Bioinformatics analysis to identify possible mechanisms of action of curcumin against tea geometrid

Curcumin, a bright yellow chemical produced from curcuma longa root, is an effective insecticide, but how it works against pests such as tea geometrid (E. obliqua) is unclear. Here possible protein targets of curcumin were identified in the PubChem database, and possible targets in tea geometrid were identified using RNA sequencing; then, both sets of candidate targets were subjected to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. The results predict that curcumin may affect several signalling proteins in tea geometrid, including TOP2B, TP53, MDM4, YWHAB, TOP2A, MDM2 and EP300; these proteins are involved in key biological processes including the cell cycle; DNA replication, recombination and repair; cellular assembly and organization; and cell death and survival. These results illustrate the power of integrative informatics and chemical fragment analysis for focusing mechanistic studies of botanical insecticides.     

植物园活植物信息管理计算机化的现状及前景

植物园活植物信息管理系统是植物园适应时代和自身发展需要,首先在西方发展起来的一种新的植物园活植物信息管理手段,本文综述了植物园活植物信息管理系统发展的基础和国内外发展的现状,分析了活植物信息计算机化过程中存在的问题及发展前景     

DIFFERENCE IN PROBING BEHAVIOUR OF TEA APHID ON VEGETATIVE PARTS OF TEA PLANT AND NON‐HOST PLANTS*

Abstract Electrical penetration graph (EPG) investigation showed that the secreting (El) and sucking (E2) times of tea aphid stylet in tea phloem were much longer than that on non‐host plants such as soybean and wheat. However, non‐feeding wave (np) was shorter than that on soybean and wheat. Duration of both El and E2 of stylet in tea phloem of 1st leaf, bud, 4th leaf and tender stem occupied 30.2%, 22.3%, 9.2% and 8.2% of the total experimental time, respectively. E2 wave was accompanied by honeydew secretion, with a time lag. Tea aphid preferred the tender parts, in which amino acids and other nutritional components were very rich. While the stylet of hungry tea aphid was forced to pierce phlom of non‐host plant (soybean or wheat), El and E2 waves were also produced, but the action of stylet could be disrupted by tea shoot volatile (10–6 V/V linalool, etc.) emitted near to the antennae. It was considered that before and under probing tea aphid made use of olfactory clues.     

Lipid degradation during manufacture of black tea

About 85% of the fatty acids liberated during the manufacture of black tea can be attributed to autolysis of 4 major polar lipid classes in tea leaf tissue, phosphatidylcholine, monogalactosyldiglyceride, digalactosyldiglyceride and phosphatidylethanolamine. Linolenic, linoleic and palmitic acids are the principal fatty acids released from these lipids and they all undergo further degradation. Linolenic acid (60% of fatty acids released) is derived mainly from galactolipids and thus the upper limit of release is dependent on the chloroplast maturity and content of the leaf tissues. Lipid breakdown is complete after 2 hr fermentation and, as there appears to be no accumulation of long chain fatty acid intermediates, it is probable that volatile production has also ceased at this time.     

Modeling Biowaste Flows for Life‐Cycle Assessment: Calculation of the Potential and Collected Weight of Kitchen and Garden Waste

This article presents an integrative approach to calculating the weight of potential biowaste and collected biowaste materials, as the basis for a life‐cycle assessment (LCA) of biowaste management. Biowaste contains kitchen and garden (yard) waste of households. This approach could be used for waste management planning and for the implementation of biowaste schemes. Case studies and examples in the literature are analyzed to model the mass of the flow of biowaste. This article defines relevant operands, presents the main assumptions, and describes the calculation principles. Spatial aspects and the uncertainties related to the inclusion of this aspect are explicitly considered in the calculation of the weight of the potential biowaste. We also present the calculation principles for obtaining the weight of (1) biowaste used in home composting, (2) the organic portion of residual waste, (3) biowaste separately collected by a bring system, and (4) biowaste separately collected by curbside collection (known in some areas as kerbside collection). By choosing the biowaste potential in kilograms per capita year (kg/cap yr) as the functional unit, previously ignored options within the biowaste system could be assessed. For example, widening the system boundaries allows LCA studies to assess the contribution of private and public transport of waste to ecological impact categories. It allows examining the effects of supporting home composting through financial incentives and the introduction of a separate collection system. This study focuses on the comparison of different collection types and on the characteristics of the area under investigation. It also incorporates the behavior of the inhabitants of households and includes a sensitivity analysis of relevant operands. This approach is being included in an LCA assessing biowaste management options.     

