Generation and Analysis of ESTs from the Grass Carp,Ctenopharyngodon idellus

Grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idellus (Valenciennes, 1844), is an economically important species widely cultured in the world, but its genome research resources are largely lacking. The objectives of this study were to construct normalized cDNA libraries for efficient EST analysis, to generate ESTs from these libraries, and to identify EST-related molecular markers such as microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for genetic analysis of this species. A total of 6,269 ESTs were generated representing 4,815 unique sequences, from which 105 putative microsatellites and 5,228 SNPs were identified. These genome resources provide the material basis for future genetic and functional analyses in this species.     

Common and rare species respond to similar niche processes in macroinvertebrate metacommunities

Ecologists have long investigated why communities are composed of a few common species and many rare species. Most studies relate rarity to either niche differentiation among species or spatial processes. There is a parallel between these processes and the processes proposed to explain the structure of metacommunities. Based on a metacommunity perspective and on data on stream macroinvertebrates from different regions of Brazil, we answer two questions. 1) Are sets of common and rare species affected by similar niche and spatial processes? 2) How does the community composition of common and of rare species differ? The main hypothesis we test is that common species are mainly affected by environmental factors, whereas rare species are mostly influenced by dispersal limitation. We used variation partitioning to determine the proportion of variation explained by the environment and space in common and rare species matrices. Contrary to our expectations, evidence supported the idea that both common and rare species are affected mainly by environmental factors, even after controlling for the differing information content between common and rare species matrices. Moreover, the abundance of some common species is also a good predictor of variation in rare species matrices. Niche differences are unlikely to be the sole cause of patterns of rarity in these metacommunities. We suggest that sets of common and rare species react to similar major environmental gradients and that rare species also respond to processes that operate at a more fine‐grained spatial scale, particularly biotic interactions. We extend the view that species sorting is the dominant process structuring metacommunities and argue that future studies focusing on rarity would benefit from a metacommunity perspective.     

cⅠ857基因的体外定位同义突变

 ｃⅠ８５７基因的体外定位同义突变陈南春,高辉,陈苏民,杨萍,刘新平（西安第四军医大学分子生物学研究所,西安７１００３２）外源基因要在大肠杆菌中获得高表达,需要合适的ＳＤ序列和可调控的强启动子［１］。ＰＬ启动子在原核启动子中属强启动子,它受ｃⅠ基因产物...     

Ubiquitin‐specific protease‐like 1 (USPL1) is a SUMO isopeptidase with essential,non‐catalytic functions

Isopeptidases are essential regulators of protein ubiquitination and sumoylation. However, only two families of SUMO isopeptidases are at present known. Here, we report an activity‐based search with the suicide inhibitor haemagglutinin (HA)‐SUMO‐vinylmethylester that led to the identification of a surprising new SUMO protease, ubiquitin‐specific protease‐like 1 (USPL1). Indeed, USPL1 neither binds nor cleaves ubiquitin, but is a potent SUMO isopeptidase both in vitro and in cells. C13orf22l—an essential but distant zebrafish homologue of USPL1—also acts on SUMO, indicating functional conservation. We have identified invariant USPL1 residues required for SUMO binding and cleavage. USPL1 is a low‐abundance protein that colocalizes with coilin in Cajal bodies. Its depletion does not affect global sumoylation, but causes striking coilin mislocalization and impairs cell proliferation, functions that are not dependent on USPL1 catalytic activity. Thus, USPL1 represents a third type of SUMO protease, with essential functions in Cajal body biology.     

Biological soil crusts in ecological restoration: emerging research and perspectives

Drylands encompass over 40% of terrestrial ecosystems and face significant anthropogenic degradation causing a loss of ecosystem integrity, services, and deterioration of social‐ecological systems. To combat this degradation, some dryland restoration efforts have focused on the use of biological soil crusts (biocrusts): complex communities of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, bryophytes, and other organisms living in association with the top millimeters of soil. Biocrusts are common in many ecosystems and especially drylands. They perform a suite of ecosystem functions: stabilizing soil surfaces to prevent erosion, contributing carbon through photosynthesis, fixing nitrogen, and mediating the hydrological cycle in drylands. Biocrusts have emerged as a potential tool in restoration; developing methods to implement effective biocrust restoration has the potential to return many ecosystem functions and services. Although culture‐based approaches have allowed researchers to learn about the biology, physiology, and cultivation of biocrusts, transferring this knowledge to field implementation has been more challenging. A large amount of research has amassed to improve our understanding of biocrust restoration, leaving us at an opportune time to learn from one another and to join approaches for maximum efficacy. The articles in this special issue improve the state of our current knowledge in biocrust restoration, highlighting efforts to effectively restore biocrusts through a variety of different ecosystems, across scales and utilizing a variety of lab and field methods. This collective work provides a useful resource for the scientific community as well as land managers.     

