Long-Term Biomonitoring of Soil Contamination Using Poplar Trees: Accumulation of Trace Elements in Leaves and Fruits

Phytostabilization aims to immobilize soil contaminants using higher plants. The accumulation of trace elements in Populus alba leaves was monitored for 12 years after a mine spill. Concentrations of As and Pb significantly decreased, while concentrations of Cd and Zn did not significantly over time. Soil concentrations extracted by CaCl₂ were measured by ICP-OES and results of As and Pb were below the detection limit. Long-term biomonitoring of soil contamination using poplar leaves was proven to be better suited for the study of trace elements. Plants suitable for phytostabilization must also be able to survive and reproduce in contaminated soils. Concentrations of trace elements were also measured in P. alba fruiting catkins to determine the effect on its reproduction potential. Cadmium and Zn were found to accumulate in fruiting catkins, with the transfer coefficient for Cd significantly greater than Zn. It is possible for trace elements to translocate to seed, which presents a concern for seed germination, establishment and colonization. We conclude that white poplar is a suitable tree for long-term monitoring of soil contaminated with Cd and Zn, and for phytostabilization in riparian habitats, although some caution should be taken with the possible effects on the food web.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of International Journal of Phytoremediation to view the supplemental file.     

Effect of bioaccumulation of cadmium on biomass productivity,essential trace elements,chlorophyll biosynthesis,and macromolecules of wheat seedlings

Soil contamination with heavy metals has become a worldwide problem, leading to losses in agricultural yield and hazardous human health effects as they enter the food chain. The present investigation was undertaken to examine the influence of cadmium (Cd²⁺) on the wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plant. Cd²⁺ accumulation and distribution in 3-wk-old seedlings grown in nutrient medium containing varying concentrations of Cd²⁺ (control, 0.25, 0.50, 1.0, 2.5, and 5.0 mg/L) was monitored. The effect of varying Cd²⁺ concentrations up to 21 d on biomass productivity, plant growth, photosynthetic pigments, protein, amino acids, starch, soluble sugars, and essential nutrients uptake was studied in detail to explore the level up to which the plant can withstand the stress of heavy metal. Plants treated with 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, and 5.0 mg/L Cd²⁺ showed symptoms of heavy-metal toxicity as observed by various morphological parameters which were recorded with the growth of plants. The root, shoot-leaf length and the root, shoot-leaf biomass progressively decreased with increasing Cd²⁺ concentration in the nutrient medium. Cd²⁺ uptake and accumulation was found to be maximum during the initial growth period. Cd²⁺ also interfered with the nutrients uptake, especially calcium (Ca²⁺), magnesium (Mg²⁺), potassium (K⁺), iron (Fe²⁺), zinc (Zn²⁺), and manganese (Mn²⁺) from the growth medium. Growth reduction and altered levels of major biochemical constituents such as chlorophyll, protein, free amino acids, starch, and soluble sugars that play a major role in plant metabolism were observed in response to varying concentrations of Cd²⁺ in the nutrient medium. In the present study, the effects of Cd²⁺ on growth, biomass productivity, mineral nutrients, chlorophyll biosynthesis, protein, free amino acid, starch, and soluble sugars in wheat plants was estimated to establish an overall picture of the Cd²⁺ toxicity at structural and functional levels.     

Evolution of a recombinant (gucoamylase-producing) strain of Fusarium venenatum A3/5 in chemostat culture

