变化环境下火干扰研究进展

火是地球系统的重要过程,也是一种剧烈的环境干扰因素。火是生态系统变化的驱动力和催化剂,调节着生态系统的结构和功能,同时反馈给气候系统。近年来,世界多个国家相继爆发了历史上罕见的极端火事件,使得火干扰、气候变化和人类活动之间的相互作用关系得到了空前的关注。主要从3个方面回顾了变化环境下火干扰研究的进展,包括(1)火干扰的时空格局;(2)火干扰的驱动机制;(3)火干扰的生态效应。概括起来,遥感技术的发展使得火监测精度不断提高,对火时空格局的刻画由过去侧重火燃烧面积单一因素转向具有多重属性的火干扰体系。气候变化和人类活动共同决定着火干扰的分布格局、频率和强度,考虑气候的季节性能够提高火干扰的预测能力。火干扰调节着生态系统的草木平衡,对于生物多样性和生境的维持非常重要。此外,火干扰通过生物质燃烧释放的大量温室气体影响大气组成和空气质量,同时通过改变地表状况和陆-气相互作用来影响气候系统。正确理解气候-植被-火之间的相互作用和反馈机制有助于未来火干扰体系的预测。随着高温、大风、干旱等极端气候事件增多,未来全球大部分区域火发生的风险增加,但是人类活动可能会使火和气候之间的关系发生解耦。可持续的火管...     

NESTMATE RECOGNITION AND KIN RECOGNITION IN ANTS

Abstract  All ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) are highly eusocial insects that are characterized by reproductive division of labor with sterile castes (worker and soldier) helping fertile castes (queen and male) to reproduce.
Ant societies, like other complex animal societies, have developed a sophisticated communication system, in which recognition behaviors are frequently involved Recognition abilities allow individuals to orient and modulate their behaviors effectively and appropriately in response to the characteristics andlor signals expressed by other organisms. Among recognition behaviors, nestmate recognition and kin recognition mechanisms have attracted great attention of sociobiologists, ecologists, insect physiologists and biochemists since 1970's. This is parallel with the popularization of Hamilton's kin selection theory. The present paper aims at reviewing the current understanding on nestmate/kin recognition in ants. This review consists of three parts. The first part concerns the diversity of recognition behaviors and their ecological implications with emphasis on nestmatelkin recognition; in the second part, the current understandings on the mechanism of nestmatelkin recognition are outlined; and in the third part, we discuss the ontogenetic development of nestmate recognition behavior and naturally mixed colonies. The study of the integration mechanism of social parasite may provide heuristic clues to the understanding of kin/nestmate recognition system.     

小菜蛾对定虫隆的抗性生化机制初探

以定虫隆汰选的抗性指数为23.78倍抗性种群(CH-R),并以上海田间种群(SH-R,对定虫隆的抗性指数为9.16倍)作为参比种群,研究小菜蛾Plutella xylostlla(L.)对定虫隆的抗性机制,结果表明：CH—R种群多功能氧化酶O-脱甲基活力比相对敏感种群(SZ-S)提高1倍,而SH-R种群多功能氧化酶O-脱甲基活力虽有所提高,但与SZ-S种群相比差异并不显著;CH-R和SH-R种群羧酸酯酶比活力均明显高于Sz-S种群,分别为SZ-S种群的4.61和2.18倍,且CH-R种群的Km仅为SZ-S种群的1/20;酸性磷酸酯酶和碱性磷酸酯酶比活力种群间无明显差异;CH-R种群的几丁质酶活力降低48%,酚氧化酶活力降低60%。说明小菜蛾对定虫隆的抗性机制具有多因子性,多功能氧化酶解毒代谢能力的提高可能是主导抗性机制之一,羧酸酯酶、几丁质酶和酚氧化酶也参与了小菜蛾对定虫隆的抗性。     

Genetic diversity of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) infecting cucurbits

Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV), a well-known Tobamovirus, infects cucurbits across the globe. To determine its current status, molecular characterization, genetic recombination, gene flow and selection pressure, 10 districts from Punjab province of Pakistan were surveyed and a total of 2561 cucurbits samples were collected during 2019–2020. These samples were subjected to virus-specific double antibody sandwich-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) for the detection of CGMMV. The results revealed that viral disease was prevalent in all surveyed districts of Punjab with an overall 25.69% disease incidence. ELISA positive samples were further confirmed through RT-PCR and sequencing of coat protein (CP) cistron. Sequence analysis showed that the present studied CGMMV isolates have 96–99.5% nucleotide and 94.40–99.50% amino acid identities with those already available in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis also revealed that understudied isolates were closely related with South Korean (AB369274) and Japanese (V01551) isolates and clustered in a separate clad. Sequence polymorphisms were observed in 663 bp of sequence within 31 CGMMV isolates covering complete CP gene. Total number of sites were 662, of which 610 and 52 sites were monomorphic and polymorphic (segregating), respectively. Of these polymorphic, 24 were singleton variable and 28 were parsimony informative. Overall nucleotide diversity (π) in all the understudied 31 isolates was 0.00010 while a total of 1 InDel event was observed and InDel Diversity (k) was 0.065. Haplotype diversity analysis revealed that there was a total 29 haplotypes with haplotype diversity (Hd) of 0.993458 in all the 31 isolates which provide evidence of less diversity among Pakistani isolates. The statistical analysis revealed the values 2.568, 5.31304 and 4.86698 of Tajima's D, Fu, & Li’s F* and D*, respectively, which witnessed the population of CGMMV was under balanced selection pressure.     

