Differential response of four tree species to ozone-induced acceleration of foliar senescence

Ozone (O₃)-induced accelerated senescence of leaves was measured in four tree species: black cherry ( Prunus serotina ), hybrid poplar ( Populus maximowizii x trichocarpa , clone 245), northern red oak ( Quercus rubra ) and sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ). Seedlings or ramets of the four species were subjected to chronic O₃ exposures and designated leaves harvested periodically from emergence to senescence. Gas exchange was analysed, and concentrations of total soluble protein and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase were measured as indicators of leaf senescence. Total antioxidant potential and ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase activities also were determined. Black cherry and hybrid poplar exhibited O₃-induced accelerated leaf senescence, whereas sugar maple and northern red oak did not. When the O₃ effects were related to cumulative uptake of the gas, black cherry was the most sensitive of the four species. Although hybrid poplar exhibited similar symptoms of O₃-induced accelerated senescence after the same exposure period as did black cherry, this species took up much greater quantities of O₃ to achieve the same response. The O₃-induced increase in glutathione reductase activity in hybrid poplar was consistent with the capacity of this species to take up high concentrations of the gas. Relative tolerance of northern red oak and sugar maple could be explained only in part by lower cumulative O₃ uptake and lower rate of uptake. Sugar maple had the highest antioxidant potential of all four species, which may have contributed to O₃ tolerance of this species. Ascorbate peroxidase activity, when expressed on a fresh weight basis, could not account for differential sensitivity among the four species.     

Restriction endonuclease analysis of chloroplast DNA in interspecies somatic Hybrids of Petunia

Summary Restriction endonuclease cleavage pattern analysis of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) of three different interspecific somatic hybrid plants revealed that the cytoplasms of the hybrids contained only cpDNA of P. parodii. The somatic hybrid plants analysed were those between P. parodii (wild type) + P. hybrida (wild type); P. parodii (wild type)+P. inflata (cytoplasmic albino mutant); P. parodii (wild type) + P. parviflora (nuclear albino mutant). The presence of only P. parodii chloroplasts in the somatic hybrid of P. parodii + P. inflata is possibly due to the stringent selection used for somatic hybrid production. However, in the case of the two other somatic hybrids P. parodii + P. hybrida and P. parodii + P. parviflora it was not possible to determine whether the presence of only P. parodii chloroplasts in these somatic hybrid plants was due to the nature of the selection schemes used or simply occurred by chance. The relevance of such somatic hybrid material for the study of genomic-cytoplasmic interaction is discussed, as well as the use of restriction endonuclease fragment patterns for the analysis of taxonomic and evolutionary inter-relationships in the genus Petunia.     

HSM — a hybrid system based approach for modelling intracellular networks

The paper proposes a hybrid system based approach for modelling of intracellular networks and introduces a restricted subclass of hybrid systems – HSM – with an objective of still being able to provide sufficient power for the modelling of biological systems, while imposing some restrictions that facilitate analysis of systems described by such models.     

Evaluation of the Influence of thiosemicarbazone–triazole hybrids on genes implicated in lipid oxidation and accumulation as potential anti-obesity agents

A series of thiosemicarbazone–triazole hybrids 1a–h are efficiently synthesised and evaluated for their influence on the expression of genes, cpt-1, acc-1 and pgc-1, which are essential in lipid metabolism. The test results show that hybrids 1c and 1g exhibited relatively high influence on the expression of cpt-1 and pgc-1 and suppression of acc-1 as desired.     

Inferring responses to climate warming from latitudinal pattern of clonal hybridization

Climate warming may affect reproductive isolation between sympatric sister species by modifying reproductive phenology or mate choice. This is expected to result in a latitudinal progression of hybridization in response to the shifting of environmental conditions. The fish species northern redbelly dace (Chrosomus eos) and finescale dace (C. neogaeus) display a wide sympatric distribution in North America. The asexual reproduction of their hybrids allows determining where and when hybridization occurred. The aim of this study was twofold: first, to assess whether temperature affected reproductive isolation, and second, whether the effects of climate warming resulted in a latitudinal progression of hybridization. We performed a 500 km latitudinal survey (51 sites) in southeastern Quebec (Canada) and determined the distribution of clonal hybrid lineages. Results revealed a total of 78 hybrid lineages, including 70 which originated locally. We detected a significant difference between the southern and northern range of the survey in terms of the proportion of sites harboring local hybrids (20/23 vs. 8/28 sites, respectively) and hybrid diversity (57 vs. 13 lineages, respectively). This confirmed that there was more frequent interspecific mating in the warmest sites. In the southern range, diversity of lineages and simulations suggest that hybridization first took place (>7,000 years) in sites characterized by a longer growing season, followed by northerly adjacent sites (ca. 3,500–5,000 years). Moreover, evidence of hybridization occurring in present‐day time was detected. This suggests that the current warming episode is going beyond the limits of the previous warmest period of the Holocene.     