Fusarium venenatum JeRS 325 is a transformant of strain A3/5 which produces Aspergillus niger glucoamylase (GAM) under the control of a Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease promoter. The evolution of JeRS 325 was studied in glucose-limited chemostat cultures grown on NaNO3 or (NH4)2SO4 as the nitrogen source. Thirteen mutants which were more highly branched and four mutants which were more sparsely branched than the parental strain were isolated from the NaNO3 chemostat. The highly branched mutants detected in this chemostat did not displace the sparsely branched population. The mutants isolated from the NaNO3 chemostat complemented representative strains previously isolated from glucose-limited chemostat cultures of F. venenatum A3/5 grown on (NH4)2SO4, but showed little complementation between themselves. By contrast, a highly branched mutant isolated from the (NH4)2SO4 chemostat culture displaced the sparsely branched mycelial population. None of the mutants isolated from the NaNO3 or (NH4)2SO4 chemostats produced as much GAM as JeRS 325. Southern blot analysis showed that all except one mutant had lost copies of both the glucoamylase and the acetamidase (the selectable marker) genes. However, specific GAM production was not necessarily correlated with the extent of glaA gene loss observed. Further, 10 of the mutants had lost the ability to grow on acetamide as the sole nitrogen source, although they retained copies of the amdS gene. In competition studies, mutants which could not utilize acetamide displaced mutants which could. The presence of foreign DNA in JeRS 325 resulted in a reduced specific growth rate (compared to A3/5), but the presence of the foreign DNA did not prevent the evolution of the strain or the isolation of mutants which had improved growth rates.     

柱花草RAPD反应体系的建立及其8个品种遗传多样性分析

采用两种不同的方法分别从柱花草嫩叶及种子萌发芽中提取了高质量的DNA ,并对柱花草RAPD反应中的各组分浓度及热循环因素进行优化 ,建立了柱花草RAPD反应的最佳条件。在此基础上 ,用 2 0条随机引物对 8个柱花草品种进行了RAPD扩增 ,结果表明 ,其多样性达 5 1 .9% ,品种间的遗传相似系数在 0 .5 3～0 .88之间 ;根据非加权成对平均数法 (UPGMA)进行分类 ,获得了品种聚类树形图 ,8个柱花草品种均被明显分开。     

Heritability estimates from genomewide relatedness matrices in wild populations: Application to a passerine,using a small sample size

Genomic developments have empowered the investigation of heritability in wild populations directly from genomewide relatedness matrices (GRM). Such GRM‐based approaches can in particular be used to improve or substitute approaches based on social pedigree (PED‐social). However, measuring heritability from GRM in the wild has not been widely applied yet, especially using small samples and in nonmodel species. Here, we estimated heritability for four quantitative traits (tarsus length, wing length, bill length and body mass), using PED‐social, a pedigree corrected by genetic data (PED‐corrected) and a GRM from a small sample (n = 494) of blue tits from natural populations in Corsica genotyped at nearly 50,000 filtered SNPs derived from RAD‐seq. We also measured genetic correlations among traits, and we performed chromosome partitioning. Heritability estimates were slightly higher when using GRM compared to PED‐social, and PED‐corrected yielded intermediate values, suggesting a minor underestimation of heritability in PED‐social due to incorrect pedigree links, including extra‐pair paternity, and to lower information content than the GRM. Genetic correlations among traits were similar between PED‐social and GRM but credible intervals were very large in both cases, suggesting a lack of power for this small data set. Although a positive linear relationship was found between the number of genes per chromosome and the chromosome heritability for tarsus length, chromosome partitioning similarly showed a lack of power for the three other traits. We discuss the usefulness and limitations of the quantitative genetic inferences based on genomic data in small samples from wild populations.     

国际基因工程机器大赛对本科生科研教育的启示

近年来,国际基因工程机器大赛(International genetically engineered machine,iGEM,简称iGEM大赛)在全球迅猛发展。仅2017年iGEM大赛全球注册队伍就达到了史无前例的313支,中国地区有98支iGEM团队报名参赛并取得了优异成绩。与国内已有的诸多大学生创新项目、科研培养项目不同,iGEM的组织模式是以学生为主体的研究型学习。该模式取得了丰富的教育效果,体现了新的教育理念,对于我国高校组织本科生课外科研训练有较大的借鉴意义。文中以北京大学参加iGEM大赛为线索,介绍国际基因工程机器大赛(iGEM)的背景和基本情况并以一个参赛周期为序再现北京大学iGEM团队组织和参赛的主要过程。通过与其他本科生科研训练的组织模式进行比较,探讨iGEM对本科生科研训练意义,并总结iGEM的组织经验和对本科生科研能力培养以及组织本科生科研学术竞赛的启示,希望能为国内高校的iGEM活动组织以及本科教育改革提供借鉴。     

