Abnormalities induced by agricultural pesticides in the microsporogenesis of olive tree (Olea europaea L.) cultivars

The study evaluated the microsporogenesis of olive trees subjected to different agricultural pesticide applications during flowering. Inflorescences of cultivars Arbequina and MGS GRAP541 were subjected to agricultural pesticides: mineral oil, neem oil, dimethoate and deltamethrin. The floral buds were fixed in Carnoy for the microsporogenesis analysis and in Karnovsky for scanning electron microscopy. The slides were prepared by squash technique and staining with propionic carmine. The pollen viability was determined by Alexander’s stain and in vitro germination. Results show that the quantification of abnormalities in meiosis in the two cultivars caused significant effect among the treatments, being that all differed statistically from the control group. Both methods showed a higher percentage of viable pollens in the control treatment and lower percentage of viability with the agricultural pesticides. The method of pollen viability by staining presented the highest averages of viable pollens, but when compared together, both methods presented a strongly related positive linear correlation. It was concluded that the used chemical products increased the percentage of chromosomal abnormalities during microsporogenesis, which interfered in the pollen viability of the two analyzed cultivars. The product deltamethrin caused the strongest effect on meiosis and on pollen viability.     

The cytology of the genus Alopecurus (Gramineae)

For a study of hybridization in Alopecurus , chromosome numbers, karyotypes, meiotic chromosome behaviour and breeding systems have been investigated in six species. In addition to confirming many previous chromosome numbers, new triploid and tetraploid counts have been found in A. bulbosus , which have not previously been reported. The karyotypes of all species have a very similar morphology but there are differences in chromosome size which can be related to differences in nuclear DNA content. At meiosis the diploid species form bivalents, but one population of A. aequalis contains plants that regularly form a single quadrivalent which would appear to be interchange heterozygotes. The meiotic behaviour of the tetraploids suggests that A. pratensis is an allotetraploid and A. geniculatus an autotetraploid. All species appear to be allogamous, although some, such as A. myosuroides are obligate outbreeders resulting from the presence of a self-incompatibility system, outbreeding is promoted in others by differences in the time of maturity of stigmas and anthers.     

TETRASAT: a program for the population analysis of allotetraploid microsatellite data

Microsatellite markers are quite popular due to their degree of polymorphism and efficiency; however, the utility of such markers for analysing allotetraploid species is often hampered by an inability to determine allele copy number for partial heterozygotes. tetrasat is a program that uses an iterative substitution process to account for all probable combinations of allele copy numbers in populations with partial heterozygote samples. The program subsequently calculates allele frequencies, and mean Hardy–Weinberg expected heterozygosity (H_E), Shannon–Weiner Diversity Index (H′) and Nei's measure of population differentiation (G_ST) are reported for each locus and population. Of equal importance is the calculation of statistical variability generated by the missing data and allele substitution process, which allows for assessment of the strength of conclusions drawn from the statistics.     

Population genetic consequences of geographic disjunction: a prairie plant isolated on Great Lakes alvars

Species may often exhibit geographic variation in population genetic structure due to contemporary and historical variation in population size and gene flow. Here, we test the predictions that populations on the margins of a species' distribution contain less genetic variation and are more differentiated than populations towards the core of the range by comparing patterns of genetic variation at five microsatellite loci between disjunct and core populations of the perennial, allohexaploid herb Geum triflorum. We sampled nine populations isolated on alvar habitat within the eastern Great Lakes region in North America, habitats that include disjunct populations of several plant species, and compared these to 16 populations sampled from prairie habitat throughout the core of the species' distribution in midwestern Canada and the USA. Alvar populations exhibited much lower within-population diversity and contained only a subset of alleles found in prairie populations. We detected isolation by distance across the species' range and within alvar and prairie regions separately. As predicted, genetic differentiation was higher among alvar populations than among prairie populations, even after controlling for the geographic distance between sampled populations. Low diversity and high differentiation can be accounted for by the greater contemporary spatial isolation of alvar populations. However, the genetic structure of alvar populations may also have been influenced by postglacial range expansion and contraction. Our results are consistent with alvar populations being founded during an expansion of prairie habitat during the warmer, hypsithermal period approximately 5000 bp and subsequently becoming stranded on isolated alvar habitat as the climate grew cooler and wetter.     

Analyses of lamb survival of Scottish Blackface sheep

Scottish Blackface lamb viability records at birth, and postnatal survival from 1 day to 14 days, from 15 days to 120 days and from 121 days to 180 days were used to determine influential factors and to estimate variance components of lamb survival traits. The binary trait viability at birth was analysed using a linear model whereas the postnatal survival traits were analysed as continuous traits using a Weibull model. The data consisted of about 15 000 survival records of lambs born from 1996 to 2005 on two farms in Scotland. The models included fixed factors that had significant effects and random direct and maternal additive genetic effects and maternal litter effects for viability at birth, and sire and maternal litter effects for the postnatal survival traits. The possible effect of maternal behaviour measured around lambing on lamb survival was investigated in separate analyses. Male lambs were found to be at a higher risk of mortality than females during all periods considered. The effect of type of birth and age of dam was more important during the preweaning period than at later ages. The postnatal hazard rate was not significantly affected by the behaviour score of the dams. The genetic merit of dams had more influence on viability at birth than the genetic merit of lambs themselves. Estimates of heritability for postnatal survival traits were in the range of 0.18 to 0.33 and were significantly greater than zero. These results indicate that lamb survival can be improved through farm management practices and genetic selection. Both animal and maternal genetic effects should be considered in breeding programmes for improving viability at birth.     

