The effect of plant growth regulators, nitric oxide, nitrate, nitrite and light on the germination of dimorphic seeds of Suaeda salsa under saline conditions

Suaeda salsa, a leaf succulent shrub in the family Chenopodiaceae, is one of the most important halophytes in China. Suaeda salsa produces dimorphic seeds (soft brown seeds and hard black seeds). Seeds of S. salsa were collected from the coastal salt flats near Huanghua City, China. Experiments were conducted to determine the salinity-alleviating effect of plant growth regulators, nitric oxide, nitrate, nitrite and light on the germination of dimorphic seeds of S. salsa. Brown seeds had a higher germination rate than black seeds in all experiments. Black seeds were more sensitive to salt in the absence of light in comparison to brown seeds. Brown seeds absorbed water more quickly in comparison to black seeds and were found to be more tolerant of salt stress. Our results showed that 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC, the immediate precursor of ethylene), nitrite, GA₄ and BA improved seed germination in the presence of salt. However, nitrate, GA₁, GA₃ failed to alleviate salt stress. ABA inhibited seed germination and seedling growth. Possible mechanisms involved in the alleviation of salt stress in S. salsa seeds and the ecological adaptation of the seeds to the environment are discussed.     

中国粮食和农业植物遗传资源状况报告（Ⅰ）

10多年来,中国政府十分重视粮食和农业植物遗传资源的保护和可持续利用,并根据<粮食和农业植物遗传资源全球行动计划>20项优先领域,通过制定和完善相关的法律法规,加强了粮食和农业植物遗传资源的管理;通过培训和科普宣传,提高了公众意识;通过国际合作和协作网建设,实现了信息、人员和植物遗传资源的交流与交换;通过各种国家计划和项目的实施,建立和完善了植物遗传资源保护体系,实现了植物遗传资源的安全保存和可持续利用,为中国乃至世界植物育种和粮食安全发挥了较大作用. (1)对主要粮食和农业植物野生种进行了系统调查和编目,建立了116个原生境保护点,包括野生稻、野生大豆、小麦野 生近缘植物、野生蔬菜等,有效遏制了野生植物遗传资源的快速灭绝现象. (2)建成和完善了1座国家长期库、1座国家复份库、10座国家中期库、29座省级中期库、32个国家种质资源圃(含2个 试管苗库),另外7个种质圃正在建设中.基本形成了较为完善的国家植物遗传资源保护体系,长期保存植物遗传资源 397067份. (3)繁殖更新了286604份植物遗传资源,充实了中期库,极大地提高了植物遗传资源分发和供种能力.仅2001-2007年 就向全国2650个单位,提供了13.2万份次植物遗传资源. (4)国家投资1.8亿元人民币,于2003年建成了"作物基因资源与基因改良国家重大科学工程",为植物遗传资源具有重 大应用前景新基因的基因型鉴定、发掘提供了条件平台. (5)通过植物遗传资源的深入鉴定与评价,创造了一大批优异种质,培育了大量植物新品种并应用于生产,提高了植物遗 传资源的利用率.同时,中国政府十分重视植物遗传资源的多样性利用,通过不同作物间作套种、同一作物不同品种混合种 植.保护了品种的多样性,减少了病虫杂草危害. (6)通过加强植物遗传资源的管理,实现了国内植物遗传资源的共享,扩大了对外交流与交换,为中国乃至世界粮食安 全、国民经济又快又好地发展、减少贫困、增加农民收入做出了较大贡献. 尽管中国在粮食和农业植物遗传资源保护和利用方面取得了显著成绩,但还面临许多挑战.需要加强与其他国家和国 际组织的合作,获得国外植物遗传资源和相关技术;继续进行植物遗传资源,特别是野生植物遗传资源、边远地区古老农家品 种的调查及考察与收集,进一步建设和完善植物遗传资源保护体系,实现本国植物遗传资源的全面保护;系统深入地鉴定评 价已保存的植物遗传资源,提供育种家利用,拓宽育种材料的遗传基础;实现更加充分的资源共享和利益分享.进一步提高资 源利用效率.     

