Nostoc: ein prokaryotischer Vielzeller

The multicellular bacterium Nostoc In 2014 the VAAM selected for the first time a ”microbe of the year“ and the winner was the cyanobacterium Nostoc. This multicellular filamentous prokaryote will be described in this article in more detail, focusing on its adaptations to various environmental conditions and sophisticated cell differentiation processes. The photoautotrophic bacterium can live solely on air and light. Under certain conditions it is able to form spore like cells, mobile short filaments, and N₂‐fixing heterocysts. Hence, Nostoc is a popular partner in several symbiotic interactions with plants and heterotrophic organisms. Its autotrophic lifestyle and the presence of differentiated cells, which show true division of labor, give Nostoc a clear selective advantage in many aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Nostoc is a true multicellular organism having special cell wall structures, which connect the cells and allow the communication between the cells of the filament.     

Streptomyceten

Streptomycetes In 2016, the VAAM selected streptomycetes as the microbe of the year. These bacteria exhibit a highly differentiated life‐cycle and a huge genetic diversity. They dominate in many soil‐types in which they act as experts to recycle biopolymers ultimately leading to the formation of precious humus. Their master‐performances provoke the synthesis of nearly exhaustless repertoires of small molecules. From these, an impressive number is in therapeutic use to cure infectious diseases and to treat tumors.     

Bioenergie aus Knöterich und Kuhmist

Bioenergy from Fallopia japonica and cow dung This article investigates whether Fallopia japonica, a rampant neophyte in Germany, is a suitable alternative to maize as an energy crop. To this end, parts of the plant which had been harvested overground were shredded, fermented in a Hohenheim Biogas Yield Test and the amount of methane produced thereby was determined. The results indicate that Fallopia japonica yields values which are comparable to the results obtained for maize and thus represents a possible alternative as an energy crop. Thus a weed could be controlled and put to an ecologically and economically efficient use. This study was carried out within student the competition by the Siemens Foundation and awarded a prize.     

Rhizobien in der Pflanzenmikrobiota

Rhizobia in the plant microbiota The plant microbiota is of critical importance for plant growth and survival in soil. To explore mechanisms underlying plant‐microbiota interactions, defined commensal communities can be composed from microbiota culture collections and co‐cultivated with germ‐free plants to determine their impact on plant growth and health. The order Rhizobiales belongs to the core microbiota and includes nitrogen‐fixing bacteria that are known to engage in symbiotic interactions with legumes. Compatible host‐symbiont pairs are needed for a functional symbiosis, which involves the activation of highly specialized and interdependent signaling pathways between the two partners. Comparative genome analysis of more than 1,300 legume symbionts and rhizobial root commensals from non‐leguminous plants revealed that the most recent common ancestor of rhizobia lacked the gene repertoire needed for symbiosis and was able to colonize roots of a wide variety of plants. During evolution, key symbiosis genes were acquired multiple independent times by commensals belonging to different families of the Rhizobiales order.     

Bioökonomie und der Mensch

Bio‐economy and human being A widely accepted vision is a prerequisite for an effective prevention and successful overcoming of inevitable acceptance problems during the implementation process of a bio‐economy strategy. The best biotech / bio‐economic innovation can not be implemented in a welfare enhancing way, if the following conditions are not met: 1) innovation‐related, normative issues have to be already discussed at the societal level before or during the development of innovations, 2) the associated risks and opportunities are identified and communicated and 3) strategies to avoid these risks are developed. All this requires participation of the affected societal groups along with effective communication strategies.     

Bevölkerungswachstum: Bildung ist die Lösung

Population growth – education is the answer Over the last decades world population has been constantly growing by some 80 million per year. Whereas the growth rate as well as the fertility rate have been cut by half since the 1970th, population growth will continue well over mid‐century. As the developed countries have completed the demographic transition from high mortality and fertility rates to low ones, population growth is fading out there or has already been reversed into decline. In the least developed countries mortality has fallen as well, whereas fertility decline has stalled. Therefor population growth is very high making the solution of the widespread problems in this part of the world more and more difficult. One obvious way out of this trap would be a better education that could open new development perspectives. A positive side effect is that educated women have much less offspring than their counterparts who never went to school.     

