Methods for comparison of biotic regionalizations: the case of pteridophytes in the Iberian Peninsula

We made several regionalizations of the Iberian Peninsula based on the distributions of the pteridophyte flora to see whether the regionalization depended on the type and scale of lattice or the similarity index considered. We used five types of lattice in which the scale also varied: river basins, mountains and plains, natural regions, physiographic and geological regions, and administrative provinces; and two similarity indices: those of Jaccard and of Baroni-Urbani and Buser. The regionalizations varied according to the type of lattice, the grain size, and the similarity index used. To assess the different regionalizations we used four methods: 1) the coefficient of variation of the size of sites in each lattice. 2) the bestblock method, which considers as the hest lattice that which maximizes the number of matches between presences over all pairwise site comparisons. 3) the Mantel test, to assess the statistical significance of the regionalizations obtained, and 4) mapability, which considers the most contiguous regionalization to be the best. The best regionalization according to our four criteria was that based on administrative provinces and Jaccard's index. This yielded a small central region and three large regions: northern, western, and eastern.     

GObar: A Gene Ontology based analysis and visualization tool for gene sets

Background  

Microarray experiments, as well as other genomic analyses, often result in large gene sets containing up to several hundred genes. The biological significance of such sets of genes is, usually, not readily apparent.     

Cis-analysis of a seed protein gene promoter: the conservative RY repeat CATGCATG within the legumin box is essential for tissue-specific expression of a legumin gene

A 2.4 kb fragment containing the 5'-flanking region and the 5'-noncoding sequence of the Vicia faba legumin gene LeB4 mediates high level seed-specific expression in transgenic tobacco plants. Deleted derivatives of this legumin upstream sequence were fused to the npt-II reporter gene to determine the tissue-specific activity of the chimeric constructs in stably transformed tobacco plants. The results indicate the presence of positive regulatory, enhancer-like cis elements within 566 bp of the upstream sequence. Most importantly, however, these elements are only fully functional in conjunction with the core motif CATGCATG of the legumin box around position -95, since destruction of the motif by a 6 bp deletion in an otherwise intact 2.4 kb upstream sequence drastically reduces expression in seeds. At the same time, low level expression in leaves is observed. The occurrence of similar CATGCATG consensus cis elements with alternating purine and pyrimidine base pairs in front of several other plant genes suggests a functional role of the motif in a wider range of plant promoters.     

Effect of seven species of the family Asteraceae on longevity and nutrient levels of Episyrphus balteatus

Adult hoverflies feed on pollen, nectar and honeydews. Thus, the implementation of floristically diverse resources in agroecosystems can enhance biological control of pests by increasing populations of these natural enemies. The objective of this work was to study the effect of seven species of Asteraceae (Andryala integrifolia L., Anthemis arvensis L., Calendula arvensis L., Carduus tenuiflorus Curtis, Chamaemelum nobile (L.) All., Coleostephus myconis (L.) Rchb.f. and Crepis vesicaria L.) on adult longevity and nutrient levels of Episyrphus balteatus (De Geer) (Diptera: Syrphidae). Crepis vesicaria and C. nobile gave the highest mean longevities while, for the other plant species, longevities were not significantly different from those in the water only treatment. In addition, all species tested resulted in significantly lower longevities than the positive control (glucose). In terms of nutrient levels, C. nobile generated high levels of total sugars and C. vesicaria high levels of lipids which suggests the consumption of flower resources. However, the majority of the plants tested would not allow hoverflies to complete their life cycle. Thus, further experimentation needs to be done before considering these plants for implementation in agroecosystems.     

The role of fish-poultry integration on fish growth performance,yields and economic benefits among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa,Tanzania

Aquaculture practices from sub-Saharan Africa are characterised by low production, owing to improper technology. Production can be increased through integrating fish farming with other existing on-farm activities, particularly livestock husbandry. We assessed the role of fish-poultry integration on all male Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus growth performance, yields and economic benefits among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania. The study also compared phytoplankton species composition, abundance and biomass between the fish-poultry integration and non-integrated system. After 180 days of the experiment, all male O. niloticus cultured under fish-poultry integration exhibited significantly higher growth rates than those in the non-integrated system (p < 0.05). Gross fish yield (GFY), net fish yield (NFY) and net annual yields (NAY) obtained from fish-poultry integration were significantly higher than those from non-integrated system (p < 0.05). Partial enterprise budget analysis revealed that fish-poultry integration was more profitable than the non-integrated system. Moreover, fish-poultry integrated system produced significantly higher phytoplankton abundance and biomass than those from the non-integrated system. Results demonstrate that rural smallholder farmers can achieve higher growth rate, farm net yields and income by integrating all male O. niloticus with other on-farm activities than practising a stand-alone fish culture system.     

Dihydroisocoumarins and phthalide from wood samples infested by fungi

Wood samples, infested by fungi during storage, were shown to contain, besides the known 5-methyl-mellein, additional (3R)-8-hydroxy-3-methyl-3,4-dihydroisocoumarins substituted by 7-methyl, 5-formyl, 5-carboxy, 5-hydroxy, 5-methoxy, 6-methoxy-5-methyl and 6,7-dimethoxy-5-methyl groups, as well as 6-formyl-7-hydroxy-5-methoxy-4-methylphthalide. Several 2-methylchromanones were synthesized in order to show that this class of compounds can be distinguished from 3-methyl-3,4-dihydroisocoumarins by MS.     