Biochemical Conservation and Evolution of Germacrene A Oxidase in Asteraceae

Sesquiterpene lactones are characteristic natural products in Asteraceae, which constitutes ∼8% of all plant species. Despite their physiological and pharmaceutical importance, the biochemistry and evolution of sesquiterpene lactones remain unexplored. Here we show that germacrene A oxidase (GAO), evolutionarily conserved in all major subfamilies of Asteraceae, catalyzes three consecutive oxidations of germacrene A to yield germacrene A acid. Furthermore, it is also capable of oxidizing non-natural substrate amorphadiene. Co-expression of lettuce GAO with germacrene synthase in engineered yeast synthesized aberrant products, costic acids and ilicic acid, in an acidic condition. However, cultivation in a neutral condition allowed the de novo synthesis of a single novel compound that was identified as germacrene A acid by gas and liquid chromatography and NMR analyses. To trace the evolutionary lineage of GAO in Asteraceae, homologous genes were further isolated from the representative species of three major subfamilies of Asteraceae (sunflower, chicory, and costus from Asteroideae, Cichorioideae, and Carduoideae, respectively) and also from the phylogenetically basal species, Barnadesia spinosa, from Barnadesioideae. The recombinant GAOs from these genes clearly showed germacrene A oxidase activities, suggesting that GAO activity is widely conserved in Asteraceae including the basal lineage. All GAOs could catalyze the three-step oxidation of non-natural substrate amorphadiene to artemisinic acid, whereas amorphadiene oxidase diverged from GAO displayed negligible activity for germacrene A oxidation. The observed amorphadiene oxidase activity in GAOs suggests that the catalytic plasticity is embedded in ancestral GAO enzymes that may contribute to the chemical and catalytic diversity in nature.     

Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on plant diversity and community structure of a sacred grove in Meghalaya, northeast India

This study analyses the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on plant diversity and community attributes of a sacred grove (montane subtropical forest) at Swer in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya in northeast India. The undisturbed, moderately disturbed and highly disturbed stands were identified within the sacred grove on the basis of canopy cover, light interception and tree (cbh 15 cm) density. The undisturbed forest stand had >40% canopy cover, >50% light interception and a density of 2103 trees per hectare, whereas the highly disturbed stand had <10% canopy cover, <10% light interception and 852 trees per hectare. The moderately disturbed stand occupied the intermediate position with respect to these parameters. The study revealed that the mild disturbance favoured species richness, but with increased degree of disturbance, as was the case in the highly disturbed stand, the species richness markedly decreased. The number of families of angiosperms was highest (63) in the undisturbed stand, followed by the moderately (60) and highly disturbed (46) stands. The families Rubiaceae, Asteraceae and Poaceae were the dominant families in the sacred forest. Rubiaceae was represented by 11, 14 and 10 species in the undisturbed, moderately disturbed and highly disturbed stands, respectively, whilst the family Asteraceae had 16 species in the moderately disturbed stand and 14 species in the highly disturbed stand. The number of families represented by a single species was reduced significantly from 33 in the undisturbed stand to 23 in the moderately and 21 in the highly disturbed stand. The similarity index was maximum (71%) between the undisturbed and moderately disturbed stand and minimum (33%) between the undisturbed and highly disturbed stands. The Margalef index, Shannon diversity index and evenness index exhibited a similar trend, with highest values in the moderately disturbed stand. In contrast, the Simpson dominance index was highest in the highly disturbed stand. There was a sharp decline in tree density and basal area from the undisturbed (2103 trees ha^–1 and 26.9 m² ha^–1) to the moderately disturbed (1268 trees ha^–1 and 18.6 m² ha^–1) and finally to the highly disturbed (852 trees ha^–1 and 7.1 m² ha^–1) stand. Density–girth curves depicted a successive reduction in number of trees in higher girth classes from the undisturbed to the moderately and highly disturbed stands. The log-normal dominance–distribution curve in the undisturbed and moderately disturbed stands indicated the complex and stable nature of the community. However, the short-hooked curve obtained for the highly disturbed stand denoted its simple and unstable nature.     

居群（population）概念和方法在植物分类学中的应用

本文依据我们近几年来对水生维管束植物的研究成果,讨论了居群概念和方法对植物分类学的理论和实际的意义与价值,同时对我国今后展开植物学研究提出了若干建议。     

Atmospheric mercury pollution due to losses of terrestrial carbon pools?

