Relative vulnerabilities of natural rotifer and ciliate communities to cladocerans: laboratory and field experiments

SUMMARY. 1. Two experiments with plankton communities from Storrs Pond (NH), one conducted in the laboratory and one in field enclosures, assessed the impact of different cladocerans on rotifers and ciliated protozoa.
2. The smallest cladoceran, Bosmina longirostris , did not depress rotifer or ciliate growth rates while the intermediate sized dadoceran, Daphnia galeata mendotae , reduced ciliate growth rates in the enclosure experiment but had only a marginal effect in the jar experiment. D. galeata mendotae had no effect on any of the rotifers in either experiment.
3. In both experiments the largest cladoceran, Daphniapulex , depressed the growth rates of ciliates and those rotifers known to be vulnerable to interference competition. Polyarthra vulgaris , previously shown to be resistant to cladoceran interference, was the only rotifer unaffected by D. pulex in the field experiment but was depressed by the much higher densities of this cladoceran in the laboratory experiment.
4. Cladocerans did not affect phytoplankton or bacterioplankton abundance in either experiment. Therefore the mechanism most likely to be responsible for the suppressive effect of cladocerans on rotifers and ciliates in these experiments is direct mechanical interference or predation, rather than exploitative competition.     

Binding of proflavin to chymotrypsin: an experiment to determine protein–ligand interactions by direct nonlinear regression analysis of spectroscopic titration data

The dissociation constant and stoichiometry of a proflavin–chymotrypsin complex are determined by spectroscopic titration and direct nonlinear regression data analysis in a simple experiment during one laboratory period.     

Selection for divergent emigration rates in laboratory populations ofMusca domestica

High and low emigration rates through a laboratory system were selected for in populations of house flies (Musca domestica L.). Emigration consisted of movement of flies from on plastic box to another by way of a connecting tube. Selection was carried out by first dividing a wild population of flies into two lines and then selecting for movement from the box in one line and against movement from the box in the other line. The selection experiment was performed twice. In both experiments a statistically significant difference between the two strains was obtained in three to four generations of selection. In the second experiment, after 5 genrations the mean number of high emigration rate flies emigrating in 1 hour was 4.37 times the mean number of low emigration rate flies and in 24 hours was 2.81 times the number of low emigration rate flies. The second experiment was terminated after 6 generations, but the first experiment was continued for 35 generations. In this case, divergence ceased in roughly 15 generations. The possible relevance of the findings to laboratory population experiments in which spatial discontinuities are included is discussed.     

医学留学生生物化学实验教学的实践与探索

随着国际交流与合作的日益频繁,留学生教育已成为中国高等教育的一个重要组成部分,生物化学实验是医学留学生的必修重要课程之一,因此,生物化学实验课的教学质量对学生的全面发展非常重要。通过对留学生生物化学实验教学的实践,根据留学生自身的特点和生物化学实验课程的特点,对我校留学生的生物化学实验教学进行了有益的实践与探索。结果显示留学生生物化学实验课的教学质量取得了显著提高。     

Assessing sexual conflict in the Drosophila melanogaster laboratory model system

We describe a graphical model of interlocus coevolution used to distinguish between the interlocus sexual conflict that leads to sexually antagonistic coevolution, and the intrinsic conflict over mating rate that is an integral part of traditional models of sexual selection. We next distinguish the 'laboratory island' approach from the study of both inbred lines and laboratory populations that are newly derived from nature, discuss why we consider it to be one of the most fitting forms of laboratory analysis to study interlocus sexual conflict, and then describe four experiments using this approach with Drosophila melanogaster. The first experiment evaluates the efficacy of the laboratory model system to study interlocus sexual conflict by comparing remating rates of females when they are, or are not, provided with a spatial refuge from persistent male courtship. The second experiment tests for a lag-load in males that is due to adaptations that have accumulated in females, which diminish male-induced harm while simultaneously interfering with a male's ability to compete in the context of sexual selection. The third and fourth experiments test for a lag-load in females owing to direct costs from their interactions with males, and for the capacity for indirect benefits to compensate for these direct costs.     

Lack of Evidence for Sign Epistasis Between Beneficial Mutations in an RNA Bacteriophage

In previous work (Betancourt, Genetics 181:1535, 2009), I propagated three large laboratory populations of an RNA phage (MS2) as they adapted to a controlled laboratory environment. These populations were large enough so that evolution might be expected to be mostly repeatable, but they nevertheless fixed different suites of mutations over the course of the experiment. Here, I investigate one possible explanation for these results: epistasis, in which the effect of a mutation depends on its genetic background, may have prevented populations with different initial substitutions from fixing the same set of subsequent mutations. I show that two mutations that previously occurred in different genetic backgrounds are beneficial on either background. This result suggests that sign epistasis-in which a mutation is beneficial on one background, but deleterious on another-is not the cause of different evolutionary trajectories observed in the Betancourt (2009) experiment. However, they can be explained by either magnitude epistasis-in which mutations have stronger or weaker beneficial effects depending on the background-or by the simultaneous fixation of multiple beneficial mutations. Surprisingly, the large populations of the previous experiment showed less parallel evolution than the small populations of this experiment, which lends support to the fixation of multiple beneficial mutations contributing to the patterns seen in both experiments.     

