Increased Resistance to Cd(II) in the Primitive Red Algae Cyanidioschyzon merolae

Growth of Cyanidioschyzon merolae was inhibited depending on the cadmium(II) concentration in the culture medium. Although a lower level (0.01 mM) of Cd(II) inhibited growth by a factor of 0.5, higher levels (0.1 and 1 mM) induced lag periods of 10–14 days. Algal cells pretreated with 1 mM Cd(II) for 27 days grew steadily in 1 mM Cd(II) without the lag period, demonstrating that the cells became Cd(II) resistant (CdR). Cells remained resistant after four cycles (7 days per cycle) of washing and re-growing in medium without Cd(II), while intracellular Cd(II) decreased to undetectable levels. These results suggest that the Cd(II)-resistant phenotype is heritable. This phenomena may be attributable to the presence of genetic inhomogeneity in the wild-type cell populations or to mutagenesis caused by Cd(II) stress. Intracellular Cd(II) levels significantly decreased in the CdR phenotype compared to the wild-type cells, indicating that resistant cells may have a defective gene that codes for Cd(II)-uptake protein or the ability to secrete Cd(II).     

Transition metal-saccharide chemistry: d-glucose complexes of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II)

Metal complexes of d-glucose (d-Glc) from large cation containing dibromo-dichloro salts of dipositive metals [NEt₄]₂[MBr₂Cl₂] (M = Mn, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) and the disodium salt of glucose were synthesized from a MeOH:MeCN mixture. The complexes were characterized by UV-vis absorption, circular dichroism, IR and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopies, and by elemental analysis, and were found to be Na[M(d-Glc)(OMe)Cl]. Cyclic voltammetric studies of these complexes, in the acidic to neutral pH range, indicated no dissociation, even in highly acidic conditions.This paper is dedicated to Professor Richard H. Holm (Harvard University) on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

A systematic search for positive selection in higher plants (Embryophytes)

Background  

Previously, a database characterizing examples of Embryophyte gene family lineages showing evidence of positive selection was reported. Of the gene family trees, 138 Embryophyte branches showed Ka/Ks>>1 and are candidates for functional adaptation. The database and these examples have now been studied in further detail to better understand the molecular basis for plant genome evolution.     

拟南芥属的系统位置: 种皮及分子证据

拟南芥属(Arabidopsis (L.) Heynhold)拥有现代分子生物学研究的模式植物拟南芥(A. thaliana (L.) Heynhold), 但其属的系统位置及与近缘属关系争议较大。根据对拟南芥属及其相关属种的种皮微形态观察, 结合测定分析各属种叶绿体DNA的trnL内含子和trnL-F基因间隔区序列, 结果表明, 拟南芥属的近缘属种包括荠属(Capsella Medic.)、亚麻荠属(Camelina (L.)Crantz)、须弥芥属(Crucihimalaya Al-Shehbaz et al.)、无苞芥属(Olimarabidopsis Al-Shehbaz et al.)、旗杆芥属(Turritis L.)、南芥属(Arabis L.)和糖芥属(Erysimum Kitagawa)。     

拟南芥属的系统位置：种皮及分子证据

拟南芥属（Arabidopsis（L.）Heynhold）拥有现代分子生物学研究的模式植物拟南芥（A.thaliana（L.）Heynhold）,但其属的系统位置及与近缘属关系争议较大。根据对拟南芥属及其相关属种的种皮微形态观察,结合测定分析各属种叶绿体DNA的trnL内含子和trnL-F基因间隔区序列,结果表明,拟南芥属的近缘属种包括荠属（Capsella Medic.）、亚麻荠属（Camelina（L.）Crantz）、须弥芥属（Crucihimalaya Al-Shehbaz et al.）、无苞芥属（Olimarabidopsis Al-Shehbaz et al.）、旗杆芥属（Turritis L.）、南芥属（Arabis L.）和糖芥属（Erysimum Kitagawa）。     

Allopolyploid Origin of Arabidopsis suecica (Fries) Norrlin: Evidence from Chloroplast and Nuclear Genome Markers

The origin of the presumed allopolyploid Arabidopsis suecica has been explored through isozyme electrophoresis and mutational analysis of chloroplast (cp) DNA. Nuclear encoded isozymes are inherited biparentally and were used to indicate A. thaliana and Cardaminopsis arenosa as parental species. Analysis of the maternally inherited cpDNA provided strong evidence for A. thaliana as maternal parent. The isozyme data suggest multiple origin of A. suecica, because the alloploid shows polymorphisms at the same loci that are polymorphic in its progenitors. The molecular data are in agreement with the hypothesized recent origin of A. suecica at the Late glacial/Holocene boundary in Fennoscandia, in areas opened up by retreating glaciers.     

