Aposematic signaling and seasonal variation in dorsal pelage in a venomous mammal

In mammals, colouration patterns are often related to concealment, intraspecific communication, including aposematic signals, and physiological adaptations. Slow lorises (Nycticebus spp.) are arboreal primates native to Southeast Asia that display stark colour contrast, are highly territorial, regularly enter torpor, and are notably one of only seven mammal taxa that possess venom. All slow loris species display a contrasting stripe that runs cranial‐caudally along the median sagittal plane of the dorsum. We examine whether these dorsal markings facilitate background matching, seasonal adaptations, and intraspecific signaling. We analyzed 195 images of the dorsal region of 60 Javan slow loris individuals (Nycticebus javanicus) from Java, Indonesia. We extracted greyscale RGB values from dorsal pelage using ImageJ software and calculated contrast ratios between dorsal stripe and adjacent pelage in eight regions. We assessed through generalized linear mixed models if the contrast ratio varied with sex, age, and seasonality. We also examined whether higher contrast was related to more aggressive behavior or increased terrestrial movement. We found that the dorsal stripe of N. javanicus changed seasonally, being longer and more contrasting in the wet season, during which time lorises significantly increased their ground use. Stripes were most contrasting in younger individuals of dispersal age that were also the most aggressive during capture. The dorsal stripe became less contrasting as a loris aged. A longer stripe when ground use is more frequent can be related to disruptive colouration. A darker anterior region by younger lorises with less fighting experience may allow them to appear larger and fiercer. We provide evidence that the dorsum of a cryptic species can have multimodal signals related to concealment, intraspecific communication, and physiological adaptations.     

我国水稻条纹病毒RNA3片段序列分析—纤细病毒属重配的又一证据

测定了来源于我国水稻条纹叶枯病常年流行区的辽宁盘锦 (PJ)、云南昆明 (KM)、云南宜良 (YL)及病害暴发区的江苏洪泽 (HZ)的水稻条纹病毒 (RSV) 4个分离物RNA3全长序列 ,其长度分别为 2 480bp、2 5 0 9bp、2 489bp和 2 497bp。与已报道的RSV云南Y、日本T和M分离物RNA3序列进行比较的结果表明 ,这 7个分离物可分为两组 ,其中 ,KM、YL分离物为一组 ,PJ、HZ、Y、T和M分离物为另一组。组与组之间 ,RNA3的毒义链 (vRNA3)及RNA3的毒义互补链 (vcRNA3)上的ORF的核苷酸同源性分别为 97%～ 98%和 93%～ 94% ,但在氨基酸水平上则没有明显差异。结合上述RSV分离物RNA4的核苷酸全序列比较结果 ,推测认为RSV自然种群中存在两个与地理因素相关的不同类型的亚群 ,Y分离物不同片段具有不同来源可能是由重配引起的。     

黄淮麦区小麦品种(系)中Yr26基因的SSR检测

选用与Yr26紧密连锁的SSR标记Xgwm11和Xgwm18结合田间抗性鉴定,对239份黄淮麦区小麦品种(系)进行检测,以明确Yr26基因在黄淮麦区小麦品种资源中的分布.结果表明:共有35份品种(系)含有与Yr26紧密连锁的SSR标记Xgwm18或Xgwm11的特征带,占检测样本的14.6%.在这35份材料中,31份田间抗性鉴定表现免疫至中抗,4份表现中感.分子标记检测与田间抗病性检测吻合度较好,该标记可以用于Yr26基因的分子标记辅助选择.综合分子标记和田间鉴定,31份小麦(系)含有Yr26基因,占102份抗病材料的30.39%.     

小麦叶绿体信号识别颗粒54基因的克隆与分析

根据LWSRC336(GenBank登录号为EV254029)的cDNA序列设计引物,从受条锈菌(Puccinia striifor-misf.sp.tritici)诱导的小麦幼叶中提取总RNA,采用RACE与RT-PCR相结合的技术对该基因克隆.测序结果表明,扩增片段长度为1 725 bp,其中包含一个编码481个氨基酸的开放阅读框,与水稻的叶绿体信号识别颗粒54蛋白高度同源.实时荧光定量PCR分析结果显示,该基因在受条锈菌诱导下,在亲和组合中表达趋势明显下调,而在非亲合组合中的表达在24 h之前呈下降趋势,到24 h最低,在72 h又恢复到正常水平,随后又下降.推测条锈菌侵染小麦后,影响了叶绿体蛋白的运输,进而影响了小麦的光合作用.     