Influences of insecticides on toxicity and cuticular penetration of abamectin in Helicoverpa armigera

Synergistic actions for mixtures of abamectin with other insecticides in some insect pests were evaluated, and the possible synergistic mechanism was studied by the comparison in toxicity and cuticular penetration of abamectin between with and without other insecticides or synergists in Helicoverpa armigera larvae. The results of bioassay showed that horticultural mineral oil (HMO), hexaflumuron, chlorpyrifos, and some other insecticides were synergistic to abamectin with 152.0-420.0 of co-toxicity coefficient(CTC) in some agricultural insect pests. In topical application tests, HMO or piperonyl butoxide (PBO) increased the toxicity of abamectin in larvae of H. armigera, but the mortality was not affected by s,s,s-tributylphorotrithioate (DEF) and triphenylphosphate (TPP). The synergistic action of HMO was obviously higher than PBO, and when treated simultaneously with abamectin, HMO gave a more significant synergism than if treated 2 hours ahead. The highest synergistic effect (SE) was found in the mixture of ‘abamectin HMO (1:206)‘. The mortality did not increase or the toxicity drop, when a synergist or HMO was added into the mixture of ‘abamectin HMO‘ or ‘abamectin synergist‘, respectively. Results from the isotope tracing experiments showed that HMO significantly enhanced the penetration of ^3H-abamectin through the cuticle of H.armigera larvae, which resulted in the synergism of the mixture. The cuticular penetration of ^3H-abamectin was not accumulatively affected by chlorpyrifos, nor by hexaflumuron,though there was an inhibition within 30 seconds or 1 hour after treated by these two chemicals respectively. Results suggested that the synergism of abamectin mixed with hexaflumuron or chlorpyrifos might be related to inhibition of metabolic enzymes or target sites in the larvae.     

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of fructose 6-phosphate, 2-kinase:fructose 2,6-bisphosphatase.

Diffraction-quality crystals of the bifunctional enzyme fructose 6-phosphate, 2-kinase:fructose 2,6-bisphosphatase from rat testis have been obtained. The crystals were grown in the presence of ATP gamma S, fructose 6-phosphate, the detergent n-octylglucoside, and the precipitant polyethylene glycol 4000. The crystals have the symmetry of the trigonal space group P31/221 with a = b = 83.0 A and c = 130.6 A. Flash-frozen crystals diffract to beyond 2.2 A, and native data have been collected.     

混合暴露条件下近江牡蛎对重金属的积累与释放特征

选择近江牡蛎作为试验生物,研究了混合暴露条件下8种重金属在近江牡蛎体内的积累和释放特征.结果表明: 近江牡蛎对重金属Pb、Cu、Ni、Cd、Cr和Hg有很强的累积能力,可较好地指示溶液中的重金属浓度水平,但对重金属Zn和As的积累能力很小,不能真实反映溶液中重金属Zn和As含量的变化水平.在随后35 d的释放阶段,8种重金属在近江牡蛎体内的含量没有明显变化,表明近江牡蛎对重金属的释放能力较差.双箱动力学模型可较好地反映混合暴露条件下近江牡蛎对重金属的积累特征,但不适合对其释放特征进行描述.     

Magnetoreception in microorganisms and fungi

The ability to respond to magnetic fields is ubiquitous among the five kingdoms of organisms. Apart from the mechanisms that are at work in bacterial magnetotaxis, none of the innumerable magnetobiological effects are as yet completely understood in terms of their underlying physical principles. Physical theories on magnetoreception, which draw on classical electrodynamics as well as on quantum electrodynamics, have greatly advanced during the past twenty years, and provide a basis for biological experimentation. This review places major emphasis on theories, and magnetobiological effects that occur in response to weak and moderate magnetic fields, and that are not related to magnetotaxis and magnetosomes. While knowledge relating to bacterial magnetotaxis has advanced considerably during the past 27 years, the biology of other magnetic effects has remained largely on a phenomenological level, a fact that is partly due to a lack of model organisms and model responses; and in great part also to the circumstance that the biological community at large takes little notice of the field, and in particular of the available physical theories. We review the known magnetobiological effects for bacteria, protists and fungi, and try to show how the variegated empirical material could be approached in the framework of the available physical models.     

Phylogenetic incongruence in the Drosophila melanogaster species group

Drosophila melanogaster and its close relatives are used extensively in comparative biology. Despite the importance of phylogenetic information for such studies, relationships between some melanogaster species group members are unclear due to conflicting phylogenetic signals at different loci. In this study, we use twelve nuclear loci (eleven coding and one non-coding) to assess the degree of phylogenetic incongruence in this model system. We focus on two nodes: (1) the node joining the Drosophila erecta-Drosophila orena, Drosophila melanogaster-Drosophila simulans, and Drosophila yakuba-Drosophila teissieri lineages, and (2) the node joining the lineages leading to the melanogaster, takahashii, and eugracilis subgroups. We find limited evidence for incongruence at the first node; our data, as well as those of several previous studies, strongly support monophyly of a clade consisting of D. erecta-D. orena and D. yakuba-D. teissieri. By contrast, using likelihood based tests of congruence, we find robust evidence for topological incongruence at the second node. Different loci support different relationships among the melanogaster, takahashii, and eugracilis subgroups, and the observed incongruence is not easily attributable to homoplasy, non-equilibrium base composition, or positive selection on a subset of loci. We argue that lineage sorting in the common ancestor of these three subgroups is the most plausible explanation for our observations. Such lineage sorting may lead to biased estimation of tree topology and evolutionary rates, and may confound inferences of positive selection.