The use of compensatory base change analysis of ITS2 as a tool in the phylogeny of Mucorales, illustrated by the Mucor circinelloides complex

Compensatory base changes (CBCs) in helix II of rDNA ITS2, suggested as a molecular classifier for fungi, were analyzed in Mucor circinelloides and its varieties. Only a few CBCs were found in the complex. Three out of the four accepted formae (f. circinelloides, f. lusitanicus, f. janssenii) did not exhibit CBCs. One CBC was found between strains that form zygospores; consequently, CBC is not always concordant with mating experiments. Strains with two CBC are unable to breed. It is suggested that some strains of the M. circinelloides complex are at the beginning of speciation.     

Can Body Condition and Somatic Indices be Used to Evaluate Metal-Induced Stress in Wild Small Mammals?

Wildlife is exposed to natural (e.g., food availability and quality, parasitism) and anthropogenic stressors (e.g., habitat fragmentation, toxicants). Individual variables (e.g., age, gender) affect behaviour and physiology of animals. Together, these parameters can create both great inter-individual variations in health indicators and interpretation difficulties. We investigated the relevance of body condition and somatic indices (liver, kidneys) as indicators of health status in wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus, n = 560) captured along a metal pollution gradient in four landscape types (30 sampling squares 500-m sided). The indices were calculated using a recently proposed standard major axis regression instead of an ordinary least square regression. After considering age and gender for the body condition index, no landscape type influence was detected in the indices. However, important index variability was observed between sampling squares; this effect was included as a random effect in linear models. After integrating all individual and environmental variables that may affect the indices, cadmium (Cd) concentrations in both the liver and kidneys were negatively related to body condition and liver indices only for individuals from highly contaminated sites. Lead in the liver was negatively related to the liver index, and Cd in kidneys was positively linked to the kidney index, potentially suggesting metal-induced stress. However, interpretation of these indices as a wildlife ecotoxicology tool should be performed with caution due to the sensitivity of potentially confounding variables (e.g., individual factors and environmental parameters).     

Non-covalent interactions – QTAIM and NBO analysis

MP2(full)/6-311++G(3df,3pd) calculations were carried out on complexes linked through various non-covalent Lewis acid – Lewis base interactions. These are: hydrogen bond, dihydrogen bond, hydride bond and halogen bond. The quantum theory of ´atoms in molecules´ (QTAIM) as well as the natural bond orbitals (NBO) method were applied to analyze properties of these interactions. It was found that for the A-H…B hydrogen bond as well as for the A-X…B halogen bond (X designates halogen) the complex formation leads to the increase of s-character in the A-atom hybrid orbital aimed toward the H or X atom. In opposite, for the A…H-B hydride bond, where the H-atom possesses negative charge, the decrease of s-character in the B-atom orbital is observed. All these changes connected with the redistribution of the electron charge being the effect of the complex formation are in line with Bent´s rule. The numerous correlations between energetic, geometrical, NBO and QTAIM parameters were also found.

Monte carlo study of the percolation in two-dimensional polymer systems

The structure of a two-dimensional film formed by adsorbed polymer chains was studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The polymer chains were represented by linear sequences of lattice beads and positions of these beads were restricted to vertices of a two-dimensional square lattice. Two different Monte Carlo methods were employed to determine the properties of the model system. The first was the random sequential adsorption (RSA) and the second one was based on Monte Carlo simulations with a Verdier-Stockmayer sampling algorithm. The methodology concerning the determination of the percolation thresholds for an infinite chain system was discussed. The influence of the chain length on both thresholds was presented and discussed. It was shown that the RSA method gave considerably lower thresholds for longer chains. This behavior can be explained by a different pool of chain conformations used in the calculations in both methods under consideration.