Effects of β-lactam antibiotics, auxins, and cytokinins on shoot regeneration from callus cultures of two hybrid aspens, Populustremuloides?×?P. tremula and P. xcanescens?×?P. gradidentata

The effects of β-lactam antibiotics (penicillin, carbenicillin and cefotaxime), cytokinins, and auxins including phenylacetic acid, a β-lactam breakdown product, were evaluated during in vitro shoot morphogenesis in two hybrid aspens; P. tremuloides × P. tremula (XTTa) and P. x canescens × P. grandidentata (XCaG). Although different callus and shoot induction media were used for both hybrids, the β-lactams often engendered similar responses. At concentrations of 1,000 mg l⁻¹, carbenicillin adversely impacted shoot elongation and, to a lesser degree, shoot regeneration. Cefotaxime enhanced caulogenesis for all of the concentrations evaluated (125–500 mg l⁻¹) especially when the cytokinin thidiazuron was used for shoot induction. The shoots formed faster and in greater numbers; and the improvements were significant (α = 0.05) for both hybrids. However, hyperhydricity was more problematic when cefotaxime was included in the media. The incidence of shoot hyperhydricity for the XCaG hybrid was more than twice as great for the highest cefotaxime concentration evaluated (500 mg l⁻¹) than for the control (>90% vs. ~40%). Penicillin had an opposite effect. Hyperhydricity frequencies for the XCaG hybrid were lower when the media were supplemented with penicllin and the reductions were statistically significant at concentrations of 500–1,000 mg l⁻¹. The effects of the antibiotics were generally not reproduced by the auxins (0.1–100 μM), including phenylacetic acid, or the other potential β-lactam degradation products evaluated (e.g. phenylmalonic acid, aminopenicillanic acid). The antibiotics may have affected shoot hyperhydicity indirectly via changes in the time course of shoot regeneration.     

Tagesaktivit?t, Nestbaumethode und Brutverhalten des HonigsaugersNectarinia (Aidemonia)kilimensis in Zentralafrika

Zusammenfassung Ein Paar des HonigsaugersNectarinia kilimensis wurde in der Brutzeit beim Nestbau 21 Stunden beobachtet. Über die Bauaktivität gibt Abb. 2 Aufschluß. 140 von 144 Anflügen mit Nistmaterial waren auf 8 Stunden von 8^h–16^h konzentriert. Das Nistmaterial bestand fast ausschließlich aus Halmen, Pflanzenwolle und Spinnweben; dieses Material wurde von Anfang an abwechselnd verwendet. Nur das hat gebaut. Die Baumethoden werden beschrieben, ebenso verschiedene Balzhandlungen des . Der Nestbau dauerte 4 1/2, beim folgenden Nest 3 1/2 Tage.Beim Brüten waren Schnabel und Oberkopf des sichtbar. Während der Bauzeit wurde ein ausgeflogenes juv. nur vom gefüttert. Als es mindestens 17 Tage alt war, wurde es vom , 6 Tage später auch vom aggressive gejagt, doch war dieses juv. mehr als 3 Wochen nach dem Ausfliegen noch im Revier.

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Day-time activity, nest-building method and breeding behaviour of Bronze SunbirdNectarinia (Aidemonia) kilimensis in Central Africa

Summary A pair of Bronze SunbirdsNectarinia kilimensis was observed nest building over a period of 21 hours in the breeding season. Fig. 2 gives information on building activity. Of 144 arrivals with nest material 140 were concentrated in 8 hours from 08.00 to 16.00 hrs. Nest material consisted almost exclusively of grasses, plants, down and spider's webs; this material was, from the outset, used in an alternating pattern. The alone did the building. Nest-building methods are described, also various courtship activities of the . Nest building took 4 1/2 days, in the case of a second nest, 3 1/2 days.The 's bill and crown were visible when she was incubating. One young that had left the nest was fed by the alone. At least 17 days after this young one had fledged, it was chased aggressively by the , 6 days later also by the ; despite this, the same young bird was still in the territory more than three weeks after it had fledged.

     

ΓОРИЗОНТ С Polydesmia И ИХ РОДСТВЕННЫЕ СВЯЗИ С Ordosoceras

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Retrofitting BACs with G418 resistance, luciferase, and oriP and EBNA-1 – new vectors for in vitro and in vivo delivery

Background  

Bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) have been used extensively for sequencing the human and mouse genomes and are thus readily available for most genes. The large size of BACs means that they can generally carry intact genes with all the long range controlling elements that drive full levels of tissue-specific expression. For gene expression studies and gene therapy applications it is useful to be able to retrofit the BACs with selectable genes such as G418 resistance, reporter genes such as luciferase, and oriP/EBNA-1 from Epstein Barr virus which allows long term episomal maintenance in mammalian cells.     