杜氏藻属四个种的核型分析

采用染色体分带方法对杜氏藻属（Dun>0.25aliella）4个种的核型进行分析。经过25℃12hd（-1）的光周期诱导,杜氏藻属4个种出现同步化生长。用0.05％秋水仙素处理,再经低渗、固定和高位（60cm）滴片,获得杜氏藻属4个种的核型。结果表明:杜氏藻属4个种都是单倍体,其染色体大多为短杆状、极小。染色体数分别是:D.salina n=13,D primolecta n=20,D.bardawil n=10,D.parvan=16。它们大都可见较明显的初级缢痕,且都在染色体的中部。     

From Legal Transplants to Sustainable Transition

Extended producer responsibility (EPR), which assigns significant responsibility to producers to take back their end‐of‐life products to create incentives for redesign of products with lower life cycle environmental impacts, has come to a crossroad facing a trade‐off between the original innovation‐oriented regime design and the cost‐efficiency challenges in practice. This is particularly true in its implementation in non‐Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries as they are trying to transplant the “best practices” from OECD countries, for there is increasing skepticism as to whether EPR is suitable for developing countries at all. As an important producer of electronic products and destination of electronic waste (e‐waste) flows in the world, China has been expected to play a vital role in the evolution of global governance based on the idea of EPR, either to create new ways for producers to perform their end‐of‐life strategies, or to reshape the mode of production and consumption with its fast‐growing market. However, the establishment of EPR in China has been long and full of difficulties. This article reviews the status and trends in the establishment of an EPR system for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management in China. We use the framework of a multilevel perspective of transition theory in our analysis to characterize the complex interactions among various agents in the evolution of the Chinese system from initial innovation‐oriented design to the current efficiency‐oriented version. An ongoing research framework for evaluation of the EPR program in China is outlined as the research agenda in coming years.     

Studies with Chloroplast and Mitochondrial DNA: I. Evidence of Sequence Homology between Chloroplast and Nuclear DNA (Broad Bean) and between Mitochondrial and Nuclear DNA (Rat Liver)

A mixture of broad bean chloroplast and nuclear DNA or rat liver mitochondrial and nuclear DNA was taken through a heating and annealing cycle, and examined by CsCl density gradient centrifugation. The formation of intermediates between the two DNAs during joint annealing was used as a method of detecting sequence homology in different DNA samples. Homology was found between chloroplast and nuclear DNA from broad bean and between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from rat liver. Since this method produces only qualitative data no implication for possible nucleocytoplasmic relationship can be assessed.     

Phylogenomic analysis suggests Coreidae and Alydidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) are not monophyletic

Next‐generation sequencing technologies (NGS) allow systematists to amass a wealth of genomic data from non‐model species for phylogenetic resolution at various temporal scales. However, phylogenetic inference for many lineages dominated by non‐model species has not yet benefited from NGS, which can complement Sanger sequencing studies. One such lineage, whose phylogenetic relationships remain uncertain, is the diverse, agriculturally important and charismatic Coreoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Given the lack of consensus on higher‐level relationships and the importance of a robust phylogeny for evolutionary hypothesis testing, we use a large data set comprised of hundreds of ultraconserved element (UCE) loci to infer the phylogeny of Coreoidea (excluding Stenocephalidae and Hyocephalidae), with emphasis on the families Coreidae and Alydidae. We generated three data sets by including alignments that contained loci sampled for at least 50%, 60%, or 70% of the total taxa, and inferred phylogeny using maximum likelihood and summary coalescent methods. Twenty‐six external morphological features used in relatively comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of coreoids were also re‐evaluated within our molecular phylogenetic framework. We recovered 439–970 loci per species (16%–36% of loci targeted) and combined this with previously generated UCE data for 12 taxa. All data sets, regardless of analytical approach, yielded topologically similar and strongly supported trees, with the exception of outgroup relationships and the position of Hydarinae. We recovered a monophyletic Coreoidea, with Rhopalidae highly supported as the sister group to Alydidae + Coreidae. Neither Alydidae nor Coreidae were monophyletic; the coreid subfamilies Hydarinae and Pseudophloeinae were recovered as more closely related to Alydidae than to other coreid subfamilies. Coreinae were paraphyletic with respect to Meropachyinae. Most morphological traits were homoplastic with several clades defined by few, if any, synapomorphies. Our results demonstrate the utility of phylogenomic approaches in generating robust hypotheses for taxa with long‐standing phylogenetic problems and highlight that novel insights may come from such approaches.     