Plants accumulate significant amounts of atmospheric mercury (Hg) in aboveground biomass, likely sequestering over 1,000 Mg of atmospheric Hg every year. This large mercury uptake could be strong enough to affect tropospheric Hg levels and might be partially responsible for seasonal variations in atmospheric Hg observed at Mace Head, Ireland. The fluctuations of Hg concentrations coincide temporally with the annual oscillation of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the Northern Hemisphere, which is a result of seasonal growth of vegetation. Therefore, declining Hg concentrations in spring and summer may be attributed in part to plant uptake of atmospheric Hg. Further, the increase of Hg concentrations during non-active vegetation periods might partially be due to plant-derived Hg emitting back to the atmosphere during carbon mineralization. The implications of these propositions are that past and future changes in biomass productivity and organic carbon pools may have had—and may continue to have—significant effects on atmospheric Hg levels. Specifically, large losses in soil and biomass carbon pools in the last 150 years could have contributed significantly to observed increases in atmospheric Hg pollution. The roles of vegetation and terrestrial carbon pools should receive detailed consideration on how they might attenuate or exacerbate atmospheric Hg pollution.     

Growth promoting effect of a transgenic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus mucilaginosus</Emphasis> on tobacco planting

In this study, we have investigated the plant growth promoting effect of Bacillus mucilaginosus strain D₄B₁, a rhizosphere soil organism, and its transgenic strain NKTS-3 on tobacco planting. The transgenic strain contains a phytase expression cassette that can express high active phytase extracellularly and hydrolyze phytate in the soil to liberate inorganic phosphorus for the growth of tobacco plants. Greenhouse study and field experiments showed that both wild-type B. mucilaginosus and the transgenic strain could promote tobacco plant growth. Moreover, the transgenic strain promoted tobacco plant growth (235% more than control in pot experiments and 125% more than control in field experiments) was higher than the wild-type B. mucilaginosus (183% more than control in pot experiments and 108% more than control in field experiments). In addition, the inoculation with transgenic rhizobacteria could significantly improve root acquisition of phosphorus and increase the phosphorus content of the plant.     

光温外界信号、植株状态与成花决定

植物由营养生长状态转向生殖生长状态（成花转变）是发育过程中的重要一步。经过一段时期营养生长的植株,便自动进入成花感受态,在这种状态下植株才能够对外界信号产生应答反应而启动成花过程。本文主要讨论光周期和温度对成花的作用     

神农架北坡堵河源自然保护区植物多样性研究

为建立自然保护区,保护神农架北坡堵河源地区丰富的生物多样性资源,并为神农架地区植物起源、植被演替以及生物多样性和濒危物种状况深入、准确评价提供基础数据,2002年,采用路线调查与标准地调查相结合的方法,结合历史资料,对堵河源地区的野生植物资源进行了实地野外调查研究,分析了植物区系和植物多样性及其受威胁状况。结果表明:(1)该保护区具有丰富的植物物种多样性,有维管束植物174科730属1733种(含亚种、变种),其中,国家重点保护野生植物有23种;(2)该区植物区系成分具有复杂性、多样性,拥有中国种子植物分布区类型属级水平的全部类型,但明显偏重于温带性质。且植物区系起源古老,有中国特有分布属37个,其中,古特有属27个;(3)该区具有丰富的植被类型,包括4个植被型组,8个植被型,26个群系,具有较高的保护和科研价值。同时针对保护区植物多样性受威胁状况,提出了植被恢复、加强防火设备设施建设、生态移民、保护珍稀濒危植物及社区共管是保护植物多样性的有效措施。     

Numerical analyses of RAPD data highlight the origin of cultivated tagasaste (Chamaecytisus proliferus ssp. palmensis) in the Canary Islands

Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to generate molecular markers to trace the origin of the fodder legume tagasaste (Chamaecytisus proliferus (L. fil.) Link ssp. palmensis (H. Christ) Kunkel) in the Canary Islands. Results from multivariate analyses of data through Two Way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) and Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DECORANA) showed that genotypes collected on the island of La Palma exhibited a wider range of variation than those from the other islands. This supports the existing hypothesis that tagasaste originated on La Palma and emphasizes the importance of conserving and evaluating germ plasm from this island.