Single nucleotide polymorphisms of Gcyc1 (Cycloidea) in Conandron ramondioides (Gesneriaceae) from Southeast China

Conandron ramondioides with actinomorphic flower in Gesneriaceae is an endemic species distributed in Taiwan, Southeast of China and Japan. Populations are usually small and isolated in typically fragmented habitat. Based on SNPs of Gcyc1 (Cycloidea), a TCP gene known in patterning the floral dorsoventral asymmetry, we have explored the molecular evolution and genetic differentiation of Gcyc1 at population level, and the population history of C. ramondioides populations distributed in SE China. Eighteen SNPs are detected in 774-bp of the gene, of which eleven are non-synonymous. However, morphological observation of flowers shows that there is no visible differentiation in shape and size across the dorsoventral axis within each whorl. None of the eighteen SNPs is by all shared the eleven populations. Population differentiation is significant. These results reveal that evolution of Gcyc1 at population level is well in accord with the neutral theory. Our study indicates that the SNPs of developmental genes are also useful molecular markers for exploring the genetic differentiation and population history in non-model organisms.     

Marine Glutathione <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>-Transferases

The aquatic environment is generally affected by the presence of environmental xenobiotic compounds. One of the major xenobiotic detoxifying enzymes is glutathione S-transferase (GST), which belongs to a family of multifunctional enzymes involved in catalyzing nucleophilic attack of the sulfur atom of glutathione (γ-glutamyl-cysteinylglycine) to an electrophilic group on metabolic products or xenobiotic compounds. Because of the unique nature of the aquatic environment and the possible pollution therein, the biochemical evolution in terms of the nature of GSTs could by uniquely expressed. The full complement of GSTs has not been studied in marine organisms, as very few aquatic GSTs have been fully characterized. The focus of this article is to present an overview of the GST superfamily and their critical role in the survival of organisms in the marine environment, emphasizing the critical roles of GSTs in the detoxification of marine organisms and the unique characteristics of their GSTs compared to those from non-marine organisms.     

反硝化除磷戈登氏菌属的富集及其菌剂制备

【背景】投加微生物菌剂是强化生物处理效能的重要手段,反硝化是污水脱氮除磷的关键步骤,但目前对于反硝化微生物菌剂相关的研究报道较少。【目的】驯化高效反硝化聚磷菌菌剂,并对系统进行生物强化。【方法】采用两阶段法快速富集反硝化聚磷菌,筛选高效脱氮除磷功能菌株NC1-1并进行鉴定,以NC1-1为菌种来源制备干粉菌剂,研究菌剂强化A²SBR系统污水处理效果。【结果】历经36 d后反硝化聚磷菌富集成功,菌株NC1-1经鉴定属于戈登氏菌属,其脱氮除磷率分别为89.46%和91.68%。麦麸、玉米粉配比为85%:15%、NC1-1投菌量为20 mL、发酵液用量20 mL的条件下成功制得干粉菌剂,干粉菌剂最佳投加量为10%的A²SBR系统总磷（total phosphorus,TP）和NO₃^--N去除率比未投加菌剂的A²SBR系统提高12.06%和11.52%。【结论】菌剂NC1-1的投加使A²SBR系统的污染物去除效能进一步提高,研究结果为进一步研究反硝化聚磷菌菌剂提供了...     

Relocation,high‐latitude warming and host genetic identity shape the foliar fungal microbiome of poplars

Micro‐organisms associated with plants and animals affect host fitness, shape community structure and influence ecosystem properties. Climate change is expected to influence microbial communities, but their reactions are not well understood. Host‐associated micro‐organisms are influenced by the climate reactions of their hosts, which may undergo range shifts due to climatic niche tracking, or may be actively relocated to mitigate the effects of climate change. We used a common‐garden experiment and rDNA metabarcoding to examine the effect of host relocation and high‐latitude warming on the complex fungal endophytic microbiome associated with leaves of an ecologically dominant boreal forest tree (Populus balsamifera L.). We also considered the potential effects of poplar genetic identity in defining the reactions of the microbiome to the treatments. The relocation of hosts to the north increased the diversity of the microbiome and influenced its structure, with results indicating enemy release from plausible pathogens. High‐latitude warming decreased microbiome diversity in comparison with natural northern conditions. The warming also caused structural changes, which made the fungal communities distinct in comparison with both low‐latitude and high‐latitude natural communities, and increased the abundance of plausible pathogens. The reactions of the microbiome to relocation and warming were strongly dependent on host genetic identity. This suggests that climate change effects on host–microbiome systems may be mediated by the interaction of environmental factors and the population genetic processes of the hosts.     

