The tolerance to saline–alkaline stress was dependent on the roots in wheat

Saline–alkaline stress is one of the most serious global problems affecting agriculture, causing enormous economic and yield losses in agricultural production. Wheat, one of the most important crops worldwide, is often subjected to saline–alkaline stress. In this study, two wheat cultivars with different saline–alkaline tolerance, XC-12 (non-tolerance) and XC-45 (tolerance), were used to investigate the influence of saline–alkaline stress on photosynthesis and nitrogen (N) metabolism through hydroponic experiment with aim of elucidating the mechanism of resistance to salt-alkali. These results showed that saline–alkaline stress significantly reduced biomass accumulation, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic ability and N absorption but increased N utilization efficiency. There was no significant difference in photosynthesis between XC-12 and XC-45 under saline–alkaline stress. In addition, XC-45 had lower ratio of Na+/K+ in leaves and Na+-K+ selection rate and higher N absorption ability than XC-12, thereby improving physiological metabolism. Moreover, the roots exhibited greater growth performance in response to saline–alkaline stress as a result of increasing glutamine synthetase activity in roots, thus promoting N metabolism in roots. By coordinating the synergistic effect of increasing soluble protein in root, XC-45 exhibited greater tolerance to saline–alkaline stress. All data pinpoint that the root physiological function was more responsible for resistance to saline–alkaline stress in wheat.     

Paleobathymetric Zonation of the Middle–Upper Jurassic Deposits in the Ulyanovsk–Saratov Trough (Russian Platform) Based on Benthic Foraminifers

The environments, favorable for the development of benthic microfauna were predominant in the Jurassic Sea in the northeastern part of the Ulyanovsk–Saratov Trough (Russian Platform). Such parameters as the distribution and the taxonomic composition of the assemblage of Jurassic benthic foraminifers, their abundance, generic and species diversity, the occurrence of new species, a ratio of species with agglutinating and calcareous shells serve as a basis for developing the paleobathymetric zonation of the basin. The tracing of the variations in these parameters through the section enables us to construct a quantity paleobathymetric curve for the Middle-Late Jurassic and to distinguish the sequence–stratigraphic elements.     

Immobilization of Baeyer–Villiger monooxygenase from acetone grown Fusarium sp.

Biotechnology Letters - A novel biocatalyst for Baeyer–Villiger oxidations is necessary for pharmaceutical and chemical industries, so this study aims to find a Baeyer–Villiger...     

Changes in native and introduced host–parasite networks

Biological Invasions - Introduced species can alter the dynamics and structure of a native community. Network analysis provides a tool to study host–parasite interactions that can help to...     

New Data on the Upper Jurassic (Middle–Upper Oxfordian and Middle Volgian) Foraminifers in the East of the Moscow

The Middle–Upper Oxfordian foraminifera were studied from the borehole section drilled in the east of the Moscow Region (Russia). The foraminiferal zones were distinguished in Oxfordian clays: Opthalmidium strumosum–Lenticulina brestica and Lenticulina russiensis–Epistomina uhligi. It was established that the distribution of foraminiferal assemblages varies throughout the Moscow Region.     

Noise-based cyberattacks generating fake P300 waves in brain–computer interfaces

Cluster Computing - Most of the current Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) application scenarios use electroencephalographic signals (EEG) containing the subject’s information. It means...     

A Data-driven Horizon Scan of Bacterial Pathogens at the Wildlife–livestock Interface

EcoHealth - Many livestock diseases rely on wildlife for the transmission or maintenance of the pathogen, and the wildlife–livestock interface represents a potential site of disease emergence...     

Using phenotypic plasticity to understand the structure and evolution of the genotype–phenotype map

Genetica - Deciphering the genotype–phenotype map necessitates relating variation at the genetic level to variation at the phenotypic level. This endeavour is inherently limited by the...     

Soil Fungi Promote Biodiversity–Productivity Relationships in Experimental Communities of Young Trees

Ecosystems - Soil fungi are a major factor maintaining plant diversity and productivity, but the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. Based on a biodiversity–ecosystem...     

Biogeochemical characteristics of the Hövsgöl–Ustilimsk water system in Mongolia and Russia: the effect of environmental factors on dissolved chemical components

Limnology - The objective of this study is to clarify the biogeochemical characteristics of the Hövsgöl–Ustilimsk water system in Mongolia and Russia. For this purpose, we measured...     

