北京城市公园常见乔木土壤真菌群落特征及影响因素

快速城市化引起的城市环境污染问题日趋严重,由城市中心到城郊往往呈规律性递变趋势。北京城市公园作为城市绿地主体,不仅是城市居民重要的休闲游憩场所,也能在一定程度上反应环境污染,如土壤重金属污染的作用规律。以北京市这一典型大城市为研究区域,根据不同城市公园的建成时间、所处位置和距离市中心的远近选择六个公园作为研究样点,选取公园常见6种乔木下土壤,通过对土壤重金属含量、土壤理化性质以及土壤真菌群落测定和测序,旨在探讨城市公园植被下土壤真菌群落特征（多样性和群落结构组成）以及影响因素。研究结果表明：北京城市公园乔木下的土壤真菌群落多样性、群落组成以及优势类群受到土壤pH值、土壤养分和水分以及重金属铅的调控。其中公园土壤重金属铅含量增加会降低土壤真菌多样性、显著影响优势类群子囊真菌（占真菌群落73%）以及土壤真菌功能类群病原真菌群落组成。研究揭示了北京城市公园土壤真菌群落特征及调控因素,特别是重金属铅对土壤真菌群落的影响,这对提高城市公园科学管理和环境健康具有积极的应用价值。     

Global Stability of Enzymatic Chains of Full Reversible Michaelis-Menten Reactions

We consider a chain of metabolic reactions catalyzed by enzymes, of reversible Michaelis-Menten type with full dynamics, i.e. not reduced with any quasi-steady state approximations. We study the corresponding dynamical system and show its global stability if the equilibrium exists. If the system is open, the equilibrium may not exist. The main tool is monotone systems theory. Finally we study the implications of these results for the study of coupled genetic-metabolic systems.     

Coxsackievirus preferentially replicates and induces cytopathic effects in undifferentiated neural progenitor cells

Enteroviruses, including coxsackieviruses, exhibit significant tropism for the central nervous system, and these viruses are commonly associated with viral meningitis and encephalitis. Previously, we described the ability of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) to infect proliferating neuronal progenitor cells located in the neonatal subventricular zone and persist in the adult murine central nervous system (CNS). Here, we demonstrate that cultured murine neurospheres, which comprise neural stem cells and their progeny at different stages of development, were highly susceptible to CVB3 infection. Neurospheres, or neural progenitor and stem cells (NPSCs), isolated from neonatal C57BL/6 mice, supported high levels of infectious virus production and high viral protein expression levels following infection with a recombinant CVB3 expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) protein. Similarly, NPSCs isolated from neonatal actin-promoter-GFP transgenic mice (actin-GFP NPSCs) were highly susceptible to infection with a recombinant CVB3 expressing DsRed (Discosoma sp. red fluorescent protein). Both nestin-positive and NG2(+) progenitor cells within neurospheres were shown to preferentially express high levels of viral protein as soon as 24 h postinfection (p.i.). By day 3 p.i., viral protein expression and viral titers increased dramatically in NPSCs with resultant cytopathic effects (CPE) and eventual cell death. In contrast, reduced viral replication, lower levels of CPE, and diminished viral protein expression levels were observed in NPSCs differentiated for 5 or 16 days in the presence of fetal bovine serum (FBS). Despite the presence of CPE and high levels of cell death following early CVB3 infection, surviving neurospheres were readily observed and continued to express detectable levels of viral protein as long as 37 days after initial infection. Also, CVB3 infection of actin-GFP NPSCs increased the percentage of cells expressing neuronal class III β-tubulin following their differentiation in the presence of FBS. These results suggest that neural stem cells may be preferentially targeted by CVB3 and that neurogenic regions of the CNS may support persistent viral replication in the surviving host. In addition, normal progenitor cell differentiation may be altered in the host following infection.     

Soil microbial responses to warming and increased precipitation and their implications for ecosystem C cycling

A better understanding of soil microbial ecology is critical to gaining an understanding of terrestrial carbon (C) cycle–climate change feedbacks. However, current knowledge limits our ability to predict microbial community dynamics in the face of multiple global change drivers and their implications for respiratory loss of soil carbon. Whether microorganisms will acclimate to climate warming and ameliorate predicted respiratory C losses is still debated. It also remains unclear how precipitation, another important climate change driver, will interact with warming to affect microorganisms and their regulation of respiratory C loss. We explore the dynamics of microorganisms and their contributions to respiratory C loss using a 4-year (2006–2009) field experiment in a semi-arid grassland with increased temperature and precipitation in a full factorial design. We found no response of mass-specific (per unit microbial biomass C) heterotrophic respiration to warming, suggesting that respiratory C loss is directly from microbial growth rather than total physiological respiratory responses to warming. Increased precipitation did stimulate both microbial biomass and mass-specific respiration, both of which make large contributions to respiratory loss of soil carbon. Taken together, these results suggest that, in semi-arid grasslands, soil moisture and related substrate availability may inhibit physiological respiratory responses to warming (where soil moisture was significantly lower), while they are not inhibited under elevated precipitation. Although we found no total physiological response to warming, warming increased bacterial C utilization (measured by BIOLOG EcoPlates) and increased bacterial oxidation of carbohydrates and phenols. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis as well as ANOVA testing showed that warming or increased precipitation did not change microbial community structure, which could suggest that microbial communities in semi-arid grasslands are already adapted to fluctuating climatic conditions. In summary, our results support the idea that microbial responses to climate change are multifaceted and, even with no large shifts in community structure, microbial mediation of soil carbon loss could still occur under future climate scenarios.