紫外辐射对水生生物的影响研究进展

紫外辐射对陆生植物的生物学效应已被广泛研究,对水生生物也能产生一系列影响。本文在综述国内外紫外线在水体中渗透状况及影响因素的基础上,阐述了紫外辐射对浮游细菌和微型浮游生物、浮游植物、浮游动物、大型藻类、鱼卵和幼鱼、鱼类及两栖动物的生物学效应,从直接效应和间接效应两方面介绍了紫外辐射对水生生物作用的机理。未来研究应该注重紫外辐射与气候变化、酸沉降、水污染等环境因子联合作用对水生有机体产生影响,其研究对象应扩展至沉水植物、底栖生物等大部分水生有机体,这些研究将对深入研究水生生态系统的演化、水生生态系统退化及其修复起重要作用。     

Trace Metal Mixture Toxicity in Aquatic Organism Reviewed from a Biotoxicity Perspective

Biotoxicity of individual metals is well investigated but that of metal mixture, an environmental reality, in the developing metal mixture, is relatively obscure. Experimental evidences had shown that this mixture could give rise to combined effects that were different from the effect of metals one by one. This review provides an overview of recent research on metal mixture toxicity and the methods employed to predict their toxic combined effects. The two established reference models, the concentration-addition model and the independent-addition model, were used for evaluating the combined effect from the biological activities of the metal mixtures. While the reference models had provided reasonable tools for analyzing the combined effects, the actual predictions for binary metal mixtures showed often somewhat less than additive combined effects compared to what has been observed. As the metal bioavailability is oriented by several environmental factors as well as the toxicodynamics of metals is highly compound-specific, the non-interactive combined effects may be confused with different processes of the interactions. Thus, for improving the predictability of combined effects in metal mixture toxicity, numerous qualitative and quantitative analysis are required for the processes governing the toxicokinetics and dynamics of metals in aquatic organisms.     

Microbial population dynamics during sludge granulation in an anaerobic-aerobic biological phosphorus removal system

The evolution of a microbial community was investigated during sludge granulation using a wide range of micro-scale and molecular biology techniques. Experimental results demonstrate that polyphosphate-accumulating granules were successfully cultured during the anaerobic/aerobic cycle. Improvement in sludge sedimentation performance occurred prior to the formation of granular sludge and was not affected by change in granule size. Rod-shaped and filamentous bacteria appeared to initiate granule formation and generate the structures that supported further granule growth. It was observed that mature granules supported microbial populations that differed from nascent granules and were predominantly packed with coccoid bacteria. It was further observed that the diversity of the granular microbial community increased as the granules grew. Accumulibacter, Nitrosospira and Thauera were mainly responsible for nutrient removal while microorganisms such as Rhodocyclus and Hyphomicrobiaceae appeared to be primarily responsible for forming and maintaining the granule structure.     

恢复及演替过程中的土壤生态学考虑

 人类社会的日益扩张,导致人类加速占据地球表面景观,并胁迫地球上生态系统提供不断增长的资源需求和废物吸收能力。所以保护尚未“开放”的自然生态系统及恢复退化的生态系统成为人类长期生存的重要保证。该文着重讨论了恢复过程中的土壤生态学问题。土壤是所有陆地生态系统的结构与功能基础。土壤微生物与动物的种群变化,土壤有机质的积累,及主要元素地球化学循环的改变是恢复生态的重要环节。生态恢复与演替有许多共性,所以演替理论对于认识生态系统恢复中的结构与功能变化有着很大帮助。与自然演替不同的是,人的积极参与在生态恢复中占有中心位置。从最初样地的确立与物种的选择,到后续的灌溉与施肥管理,人的选择影响着土壤的演化,生态系统的发展方向,和最终恢复生态的结果。为保障恢复生态系统的可持续性,短期的工作目标,如提供养分促进植物生长,务必与长期的工作目标,如土壤的恢复相结合。植物与土壤的相互反馈是生态恢复成功的重要标志。成功的生态恢复不仅是对现有生态学理论的“试金检验”,也是推动生态学学科发展的重要原动力。     

Energy-efficient growth of phage Q Beta in Escherichia coli

The role of natural selection in the optimal design of organisms is controversial. Optimal forms, functions, or behaviors of organisms have long been claimed without knowledge of how genotype contributes to phenotype, delineation of design constraints, or reference to alternative designs. Moreover, arguments for optimal designs have been often based on models that were difficult, if not impossible, to test. Here, we begin to address these issues by developing and probing a kinetic model for the intracellular growth of bacteriophage Q beta in Escherichia coli. The model accounts for the energetic costs of all template-dependent polymerization reactions, in ATP equivalents, including RNA-dependent RNA elongation by the phage replicase and synthesis of all phage proteins by the translation machinery of the E. coli host cell. We found that translation dominated phage growth, requiring 85% of the total energy expenditure. Only 10% of the total energy was applied to activities other than the direct synthesis of progeny phage components, reflecting primarily the cost of making the negative-strand RNA template that is needed for replication of phage genomic RNA. Further, we defined an energy efficiency of phage growth and showed its direct relationship to the yield of phage progeny. Finally, we performed a sensitivity analysis and found that the growth of wild-type phage was optimized for progeny yield or energy efficiency, suggesting that phage Q beta has evolved to optimally utilize the finite resources of its host cells.