Non‐dormant Axillary Bud 1 regulates axillary bud outgrowth in sorghum

Tillering contributes to grain yield and plant architecture and therefore is an agronomically important trait in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). Here, we identified and functionally characterized a mutant of the Non‐dormant Axillary Bud 1 (NAB1) gene from an ethyl methanesulfonate‐mutagenized sorghum population. The nab1 mutants have increased tillering and reduced plant height. Map‐based cloning revealed that NAB1 encodes a carotenoid‐cleavage dioxygenase 7 (CCD7) orthologous to rice (Oryza sativa) HIGH‐TILLERING DWARF1/DWARF17 and Arabidopsis thaliana MORE AXILLARY BRANCHING 3. NAB1 is primarily expressed in axillary nodes and tiller bases and NAB1 localizes to chloroplasts. The nab1 mutation causes outgrowth of basal axillary buds; removing these non‐dormant basal axillary buds restored the wild‐type phenotype. The tillering of nab1 plants was completely suppressed by exogenous application of the synthetic strigolactone analog GR24. Moreover, the nab1 plants had no detectable strigolactones and displayed stronger polar auxin transport than wild‐type plants. Finally, RNA‐seq showed that the expression of genes involved in multiple processes, including auxin‐related genes, was significantly altered in nab1. These results suggest that NAB1 functions in strigolactone biosynthesis and the regulation of shoot branching via an interaction with auxin transport.     

StructureSelector: A web‐based software to select and visualize the optimal number of clusters using multiple methods

Inferences of population genetic structure are of great importance to the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. The program structure has been widely used to infer population genetic structure. However, previous studies demonstrated that uneven sampling often leads to wrong inferences on hierarchical structure. The most widely used ΔK method tends to identify the uppermost hierarchy of population structure. Recently, four alternative statistics (medmedk , medmeak , maxmedk and maxmeak ) were proposed, which appear to be more accurate than the previously used methods for both even and uneven sampling data. However, the lack of easy‐to‐use software limits the use of these appealing new estimators. Here, we developed a web‐based user‐friendly software structureselector to calculate the four appealing alternative statistics together with the commonly used Ln Pr(X|K) and ΔK statistics. structureselector accepts the result files of structure , admixture or faststructure as input files. It reports the “best” K for each estimator, and the results are available as HTML or tab separated tables. The program can also generate graphical representations for specific K, which can be easily downloaded from the server. The software is freely available at http://lmme.qdio.ac.cn/StructureSelector/ .     

Flexible Solar Thermal Fuel Devices: Composites of Fabric and a Photoliquefiable Azobenzene Derivative

Controllable storage and release of solar energy has always been a highlighted scientific issue for its benefit of mankind. Solar thermal fuels (STFs) supply a closed cycle and renewable energy‐storage strategy by transforming solar energy into chemical energy stored in the conformation of molecular isomers, such as cis/trans‐azobenzene, and releasing it as heat under various stimuli. Although the potential high energy density of the STFs which are based on the hybrids of azobenzene derivatives and carbon nanomaterials has been reported the solvent‐assistant charging hinders their practicability. In this study, a solid‐state STF device is designed and fabricated by compositing one photoliquefiable azobenzene (PLAZ) derivative with a flexible fabric template. The photoinduced phase transition of the PLAZ derivative enables the charging of the flexible STFs to be totally solvent‐free. Interestingly, the energy‐storage capacity (energy density ≈201 J g^?1) of flexible PLAZ STFs has been improved by the soft fabric template. The exothermic situation is monitored with one infrared camera, which shows 4 °C temperature difference between charged and discharged samples under blue light stimulus. The flexible STFs are may be used in practice as heating equipment.