沈阳地区稻田节肢动物群落结构及群落生态研究

通过对沈阳地区稻田生态系统节肢动物群落结构及群落生态研究。共查得。属昆虫纲的有10个目的29科66种,其中天敌昆虫种类有7目20科51种,属蜘蛛纲的有蜘蛛目10科20种。用空间及时间生态位分析了害虫与天敌两个营养阶层间的关系。稻田生态系统节肢动物的多样性指数、均匀度与优势度分析表明,各类群落受外界干扰都很敏感,且表现一致性。依据节肢动物群落的结构及规律,结合沈阳地区水稻生长、栽培条件,用最优分割方法将稻田群落分为4个阶段,并提出了不同阶段害虫群落特点及害虫防治对策。     

A Bayesian two-level model for fluctuation assay

The fluctuation experiment is an essential tool for measuring microbial mutation rates in the laboratory. When inferring the mutation rate from an experiment, one assumes that the number of mutants in each test tube follows a common distribution. This assumption conceptually restricts the scope of applicability of fluctuation assay. We relax this assumption by proposing a Bayesian two-level model, under which an experiment-wide average mutation rate can be defined. The new model suggests a gamma mixture of the Luria-Delbrück distribution, which coincides with a recently discovered discrete distribution. While the mixture model is of considerable independent interest in fluctuation assay, it also offers a practical Markov chain Monte Carlo method for estimating mutation rates. We illustrate the Bayesian approach with a detailed analysis of an actual fluctuation experiment.     

A simple experiment illustrating metabolic regulation: induction versus repression of yeast α-glucosidase

A simple experiment demonstrating the metabolic regulation of a yeast enzyme is described. The induction by maltose and repression by glucose of Saccharomyces cerevisiae α-glucosidase is illustrated using different inducing/repressing conditions. Enzyme activity is rapidly assayed in situ using permeabilized cells. The entire experiment can be done in one 3–4 h laboratory period using very simple equipment.     

Performance and feeding behavior of Ceratitis capitata: comparison of a wild population and a laboratory population

Experiments were carried out to test the performance and some aspects of feeding behavior in two populations of Ceratitis capitata (a population reared in the laboratory for 16 years, i.e., approximately 160 generations, and a wild one obtained from infested coffee, Coffea arabica grains). Two types of food were used in the experiment: an artificial yeast diet used for laboratory rearing and papaya (Carica papaya), a natural host of the fly. The performance parameters tested were percent emergence, time to emergence, adult female size, and egg production during the pre-oviposition phase (first five days of adult life). The behavioral aspects tested were food preference by newly hatched larvae, induction, estimated ingestion of the two diets, whether the larvae placed on one diet stayed there or moved to the other diet, and acceptance of food for oviposition. The results indicated that the performance of the wild population was superior when the flies fed on papaya, whereas the performance of the laboratory population was similar with the two diets; the wild population showed a strong preference for papaya in all choice experiments, whereas the laboratory population showed no diet preference; the females of the wild population only oviposited on pieces of papaya that had not been peeled, and did not oviposit in the artificial diet; the females of the laboratory population oviposited indiscriminately on unpeeled and peeled papaya and on the artificial diet.     

促进天麻种子萌发的石斛小菇优良菌株特性及作用*

通过对不同菌株特性及作用研究,筛选出了适应性强、能显著提高天麻种子发芽率及产量的优良菌株石斛小菇（Mycena dendrobii）。该菌株伴播天麻种子后,种子发芽率高达84.18% 、播后1.5年天麻鲜产达16Kg / m2。其优良特性在实验室和天麻大面积栽培推广中得到了证实。     

Analysis of the results of a laboratory experiment on the observation of a runaway electron avalanche in air under high overvoltages

Analytic estimates and numerical computations are carried out to test the concept of a laboratory experiment on the demonstration of a runaway electron (RE) avalanche and RE-induced air breakdown under high overvoltages. It is shown that the development of an RE avalanche is impossible under the conditions of the given laboratory experiment. The experimentally observed distinct tail of the picosecond RE pulse, which was interpreted as the RE avalanche induced by the primary RE peak, is very weakly pronounced in the numerical experiment. Only the initial stage of the RE avalanche could be observed in the laboratory experiment; however, according to the numerical results, the fraction of REs in it is too small (as compared to the number of electrons in the primary peak) for the secondary REs to appreciably affect the breakdown process.     

