持久性有机污染物(POPs)对鸟类的影响

持久性有机污染物(POPs)是高残留物质,进入生物体后会长期存留并产生危害。近年来,有关生物体中POPs的研究已成为环境化学、生态毒理学研究的热点之一。本文概述了持久性有机污染物(POPs)的主要类型、生态特征、来源和污染效应。介绍了POPs在鸟类体内富集的特点及其对鸟类的危害;分析了以鸟类作为环境监测指示生物时应注意的问题;对POPs的防治以及利用鹭类等水鸟监测环境污染的方法提出了建议。     

皖南休宁新元古界-下寒武统沉积岩的有机碳同位素记录

皖南休宁县蓝田地区震旦系皮园村组和下寒武统荷塘组主要由硅质岩和黑色页岩组成。皮园村组硅质岩的分析结果表明:δ13Corg分析值落在-36.39‰—-31.45‰范围之内,而且从该剖面的底部到顶部呈现出逐步下降的趋势,可能归之于大气和海洋中O2/CO2比值上升,生物氧化作用增强所致;有机碳(TOC)含量<1%,有机氮(TON)含量<1‰,两者均处于蓝田地区埃迪卡拉系—下寒武统地层的最低值,证明晚震旦世时期该地区海洋生物产量比前期(蓝田期)海洋产量显著下降,可能归之于海水加深,不利于海洋生物的繁殖。荷塘组黑色页岩的δ13Corg分析值落在-33‰—-31‰范围之内,TOC和TON含量与皮园村组比较有大幅度提高,尤其黑色页岩下段TOC含量达到13.85%,证明早寒武世海洋生物得到了大发展。由于新元古代冰期后海洋藻类的大量涌现和早寒武世海洋生物得到大发展,生物光合作用产生大量的O2,导致大气和海水中O2/CO2比值进一步升高,可能是引发“寒武纪生物大爆发”的重要因素。     

Physiological basis of reduced Al tolerance in ditelosomic lines of Chinese Spring wheat

Aluminum tolerance was assessed in the moderately Al-tolerant wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar Chinese Spring and a set of ditelosomic lines derived from Chinese Spring. Three ditelosomic lines lacking chromosome arms 4DL, 5AS and 7AS, respectively, exhibited decreased Al tolerance relative to the euploid parent Chinese Spring based on reduced root growth in Al-containing solutions. The physiological basis of the reduced Al tolerance was investigated. Measurements by inductively coupled argon plasma mass spectroscopy of root apical Al accumulation demonstrated that two of these three lines had a decreased ability to exclude Al from the root apex, the site of Al phytotoxicity. As Al-induced malate exudation has been suggested to be an important physiological mechanism of Al tolerance in wheat, this parameter was quantified and malate exudation was shown to be smaller in all three deletion lines compared with Chinese Spring. These results suggest that the decreased Al tolerance in at least two of the three ditelosomic lines is due to the loss of different genes independently influencing a single Al-tolerance mechanism, rather than to the loss of genes encoding alternative Al-tolerance mechanisms. Received: 3 July 2000 / Accepted: 9 August 2000     

Mapping QTLs controlling fruit quality in peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch)

 The organoleptic quality of fleshy fruits is in a large part defined by their composition of soluble sugars and organic acids. An F₂ population issuing from a cross between two peach varieties, ‘Ferjalou Jalousia’, a non-acid peach, and ‘Fantasia’, an acid nectarine, was analysed over 2 successive years for agronomic characters and for molecular-marker (isoenzymes, RFLPs, RAPDs, IMAs and AFLPs) segregations. Blooming and maturity dates, as well as productivity, were noted for each tree. Four fruits per tree were analysed at maturity for fresh weight, colour, pH, titratable acidity, soluble-solids content (SSC), acid (malic, citric and quinic acids) and sugar (sucrose, glucose, fructose, sorbitol) contents. QTLs were detected for all fruit components analysed, except for fruit colour. The QTLs for nearly all components were present on two linkage groups. For productivity, fresh weight, pH, quinic acid, sucrose and sorbitol content, all the detected QTLs displayed the same effect as the parental phenotypes. By contrast, for maturity date, titratable acidity, malic and citric acids and fructose, some QTLs displayed the same effect as the parental phenotypes while others displayed the opposite effect. The fraction of the total variation in each trait throughout the population explained by the QTLs was very high and reached more than 90% for some characters. For most of the characters analysed, epistasis was observed between QTLs. Received: 10 October 1997 / Accepted: 18 August 1998     

Alternative Ways to Become a Juvenile or a Definitive Phenotype (and on Some Persisting Linguistic Offenses)