GC–MS measurement of spermidine and putrescine in serum of elderly subjects: intriguing association between spermidine and homoarginine

Amino Acids - Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) methods were developed, validated and used to measure serum spermidine (SPD) and putrescine (PUT) in 9 seropositive...     

Adult–adult play in captive lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Primates - Among African great apes, play is virtually absent between adult lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Here, we report an extremely rare case of adult–adult play observed in...     

Chitosan–Hydroxycinnamic Acid Conjugates: Synthesis,Physicochemical Characteristics,and Estimation of Their Influence on Productivity and Quality of the Radish

Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology - Conjugates of chitosan with ferulic (Chit–FA) and caffeic (Chit–CA) acids were synthesized by the carbodiimide method. The formation of...     

Craspeditidae (Ammonoidea) of the Russian Platform at the Jurassic–Cretaceous Boundary. II. Genus Hectoroceras Spath

The short geochronological span and wide geographic distribution of the genus Hectoroceras in the Boreal Paleogeographic Superrealm make it exceptionally important for correlation of the Volgian–Ryazanian boundary beds. The Ogarkovo Section on the Unzha River (Kostroma Region), which is essential for this correlation, is described. The revised genus Hectoroceras includes the type species H. kochi Spath, H. larwoodi Casey, H. tolijense (Nikitin), and its microconch H. pseudokochi (Mesezhnikov), the latter two previously assigned to the genus Shulginites Casey, 1973 which is here considered as a junior subjective synonym of Hectoroceras. The FAD of Hectoroceras kochi is an interregional marker for Panboreal correlation, and the coincidence of this event with the invasion of ammonites of Tethyan origin into the Central Russian ecotone improves the prospects for a Boreal – Tethyan correlation of the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary interval.     

Differences in social-space–time behaviour of two red deer herds (Cervus elaphus)

acta ethologica - Social-space–time-behaviour has developed very differently (e.g. a, loner, a herd, a pack) in the animal kingdom and depends on many different factors, like food...     

Design of BRC analogous peptides based on the complex BRC8–RAD51 and the preliminary study on the peptide structures

BRCA2 is an important tumor suppressor gene that plays a critical role in preserving the stability of cellular genetic information, participating in DNA repair by engaging in binding interactions with RAD51 proteins. However, the lack of structural data on BRCA2 and RAD51 makes the study of their interaction mechanism still a great challenge. We characterize the structure of the BRC8–RAD51 complex using ZDOCK protein docking software and identify the potential non-conserved active site of BRC8 via virtual alanine scanning, utilizing the obtained results to synthesize BRC8, its six analogous peptides (BRC8-1 to BRC8-6), and critical peptide fragment of RAD51 (RAD51(231–260)) by Fmoc solid-phase synthesis. The analogous peptides are found to exhibit a secondary structure significantly different from that of BRC8 by circular dichroism spectroscopy, which indicates that mutation sites determined by computer-aided simulation correspond to key amino acid residues substantially affecting polypeptide structure. On the other hand, the secondary structure of RAD51(231–260) was also considerably influenced by its interaction with BRC8 and analogs, e.g., the fraction of the α-helical structure in RAD51(231–260) increased to 23.6, 15.1, and 13.5% upon interaction with BRC8-1, BRC8-3, and BRC8-6, respectively. The results show that the properties of C-terminal amino acid residues significantly influence peptide–peptide interactions, in agreement with the results of virtual alanine scanning. Therefore, computer-aided simulation was confirmed to be a technique that is useful for narrowing down the range of sites responsible for interactions between peptides or proteins, and provides new inspirations for the design of peptides with strong interactions.     

Plant–pollinator network structural properties differentially affect pollen transfer dynamics and pollination success

Oecologia - Plant–pollinator network studies have uncovered important generalities in the structure of these communities, rapidly advancing our understanding of the underlying drivers of such...     

The course of birch pollen seasons in Sosnowiec (Southern Poland) in 1997–2020 in relation to meteorological conditions

Aerobiologia - The study's main objective was to specify the extent to which weather conditions were related to the course of birch pollen seasons in the years 1997–2020. The impact of...     

Stimulation of the Growth of Juvenile North African Catfish Clarias gariepinus by Modification of the Water Oxidation–Reduction Potential

Biology Bulletin - The effect of water with a high negative oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) on the physiological parameters of juvenile North African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) has been...     

Plant responses to butterfly oviposition partly explain preference–performance relationships on different brassicaceous species

Oecologia - The preference–performance hypothesis (PPH) states that herbivorous female insects prefer to oviposit on those host plants that are best for their offspring. Yet, past attempts to...