Die Rückkehr der Wölfe. Das erste Jahrzehnt

The first decade: the return of the wolves Wolves returned to Saxony in the year 2000 since then they have been regularly rearing pups. Nowadays at least 60‐80 wolves are living in Germany. To face its attendant conflicts a wolf management has been installed including wolf monitoring, public relation work and damage compensation. According to the monitoring wolves feed almost completely on wild ungulates, whereas livestock does not play a major role. The wolves' natural origin from north‐eastern Poland could be proven by genetic analyses. By the use of radiotelemetry important information could be gained on the adaption of the wolves to the anthropogenic landscape.     

Ölpflanzen in Europa

Oil plants in Middle Europe Renewable resources have an increasing impact on industry and technology. Oil plants supply vegetable oil, which is important for our nutrition but can also be used as an industrial resource. Plant oils have many non‐food uses. They are not only used as Biofuels, but can also be found in many technical products including industrial lubricants, hydraulic oils, washing agents, paints and varnishes, and much else. In Europe rapeseed, sunflower, and olive are the primary oil plants. Rapeseed oil is newly recommended for infant nutrition, as it contains a high concentration of α‐linolenic acid, which is an important building block in brain development.     

Seevögel im Südpolarmeer

Seabirds face a number of challenges in Antarctic and Subantarctic breeding areas, such as variations in food supply and changes in the ecosystem due to climate change, aggregation and competition from the limited number of suitable breeding areas, and inaccessible breeding areas due to changes in precipitation. Adjustments to irregular food supplies, such as flexible incubation and nesting times, and torpor in chicks can help seabirds keep pace with changes occurring due to climate change. Data loggers are used to better understand the responses of adult birds to changes in the ecosystem and the resulting population trends. Various data loggers are used for a variety of applications, from one gram light loggers for long‐term tracking across large scales to high‐resolution GPS loggers with acquisition of acceleration data that can also be used to model energy expenditure. In order to fully understand the movement ecology of seabirds, several approaches need to be considered: ecological segregation in space, time and choice of food, energy landscapes and the non‐lethal effects of predation (landscapes of fear).     

Boden – ein unterschätzter Lebensraum

Soil – an underestimated biotope The soil is a biotope with high species abundances and richness. It is, furthermore, a location where important ecosystem services are realized. Recent research projects on the origin and development of soil animal communities, on the heterogeneous interactions within the soil nutrient net and the distribution of soil animals show the different ecological traits and adaptabilities of the world beneath our feet. So research contributes to maintain the eco‐resource of soil and its sustainable use.     

Bio‐ und Geotop Einhornhöhle

The “Unicorn Cave” Between the towns of Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg exists an important area of Permian dolomite formations with caves and special cliffs of dolomite rock with the particular location Unicorn Cave in the centre. Even the name of this cave sounds mysterious. For hundreds of years, digging for the bones of the unicorn had been the foremost interest. The cave – home of thousands of cave‐bears – has been famous and well known even far beyond the Harz‐mountains.     

The Spitzenkörper: a molecular perspective

The Spitzenkörper is a dynamic structure present at the tips of hyphal cells with a single highly polarized growth site. It is closely connected with cell morphogenesis and polar growth, and is only present at actively growing sites. Morphogenesis of such highly polarized cells is complex, and requires the coordinated action of multiple protein complexes. We discuss the relevance of these complexes for the structure and function of the Spitzenkörper.     

The pre-Bötzinger oscillator in the mouse embryo

Studies of the sites and mechanisms involved in mammalian respiratory rhythm generation point to two clusters of rhythmic neurons forming a coupled oscillator network within the brainstem. The location of these oscillators, the pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC) at vagal level, and the para-facial respiratory group at facial level, probably result from regional patterning schemes specifying neural types in the hindbrain during embryogenesis. Here, we report evidence that the preBötC oscillator (i) is first active at embryonic stages, (ii) originates in the post-otic hindbrain neural tube and (iii) requires the glutamate vesicular transporter 2 for rhythm generation.     

