Phylogeny,morphology and pathogenicity of Elsinoë ampelina,the causal agent of grapevine anthracnose in Brazil and Australia

Anthracnose caused by Elsinoë ampelina is one of the most important table grape diseases in humid regions in Brazil and Australia. The objective of this study was to characterize E. ampelina isolates from Brazil and Australia by means of phylogenetic analyses, morphological features and pathogenicity tests. Phylogenetic relationships among 35 isolates were determined based on a data set of internal transcribed spacer (ITS), histone H3 (HIS3) and elongation factor 1‐α (TEF) sequences. In phylogenetic tree analyses, using a combined ITS and TEF sequence alignment, all E. ampelina isolates were clustered together in a single well‐supported clade. In contrast to the absence of genetic variability within ITS and TEF sequences, HIS3 sequences showed 54 polymorphic sites. The haplotype network generated from HIS3 data set showed four distinct haplotypes. EA1 was the predominant haplotype including 29 isolates from both countries. High genetic variability was observed in two Brazilian isolates, haplotype EA4, which may have lost the intron region during species evolution. Colony colours differed between Brazilian and Australian isolates, but showed similar wrinkled colony texture, absence of spores, sparse‐to‐absent white aerial mycelium and slow growth (0.049–0.060 mm/day). Brazilian isolates produced conidia of 5.65 × 2.65 μm, larger than conidia from Australian isolates, which measured 5.14 × 2.30 μm. In pathogenicity tests, all nine Australian isolates inoculated were pathogenic on detached canes and potted vines of table grape.     

Chemical components of essential oils as a base to control two grape pathogens: Sphaceloma ampelinum and Pseudocercopora vitis

Anthracnose and grapevine leaf spot are the most important fungal diseases of fox grape in Brazil caused by Sphaceloma ampelinum and Pseudocercospora vitis, respectively. Severe attacks of either diseases can affect the yield in the current and subsequent years. Synthetic fungicides are recommended to control these pathogens in the field but may be harmful to the environment and human health over time and select for fungicide-resistant pathogen populations. Among the new strategies for safe food production, free of pesticide residues, essential oils represent a promising tool to control plant pathogens. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the antifungal activity of the volatile compounds of 26 essential oils on germination of P. vitis and S. ampelinum and of their principal active compounds as bases for development of new technological products. The essential oils of Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Cymbopogon citratus were fungitoxic to P. vitis and S. ampelinum, in vapour and liquid phases, completely inhibiting spore germination. The main compounds found in the essential oils studied were citral, geraniol, eugenol and isoeugenol. All of these, in vapour and liquid phases, were toxic to P. vitis, completely inhibiting spore germination. Citral, in the vapour phase, and citral, eugenol and isoeugenol in the liquid phase, were toxic to S. ampelinum, completely inhibiting spore germination.     

Phenolic and heterocyclic metabolite profiles of the grapevine pathogen Eutypa lata

The ascomycete Eutypa lata is the causative agent of eutypa dieback in grapevines, a serious economic problem in major wine grape producing areas. In order to develop a predictive, non-destructive assay for early detection of fungal infection, the phenolic metabolite profiles of 11 strains of E. lata grown on four different artificial growth media were analyzed by HPLC and their variability compared with growth on Cabernet Sauvignon grapevine wood and wood extracts. Six compounds were generally produced in significant amounts, namely eutypinol, eulatachromene, and eutypine and its benzofuran cyclization product, together with siccayne and eulatinol. The two most widely distributed and abundant metabolites were eutypinol and eulatachromene, which were present in 8 of the strains grown on grapewood aqueous extract fortified with sucrose. Metabolite production on grapevine extract was greatly enhanced relative to the artificial media, indicating that this native substrate provides optimal conditions and a more representative profile of the metabolites produced in the natural disease state. The primary metabolites were tested in a grapeleaf disc bioassay to establish their relative toxicity. Neither eutypinol nor siccayne were phytotoxic; eulatachromene, eulatinol, eutypine, and the benzofuran exhibited necrotic effects in the bioassay. The results indicate that eutypa dieback may be caused by several E. lata metabolites rather than a single compound.     

