Three major mesoplanktonic communities resolved by in situ imaging in the upper 500 m of the global ocean

Aim

The distribution of mesoplankton communities has been poorly studied at global scale, especially from in situ instruments. This study aims to (1) describe the global distribution of mesoplankton communities in relation to their environment and (2) assess the ability of various environmental-based ocean regionalizations to explain the distribution of these communities.

Location

Global ocean, 0–500 m depth.

Time Period

2008–2019.

Major Taxa Studied

Twenty-eight groups of large mesoplanktonic and macroplanktonic organisms, covering Metazoa, Rhizaria and Cyanobacteria.

Methods

From a global data set of 2500 vertical profiles making use of the Underwater Vision Profiler 5 (UVP5), an in situ imaging instrument, we studied the global distribution of large (>600 μm) mesoplanktonic organisms. Among the 6.8 million imaged objects, 330,000 were large zooplanktonic organisms and phytoplankton colonies, the rest consisting of marine snow particles. Multivariate ordination (PCA) and clustering were used to describe patterns in community composition, while comparison with existing regionalizations was performed with regression methods (RDA).

Results

Within the observed size range, epipelagic plankton communities were Trichodesmium-enriched in the intertropical Atlantic, Copepoda-enriched at high latitudes and in upwelling areas, and Rhizaria-enriched in oligotrophic areas. In the mesopelagic layer, Copepoda-enriched communities were also found at high latitudes and in the Atlantic Ocean, while Rhizaria-enriched communities prevailed in the Peruvian upwelling system and a few mixed communities were found elsewhere. The comparison between the distribution of these communities and a set of existing regionalizations of the ocean suggested that the structure of plankton communities described above is mostly driven by basin-level environmental conditions.

Main Conclusions

In both layers, three types of plankton communities emerged and seemed to be mostly driven by regional environmental conditions. This work sheds light on the role not only of metazoans, but also of unexpected large protists and cyanobacteria in structuring large mesoplankton communities.     

HPLC-DAD Analysis and Versatile Bioactivities of Turkish Sunflower Honeys Using Chemometric Approaches

Sunflower honey (SH) is bright yellow, fragrant, pollen-flavoured, slightly herbaceous and has a unique taste. The present research aims to examine the enzyme inhibitory, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anti-quorum sensing activities and phenolic compositions of 30 sunflower honeys (SHs) produced from several regions of Turkey with chemometric study. SAH from Samsun exhibited the best antioxidant activity in β-carotene linoleic acid (IC₅₀: 7.33±0.17 mg/mL) and CUPRAC (A_0.50: 4.94±0.13 mg/mL) assays, anti-urease activity (60.63±0.87 %) and anti-inflammatory activity against COX-1 (73.94±1.08 %) and COX-2 (44.96±0.85 %). SHs exhibited mild antimicrobial activity against the test microorganisms while they showed high quorum sensing inhibition zones measured in the range of 42–52 mm against the CV026 strain. The phenolic composition was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) system and levulinic, gallic, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic and p-coumaric acids were identified in all studied SHs. The classification of SHs was performed the using PCA and HCA. This study revealed that phenolic compounds and biological properties are effective in classification of SHs according to their geographical origin. The results suggest that studied SHs could be valued as potential agents with versatile bioactivities in oxidative stress-related disease, microbial infections, inflammation, melanoma, and peptic ulcer.     

粘虫颗粒体病毒的增效因子提高杆状病毒的感染

一株美洲粘虫GV(增效品系)在东方粘虫幼虫上进行增殖,所获粘虫GV(PuGv-Ps>对东方粘虫NPV(PsNPV)、棉铃虫NPV(HaNPV)和黄地老虎NPV(AsNPV)进行增效试验。 实验结果证明PuGV-Ps对三种NPV都有明显的增效作用, 其中以对PsNPV为最强,增效率达55%一85%;对HaNPV为30%-80%;而对AsNPV只有15%-35%。用凝胶过滤技术从PuGV-Ps中分离增效因子PusF-Ps,其对PsNPV和A,NPV的增效作用亦同样明显,250μg的PuSF-Ps可以提高PsNPV的感染能力达80%。经ScPhadcf-150柱(1.6X 90)和使用四种标准蛋白(细胞色素c、胃蛋白酶、牛血清清蛋白和乳酸脱氢酶)测得PuSF-Ps的分子量为160 000左右。     

The role of endogenous cytokinins in correlation between cotyledon and its axillary bud and in hypocotyl regeneration of flax

When flax seedlings are decapitated above cotyledons and three days later one of the two cotyledons is removed then the remaining cotyledon stimulates in four to five days growth of its axillary bud. It has been found that content of endogenous cytokinins was higher in the stimulated bud as compared with the other one already 12 h after the cotyledon removal. Flax seedlings decapitated under cotyledons regenerate adventitious buds on thy hypocotyl stump during 5–6 days. The endogenous fytohormonal preparation of this regeneration was investigated in the 20 mm apical part of the hypocotyl stump. Decrease in auxin and increase in gibberellins was already found during the first day after decapitation while the level of cytokinins increased as late as three days after the apex removal.     

