甲型肝炎病毒衣壳蛋白融合基因,转化率为4.1%。此研究是对遗传转化柑桔表达外源蛋白的初步探讨,为进一步研究食用疫苗开辟了新途径。Abstract: The use of edible plants for the production and delivery of vaccine proteins could provide an economical alternative to fermentation systems. The construction of the plant expression vector pBI121-A was reported, which contained a fusion gene encoding hepatitis A capsid proteins. The gene was located between the left and right Ti border sequences under the control of CaMV35S promoter. The vector was identified via PCR and restriction enzyme analysis and was introduced into Agrobacterium tumerifacience LBA4404. The transgenic Citrus plants were produced by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of epicotyl segments. 13 putatively transformed plants through the kanamycin selection were micrografted onto the seedlings. The presence and integration of the transgene had been verified by PCR analysis. The result showed that five transformants were integrated and the transformation efficiency was 4.1%.