Transformation of androgenic-derived Festulolium plants (Lolium?perenne L.?×?Festuca?pratensis Huds.) by Agrobacterium?tumefaciens

Genetic transformation of androgenic-derived amphidiploid Festulolium plants (Lolium perenne L. × Festuca pratensis Huds., 2n = 4x = 28) by Agrobacterium tumefaciens has been achieved. Anther culture-induced calli of Festulolium “Bx351” were inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 carrying pIG121-Hm encoding the hygromycin resistance (hph) and β-glucuronidase (uidA) genes under the control of a CaMV 35S promoter. Twenty-three putative transformants were obtained from the hygromycin selection, 19 of which (82.6%) showed GUS activity. The integration of transgene was detected by using genomic DNA PCR analysis, RT-PCR analysis and Southern blot hybridization, respectively, which revealed that foreign gene was integrated into the genomes of dihaploid transformants (2n = 2x = 14). The haploid embryogenic system offers a stable means of transformation, as the introduced trait can be readily fixed through chromosome doubling. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Comparative study (AFLP and morphology) of three species of Prosopis of the Section Algarobia: P. juliflora, P. pallida, and P. limensis. Evidence for resolution of the “P. pallida–P. juliflora complex”

The problems of delimitation of species of Prosopis originate from the few morphological discontinuities which exist among some of them; some, however, originated as a result of wide distribution of germplasm without proper knowledge of the species, in particular, much material catalogued as P. juliflora, but being of other species, was distributed for reforestation projects worldwide. This work tests the morphological results obtained for P. pallida and P. limensis of the Peruvian–Ecuadorian coast and for P. juliflora of the Caribbean Basin of Colombia and Venezuela utilizing a study of AFLPs and a study of the morphology of plantlets developed in a conventional garden study. The phenogram obtained for the AFLPs demonstrates each of the three species to be a well differentiated cluster and the molecular variance between them is significantly greater than the variance within each species. Study of the plantlets also indicates statistically significant differences for four morphological characters between P. juliflora and the other two species (P. pallida and P. limensis). These results, in addition to the morphological differentiation evident between adult plants of P. pallida and P. limensis and the clear separation of these two species from P. juliflora, corroborate the genetic identity of the three taxa analyzed.     

Aims

In wetlands, water levels can fluctuate, which often disturbs local organisms, such as aquatic plants. The responses of Alternanthera philoxeroides, Myriophyllum aquaticum, and Ludwigia adscendens to water level fluctuations of different frequencies were examined here.     

Aims

Forest microclimate is the local environment generated through the interaction between regional climate and forest structure. Studies on forest microclimate not only have theoretical significances in ecology but also practical meanings in forest management practices and wood production. Radiation budget and energy balance is the basis for microclimate. Few studies have performed the radiatoin budget and energy balance analysis at regional scale. Here, we focused at this for the East Asia.     

The mutants compacta ?hnlich, Nitida and Grandiflora define developmental compartments and a compensation mechanism in floral development in Antirrhinum majus

In order to improve our understanding of floral size control we characterised three mutants of Antirrhinum majus with different macroscopic floral phenotypes. The recessive mutant compacta ?hnlich has smaller flowers affected mainly in petal lobe expansion, the dominant mutant Grandiflora has overall larger organs, whilst the semidominant mutation Nitida exhibits smaller flowers in a dose-dependent manner. We developed a cell map in order to establish the cellular phenotypes of the mutants. Changes in organ size were both organ- and region-specific. Nitida and compacta ?hnlich affected cell expansion in proximal and distal petal regions, respectively, suggesting differential regulation between petal lobe regions. Although petal size was smaller in compacta ?hnlich than in wild type, conical cells were significantly bigger, suggesting a compensation mechanism involved in petal development. Grandiflora had larger cells in petals and increased cell division in stamens and styles, suggesting a relationship between genes controlling organ size and organ identity. The level of ploidy in petals of Grandiflora and coan was found to be equivalent to wild type petals and leaves, ruling out an excess of growth via endoreduplication. We discuss our results in terms of current models about control of lateral organ size.     