拟南芥属与盐芥属的亲缘关系: 叶表皮和分子证据

观察了拟南芥属、盐芥属以及相关属的叶表皮微形态特征, 并测定了叶绿体DNA 的trnL 内含子和trnL-F 基因间隔区序列, 对这两个属的亲缘关系进行了比较研究。研究结果初步表明: 盐芥属与拟南芥属之间的亲缘关系较远, 前者应置于大蒜芥族, 与该族中的山嵛菜属关系最近; 后者则应放在南芥族而不是大蒜芥族。     

拟南芥属与盐芥属的亲缘关系:叶表皮和分子证据

观察了拟南芥属、盐芥属以及相关属的叶表皮微形态特征,并测定了叶绿体DNA的trnL内含子和trnL-F基因间隔区序列,对这两个属的亲缘关系进行了比较研究。研究结果初步表明:盐芥属与拟南芥属之间的亲缘关系较远,前者应置于大蒜芥族,与该族中的山嵛菜属关系最近;后者则应放在南芥族而不是大蒜芥族。     

Evidence for Maternal Transmission of Chloroplast DNA in the Genus Asplenium (Aspleniaceae,Pteridophyta)

Little is known about the mode of transmission of chloroplasts in ferns, despite the importance of such knowledge for molecular phylogenetic and biosystematic studies. Andersson-Kötto (1930, 1931) inferred from crossing experiments that chloroplasts are inherited biparentally in Asplenium scolopendrium L. Here we present evidence from artificial hybridisation that demonstrates maternal inheritance of chloroplast DNA in the genus Asplenium (Aspleniaceae, Pteridophyta) using length variation in a non-coding spacer (trnL_UAA-trnF_GAA) in the chloroplast DNA.     

The Size of Cells and Organisms in Relation to the Evolution of Embryophytes

Abstract: The earliest O₂-_-evolvers were marine cyanobacteria (3.5 billion years ago) with marine eukaryotic phototrophs from 2.0 billion years ago. These organisms were, and are, poikilo-hydric, i.e., cannot remain hydrated when exposed to a desiccating atmosphere (as can occur for intertidal benthic algae and cy anobacteria at low tide). The smallest marine primarily poikilo-hydric O₂-_-evolvers are close to the lower size limit imposed by non-scaleable components such as minimum genome size and constant membrane thickness, with cyanobacterial unicells 0.65 μn in diameter and eukaryotic unicells 0.95 μm in diameter. The largest (multicellular) marine primarily aquatic poikilohydric O₂-_-evolvers are brown algae at least 60 m long and over 100 kg fresh mass; there are no obvious constraints on the max imum size of such organisms. In freshwaters the size range for primarily poikilohydric O₂-_-evolving organisms is smaller, due to the absence of very large organisms. An even smaller size range characterizes terrestrial algae and cyanobacteria which have occurred for about 1 billion years. Desiccation-tolerant cyanobacterium and algae (intertidal, freshwater, terrestrial) are at the lower end of the size ranges. Embryophytic terrestrial O₂-_-evolvers arose some 450 million years ago and were than all poikilohydric and (probably) desiccation-tolerant. Embryophytic defining structural features re quire organisms of at least 100 μm equivalent spherical diameter for both gametophyte and sporophyte phases. Primarily poi kilohydric embryophytes are not more than 1 m tall as a result of a mechanistically mysterious size limit for desiccation-tolerant organisms. Homoiohydric embryophytes evolved some 420 mil lion years ago in the sporophyte phase (later to become the dominant terrestrial vegetation) and possibly in the gameto phyte phase (although no such homoiohydric gametophytes are known today). The homoiohydric features of gas spaces, stomata, cuticle, endohydric water conducting system and water and nutrient uptake structures require an organism at least 5 mm high; this has implications for the minimum size of mega-spores and seeds. The tallest homoiohydric plants are (or were within historic times) 130 m high, with height constrained by re source costs of the synthesis and maintenance of the mechanical and water conduction systems, andbr of xylem water trans port. Secondarily poikilohydric embryophytes in aquatic, or very damp terrestrial, habitats are derived from homoiohydric plants; they retain most homoiohydric features but are not functionally homoiohydric. The smaller secondarily poikilohydric plants are less than one tenth of the size of the smallest functionally homoiohydric plants.