Effect of hot-water treatments in vitro on conidial germination and mycelial growth of grapevine trunk pathogens

In this study, the sensitivity of Cadophora luteo-olivacea, Cylindrocarpon liriodendri, Cn. macrodidymum and eight species of the genus Phaeoacremonium to hot-water treatments (HWTs) in vitro was evaluated. Conidial suspensions and plugs of agar with mycelia were placed in Eppendorf vials and incubated for 30, 45 or 60 min in a hot-water bath at 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 or 49°C for Cylindrocarpon spp. and at 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 or 55°C for Ca. luteo-olivacea and Phaeoacremonium spp. In general, conidial germination and the colony growth rate of all pathogens decreased with increased temperature and time combinations. Cylindrocarpon spp. were more sensitive than Ca. luteo-olivacea and Phaeoacremonium spp. to HWT temperatures. Conidial germination of Ca. luteo-olivacea was inhibited by treatments above 51°C–30 min, while treatments up to 54°C–60 min were necessary to inhibit the mycelial growth. For Cylindrocarpon spp., conidial germination was inhibited by treatments above 45°C–45 min, while treatments above 48°C–45 min were necessary to inhibit the mycelial growth. Regarding Phaeoacremonium spp., treatments up to 54°C–60 min were necessary to completely inhibit both conidial germination and mycelial growth. These results suggest that current HWT protocols at 50°C for 30 min may be sufficient to control Cylindrocarpon spp. However, it would be necessary to develop HWT using higher temperatures to reduce the incidence of Ca. luteo-olivacea and Phaeoacremonium spp. infections.     

福建闽侯福橘黑斑病病原菌的鉴定

柑橘黑斑病是柑橘的重要病害之一。本文通过病原菌的形态特征和致病性,并结合其rDNA-ITS区域序列及柯赫法则,对从福建省福州市闽侯县福橘果上分离的黑斑病病原菌进行了鉴定分析。结果表明:PDA平板上的病原菌菌落生长缓慢,呈圆形凸起;分生孢子器近球形、黑色炭质;分生孢子单孢、无色,呈椭圆形,大小为(7～12)μm×(5～8)μm,分生孢子外包裹一层半透明凝胶状物质。结合序列比对分析结果,最终将分离的福橘果实黑斑病的病原菌鉴定为柑橘球座菌Guig-nardia citricarpa Kiely。本研究为柑橘黑斑病的早期诊断和防治奠定了基础。     

Evolutionary dynamics of pathogen resistance and tolerance

Abstract.— Host organisms can respond to the threat of disease either through resistance defenses (which inhibit or limit infection) or through tolerance strategies (which do not limit infection, but reduce or offset its fitness consequences). Here we show that resistance and tolerance can have fundamentally different evolutionary outcomes, even when they have equivalent short-term benefit for the host. As a gene conferring disease resistance spreads through a population, the incidence of infection declines, reducing the fitness advantage of carrying the resistance gene. Thus genes conferring complete resistance cannot become fixed (i.e., universal) by selection in a host population, and diseases cannot be eliminated solely by natural selection for host resistance. By contrast, as a gene conferring disease tolerance spreads through a population, disease incidence rises, increasing the evolutionary advantage of carrying the tolerance gene. Therefore, any tolerance gene that can invade a host population will tend to be driven to fixation by selection. As predicted, field studies of diverse plant species infected by rust fungi confirm that resistance traits tend to be polymorphic and tolerance traits tend to be fixed. These observations suggest a new mechanism for the evolution of mutualism from parasitism, and they help to explain the ubiquity of disease.     

Radiation-induced apoptosis and its relationship to loss of clonogenic survival

Ionizing radiation can be an effective inducer of apoptosis and studies of many aspects of the pathways and mechanisms involved in this apoptosis induction have been published. This review stresses two aspects: the relationship between apoptosis and loss of clonogenic ability in irradiated cells and the time course for the appearance of apoptosis after radiation exposure. Although it was initially assumed that apoptosis occurred relatively quickly (within hours) after irradiation, evidence is presented and discussed here showing that apoptosis can occur at long times after irradiation (out to 20 days) in some cell types. This late, or delayed, apoptosis occurs after the cells have divided once or several times. The impact of delayed apoptosis on loss of clonogenicity after irradiation remains unclear. It seems likely that in some cell types, e.g., fibroblasts, the occurrence of late apoptosis is minimal and may have little impact on long term cell survival of the population, but in at least one instance, with a cell line of hematopoietic origin, it appears that late apoptosis can account for all the loss of clonogenicity in irradiated cells. The role of p53 in radiation-induced apoptosis is also discussed, with data presented showing that both p53-dependent and independent pathways for radiation-induced apoptosis exist, depending on the cell type.     