Genomic regions underlying metabolic and neuronal signaling pathways are temporally consistent in a moving avian hybrid zone

The study of hybrid zones can provide insight into the genetic basis of species differences that are relevant for the maintenance of reproductive isolation. Hybrid zones can also provide insight into climate change, species distributions, and evolution. The hybrid zone between black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) is shifting northward in response to increasing winter temperatures but is not increasing in width. This pattern indicates strong selection against chickadees with admixed genomes. Using high-resolution genomic data, we identified regions of the genomes that are outliers in both time points and do not introgress between the species; these regions may be involved in the maintenance of reproductive isolation. Genes involved in metabolic regulation processes were overrepresented in this dataset. Several gene ontology categories were also temporally consistent—including glutamate signaling, synaptic transmission, and catabolic processes—but the nucleotide variants leading to this pattern were not. Our results support recent findings that hybrids between black-capped and Carolina chickadees have higher basal metabolic rates than either parental species and suffer spatial memory and problem-solving deficits. Metabolic breakdown, as well as spatial memory and problem-solving, in hybrid chickadees may act as strong postzygotic isolation mechanisms in this moving hybrid zone.     

利用RAPD分子标记对番茄杂交种纯度的鉴定研究

应用RAPD(RandomlyamplifiedpolymorphicDNA)分子标记对番茄京丹1号和毛粉802的F1代杂交种纯度进行鉴定的实验研究。该项研究使用了10个碱基的单随机引物和10个碱基的双随机引物进行扩增。在60个单引物扩增反应中获得7个京丹1号父本特有的核酸标记片段。但在14个双随机引物对京丹1号和毛粉802杂交组合的扩增反应中获得了7个京丹1号F1代杂交种特有的核酸标记片段和5个毛粉802父本特有的标记带。实验结果显示,双引物的扩增反应对鉴定双亲亲缘关系极近的杂交种纯度较单引物扩增反应更有效。其中,京丹1号的14个标记片段在北京蔬菜研究中心,种子纯度检测室又进行了重复扩增实验。实验结果为87%的RAPD标记可以在使用不同的PCR仪和不同来源的Taq酶的实验条件下得到。RAPD分子标记技术对鉴定双亲亲缘关系极近的杂交种纯度是真实可靠的。     

RECENT ECOLOGICAL SELECTION ON REGULATORY DIVERGENCE IS SHAPING CLINAL VARIATION IN SENECIO ON MOUNT ETNA

The hybrid zone on Mount Etna (Sicily) between Senecio aethnensis and Senecio chrysanthemifolius (two morphologically and physiologically distinct species) is a classic example of an altitudinal cline. Hybridization at intermediate altitudes and gradients in phenotypic and life‐history traits occur along altitudinal transects of the volcano. The cline is considered to be a good example of ecological selection with species differences arising by divergent selection opposing gene flow. However, the possibility that the cline formed from recent secondary contact following an allopatric phase is difficult to exclude. We demonstrate a recent split between S. aethnensis and S. chrysanthemifolius (as recent as ～32,000 years ago) and sufficient gene flow (2Nm > 1) to have prevented divergence (implicating a role for diversifying selection in the maintenance of the cline). Differentially expressed genes between S. aethnensis and S. chrysanthemifolius exhibit significantly higher genetic divergence relative to “expression invariant” controls, suggesting that species differences may in part be mediated by divergent selection on differentially expressed genes involved with altitude‐related adaptation. The recent split time and the absence of fixed differences between these two ecologically distinct species suggest the rapid evolution to an altitudinal cline involving selection on both sequence and expression variation.     

葡萄种间杂交砧木育种F_1代植株耐盐性分析

以耐盐性较强的砧木1103P为对照品种,对左山一×SO4杂种砧木F1代的6个株系(A15、A17、A34、A35、A38和A48)及左山一×101-1杂种F1代2个株系(B24和B26)的一年生盆栽扦插苗进行100 mmol·L–1 NaCl胁迫处理,以各自无盐胁迫为对照处理。20天后,根据表型计算盐害指数,测定叶绿素含量、光合气体交换参数、叶绿素荧光参数以及生长量指标;以各项生长指标的耐盐系数为耐盐指标,通过主成分分析、相关性分析、隶属函数分析和聚类分析等方法对葡萄株系进行综合评价。结果表明,A34和A35植株无盐害症状,盐害级数为0;A15和A17植株有少部分叶片边缘焦枯,盐害级数为1。盐胁迫大幅度降低了1103P和B26等株系的叶绿素含量、光合速率、新梢生长量和生物量;而A15、A17、A34和A35植株的各项指标降低幅度较小。将生物量等12个单项指标转换成3个相互独立的综合指标,通过聚类分析,发现A34、A35、A15和A17植株的耐盐性较强,A38、A48和B24植株的耐盐性中等,1103P和B26植株的耐盐性较弱,与盐害分级结果一致。