Variation of morphological and leaf stoichiometric traits of two endemic species along the elevation gradient of Mount Kenya,East Africa

环境能一定程度上影响和改变植物的形态结构和生理生化。本文旨在拟研究热带东非高山不同海拔梯度下两 种代表植物Dendrosenecio keniensis和Lobelia gregoriana的形态结构和生理生化的变化。我们沿海拔梯度在海拔3500 m至4300 m的范围内 建立了90个10 m × 10 m的样方,使用1 km × 1 km网格单元在ArcGis 10.5 中栅格化研究区域并获取每个样方的气候数据,包括年平均气温、 年平均降水量、年总辐射量、水汽压,同时获取了每个样方的地形变量,包括坡向、坡度和阴影等。我们收集了每个样方两种植物的形态性状,包括株高、叶面积、叶厚、叶干重、比叶面积,以及叶化学计量性状,包括氮、碳、磷的含量,同时收集了样方的土壤有机碳、 土壤全氮、土壤有机氮和土壤磷数据。我们将海拔高度设为解释变量,对两种植物的形态性状和叶片化学计量性状进行线性回归分析,同时,在海拔梯度上对叶片形态和化学计量性状与气候、土壤和地形变量进行了相关分析。我们的研究发现,D. keniensis 有羊毛状的短柔毛叶, 而L. gregoriana则有粘液填充的肉质和蜡质的角质层叶子,以避免冻害。这两个物种都呈现出了降低的代谢率,表现在叶片磷含量较低。我 们的研究结果还表明,形态和叶片化学计量的变化是由气候、土壤和地形变量共同决定的,这些变量随肯尼亚山海拔的变化而变 化。我们推测,沿海拔梯度两种植物的形态和叶片化学计量性状的变异是对恶劣环境条件的适应。     

Replication Stress-Induced Genome Instability: The Dark Side of Replication Maintenance by Homologous Recombination

Homologous recombination (HR) is an evolutionary-conserved mechanism involved in a subtle balance between genome stability and diversity. HR is a faithful DNA repair pathway and has been largely characterized in the context of double-strand break (DSB) repair. Recently, multiple functions for the HR machinery have been identified at arrested forks. These are evident across different organisms and include replication fork-stabilization and fork-restart functions. Interestingly, a DSB appears not to be a prerequisite for HR-mediated replication maintenance. HR has the ability to rebuild a replisome at inactivated forks, but perhaps surprisingly, the resulting replisome is liable to intrastrand and interstrand switches leading to replication errors. Here, we review our current understanding of the replication maintenance function of HR. The error proneness of these pathways leads us to suggest that the origin of replication-associated genome instability should be re-evaluated.     

Synchrotron µXRF imaging of live seedlings of Berkheya coddii and Odontarrhena muralis during germination and seedling growth

Plant and Soil - Nickel hyperaccumulator plants require highly evolved mechanisms to avoid cellular-level toxicity to cope with the high prevailing concentrations of nickel in their seeds and...     

A frequency difference in optical-density oscillations of early Dictyostelium discoideum density classes and its implications for development

Abstract. This paper describes the separation of preaggregation-stage Dictyostelium discoideum cells into various density classes on preformed, linear Percoll density gradients and reports the finding of frequency differences in the cyclic-AMP (cAMP) oscillatory signalling system of different density classes. The cAMP oscillations were measured via their associated optical-density oscillations using a device constructed to measure cell agglutination via light-scattering changes and capable of handling 24 samples simultaneously. We found that the least dense cells oscillated at a higher frequency than the most dense cells. Mixtures of fast- and slow-oscillating cell populations synchronized at an intermediate frequency. We propose that the 'tip' is a high-frequency pacemaker which persists throughout development and use these findings to explain how the 'tip', i.e. the anterior end of all multicellular structures, can function as an organizer.     

Influence of transcranial magnetic stimulation on spike-wave discharges in a genetic model of absence epilepsy

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) impulses, (0.5 Hz, 3 impulses) were presented at threshold intensity to male WAG/Rij rats. One group received stimuli, which involved motor responses of hindlimbs, rats of the second group received sham stimulation. Electrocorticograms (ECoG) were recorded before and up to 2 hr from the moment of transcranial magnetic stimulation. It was established that such stimulation engendered a reduction of spike-wave discharge (SWD) bursts duration. This effect was most pronounced in 30 min from the moment of cessation of stimulation, when a decrease of 31.4% was noted in comparison with sham-stimulated control group. The number of bursts of spike-wave discharges was reduced, but did not reach significant difference when compared both with pre-stimulative base-line level and with sham-stimulated control rats. Bursts of spike-wave discharges restored up to pre-stimulative level in 90-150 minutes from the moment of cessation of transcranial stimulation. It can be concluded that transcranical magnetic stimulation possessed an ability to engender short-time suppression of bursts of spike-wave discharges in WAG/Rij rats.     

Cloning and characterization of Thermotoga maritima beta-glucuronidase

The putative beta-glucuronidase from Thermotoga maritima, comprising 563 amino acid residues conjugated with a Hisx6 tag, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The enzyme has a moderately broad specificity, hydrolysing a range of p-nitrophenyl glycoside substrates, but has greatest activity on p-nitrophenyl beta-D-glucosiduronic acid (kcat=68 s(-1), kcat/K(M)= 4.5x10(5) M(-1) s(-1)). The enzyme also shows a relatively broad pH-dependence with activity from pH4.5 to 7.5 and a maximum at pH6.5. As expected the enzyme is stable towards heat denaturation, with a half life of 3h at 85 degrees C, in contrast to the mesophilic E. coli enzyme, which has a half life of 2.6h at 50 degrees C. The identity of the catalytic nucleophile was confirmed as Glu476 within the sequence VTEFGAD by trapping the glycosyl-enzyme intermediate using the mechanism-based inactivator, 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-beta-D-glucosyluronic acid fluoride and identifying the labeled peptide in peptic digests by HPLC-MS/MS methodologies. Consistent with this, the Glu476Ala mutant was shown to be hydrolytically inactive. The acid/base catalyst was confirmed as Glu383 by generation and kinetic analysis of enzyme mutants modified at that position, Glu383Ala and Glu383Gln. The demonstration of activity rescue by azide is consistent with the proposed role for this residue. This enzyme therefore appears suitable for use in enzymatic oligosaccharide synthesis in either the transglycosylation mode or by use of glycosynthase and thioglycoligase approaches.