Informationsaustausch in der Ektomykorrhiza

To see the wood for the trees: Communication in ectomycorrhizal symbiosis The mutual symbiosis of ectomycorrhiza has been established in a co‐evolution that depends on a specific communication between the woody plant and the fungus. The exchange of inorganic nutrients and water (delivered by the fungus) for sugar (supplied by the host tree) provides the basis for the symbiosis. The interaction is initiated with signals that can be associated with root exudates and volatiles in the soil matrix. After recognition, the fungus is able to modulate plant response functions that usually suppress pathogens by excretion of effector molecules, which allows entry into the root. Within the root, specific cell wall proteins of the fungus like hydrophobins are important for host specificity. Signals in the mycorrhizal root like the auxin indole‐acetic acid modify the morphology of both partners resulting in the intimate interactions of fully established mycorrhiza. The soil hyphae of the fungus, at the same time, respond to other bacteria and fungi in the mycorrhizosphere.     

Greifvögel und Pestizide

Birds of prey and pesticides During the years of 1940 to the 1960ties the use of persistent organic pestcides (POP's) became common. DDT was used widely to kill pest insects in farming and forrestry. This resulted in the so called “pesticide chrash” in many bird populations namely in Peregrines and Ospreys. These species were poisoned via their food webs, from insects to birds or fish which had accumulated POP's like DDT. Between 1970 and 2004 all POP's were banned and since 1970 the populations grew again supported by nature conservation and wildlife management. Nowadays new generations of pesticides are in use, which are less persitant but still highly toxical for birds of prey. Therefore we need to control them by biomonitoring of relevant species like peregrine falcons and others.     

Hepatitis C virus infection and the risk of Sjögren or sicca syndrome: a meta‐analysis

Previous studies have suggested an association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the development of Sjögren's syndrome (SS), also known as sicca syndrome. The main objective of this study was to summarize the existing evidence and quantitatively evaluate the association between hepatitis C virus infection and SS/sicca syndrome by performing a meta‐analysis of observational studies. MEDLINE and PubMed (January 1980–August 2013) were searched to identify relevant studies in English. Outcomes were calculated and are reported as odds risk (OR) and 95% CIs based on a random‐effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed with I² statistics. Quality assessment was performed with the Newcastle–Ottawa scale. Based on meta‐analysis of five cross‐sectional and five cohort studies, a significant positive relationship between HCV infection and development of SS/sicca syndrome was found, the pooled random effects OR being 3.31 (95% CI, 1.46–7.48; P < 0.001). In subset analyses, the studies that used European diagnostic criteria showed a higher summary OR than did studies that adopted other diagnostic criteria. When the data were stratified by source of controls, significant associations were also observed when healthy people (OR = 9.44; 95% CI = 2.67–33.40; P = 0.204) or subjects with hepatitis B virus infection (OR = 6.57; 95% CI = 1.21–35.57; P = 0.5) were used as controls, but not when the controls were hospital‐based (OR = 0.99; 95% CI = 0.61–1.61; P = 0.169). In summary, the findings suggest that HCV infection is associated with SS/sicca syndrome. The observed increased risk in studies in which European diagnostic criteria and healthy controls were used and the decreased risk in studies with hospital‐based controls may be attributable to selection bias or other unknown factors.     

Bionik der Flugfeder

Bionik of flight feathers Large soaring landbirds depend on cross‐country flights as cheaply as possible. The migration of eastern European White Storks to southerly wintering areas with a length of more than 8000 km as well as the foraging flights of vultures over huge areas are physiologically only possible thanks to optimized soaring flight capabilities of the birds. The mechanisms to increase uplift and to reduce unwanted friction and vortex drags as presented here show that these adaptations are realized down to the microstructural level of the flight feathers. These are in particular: the airstream permeable structures along the feather shaft, the flow adaptive curvature of the feather profile and the shaping of the feather tip. These mechanisms serve a significant reduction of drag which was prerequisite to a successful development of the flight feather cascade. In conferred form they can be found also in technical missiles.