Native parasitoids and recovery of Spathius agrili from areas of release against emerald ash borer in eastern Tennessee,USA

The parasitoid Spathius agrili Yang, introduced in the USA to suppress populations of the emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, has been recovered at a release site for the first time in eastern Tennessee after a single year of releases. Other native parasitoids, including Spathius floridanus Ashmead, undetermined species of Spathius (possibly Spathius elegans Matthews and Spathius parvulus Matthews) and Atanycolus cappaerti Marsh & Strazanac, also known to be associated with EAB, were recovered. These recoveries represent the first documentation of these four species, including the introduced S. agrili, associated with EAB in the southern USA. Implications for biological control efforts against EAB are discussed.     

上海公园水体夏季浮游植物群落与环境因子的关系

为了解公园水体浮游植物群落状况,分析浮游植物物种分布和环境因子之间的关系,揭示浮游植物物种对生态环境的需求,于2008年7月和9月对上海市11个公园水体浮游植物群落进行了调查,对获得的浮游植物数据和环境因子数据进行典范相关分析(CCA),并绘制了物种与环境因子关系的二维排序图。结果表明：调查期间共鉴定出浮游植物384种,隶属于8门,浮游植物密度范围为2.01×10⁵～57.60×10⁵ cells·L^-1;群落组成以蓝藻、裸藻、硅藻和绿藻为主,主要优势种有细微颤藻、无常蓝纤维藻、尾裸藻、颗粒直链藻、梅尼小环藻、普通小球藻、四尾栅藻等;7月影响浮游植物分布的主要环境因子依次为铵态氮、溶解氧、水温和总磷,而9月的pH值、水温、溶解氧、透明度和总氮含量对浮游植物的分布产生影响较大;其中,透明度和浮游动物量是影响隐藻、甲藻和硅藻藻类生物量的主要环境因子,而蓝藻、裸藻、绿藻主要受水体氮磷营养盐浓度和溶解氧的影响。     

Comparative Detection of Calcium Fluctuations in Single Female Sex Cells of Tobacco to Distinguish Calcium Signals Triggered by in vitro Fertilization

Double fertilization is a key process of sexual reproduction in higher plants. The role of calcium in the activation of female sex cells through fertilization has recently received a great deal of attention. The establishment of a Ca²⁺-imaging technique for living, single, female sex cells is a difficult but necessary prerequisite for evaluating the role of Ca²⁺ in the transduction of external stimuli, including the fusion with the sperm cell, to internal cellular processes. The present study describes the use of Fluo-3 for reporting the Ca²⁺ signal in isolated, single, female sex cells, egg cells and central cells, of tobacco plants. A suitable loading protocol was optimized by loading the cells at pH 5.6 with 2 μM Fluo-3 for 30 min at 30  °C. Under these conditions, several key factors related to in vitro fertilization were also investigated in order to test their possible effects on the [Ca²⁺]_cyt of the female sex cells. The results indicated that the bovine serum albumin-fusion system was superior to the polyethlene glycol-fusion system for detecting calcium fluctuations in female sex cells during fertilization. The central cell was fertilized with the sperm cell in bovine serum albumin; however, no evident calcium dynamic was detected, implying that a transient calcium rise might be a specific signal for egg cell fertilization.     

榆属（榆科）一新种——绵竹榆

绵竹榆的花秋季开放,翅果柱头面被毛,其两侧的翅较果核为窄,果核位于翅果上端接近缺口处,与榔榆(Ulmus parvifolia Jacq.)相似,但树皮深灰色,不规则鳞块状浅裂,叶片先端渐尖,花被片裂至基部,宿存,边缘上部生纤毛,翅果狭椭圆形,中部最宽,向两端渐变窄,果梗与花被等长,长约2 mm,果序梗长约1 mm,而明显不同。     