Obtaining and characterization of “Holospora curviuscula” and Holospora obtusa, bacterial symbionts of the macronuclei of Paramecium bursaria and Paramecium caudatum

The symbionts of the macronuclei of Paramecium bursaria and P. caudatum, “Holospora curviuscula” 02AZ16 and H. obtusa 88Ti, respectively, were obtained and investigated. The 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences of “Holospora curviuscula” were obtained for the first time. The differences in 16S rDNA (3.4%) suggest their classification within the genus Holospora. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the symbionts revealed that these intranuclear symbionts of the ciliates belonged to the order Rickettsiales, forming within a compact cluster of related species.     

Orpheussp?tter,Hippolais polyglotta, im Saarland

Summary Breeding ofHippolais polyglotta in the Saarland was first recorded in 1984. In 1985 in a general census study 60 territorial were mapped, 10 nests were found, an 62 individuals could be ringed. Records of old nests indicate that breeding of that species in the Saarland has already started before 1985.     

In?vitro evaluation of the effect of the nematophagous fungi Duddingtonia flagrans , Monacrosporium sinense and Pochonia chlamydosporia on Schistosoma mansoni eggs

The in vitro effect of four isolates of the nematophagous fungi Duddingtonia flagrans (AC 001), Monacrosporium sinense (SF 53) and Pochonia chlamydosporia (VC 1 and VC 4) on eggs of Schistosoma mansoni was examined. One thousand S. mansoni eggs were plated on 2% water–agar with the grown isolates and control without fungus. After 7, 14 and 21 days, the eggs were removed and classified according to the following parameters: type 1, lytic effect without morphological damage to eggshell; type 2, lytic effect with morphological alteration of embryo and eggshell; and type 3, lytic effect with morphological alteration of embryo and eggshell, besides hyphal penetration and internal egg colonization. Significant differences (P < 0.01) were found among the studied fungal isolates for ovicidal activity, confirming type 3 effect for the isolates VC 1 and VC 4, which characterizes the ovicidal activity of a fungus. Type 3 effect was only found for P. chlamydosporia (VC 1 and VC 4) with 26.6 and 17.2%, 25.6 and 22.6%, 27.4 and 23.9% in the 7, 14 and 21 days respectively (P < 0.01). P. chlamydosporia can thus be a potential biological control agent for S. mansoni eggs.     

拟诺卡氏菌16S rRNA,gyrB,sod和rpoB基因的系统发育分析

为了更好地了解拟诺卡氏菌属(Nocardiopsis)各物种间的系统发育关系,该属现有有效描述种的gyrB,sod和rpoB基因的部分序列被测定,结合16S rRNA基因,对拟诺卡氏菌属进行了系统发育重建。研究发现拟诺卡氏菌属gyrB,sod和rpoB基因的平均相似性分别为87.7%、87.3%和94.1%,而16S rRNA基因的平均相似性则达到96.65%,3个看家基因均比16S rRNA具有更高的分歧度。比较基于不同基因的系统树发现,由gyrB基因得到的系统树拓扑结构与16S rRNA得到的结构在亚群上基本一致。因此,gyrB基因在拟诺卡氏菌属的系统分类上比16S rRNA基因更具优越性。     

Eulophidae (hymenoptera) parasitoids of Phyllonorycter apparella and phyllonorycter populifoliella (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae), pests of Populus tremula and populus nigra in Ul’yanovsk province, Russia

Parasitoid complexes of two species of the genus Phyllonorycter (Ph. apparella and Ph. populifoliella) reared from 2 plants (Populus tremula and P. nigra) were studied in Ul’yanovsk Province, Russia. Twenty species of parasitoids are new for Ph. apparella and 12 are new for Ph. populifoliella. Minotetrastichus frontalis and Pnigalio agraules are the dominant species for both parasitoid complexes. The highest relative abundance was observed for Ph. apparella on Populus tremula (75%) and for Ph. populifoliella on P. nigra (61%). The parasitoid complexes of Ph. apparella and Ph. populifoliella show high similarity (the Jaccard coefficient is 0.65).     