Temporal and spatial dynamics of Tomato spotted wilt virus and its vector in a potato crop in Argentina

The nature of spatial and temporal dynamics of Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and its vector in a potato crop cv. Innovator without insecticide application is analysed. Seed tuber was analysed for the presence of TSWV as a source of initial inoculum. The presence of plants with symptoms of TSWV was evaluated by visual observation and DAS‐ELISA analysis to confirm the virus infection. Thrips species were collected from leaves and inflorescences and identified under stereomicroscope. The distribution of symptomatic plants and thrips species was recorded five times at 14 days intervals. The initial seed tuber infection was of 1.1%. Disease incidence was 0% at 29 days after planting (DAP), 0.2% at 43 DAP, 2.2% at 56 DAP, 11.6% at 70 DAP and 14.6% at 84 DAP. The progress of the disease was adequately described by a Logistic model [y = 0.15/(1 + 1205372.93 × exp (?0.22 × DAP))]. Thrips vector species identified as resident in the crop during the whole cycle were Thrips tabaci (n = 423), Frankliniella occidentalis (n = 141) and as occasional species, F. schultzei (n = 34) and F. gemina (n = 5) were found. At 43 and 56 DAP a random distribution pattern was observed and the thrips species found were T. tabaci (n = 188) and F. occidentalis (n = 105). An aggregated pattern was determined at 70 and 84 DAP. Spatial patterns of the disease spread suggest a polycyclic epidemic with TSWV secondary spread in the potato crop. Multiple control measures were deduced from these epidemiological results like virus testing in tubers, removal of external virus infection sources and thrips control.     

云南省农田生态系统碳足迹时空变化及其影响因素

农田碳足迹研究对农田生态系统管理与农业可持续发展具有重要意义,也可表征农田扩展的生态影响程度。利用县域尺度统计数据与空间分析,对云南省农田生态系统近30年的碳足迹的时空演变进行研究。结果表明:1985—2015年期间,云南省农田生态系统碳排放年均增幅为13.9%,化肥施用引起的碳排放贡献率最大,为56%,2015年的化肥单位面积碳排放达到331.6kg/hm2。云南省农田生态系统碳吸收年均增幅为3.04%,稻谷的碳吸收比例最大,为41%,然而,玉米的碳吸收的增幅最大,为8.76%。云南省农田生态系统存在碳生态盈余,且碳足迹总体呈现增长趋势,年均增长率为16.8%,单位面积碳足迹随年份增加不断增长。从空间上看,云南省农田生态系统碳排放、碳吸收在空间上均呈东南高、西北低的分布格局,而碳足迹在空间上呈现东西部高、中部低的分布格局,三者的空间差异和变化幅度差异都较大。     

Temporal and spatial variation characteristics of China shrubland net primary production and its response to climate change from 2001 to 2013

Aims Net primary production (NPP) is the input to terrestrial ecosystem carbon pool. Climate and land use change affect NPP significantly. Shrublands occupy more than 20% of the terrestrial area of China, and their NPP is comparable to those of the forests. Our objective was to estimate China shrubland NPP from 2001 to 2013, and to analyze its variation and response to climate change.Methods We used a Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model to estimate the NPP of six shrubland types in China from 2001 to 2013. Furthermore, we used Theil-Sen slope combined with Mann-kendall test to analyze its spatial variation and a linear regression of one-variable model to analyze its inter- and intra-annual variation. Finally, a multi-factor linear regression model was used to analyze its response to climate change.Important findings We found the annual mean NPP of China shrubland was 281.82 g•m^-2•a^-1. The subtropical evergreen shrubland has the maximum NPP of 420.47 g•m^-2•a^-1, while the high cold desert shrubland has the minimum NPP of 52.65 g•m^-2•a^-1. The countrywide shrublands NPP increased at the rate of 1.23 g•m^-2•a^-1, the relative change rate was 5.99%. The temperate deciduous shrubland NPP increased the fastest with a speed of 3.05 g•m^-2•a^-1 and subalpine evergreen shrubland had a decreasing trend with a speed of -0.73 g•m^-2•a^-1. Moreover, the other four shrublands NPP had a growing trend, only subalpine deciduous shrubland NPP did not change significantly. The response of NPP to climate change of different seasons varies to different shrubland types. In general, the NPP variation was mainly affected by precipitation, and the spring warming also contributed to it. The increase of countrywide shrubland NPP may promote its contribution to the regional ecosystem function.     