Lack of knowledge of early and juvenile development often makes it difficult to decide when a fish becomes a juvenile or, for that matter, a definitive phenotype. According to the established life-history model, a fish develops naturally in a saltatory manner, its entire life consisting of a sequence of stabilized self-organizing steps, separated by distinct less stabilized thresholds. Changes are usually introduced during thresholds. In principle, there are two ways to reach the juvenile period: by indirect or by direct development. Indirectly developing fishes have a distinct larva period that ends in a cataclysmic or mild remodeling process, called metamorphosis, from which the fishes emerge as juveniles. During metamorphosis, most temporary organs and structures of the embryos and larvae are replaced by definitive organs and structures that are also possessed by the adults. In contrast, directly developing fishes have no larvae. Their embryos develop directly into juveniles and do not need major remodeling. Consequently, the beginning of their juvenile period is morphologically and functionally less distinct than in indirect development. The life-history model helps to find criteria that identify the natural boundaries between the different periods in the life of a fish, among them, the beginning of the juvenile period. Looking at it from a different angle, when ontogeny progresses from small eggs with little yolk, larvae are required as the necessary providers of additional nutrients (feeding entities similar to amphibian tadpoles or butterfly caterpillars) in order to accumulate materials for the metamorphosis into the definitive phenotypes. Directly developing fishes start with large demersal eggs provided with an adequate volume of high density yolk and so require no or little external nutrients to develop into the definitive phenotype. These large eggs are released and develop in concentrated clutches. It therefore becomes possible and highly effective to guard them in nests or bear them in external pouches, gill chambers or the buccal cavity. Viviparity is the next natural step. Now the maternal investment into large yolks can be supplemented or replaced by direct food supply to the developing embryos like, for example, the secretion of uterine histotrophe or nutrient transfer via placental analogues. When the young of guarders and bearers start exogenous feeding, they are much larger or better developed than larvae of nonguarders and the larva period in the former is reduced to a vestige or eliminated entirely. In the latter case, the juvenile period begins with the first exogenous feeding. Such precocial fishes are more specialized and able to survive better in competitive environments. In contrast, altricial forms retain or revert to a life-history style with indirect development and high fecundity when dispersal is advantageous or essential. Fishes become juveniles when the definitive phenotype is formed in most structures, either indirectly from a larva via metamorphosis or directly from the embryo.     

<Emphasis Type="Bold">Multi-disciplinary approach to changes in agro-pastoral activities since the Sub-Boreal in the surroundings of the “narse d’Espinasse” (Puy de Dôme,French Massif Central)</Emphasis>

The narse or peat marsh of Espinasse (Saulzet-le-Froid district) situated in the southern part of the Chaîne des Puys has been the subject of a new pollen analysis concentrating on the anthropogenic impact on vegetation evolution since the Sub-Boreal. Human occupation of the surroundings of the narse is dated as early as the Neolithic, which is usual for the region. There is nevertheless an isolated record of Fagopyrum related to the Neolithic. This is a unique occurrence in the Massif Central. For successive periods and up to the recent past, a dynamic of various anthropization phases has been reconstructed. The combination of palynological data with archaeological and historical sources has for certain periods, mainly from the 11^th to 13^th centuries, provided new insights on the social and technical management of the territory. Furthermore, geochemical and micromorphological characterisation of sedimentary organic matter has led to the identification of erosive crises and silting which would have followed massive tree cutting in the region. On the local scale, the highly degraded organic matter at the top of the peat profile is the consequence of the current drainage of the marsh.     

Novel spironolactone-analogs as impurities in spironolactone

Six novel spironolactone-analogs steroids (3-8) were isolated from spironolactone by using various chromatographic methods. Their structures were elucidated by spectrometric analysis. Two of the analogs (3 and 7) were confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The A-ring of compounds 3-7 is opened at C-2C-3 bond, and compound 7 is an organic polysulfide, which has a rare, nine-membered ring with a five sulfur atom bridge.     

The role of conformational flexibility of enzymes in the discrimination between amino acid and ester substrates for the subtilisin-catalyzed reaction in organic solvents

To investigate how the conformational flexibility of subtilisin affects its ability to discriminate between enantiomeric amino acid and ester substrates for the subtilisin-catalyzed reaction in an organic solvent, the flexibility around the active site and the surface of subtilisin was estimated from the mobility of a spin label bound to subtilisin by ESR spectroscopy. Many studies on enzyme flexibility focus on the active site. Both the surface and active site flexibility play an important role in the enantioselectivity enhancement of the enzyme-catalyzed reaction. It was found, however, that the different behavior observed for the enantioselectivity between the amino acid and ester substrates could be correlated with the flexibility around the surface rather than the flexibility at the active site of subtilisin. In other words, for the ester substrates, the greater flexibility around the surface of subtilisin induced by a conformational change resulting from the presence of an additive such as DMSO is essential for the enantioselectivity enhancement. This model is also supported by the Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters for each enantiomeric substrate. Our findings provide insight into the enantioselectivity enhancement for the resolution of enantiomers for enzyme-catalyzed reactions in organic solvents.     

Single-sample preparation for simultaneous cellular redox and energy state determination

A simple and reliable method for the preparation of biological samples for the evaluation of biochemical parameters representative of the redox and energy states, such as glutathione (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG), oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+), reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), coenzyme A (CoASH), oxidized CoASH, ascorbate, malondialdehyde, oxypurines, nucleosides, and energy metabolites, is presented. Fast deproteinization under nonoxidizing conditions is obtained by tissue homogenization in ice-cold, nitrogen-saturated CH3CN + 10 mM KH2PO4 (3:1; v:v), pH 7.40. After sample centrifugation to pellet precipitated proteins, organic solvent removal is performed on clear supernatants by three washings with large volumes of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-grade chloroform. The remaining aqueous phase, free of solvent and any lipid-soluble substances that may interfere with the further metabolite analysis, is used for the simultaneous ion-pairing HPLC determination of 39 compounds by means of a Kromasil C-18, 250 x 4.6-mm, 5-microm-particle-size column with tetrabutylammonium hydroxide as the pairing reagent. Results obtained by using the present method to prepare different rat tissue extracts demonstrate that it is possible to perform a single tissue preparation only for monitoring, in the same sample, compounds representative of the redox state (through the direct determination of GSH, GSSG, NAD+, NADH, NADP+, NADPH, CoASH, and oxidized CoASH) and of the cell energy state (by the analysis of oxypurines, nucleosides, and energy metabolites). Applicability of this sample processing procedure to quantify variations of the aforementioned compounds under pathological conditions was effected in rats subjected to moderate closed-head trauma.