新疆棘豆属一新种

假长毛棘豆　新种　图 1ＯｘｙｔｒｏｐｉｓｐｓｅｕｄｏｈｉｒｓｕｔａＱ .ＷａｎｇｅｔＣ .Ｙ .Ｙａｎｇ ,ｓｐ .ｎｏｖ .Ｆｉｇ.1ＳｐｅｃｉｅｓｎｏｖａａｆｆｉｎｉｓＯ .ａｓｓｉｅｎｓｉＶａｓｓ.,ｓｅｄｃｏｒｏｌｌａａｕｒｅａ,ｖｅｘｉｌｌｏ 1 7～ 2 0ｍｍｌｏｎｇｏ ,ｒｏｓｔｒｏｃａｒｉｎａｅ 2～ 2 .5ｍｍｌｏｎｇｏｄｉｆｆｅｒｔ.Ｐｅｒｅｎｎｉｓ,5～ 1 2ｃｍａｌｔａ ,ｂａｓｉｓｔｉｐｕｌｉｓｅｔｐｅｔｉｏｌｉｓｐｅｒｓｉｓｔｅｎｔｉｂｕｓｄｅｎｓｅｖｅｓｔｉｔａ,ｓｕｂａｃａｕｌｉｓ.Ｆｏ ｌｉａ 3～ 8ｃｍ…     

广东小煤炱亚目的初步研究*

本文报道了广东3属14种和变种的小煤炱菌,其中含笑生附丝壳(Appendiculella michelicola Yang)、马比花生小煤炱(Meliola mappianthicola Yang)是新种,其余为国内新记录。文中有种和变种检索表。     

Chromophore Structure of Cyanobacterial Phytochrome Cph1 in the Pr State: Reconciling Structural and Spectroscopic Data by QM/MM Calculations

A quantum mechanics (QM)/molecular mechanics (MM) hybrid method was applied to the Pr state of the cyanobacterial phytochrome Cph1 to calculate the Raman spectra of the bound PCB cofactor. Two QM/MM models were derived from the atomic coordinates of the crystal structure. The models differed in the protonation site of His²⁶⁰ in the chromophore-binding pocket such that either the δ-nitrogen (M-HSD) or the ɛ-nitrogen (M-HSE) carried a hydrogen. The optimized structures of the two models display small differences specifically in the orientation of His²⁶⁰ with respect to the PCB cofactor and the hydrogen bond network at the cofactor-binding site. For both models, the calculated Raman spectra of the cofactor reveal a good overall agreement with the experimental resonance Raman (RR) spectra obtained from Cph1 in the crystalline state and in solution, including Cph1 adducts with isotopically labeled PCB. However, a distinctly better reproduction of important details in the experimental spectra is provided by the M-HSD model, which therefore may represent an improved structure of the cofactor site. Thus, QM/MM calculations of chromoproteins may allow for refining crystal structure models in the chromophore-binding pocket guided by the comparison with experimental RR spectra. Analysis of the calculated and experimental spectra also allowed us to identify and assign the modes that sensitively respond to chromophore-protein interactions. The most pronounced effect was noted for the stretching mode of the methine bridge A-B adjacent to the covalent attachment site of PCB. Due a distinct narrowing of the A-B methine bridge bond angle, this mode undergoes a large frequency upshift as compared with the spectrum obtained by QM calculations for the chromophore in vacuo. This protein-induced distortion of the PCB geometry is the main origin of a previous erroneous interpretation of the RR spectra based on QM calculations of the isolated cofactor.Abbreviations: Agp1, phytochrome from Agrobacterium tumefaciens; α-CPC, α-subunit of C-phycocyanin; BV, biliverdin IXα; B3LYP, three-parameter exchange functional according to Becke, Lee, Yang, and Parr; DFT, density functional theory; DrBphP, phytochrome from Deinococcus radiodurans; GAF, domain found in cGMP-specific phosphodiesterases; MM, molecular mechanics; MD, molecular dynamics; N-H ip, N-H in-plane bending; PCB, phycocyanobilin; PED, potential energy distribution; phyA, plant phytochrome; Pr, Pfr, red- and far-red absorbing parent states of phytochrome; PΦB, phytochromobilin; QM, quantum mechanics; RMSD, root mean-square deviation; RR, resonance Raman