黑河流域植被水分利用效率时空分异及其对降水和气温的响应

植被水分利用效率(WUE)是衡量植被生态系统碳水耦合关系的重要指标,研究其时空分异特征对区域水资源合理利用及配置有重要意义。基于改进的光能利用率模型CASA,模拟估算了黑河流域2000—2013年植被净初级生产力(NPP),结合ETWatch模型估算的黑河流域2000—2013年蒸散数据ET,进一步估算了黑河流域植被水分利用效率WUE。分析了黑河流域NPP、ET和WUE空间格局和时间变化特征,探讨了WUE变化对降水和气温的相关性。结果表明:1)黑河流域空间上植被NPP在2000—2013年多年平均值为81.05 gC m^-2 a^-1,ET平均值为133.38 mm,植被WUE平均值为0.448 gC mm^-1 m^-2。植被NPP、ET与WUE的空间格局基本上类似,均呈现出自上游至下游逐渐减少的分布格局。2)黑河流域2000—2013年间植被平均NPP与平均WUE均呈现显著上升趋势(P<0.05),而ET平均值变化不显著。WUE年际变化斜率与其平均值在空间分布上存在一定的对应关系,空间上植被WU...     

Temporal and spatial dynamics of a parapatric boundary between two Australian reptile ticks

Two tick species Aponomma hydrosauri and Amblyomma limbatum that infest large reptiles have an abrupt parapatric boundary near Mt Mary in South Australia. A previous model has suggested that the boundary is maintained at population density troughs resulting from habitat heterogeneity along a gradual environmental gradient. This paper describes the dynamics of the boundary on three transects over 17 years, 1982-98. Over the last seven years of that period there has been a significant increase in rainfall. At the same time, the boundary position has moved 1-2 km on the transects, with the more mesic adapted Ap. hydrosauri advancing into the distribution of the more xeric adapted Amb. limbatum. Also over the same time the density of ticks on lizards in regions flanking the boundary zone has increased for Ap. hydrosauri and decreased for Amb. limbatum. These results suggest that the environmental gradient has been altered, perhaps by increased rainfall, to favour Ap. hydrosauri, which has been able to colonize more successfully across the density troughs and extend its distribution.     

Microsatellite variability in grapevine cultivars from different European regions and evaluation of assignment testing to assess the geographic origin of cultivars

Nine microsatellite markers (VVMD5, VVMD7, VVS2, ssrVrZAG21, ssrVrZAG47, ssrVrZAG62, ssrVrZAG64, ssrVrZAG79 and ssrVrZAG83) were chosen for the analysis of marker information content, the genetic structure of grapevine cultivar gene pools, and differentiation among grapevines sampled from seven European vine-growing regions (Greece, Croatia, North Italy, Austria and Germany, France, Spain and Portugal). The markers were found to be highly informative in all cultivar groups and therefore constitute a useful set for the genetic characterization of European grapevines. Similar and high levels of genetic variability were detected in all investigated grapevine gene pools. Genetic differentiation among cultivars from different regions was significant, even in the case of adjacent groups such as the Spanish and Portuguese cultivars. No genetic differentiation could be detected between vines with blue and white grapes, indicating that they have undergone the processes of cultivar development jointly. The observed genetic differentiation among vine-growing regions suggested that cultivars could possibly be assigned to their regions of origin according to their genotypes. This might allow one to determine the geographical origin of cultivars with an unknown background. The assignment procedure proved to work for cultivars from the higher differentiated regions, as for example from Austria and Portugal. Received: 10 April 1999 / Accepted: 25 May 1999     

云南省植被NDVI时间变化特征及其对干旱的响应

基于云南省74个气象站点的1997—2012年逐日降水资料和逐旬SPOT-NDVI值,利用标准化降水蒸散指数(SPEI)多尺度分析了云南省干旱时间和强度演变与NDVI时间动态特征及其相关性分析,进而探讨气候变化对植被的影响。结果表明,1999—2013年云南省年平均NDVI值和年最大NDVI值均呈现波浪式的发展趋势,其趋势线斜率分别为0.0017和0.0011;NDVI年内各月变化情况大体上相同;不同季节NDVI的年际变化特征呈现出显著差异。1997—2012年不同时间尺度SPEI均体现出干旱化加剧的趋势,并随SPEI的时间尺度增大而增大;3个月尺度的SPEI值(SPEI3)结果表明,各月的变化呈现先增大后减小的趋势;SPEI3反映出多年季节水平的干旱强度为:冬季秋季春季夏季。总体上,云南省的年均NDVI与SPEI的相关性极弱,年最大NDVI与SPEI呈正相关;多年月均NDVI与不同尺度SPEI的相关性较强且存在滞后性;不同季节NDVI与SPEI的相关性及滞后性有较大差异,其中冬季NDVI、秋季NDVI与其当年当季SPEI的负相关性较强。