Five New Guaiane Sesquiterpenes from the Endophytic Fungus Xylaria sp. YM 311647 of Azadirachta indica

Five new guaiane sesquiterpenes, 1 – 5 , were isolated from the culture broth of the endophytic fungus Xylaria sp. YM 311647, isolated from Azadirachta indica A. Juss . The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, and their inhibitory activities against five pathogenic fungi were evaluated. All guaiane sesquiterpenes showed moderate or weak antifungal activities in a broth microdilution assay.     

苯酚降解菌ZJ-1的分离及降解特性研究

目的:筛选苯酚降解菌,用于降解苯酚提高氧化塘处理效率.方法:以苯酚为惟一碳源进行选择性培养.结果:从乌鲁木齐市某炼油厂污水池的活性污泥中分离出一株能以苯酚为惟一碳源培养基上生长的菌株,编号为ZJ-1,该菌株最高可耐受1000mg/L的苯酚.对该苯酚降解菌降解性能研究表明:该菌具有较强的降解能力,在32℃、pH 7左右、接种量1%时,摇床振荡速度120r/min的条件下,该菌株在48h内苯酚降解率可达81%以上.培养液中苯酚浓度在300mg/L、500mg/L时,该菌株的降解率比较明显.当苯酚浓度大于1000mg/L时,则元明显降解效果.结论:ZJ-1菌株对苯酚具有较强的降解能力,具有广阔的应用前景.     

Arabidopsis DEMETER-LIKE proteins DML2 and DML3 are required for appropriate distribution of DNA methylation marks

Cytosine DNA methylation is a stable epigenetic mark for maintenance of gene silencing across cellular divisions, but it is a reversible modification. Genetic and biochemical studies have revealed that the Arabidopsis DNA glycosylase domain-containing proteins ROS1 (REPRESSOR OF SILENCING 1) and DME (DEMETER) initiate erasure of 5-methylcytosine through a base excision repair process. The Arabidopsis genome encodes two paralogs of ROS1 and DME, referred to as DEMETER-LIKE proteins DML2 and DML3. We have found that DML2 and DML3 are 5-methylcytosine DNA glycosylases that are expressed in a wide range of plant organs. We analyzed the distribution of methylation marks at two methylated loci in wild-type and dml mutant plants. Mutations in DML2 and/or DML3 lead to hypermethylation of cytosine residues that are unmethylated or weakly methylated in wild-type plants. In contrast, sites that are heavily methylated in wild-type plants are hypomethylated in mutants. These results suggest that DML2 and DML3 are required not only for removing DNA methylation marks from improperly-methylated cytosines, but also for maintenance of high methylation levels in properly targeted sites.     

Abnormal Pelage Color in an Isolated Population of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Alouatta guariba clamitans</Emphasis> Cabrera, 1940 in South Brazil

We located 4 brown howlers (1 adult male, 2 adult females, and 1 juvenile male) showing abnormally lighter pelage in 3 social groups comprising 5, 6, and 9 individuals in a 20 ha-forest fragment in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Two additional groups composed only of normally colored individuals also live in the fragment, which is isolated from nearby fragments by 267–1009 m. They were the only brown howlers with abnormal pelage color out of a total of 386 individuals belonging to 67 groups in 21 fragments in the 5876-ha study area. The isolation of the forest fragment, its high howler density (2.2 individuals⁄ha), and large group size (8.8 ± 2.4 individuals) may decrease the likelihood of successful immigration into the population, leading to an increased probability of inbreeding that may facilitate the expression of rare alleles.     

Microhabitat selection by tadpoles of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Buergeria japonica</Emphasis> inhabiting the coastal area

Microhabitat selection is particularly important to increase the survival rate and reproductive success of animals inhabiting heterogeneous environments. I investigated microhabitat selection of Buergeria japonica tadpoles inhabiting the stream in a coastal area to reveal how animals select their appropriate habitat under heterogeneous and unstable environments on the subtropical Okinawa Island of Japan. Tadpoles are sensitive to subtle environmental changes, and the mouths of streams in coastal areas that have intense environmental fluctuations such as desiccation and sudden changes in current velocity would be risky habitat for tadpoles. Tadpoles of B. japonica can inhabit both lotic and lentic systems. Field observations showed that, among six physical factors (water depth, water temperature, salinity, pH, current velocity, and substrate), current velocity and water temperature were key factors in microhabitat selection by tadpoles. It is likely that tadpoles stay at low current velocity sites to reduce the probability of being washed out to the sea by a sudden squall and that selection of warmer sites would accelerate development of tadpoles so as to escape the heterogeneous aquatic habitat sooner.     

NaCl、Na_2SO_4和Na_2CO_3胁迫对小麦叶片自由基含量及质膜透性的比较研究

分别用浓度为２５ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ、５０ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ、１００ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ和２００ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ的ＮａＣｌ、Ｎａ２ＳＯ４和Ｎａ２ＣＯ３的营养液培养小麦４ｄ,较之不含盐的营养液,其自由基含量上升,产生速率增加,叶片质膜透性增加。不同盐的影响也不同,在低浓度时,ＮａＣｌ的影响大于Ｎａ２ＳＯ４,高浓度时,ＮａＣｌ影响小于Ｎａ２ＳＯ４,Ｎａ２ＣＯ３的影响最为显著。实验结果也表现出小麦叶片自由基含量和质膜透性呈现较好的相关性。因此可认为,盐胁迫促使自由基含量增加,自由基通过过氧化作用影响质膜透性,从而影响植物的生长。     

Soil Diversity and Land Use in the United States

Soils are dynamic components of terrestrial ecosystems that historically have been viewed as economic resources by government and private interests. The large-scale conversion of many sections of the United States to agriculture and urban land uses, combined with the growing awareness of the role of soils in global biogeochemistry and ecology, ultimately requires an assessment of the remaining distribution of undisturbed soils in the country. Here we conduct the first quantitative analysis of disturbed and undisturbed soil distribution in the USA using a GIS-based approach. We find that a sizable fraction (4.5%) of the nation's soils are in danger of substantial loss, or complete extinction, due to agriculture and urbanization. In the agricultural belt of the country, up to 80% of the soils that were naturally of low abundance are now severely impacted (greater than 50% conversion to agricultural/urban uses). Undisturbed soils provide ecosystem services that warrant their preservation, including a somewhat complex relationship with rare or endangered plants. The known and unknown attributes of undisturbed soils suggests the need for an integrated biogeodiversity perspective in landscape preservation efforts.     

Activity dynamics and propagation of synchronous spiking in locally connected random networks

Random network models have been a popular tool for investigating cortical network dynamics. On the scale of roughly a cubic millimeter of cortex, containing about 100,000 neurons, cortical anatomy suggests a more realistic architecture. In this locally connected random network, the connection probability decreases in a Gaussian fashion with the distance between neurons. Here we present three main results from a simulation study of the activity dynamics in such networks. First, for a broad range of parameters these dynamics exhibit a stationary state of asynchronous network activity with irregular single-neuron spiking. This state can be used as a realistic model of ongoing network activity. Parametric dependence of this state and the nature of the network dynamics in other regimes are described. Second, a synchronous excitatory stimulus to a fraction of the neurons results in a strong activity response that easily dominates the network dynamics. And third, due to that activity response an embedding of a divergent-convergent feed-forward subnetwork (as in synfire chains) does not naturally lead to a stable propagation of synchronous activity in the subnetwork; this is in contrast to our earlier findings in isolated subnetworks of that type. Possible mechanisms for stabilizing the interplay of volleys of synchronous spikes and network dynamics by specific learning rules or generalizations of the subnetworks are discussed.