Selective feeding by the echinoid,Evechinus chloroticus,and the removal of plants from subtidal algal stands in Northern New Zealand

Summary Feeding choice of the echinoid Evechinus chloroticus was examined for six fucoid and one laminarian species of algae. Three experiments were conducted to determine the algal choice by echinoids under controlled conditions. In the first experiment, the seven algal species were presented to echinoids in laboratory conditions. The second experiment had replicates of the algal species placed randomly on a subtidal rocky reef where echinoids were abundant and randomly dispersed. For the third experiment, which was also field-based, replicates of one highly-ranked species, Ecklonia radiata, were presented to naturally dispersed Evechinus. In addition, a series of controlled observations was used to examine the order in which echinoids removed algae from mixed species stands on subtidal boulders and to determine if this was related to the experimentally demonstrated choices of algal species.The results of the first two experiments showed that there were differences between algal species in the amount of material grazed by echinoids. Rankings of algal species from the field experiment were not correlated with rankings from the laboratory experiment. The order of removal of algal species from natural stands was correlated with the laboratory-based experimental rankings of algal species, but not with the rankings from the field-based experiment or with algal species availability. There were differences between algal species in their vulnerability to grazing by echinoids, as measured by regression analyses on the amount of material grazed from algal replicates vs. the number of attached echinoids. Within each species, echinoid numbers exerted a non-linear effect on the removal of algal material. In the third experiment, where only one species of algae was presented, the echinoids still distributed themselves non-randomly amongst replicates, aggregating on some samples.Data on the finer scale distribution of algal species over the entire subtidal reef on which these experiments and observations were conducted indicate that Evechinus are not often presented with a choice of adult plants of several different species in natural stands.The evidence from this study supports the conclusion that feeding preferences by echinoids are labile and do not clearly exert the major influence on the removal of plants from natural stands. Preference, as determined from experimental rankings of algal species, is only one of a number of factors which may affect the removal of algae by echinoids. Other important factors are the density of echinoids present, algal susceptibility to removal, and the distribution and abundances of the various algal species and echinoids relative to each other. It is suggested that algal life history characteristics may be unaffected by echinoids and that coevolutionary arguments are not appropriate for describing echinoid-algal interactions.     

Sexual selection on multivariate phenotype in wild and mass-reared Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Males with a larger thorax and narrower face were found to be favoured by directional sexual selection in a previous field cage experiment where Ceratitis capitata males from the Seib 6-96 genetic sexing strain competed with wild males from Alto Valle (Patagonia) for the possession of wild females. Targets of sexual selection, however, might differ between wild and laboratory females as a response to adaptation to mass-rearing conditions. To evaluate possible divergences on the targets of sexual selection as a by-product of adaptation to mass-rearing conditions, field cage tests were performed with both wild and laboratory females. To avoid possible bias due to correlation among the measured traits (eye length [EL], face width [FW], head width [HW], and thorax length [TL]), a multivariate analysis was applied. Consistent with the previous experiment, the results indicated that TL and FW are probable targets of directional sexual selection independently of female strain. However, laboratory females were less selective than wild ones. Additionally, correlational sexual selection was detected acting on the multivariate phenotype. The effects of correlational selection overlap with those of directional selection on each single trait. The analysis of mating pair characteristics showed patterns that do not match the expectations for a random mating system. The current analysis indicates that during mating pair formation two processes overlap. On the one hand, sexual selection favours males with larger size (TL) and narrower faces (FW). This effect occurs in both wild and laboratory females. In addition, assortative mating based on both phenotype and origin was also observed.     

铜锈环棱螺对藻华水体沉积物-水界面营养盐通量的影响

于2008年在室内小型试验模拟生态系统中进行了为期1个月的铜锈环棱螺生物干扰对底泥耗氧率和上覆水营养盐通量的影响试验,根据铜锈环棱螺放养密度设置了3个处理组和1个对照组。与试验前相比,培养1个月后,所有处理组和对照组的底泥耗氧率均显著下降;各处理组的底泥耗氧率初期高于对照组,后期低于对照组,且密度高的处理组其底泥耗氧率高于密度低的处理组。除12月7日外,对照组沉积物始终向上覆水释放铵氮,且释放量逐渐减小,而各处理组中,除试验初期沉积物向上覆水释放铵氮外,试验中后期均表现为吸收铵氮。除试验初期外,处理组和对照组中亚硝酸盐+硝酸盐通量主要表现为向上覆水中释放,且处理组1与对照组间存在显著差异(P<0.05)。磷酸盐通量主要表现为,试验初期沉积物向上覆水中释放,后期被沉积物吸收。本试验结果表明,短期内铜锈环棱螺的生物干扰增加了底泥耗氧率,但其长期效应可使底泥耗氧率下降,铜锈环棱螺的存在促进了沉积物中的总体硝化速率,加快了沉积物中的N循环。     