Produits neutres et alcaloides de Myrtopsis macrocarpa,M. myrtoidea,M. novae-caledoniae et M. sellingii

Stems and leaves of Myrtopsis macrocarpa, M. myrtoidea, M. novae-caledoniae and M. sellingii yielded terpenes, sterols, coumarins, alkaloids (furoquinolines and quinolones) and amides. A new quinolone (8-methoxy flindersine) occurs in Myrtopsis macrocarpa, a new amide (N-benzoyltryptamine) in M. myrtoidea, two new coumarins (myrsellin and myrsellinol) and a new dihydrofuroquinoline (myrtopsine) in M. sellingii. Structures of the new compounds are proposed from chemical and spectroscopic evidence.     

Mitochondrial DNA evolution in lagomorphs: Origin of systematic heteroplasmy and organization of diversity in European rabbits

Summary A characterization was conducted on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecules extracted separately from 107 European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) both wild and domestic, 13 European hares (Lepus capensis), and 1 eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus). Experimentally this study took into account restriction site polymorphism, overall length variation of the noncoding region, and numbers of repeated sequences. Nucleotide divergences indicate that the mtDNAs from the three species derived from a common ancestor some 6–8 million years (Myr) ago. Every animal appeared heteroplasmic for a set of molecules with various lengths of the noncoding region and variable numbers of repeated sequences that contribute to them. This systematic heteroplasmy, most probably generated by a rate of localized mtDNA rearrangements high enough to counterbalance the cellular segregation of rearranged molecules, is a shared derived character of leporids.The geographic distribution of mtDNA polymorphism among wild rabbit populations over the western European basin shows that two molecular lineages are represented, one in southern Spain, the second over northern Spain, France, and Tunisia. These two lineages derived from a common ancestor some 2 Myr ago. Their present geographical distribution may be correlated to the separation of rabbits into two stocks at the time of Mindel glaciation.Finally the distribution of mtDNA diversity exhibits a mosaic pattern both at inter- and intrapopulation levels.     

Constitutive mutations of Agrobacterium tumefaciens transcriptional activator virG.

The virulence (vir) genes of Agrobacterium tumefaciens Ti plasmids are positively regulated by virG in conjunction with virA and plant-derived inducing molecules. A procedure that utilizes both genetic selection and a genetic screen was developed to isolate mutations in virG that led to elevated levels of vir gene expression in the absence of virA and plant phenolic inducers. Mutants were isolated at a frequency of 1 in 10(7) to 10(8). Substitution mutations at two positions in the virG coding region were found to result in the desired phenotype. One mutant had an asparagine-to-aspartic acid substitution at residue 54, and the other contained an isoleucine-to-leucine substitution at residue 106. In both cases, the mutant phenotype required the presence of the active-site aspartic acid residue at position 52. Further analysis showed that no other substitution at residue 54 resulted in a constitutive phenotype. In contrast, several substitutions at residue 106 led to a constitutive phenotype. The possible roles of the residues at positions 54 and 106 in VirG function are discussed.     

Cloning, sequencing, and overexpression of a [2Fe-2S] ferredoxin gene from Escherichia coli.

Escherichia coli contains a soluble, [2Fe-2S] ferredoxin of unknown function (Knoell, H.-E., and Knappe, J. (1974) Eur. J. Biochem. 50, 245-252). Using antiserum to the purified protein to screen E. coli genomic expression libraries, we have cloned a gene (designated fdx) encoding this protein. The DNA sequence of the gene predicts a polypeptide of 110 residues after removal of the initiator methionine (polypeptide M(r) = 12,186, holoprotein M(r) = 12,358). The deduced amino acid sequence is strikingly similar to those of the ferredoxins found in animal mitochondria which function with cytochrome P450 enzymes and to the ferredoxin from Pseudomonas putida which functions with P450cam. The overall sequence identity is approximately 36% when compared with human mitochondrial and P. putida ferredoxins, and the identities include 4 cysteine residues proposed to coordinate the iron cluster. The protein was overproduced approximately 500-fold using an expression plasmid, and the holoprotein was assembled and accumulated in amounts exceeding 30% of the total cell protein. The overexpressed ferredoxin exhibits absorption, circular dichroism, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra closely resembling those of the animal ferredoxins and P. putida ferredoxin.