过表达Na,K-ATPase基因增强了黑曲霉对硅灰石的风化能力

【目的】探究和证实黑曲霉钠钾ATP酶(NKA)在硅灰石风化过程中的作用。【方法】以野生型黑曲霉(WT)为原始菌株构建黑曲霉Na,K-ATPaseα1基因(NKAα1)高表达菌株oeNKA。通过测定不同时间点(0d、2d、4d、6d)oeNKA和WT生物量、培养液pH值和矿物风化释放的Ca~(2+)浓度,并用X-ray diffraction (XRD)对风化后的矿物残渣进行检测,比较oeNKA和WT菌株对硅灰石这种硅酸盐矿物的风化效果。【结果】oeNKA菌株的NKAα1基因相对表达量和酶活分别为WT菌株的103倍和1.76倍。在持续6d的培养过程中,oeNKA与WT的菌丝体生物量变化趋势相同,在培养第2天时WT显著高于oeNKA,随时间差异逐渐缩小并在第6天达到最低;培养液pH值变化趋势相同,分别下降至3.64和3.87;oeNKA风化硅灰石时所释放Ca~(2+)浓度(1011.36±47.78μg/g)约为WT (248.30±25.21μg/g)的4倍;XRD检测图谱显示菌株oeNKA对硅灰石风化作用更明显。【结论】NKAα1过表达菌株oeNKA对硅灰石的风化能力显著高于WT菌株,且黑曲霉的NKA与硅灰石的风化有密切关联。     

Synthesis and transporter binding properties of (R)-2β,3β- and (R)-2α,3α-diaryltropanes

(R)-2-Aryl-2-tropinone (9) was synthesized from (R)-2-carbomethoxy-3-tropinone (5) and was used as the key intermediate for the synthesis of (R)-2β,3β- and (R)-2α,3α-diaryltropanes. Inhibition of radioligand binding studies at the dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine transporters showed that the (R)-3β-(4-methylphenyl)-2β-phenyltropane (3b, RTI-422) possessed an IC₅₀ value of 1.96 nM at the dopamine transporter and was highly selective for this transporter relative to the serotonin and norepinephrine transporters.     

Population dynamics of the mushroom coral Heliofungia?actiniformis in the Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

The fungiid Heliofungia actiniformis is one of the most popular coral species in the Indonesian aquarium trade, yet information on the biology of this species is limited. H. actiniformis growth rates, population size–frequency distributions and the seasonality of recruitment rates were measured at three replicate sites in the Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi. Growth and population models were applied to estimate coral ages, mortality rates and the size of maximum yield. Growth decreased linearly with polyp size. High numbers of attached polyps budded from clusters of stalks attached to the reef, with each cluster originating from the settlement of a sexually produced larva. Neither the settlement of sexual recruits, nor their asexual budding, showed seasonality. The overall population structure reflected the high mortality rates of young, attached polyps (Z = 0.5–0.6 yr⁻¹), and the much lower mortalities of free-living individuals (Z = 0.05–0.08 yr⁻¹). There were no statistically significant differences in overall mortality rates and the age–frequency distributions of polyps aged 0–15 years between the sites. Differences in the abundance of large H. actiniformis polyps at the three replicate sites were correlated with percent cover of coral rubble. The application of the Beverton and Holt model revealed the highest biomass per H. actiniformis recruit was 12 cm, corresponding to a polyp age of 20 years.     

Highly differentiated population structure of a Mangrove species, Bruguiera gymnorhiza (Rhizophoraceae) revealed by one nuclear GapCp and one chloroplast intergenic spacer trnF–trnL

To evaluate the genetic diversity of a mangrove species and clarify the genetic structure of its populations, we studied nucleotide polymorphism in two DNA regions of Bruguiera gymnorhiza collected from the southern islands of Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Micronesia, and India. The two DNA sequences were the chloroplast (cp) intergenic spacer between trnL and trnF genes (ca. 300 bp), and a part (ca. 550 bp) of the nuclear gene coding for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GapCp). Little polymorphism was found within each of the three geographical regions, Pacific Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. Throughout the vast regions east of the Malay peninsula including Indonesia, Thailand, Micronesia and the southern islands of Japan (Pacific Ocean), essentially only one haplotype (apart from variation in number of a T repeat) was present. A second haplotype was present on the western coast of Malay Peninsula and the eastern coast of India (Bay of Bengal). On the southwest of Malay Peninsula both of these haplotypes were present. Finally a third haplotype was found only on the western coast of India (Arabian Sea). When taken over all geographic populations, total nucleotide variation within the species was large (μ = 0.006, average of the two genes). Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that this low genetic diversity within any local population and differentiation between the different oceans or regions are caused by very low gene flow between each of the different oceans coupled with frequent fluctuation of population sizes due to the change in sea level. The significance of these results is discussed from evolutionary point of the mangrove forests.