Testing hypotheses driving genetic structure in the cooperatively breeding Brown‐headed Nuthatch Sitta pusilla

Habitat fragmentation has often been implicated in the decline of many species. For habitat specialists and/or sedentary species, loss of habitat can result in population isolation and lead to negative genetic effects. However, factors other than fragmentation can often be important and also need to be considered when assessing the genetic structure of a species. We genotyped individuals from 13 populations of the cooperatively breeding Brown‐headed Nuthatch Sitta pusilla in Florida to test three alternative hypotheses regarding the effects that habitat fragmentation might have on genetic structure. A map of potential habitat developed from recent satellite imagery suggested that Brown‐headed Nuthatch populations in southern Florida occupied smaller and more isolated habitat patches (i.e. were more fragmented) than populations in northern Florida. We also genotyped individuals from a small, isolated Brown‐headed Nuthatch population on Grand Bahama Island. We found that populations associated with more fragmented habitat in southern Florida had lower allelic richness than populations in northern Florida (P = 0.02), although there were no differences in heterozygosity. Although pairwise estimates of F_ST were low overall, values among southern populations were generally higher than northern populations. Population assignment tests identified K = 3 clusters corresponding to a northern cluster, a southern cluster and a unique population in southeast Florida; using sampling localities as prior information revealed K = 7 clusters, with greater structure only among southern Florida populations. The Bahamas population showed moderate to high differentiation compared with Florida populations. Overall, our results suggest that fragmentation could affect gene flow in Brown‐headed Nuthatch populations and is likely to become more pronounced over time.     

荷叶铁线蕨自然居群的遗传多样性研究

荷叶铁线蕨(Adiantumreniformevar. sinense)为我国特有植物,具有重要的经济价值,目前仅分布于重庆的少数地区。近几十年来,由于过度开发,该种的分布范围日益缩小,已处于灭绝的边缘。本研究利用等位酶标记检测了荷叶铁线蕨 6个自然居群共 136个个体的遗传多样性,共检测到了 5个酶系统的 14个位点,获得了 7个多态位点。结果表明:与其他蕨类植物相比,荷叶铁线蕨居群内的遗传多样性水平比较低。平均每位点的有效等位基因数(Ae)为 1. 778,多态位点百分率(P)为 0. 441,期望杂合度(He)为 0. 199,观察杂合度 (Ho)为 0. 235。其居群间的遗传分化也很低,居群间的遗传变异仅占总变异的 1. 49%,而 98. 51%的变异存在于居群内部。采用Hardy Wein berg平衡和固定指数F对荷叶铁线蕨的居群遗传结构进行了分析,结果表明其种群可能是以配子体间异交为主的混合交配体系。导致荷叶铁线蕨濒危的主要原因是生境的破坏以及过度开采所导致的生境片断化使其居群变小、近交率加大、遗传变异趋低,降低了其生存以及进化的潜力。     

Development of microsatellite markers for the neotropical tree species Dipteryx alata (Fabaceae)

? Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers were developed for the population genetic analyses of the neotropical tree Dipteryx alata (Fabaceae). ? Methods and Results: Microsatellites were developed from a genomic shotgun library. Polymorphism at each microsatellite loci was analyzed based on 94 individuals from three populations. Eight loci amplified successfully and presented one to 10 alleles, and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.097 to 0.862. Four loci also amplified in Pterodon emarginatus and presented similar polymorphism. ? Conclusion: The eight microsatellite primer pairs are potentially suitable for population genetic studies and successfully amplified in another Fabaceae species.