Stabilization effects of spatial aggregation of vectors in plant disease systems

Stabilization effects of spatial aggregation of vectors were examined in insect-borne plant disease systems by constructing a model that describes the yearly dynamics of rice stripe virus disease transmitted by the small brown planthopperLaodelphax striatellus (Fallén). Two transmission paths between vectors were considered: vertical transmission from parents through eggs, and horizontal transmission from infected plants by acquisition feeding. In this model, a paddy field was divided into quadrats and horizontal transmission was assumed to occur within each quadrat. A negative binomial distribution was used to describe the frequency distribution of vectors per quadrat. The parameters of the model were estimated using field data collected in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The model showed that (1) the disease cannot invade into an epidemiological system if the mean crowding of vectors is less than a critical value, (2) the proportion of infected vectors is maintained at about 30% irrespective of the vector density if vectors are highly aggregated, and (3) the proportion of infected plants is maintained at a low level irrespective of the vector density if vectors are highly aggregated. It was also shown that these stabilization effects of aggregation in this epidemiological system come from a mechanism that is common to other systems such as single-species systems and competition systems.     

Stable transformation of peanut callus viaAgrobacterium-mediated DNA transfer

Transformed callus was produced from peanut (Arachis hypogaea L. cv. Okrun) hypocotyl explants after four days of co-cultivation withAgrobacterium tumefaciens strains EHA101, LBA4404 or ASE1 carrying the binary vector pKYLX71GUS on a defined medium followed by selection with kanamycin (200 mg l^–1). Transformed calluses were cultured as independent cell lines potentially derived from a single transformation event. Stable integration and expression of foreign gene(s) in the callus was confirmed by Southern and western blot analyses and enzyme assays. A few cell lines showed a single insert of the foreign gene. Using the above protocol, transformed peanut callus expressing the peanut stripe virus coat protein gene was obtained.     

小麦条锈菌吸器母细胞入侵菌丝现象的进一步研究

应用电镜技术对小麦条锈菌吸器母细胞入侵自身菌丝的现象进行了研究,观察发现,在吸器母细胞与寄主细胞和菌丝细胞同时相接触的情况下,入侵栓可在与寄主细胞接触处形成,也可在与菌丝接触处形成;在菌落中心部位,吸器母细胞虽然未与寄主细胞接触,但同样可在与菌丝细胞接触处产生入侵栓;吸器母细胞在与菌丝接触处形成的人侵栓,其超微结构正常,并且可侵入到菌丝细胞壁内,但是未能穿透菌丝细胞壁。本文观察结果表明,小麦条锈菌吸器母细胞和人侵栓形成所需诱导因子可能是物理接触作用,而不涉及到化学作用,并且该病菌与寄主间的识别作用可能发生在入侵栓形成之后。     

Narcissus latent, a virus with filamentous particles and a novel combination of properties

As previously reported, narcissus latent virus (NLV) has flexuous filamentous particles measuring c. 650 nm × 13 nm, is manually transmissible to Nicotiana clevelandii and Tetragonia expansa, and is transmitted by the aphid Myzus persicae following brief acquisition access periods. In contrast to previous reports the virus particle protein has an apparent mol. wt of c. 45 kD. Moreover, infected cells in N. clevelandii leaves contain cytoplasmic inclusion bodies resembling those of potyviruses. In vitro translation of NLV RNA produced only one major product (mol. wt c. 25 kD) which was not precipitated by antisera to virus particle protein or to cytoplasmic inclusion protein. Antisera to 12 potyviruses and nine carlaviruses failed to react with sap containing NLV particles. Similarly antiserum to NLV particles did not react with particles of seven potyviruses or four carlaviruses. A weak reaction was detected between NLV particles and antiserum to particles of maclura mosaic virus (MMV), a virus which resembles NLV in particle morphology and particle-protein size, and in inducing pinwheel inclusions. The cytoplasmic inclusion proteins (CIPs) of NLV, MMV and from narcissus plants with yellow stripe symptoms were serologically inter-related. These proteins were also serologically related to, and had mol. wt similar to, the CIP of members of the potyvirus group. Particles with the size and antigenic specificity of those of NLV were found consistently in narcissus plants with yellow stripe disease. Narcissus latent and narcissus yellow stripe viruses therefore seem to be synonymous and, together with MMV, have properties distinct from those of any previously described virus group.     

Structural element responsible for the Fe(III)-phytosiderophore specific transport by HvYS1 transporter in barley

Hordeum vulgare L. yellow stripe 1 (HvYS1) is a selective transporter for Fe(III)-phytosiderophores, involved in primary iron acquisition from soils in barley roots. In contrast, Zea mays yellow stripe 1 (ZmYS1) in maize possesses broad substrate specificity, despite a high homology with HvYS1. Here we revealed, by assessing the transport activity of a series of HvYS1-ZmYS1 chimeras, that the outer membrane loop between the sixth and seventh transmembrane regions is essential for substrate specificity. Circular dichroism spectra indicated that a synthetic peptide corresponding to the loop of HvYS1 forms an alpha-helix in solution, whereas that of ZmYS1 is flexible. We propose that the structural difference at this particular loop determines the substrate specificity of the HvYS1 transporter.