Allozyme variation and behavioural dimorphism among populations of Littorina brevicula (Philippi) from Japan

In Amakusa (Japan), an apparently homogeneous population of Littorina brevicula, divides into two groups during the reproductive season (winter). Some snails migrate to the lower intertidal zone, while the rest remain in the upper zone. This migration behaviour might be controlled genetically and the behavioural dimorphism may be maintained by assortative mating. To evaluate this hypothesis, we studied genetic variation at four polymorphic enzyme loci (Pgm, Aldh, Ipp, Gpt) in both groups, as well as in seven other samples from the coast of Japan and Vostok Bay (Russian coast of the Sea of Japan). There were no significant allele frequency differences between the two behavioural groups of snails with differing migration patterns (2 = 8.411, df = 12, p > 0.5). The samples from Japan belong to a panmictic population. Yet, a significant heterogeneity was found between the sample from Vostok Bay and the samples from Japan, indicating a reduced gene flow between these regions. Generally, observed genotype frequencies showed good fits to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations at three of the four loci investigated.     

Specific Features of Development of Male Generative Organs in Clones of the Siberian Stone Pine (Pinus sibirica De Tour) of Different Origins in the Krasnoyarsk Forest-Steppe

The development of male generative organs of the Siberian stone pine clones of different origin was analyzed in the Krasnoyarsk forest-steppe for many years. Geographical and individual variability was described as concerns the number of microstrobils and pollen variability. The beginning of flowering, abundance of microstrobils, and their regular formation were shown to markedly vary and, all other conditions being equal, be determined by the presence of clones, their hereditary features, and environmental conditions, as well by the influence of stock.     

濒危植物崖柏遗传多样性研究

以重庆市大巴山和雪宝山的崖柏为研究对象,对其鳞叶的形态分化进行了初步研究,并用RAPD分子标记技术探讨了该物种在分子水平上的遗传变异。结果表明:崖柏居群内和居群间均存在着广泛的表型及基因型的变异;基于形态数据建立的崖柏居群之间的关系和基于RAPD数据建立的关系不相符;空间距离和生态因子对崖柏居群进化的影响较小;崖柏居群之间的基因流水平较低;应对崖柏居群采取就地保护的措施。     

Genome duplication and the evolution of conspecific pollen precedence

Conspecific pollen precedence can be a strong reproductive barrier between polyploid and diploid species, but the role of genome multiplication in the evolution of this barrier has not been investigated. Here, we examine the direct effect of genome duplication on the evolution of pollen siring success in tetraploid Chamerion angustifolium. To separate the effects of genome duplication from selection after duplication, we compared pollen siring success of synthesized tetraploids (neotetraploids) with that of naturally occurring tetraploids by applying 2x, 4x (neo or established) or 2x + 4x pollen to diploid and tetraploid flowers. Seed set increased in diploids and decreased in both types of tetraploids as the proportion of pollen from diploid plants increased. Based on offspring ploidy from mixed-ploidy pollinations, pollen of the maternal ploidy always sired the majority of offspring but was strongest in established tetraploids and weakest in neotetraploids. Pollen from established tetraploids had significantly higher siring rates than neotetraploids when deposited on diploid (4x(est) = 47.2%, 4x(neo) = 27.1%) and on tetraploid recipients (4x(est) = 91.9%, 4x(neo) = 56.0%). Siring success of established tetraploids exceeded that of neotetraploids despite having similar pollen production per anther and pollen diameter. Our results suggest that, while pollen precedence can arise in association with the duplication event, the strength of polyploid siring success evolves after the duplication event.     

Genetic and Morphological Analysis of Some European Species of the “coriaceus group” of Carabodes (Acari, Oribatida, Carabodidae) and Description of C. tyrrhenicus sp. nov.

The oribatid mite Carabodes reticulatus Berlese, 1913 is redescribed from typical and topotypical material. A new species, C. tyrrhenicus, widespread in Sardinia and other Tyrrhenian islands, is also described on the basis of morphological evidence. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study intra- and inter-specific variation, in order to determine diagnostic characters. The morphology-based taxonomy was tested through allozyme analysis of the two species and of two closely related species, namely C. coriaceus C. L. Koch, 1836 and C. arduinii Valle, 1955. Allozyme data are largely congruent with morphological evidence, indicating that the four entities represent well-differentiated evolutionary lineages. Molecular results show large inter-specific genetic differentiation, suggesting that these taxa arose from ancient cladogenetic events.