浅淡中英文昆虫名称与文化

昆虫是地球上最富多样性的类群 ,对中英两种文化的影响既有共同的方面 ,也存在明显的差异。该文介绍了常见的昆虫名称所产生的诗句、成语、谚语和俗语的内涵及其对各自文化的影响。     

本草纲目

《本草纲目》不论从它严密的科学分类,或是从它包含药物的数目之多和流畅生动的文笔来看,都远远超过古代任何一部本草著作。     

阳性昆虫与阴性昆虫

植物学者根据植物对光照的不同要求,把它们分为喜阳植物与喜阴植物,又称阳性植物与阴性植物,前者要求明亮的光照,后者要求阴荫的光照。这个特性分类,在生产实践中证明有一定的指导作用。这里所要提出讨论的是:昆虫是否有类似的现象?它们是否亦有阳性和阴性之分? 朱弘复等(1961)在“不同栽培条件下小麦害虫的发生动态”一文内所记的某些观察事实,给我以这个启发。他们发现,植株的密度和三种麦蚜的分布有显著关系:在普通麦田内,植株较稀,一般只有麦长管蚜(Macrosiphon     

昆虫

五大连池老黑山和火烧山两座新期火山被计划为猎奇目标。进入老黑山脚下,对山下零星的植物与地面进行仔细搜索没有找到什么新奇的昆虫。裸露的熔岩上几只直翅目蝗虫蹦蹦跳跳地活动着．大致能看到它们的落点却又不见踪影。仔细寻找,原来它们有很好的保护色．周身深灰黑色．与熔岩石极其相似真的让人很难想象．它们是通过什么样     

《本草纲目》菊科植物考

本文初步考证了《本草纲目》中菊科植物,计有44属、78种、2变种。     

《本草纲目》中的鸟类繁殖知识

《本草纲目》把鸟类分为水禽类(27种)、原禽类(23种)、林禽类(20种)和山禽类(15种),共计85种。其中对鸟类繁殖的记载可列举如下:繁殖时间“燕,春社来,秋社去”。(注:社,祭神日;即立春和立秋后第五日)。燕,指家燕(H.rustica)和金腰燕(H.daurica)。“鹜,清明后生卵”。鹜,指家鸭(见《尔雅说诗》和《尔雅义疏》)。营巢场所“鹳,多巢于高木”。鹳,泛指鹳类,我国以黑鹳(Ciconianigra)为常见。“鸜鹆,巢于鹊巢,及人家屋脊中”。鸜鹆,即八哥(Acridotherescristatellus)。“翡翠,穴居生子,亦巢于木”。翡翠,古释不一,包括现代翠鸟和翡翠属。“巢于…     

楠木名称考订

<正> 经过多年对楠木的研究,我们发现楠木的正确学名应该修订。驰名中外的“楠木”,是很有趣的珍贵树种,它包括樟科润楠属(Machilus Nees)和楠属(Phoebe Nees)植物的一些近缘种,在四川及云南,一般把Phoebe zhennan,Phoebe hui和Machilus pingii通称为楠木,而在福建、浙江、贵州及广东、广西,却把Phoebe bournei称为楠木。自1877年英人A.Davenport在Kew Report报道了关于中国楠木的消息后,楠木的名称开始在植物学界造成乱混。D.Oliver于1879年把A.Davenport、E.Bradford和F.Vincot     

菌物名称注册

正根据第18届国际植物学大会(International Botanical Congress,IBC)2011年7月间在澳大利亚墨尔本通过的决议,从2013年1月1日起,菌物名称发表之前必须在认可的信息库进行登记并存储名称的重要信息,这将成为名称合格发表(valid publication)的强制要求。发表菌物名称在满足有效发表(effective publication)和合格发表等其他各种要求的同时,还必须显示出通过登记获取的相应注册号。     

昆虫内共生菌研究概况

内共生菌与昆虫形成互惠共生关系,在宿主昆虫的生长、生殖、传播植物病害以及探讨生命起源与进化等等方面都有很重要的意义。从昆虫内共生菌的特点、内共生菌在昆虫体内的分布、对昆虫的影响、获得少或缺内共生菌的方法及其研究内共生菌的潜在意义等方面进行了综述。     

Vitamin A in the Vision of Insects

Acetone-methanol extracts of honeybees (Apis mellifera) were chromatographed from petroleum ether on columns of aluminum oxide and magnesium oxide:celite. Vitamin A₁ was identified by the Carr-Price (antimony chloride) reaction. These experiments provide the first demonstration of vitamin A in the tissues of an insect. Like retinene, vitamin A is confined to the heads and is not found in either thoraces or abdomens. Dark-adapted bees have very little vitamin A. During light adaptation the vitamin A increases, but at the expense of retinene, which decreases. As much as 0.1 µg of vitamin A/gm of heads has been recovered from light-adapted bees. Two methods are described for demonstrating the enzymic reduction of retinene to vitamin A, using an extract of the heads of honeybees.     

Insects on the rise

The Insect Genomics Workshop was held in Arlington, Virginia, from 28 to 30 October 2001.     

Effect of mutations in the C-terminal domain of Mu B on DNA binding and interactions with Mu A transposase

Bacteriophage Mu transposition requires two phage-encoded proteins, the transposase, Mu A, and an accessory protein, Mu B. Mu B is an ATP-dependent DNA-binding protein that is required for target capture and target immunity and is an allosteric activator of transpososome function. The recent NMR structure of the C-terminal domain of Mu B (Mu B223-312) revealed that there is a patch of positively charged residues on the solvent-exposed surface. This patch may be responsible for the nonspecific DNA binding activity displayed by the purified Mu B223-312 peptide. We show that mutations of three lysine residues within this patch completely abolish nonspecific DNA binding of the C-terminal peptide (Mu B223- 312). To determine how this DNA binding activity affects transposition we mutated these lysine residues in the full-length protein. The full-length protein carrying all three mutations was deficient in both strand transfer and allosteric activation of transpososome function but retained ATPase activity. Peptide binding studies also revealed that this patch of basic residues within the C-terminal domain of Mu B is within a region of the protein that interacts directly with Mu A. Thus, we conclude that this protein segment contributes to both DNA binding and protein-protein contacts with the Mu transposase.     

A Fixative for Use in Dissecting Insects

A fixative made of 5 ml of 40% formaldehyde, 2 1/2 ml of glacial acetic acid and 20 gm of chloral hydrate diluted to 100 ml with distilled water is useful for dissecting insects. The advantages of this fixative are that it hardens soft tissues without making them coalesce or become brittle, softens tracheae and the exoskeleton, causes little change in the dimensions of tissues, and it is an excellent preservative. Incisions in the exoskeleton and several sudden releases of vacuum aid in fixation. Details of methods of staining and dissecting are given.     

Cloning of the A gene of bacteriophage Mu and purification of its product, the Mu transposase

The bacteriophage Mu transposase (the Mu A gene product), which is absolutely required for both integration of Mu and replicative transposition during the lytic cycle, has been overproduced by cloning the gene on a plasmid under the control of the phage lambda PL promoter. The protein has been purified to near homogeneity from the lysate of heat-induced cells of a strain carrying the plasmid. The purified protein is active as judged by its ability to complement Mu A- cell extracts for supporting Mu transposition in a cell-free reaction.