Sterol and lipid components of green Thea sinensis

Petrol. extracts of green tea yielded two straight chain alcohols identified as C₃₀ and C₃₂ alcohols by mass spectrometry, and a mixture of sterols identified as α-spinasterol and stigmast-7-ene-3-β-ol. A new saponin has also been isolated from the methanol extract and shown to be α-spinasterol gentiobioside.     

A common garden experiment with Porphyra umbilicalis (Rhodophyta) evaluates methods to study spatial differences in the macroalgal microbiome

While macroalgal microbiomes are the focus of many recent studies, there is little information about microbial spatial diversity across the thallus. Reliance on field material makes it difficult to discern whether recovered microbiomes belong to the host or its epiphytes, and technical comparisons of macroalgal samples for microbial studies are needed. Here, we use a common garden approach that avoids the problem of epiphytes, particularly at holdfasts, to examine the microbiome of Porphyra umbilicalis (strain Pum1). We used the V6 hypervariable region of the 16S rDNA with Illumina HiSeq sequencing and developed PNA clamps to block recovery of organelle V6 sequences. The common garden approach allowed us to determine differences in the microbiome at the holdfast versus blade margin. We found a notable increase in the relative abundance of Planctomycetes and Alphaproteobacteria at the holdfast, particularly of the possible symbiont Sulfitobacter sp. Nonadjacent 1.5 cm² samples of blade margin had microbiomes that were not statistically different. The most abundant phylum in the overall microbiome was Proteobacteria, followed by Bacteroidetes. Because phycologists often work in remote sites, we compared three stabilization and preparation techniques and found silica gel desiccation/bead‐beating and flash‐freezing/lyophilization/bead‐beating to be interchangeable. Core taxa (≥0.1% of sequences) across treatments were similar and accounted for ≥95% of all sequences. Finally, statistical conclusions for all comparisons were the same, regardless of which microbial community analysis tool was used: mothur or minimum entropy decomposition.     

长白山白桦林不同演替阶段土壤有机碳组分的变化

为了解长白山天然针阔混交林群落恢复演替土壤碳储量的变化,采用空间代替时间的方法,选取白桦幼龄林、白桦中龄林、白桦成熟林、阔叶红松成熟林和阔叶红松过熟林5个不同演替序列,研究其土壤总有机碳(SOC)、易氧化有机碳(ROC)、微生物生物量碳(MBC)及颗粒有机碳(POC)含量。结果表明:随着白桦林从早期到晚期的演替,SOC、MBC、ROC、POC以及土壤全氮、全磷和碳氮比(C/N)均呈现先逐渐增加后保持稳定的规律。随着土层深度的增加,SOC、MBC、ROC和POC含量均显著降低(P0.05),5个演替序列内ROC/SOC和POC/SOC的变化范围分别为12.91%~47.95%和14.21%~69.46%。相关分析表明:MBC、ROC和POC含量与土壤总有机碳(SOC)含量呈极显著正相关(P0.01),SOC、MBC、ROC和POC含量与全氮、全磷及碳氮比呈极显著正相关(P0.01)。研究结果为了解白桦林在演替过程中土壤有机碳的稳定性变化和固碳潜力提供数据支持。     

对92株茶树菇菌株的遗传多样性分析和农艺性状的评价

为了解茶树菇（Agrocybe aegerita）种质资源的遗传多样性和筛选优良的茶树菇新品种,采用菌株拮抗试验方法观察了92株茶树菇菌株间拮抗反应及其类型,ISSR-PCR（inter-simple sequence repeat-PCR）分子标记方法对92株茶树菇菌株的遗传多样性进行了综合分析。拮抗试验将92株茶树菇菌株分为27组;筛选出的20条ISSR引物共扩增出317条清晰条带,多态性条带平均比率为82.60%;在遗传相似系数为0.742时,ISSR分子标记分析可将92株茶树菇划分为6大类群,拮抗试验和ISSR分子标记分析的结果基本一致。通过对比农艺性状分析,初步筛选出滇农5、滇农14、茶5-800、白茶、闽农5及滇农8作为工厂化生产茶树菇菌种。结果表明茶树菇的遗传多样性丰富,结合栽培出菇试验可为茶树菇品种选育和杂交育种的亲本选择提供参考。