Action of ferric and aluminium ions on the dormancy breakage of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Stylosanthes humilis</Emphasis> seeds

Dormancy of scarified seeds of Stylosanthes humilis was broken by acidic Al³⁺ and Fe³⁺ solutions. Fe⁺³-stimulated seeds exhibited a high activity of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) oxidase and produced great amounts of ethylene, which showed correlated with the germination process. In addition, specific inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis and action largely depressed the Fe³⁺-stimulated germination, leading to the conclusion that the ion broke dormancy by triggering ethylene production by the seeds. By contrast, inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis and action did not impair germination of Al³⁺-stimulated dormant seeds. Moreover, ethylene production and activity of ACC oxidase of Al³⁺-treated seeds was substantially decreased by inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis, but germination kept large. Together these data suggest that ethylene biosynthesis was not required in the chain of events triggered by Al³⁺ leading to dormancy breakage. Methyl viologen (MV), a reactive oxygen species-generating compound, broke dormancy of seeds to the same extent as Al³⁺ did. Germination of both Al³⁺- and MV-stimulated dormant seeds was inhibited by sodium selenate, an antioxidant compound; selenate, however had no effect on germination of Fe³⁺-stimulated seeds. Together these data indicate that the mechanisms underlying the germination of Al³⁺- and Fe³⁺-treated seeds are not the same.     

Pancreastatin activates pertussis toxin-sensitive guanylate cyclase and pertussis toxin-insensitive phospholipase C in rat liver membranes

We have recently found the calcium dependent glycogenolytic effect of pancreastatin on rat hepatocytes and the mobilization of intracellular calcium. To further investigate the mechanism of action of pancreastatin on liver we have studied its effect on guanylate cyclase, adenylate cyclase, and phospholipase C, and we have explored the possible involvement of GTP binding proteins by measuring GTPase activity as well as the effect of pertussis toxin treatment of plasma liver membranes on the pancreastatin stimulated GTPase activity and the production of cyclic GMP and myo-inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate. Pancreastatin stimulated GTPase activity of rat liver membranes about 25% over basal. The concentration dependency curve showed that maximal stimulation was achieved at 10^?7 M pancreastatin (EC₅₀ = 3 nM). This stimulation was partially inhibited by treatment of the membranes with pertussis toxin. The effect of pancreastatin on guanylate cyclase and phospholipase C were examined by measuring the production of cyclic GMP and myo-inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate respectively. Pancreastatin increased the basal activity of guanylate cyclase to a maximum of 2.5-fold the unstimulated activity at 30°C, in a time- and dose-dependent manner, reaching the maximal stimulation above control with 10^?7 M pancreastatin at 10 min (EC₅₀ = 0.6 nM). This effect was completely abolished when rat liver membranes had been ADP-ribosylated with pertussis toxin. On the other hand, adenylate cyclase activity was not affected by pancreastatin. Phospholipase C activity of rat liver membranes was rapidly stimulated (within 2–5 min) at 30°C by 10^?7 M pancreastatin, reaching a maximum at 15 min. The dose response curve showed that with 10^?7 M pancreastatin, maximal stimulation was obtained (EC₅₀ = 3 nM). GTP (10^?5 M) stimulated the membrane-bound phospholipase C as expected. However, the incubation of rat liver membranes with GTP partially inhibited the stimulation of phospholipase C activity produced by pancreastatin, whereas GTP enhanced the activation of phospholipase C by vasopressin. This inhibition by GTP was dose dependent and 10^?5 M GTP obtained the maximal inhibition (about 40%). the inhibitory effect of GTP on the stimulatory effect of pancreastatin on phospholipase C activity was completely abolished when rat liver membranes had previously been ADP-ribosylated with pertussis toxin. The presence of 8-Br-cGMP mimics the effect of GTP, whereas GMP-PNP increased both basal and pancreastatin-stimulated phospholipase C, suggesting a role of the cyclic GMP as a feed-back regulator of the synthesis of myo-inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate. However, the pretreatment of membranes with pertussis toxin did not modify the production of myo-Inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate stimulated by pancreastatin. In conclusion, pancreastatin activates guanylate cyclase activity and phospholipase C involving different pathways, pertussis toxin-sensitive, and -insensitive, respectively. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Insecticidal and Repellent Activity of Siparuna guianensis Aubl. (Negramina) against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus

This study investigated the toxic effects of essential oils isolated from Siparuna guianensis against Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus (eggs, larvae, pupae, and adult) and Aedes albopictus (C6/36) cells. The oviposition-deterring activity, egg viability, and repellence activity in the presence of different essential oils concentrations were determined. The essential oils showed high toxicity to all developmental stages of A. aegypti and C. quinquefasciatus. Furthermore, the oils also showed high repellent activity towards the adult stage of mosquitoes (0.025 to 0.550 μg/cm2 skin conferred 100% repellence up to 120 min) and in contact with cultured insect cells (C6/36) induced death possibly by necrosis. The results presented in this work show the potential of S. guianensis essential oils for the development of an alternative and effective method for the natural control of mosquitoes in homes and urban areas.