The use of scenario-based-learning interactive software to create custom virtual laboratory scenarios for teaching genetics

Mutagenesis screens and analysis of mutant phenotypes are one of the most powerful approaches for the study of genetics. Yet genetics students often have difficulty understanding the experimental procedures and breeding crosses required in mutagenesis screens and linking mutant phenotypes to molecular defects. Performing these experiments themselves often aids students in understanding the methodology. However, there are limitations to performing genetics experiments in a student laboratory. For example, the generation time of laboratory model organisms is considerable, and a laboratory exercise that involves many rounds of breeding or analysis of many mutants is not often feasible. Additionally, the cost of running a laboratory practical, along with safety considerations for particular reagents or protocols, often dictates the experiments that students can perform. To provide an alternative to a traditional laboratory module, we have used Scenario-Based-Learning Interactive (SBLi) software to develop a virtual laboratory to support a second year undergraduate course entitled "Genetic Analysis." This resource allows students to proceed through the steps of a genetics experiment, without the time, cost, or safety constraints of a traditional laboratory exercise.     

Storage of samples at high temperatures reduces the amount of amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis DNA detectable by PCR assay

Chytridiomycosis, caused by the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is an emerging infectious disease responsible for amphibian declines on several continents. In laboratory conditions, optimal temperatures for Bd growth and survivorship are between 17 and 25 degrees C. We investigated the effect of different storage temperatures, both in field and laboratory conditions, on detection of Bd from swabs stored for 7 d. We sampled 52 wild Litoria wilcoxii males for Bd by simultaneously running 2 cotton swabs along the skin of the frog. One group of swabs was stored in a freezer within 2 h of sampling and the other was kept in a car in an exposed environment for 7 d before being stored in the freezer. In the laboratory experiment, swabs were inoculated with zoospores of Bd and underwent one of 4 treatments: immediate DNA extraction, or storage at 27, 38 or 45 degrees C for 7 d prior to DNA extraction. Swabs from all treatments were analyzed by quantitative (real-time) PCR test. Though prevalence of Bd did not differ significantly between swabs that were frozen and those that remained in a car for 7 d (19.2 vs. 17.3%, respectively), the number of Bd zoospores detected on car swabs taken from infected frogs was, on average, 67% less than that detected on the corresponding frozen swab. In the laboratory experiment, the number of zoospore equivalents varied significantly with treatment (F(3,35) = 4.769, p = 0.007), indicating that there was reduced recovery of Bd DNA from swabs stored at higher temperatures compared with those stored at lower temperatures or processed immediately. We conclude that failure to store swabs in cool conditions can result in a significant reduction in the amount of Bd DNA detected using the PCR assay. Our results have important implications for researchers conducting field sampling of amphibians for Bd.     

创建多层次微生物学实验教学体系培养科研创新型人才

"微生物学"课程是高等教育生命科学教学中一门重要的基础课程。微生物学实验作为独立于微生物学理论课的基础实验课,对学生基本实验技能的培养和综合素质的提高,培养学生探索精神、创新意识和创新能力方面起着至关重要的作用。南开大学微生物学教学实验室依托"微生物学"国家重点学科、"教育部分子微生物学重点实验室"和"国家级生物实验教学示范中心",建立了多级别分层次的微生物学实验教学体系;确立了由基础性实验、综合性实验、创新性实验相结合的实验内容;同时充分利用本校教学科研资源优势,为学生搭建了多级别的科研创新训练实践平台,着重培养学生的科研素质、创新意识和创新能力,在微生物学科研创新型人才的培养中发挥了重要的作用。     

Effect of a refuge from persistent male courtship in the Drosophila laboratory environment

The Drosophila melanogaster laboratory model has been used extensively in studies of sexual conflict because during the process of courtship and mating, males impose several costs upon females (e.g., reduced fecundity). One important difference between the laboratory and the wild is that females in the laboratory lack a spatial refuge from persistent male courtship. Here, we describe two experiments that examine the potential consequences of a spatial refuge for females. In the first experiment, we examined the influence of a spatial refuge on mating rate of females, and in the second one we examined its influence on females' lifetime fecundity. We found that females mated about 25% less often when a spatial refuge was available, but that the absence of a spatial refuge did not substantially increase the level of male-induced harm to females (i.e., sexual conflict).