The ClpE protein involved in biogenesis of the CS31A capsule-like antigen is a member of a periplasmic chaperone family in Gram-negative bacteria

Abstract The putative chaperone-like protein ClpE, required for biogenesis of the Escherichia coli capsule-like antigen CS31A, was compared with ten known periplasmic chaperones from E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bordetella pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae and Yersinia pestis . The amino acid sequence alignment was superimposed onto the three-dimensional structure of the PapD chaperone of uropathogenic E. coli , and amino acid residues involved in maintaining the structure integrity of the suggested binding site were found identical in most of the 11 chaperones. Construction of a phylogenetic tree to investigate the relationship within the chaperone family has revealed interesting degrees of relatedness between the different proteins.     

Mortality rates of desert vegetation during high-intensity drought at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park,Central Australia

Precipitation variability and heatwaves are expected to intensify over much of inland Australia under most projected climate change scenarios. This will undoubtedly have impacts on the biota of Australian dryland systems. However, accurate modelling of these impacts is presently impeded by a lack of empirical research on drought/heatwave effects on native arid flora and fauna. During the 2018–2021 Australian drought, many parts of the continent's inland experienced their hottest, driest period on record. Here, we present the results of a field survey in 2021 involving indigenous rangers, scientists and national parks staff who assessed plant dieback during this drought at Ulur u-Kata Tjut a National Park (UKTNP), central Australia. Spatially randomized quadrat sampling of eight common and culturally important plants indicated the following plant death rates across UKTNP (in order of drought susceptibility): desert myrtle (Aluta maisonneuvei subsp. maisonneuvei) (91%), yellow flame grevillea (Grevillea eriostachya) (79%), Maitland's wattle (Acacia maitlandii) (67%), waxy wattle (A. melleodora) (65%), soft spinifex grass (Triodia pungens) (53%), mulga (A. aneura) (42%), desert oak (Allocasuarina decaisneana) (22%) and quandong (Santalum acuminatum) (0%). The sampling also detected that seedling recruitment was absent or minimal for all plants except soft spinifex, while a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) indicated two-way interactions among species, plant size and stand density as important predictors of drought survival of adult plants. A substantial loss of biodiversity has occurred at UKTNP during the recent drought, with likely drivers of widespread plant mortality being extreme multi-year rainfall deficit (2019 recorded the lowest-ever annual rainfall at UKTNP [27 mm]) and record high summer temperatures (December 2019 recorded the highest-ever temperature [47.1°C]). Our findings indicate that widespread plant death and extensive vegetation restructuring will occur across arid Australia if the severity and frequency of droughts increase under climate change.     

Integrating sample similarities into latent class analysis: a tree-structured shrinkage approach

This paper is concerned with using multivariate binary observations to estimate the probabilities of unobserved classes with scientific meanings. We focus on the setting where additional information about sample similarities is available and represented by a rooted weighted tree. Every leaf in the given tree contains multiple samples. Shorter distances over the tree between the leaves indicate a priori higher similarity in class probability vectors. We propose a novel data integrative extension to classical latent class models with tree-structured shrinkage. The proposed approach enables (1) borrowing of information across leaves, (2) estimating data-driven leaf groups with distinct vectors of class probabilities, and (3) individual-level probabilistic class assignment given the observed multivariate binary measurements. We derive and implement a scalable posterior inference algorithm in a variational Bayes framework. Extensive simulations show more accurate estimation of class probabilities than alternatives that suboptimally use the additional sample similarity information. A zoonotic infectious disease application is used to illustrate the proposed approach. The paper concludes by a brief discussion on model limitations and extensions.     

Osteological and histological comparison of the development of the interphalangeal intercalary skeletal element between hyloid and ranoid anurans

Some frog species have a unique skeletal element, referred to as the intercalary element (IE), in the joints between the terminal and subterminal phalanges of all digits. IEs are composed of cartilage or connective tissue and have a markedly differ shape than the phalanges. IEs are highly related to the arboreal lifestyle and toe pads. The IE is found only in neobatrachian frogs among anurans, suggesting that it is a novelty of Neobatrachia. IEs are widely distributed among multiple neobatrachian lineages and are found in the suborders Hyloides and Ranoides (the two major clades in Neobatrachia). However, it is unclear whether the IEs found in multiple linages resulted from convergent evolution. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to examine how similar or different the developmental trajectories of the IEs are between Hyloides and Ranoides. To that end, we compared the osteological and histological developmental processes of the IEs of the hyloid frog Dryophytes japonicus and the ranoid frog Zhangixalus schlegelii. Both species shared the same IE-initiation site and level of tissue differentiation around the IE when it began to form in tadpoles, although the IE developments initiated at different stages which were determined by external criteria. These results suggest that similar mechanisms drive IE formation in the digits of both species, supporting the hypothesis that the IEs did not evolve convergently.     

Canopy tree mortality depends on the proportion of crown exposed to sunlight,but this effect varies with species' wood density

Understanding what drives changes in tree mortality as well as the covariates influencing trees' response is a research priority to predict forest responses to global change. Here, we combined drone photogrammetry and ground-based data to assess the influence of crown exposure to light (relative to total crown area), growth deviations (relative to conspecifics), tree size, and species' wood density (as a surrogate for light-demanding and shade-tolerant life-history strategies) on the mortality of 984 canopy trees in an Amazon terra firme forest. Trees with lower wood density were less prone to die when their proportion of crown was more exposed to sunlight, but this relationship with relative crown exposure weakened and slightly reversed as wood density increased. Trees growing less than their species average had higher mortality, especially when the species' wood density decreased. The role of wood density in determining the survival of canopy trees under varying light conditions indicates differential responses of light-demanding versus shade-tolerant species. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for life-history strategies, via plant functional types, in vegetation dynamic models aiming to predict forest demography under a rapidly changing climate. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.     

陕西省野生拟黑虫草的多基因分子生物学鉴定

虫草是中国重要的生物资源,为明确从陕西省旬邑县石门山林区采集到的1种野生虫草种类及其虫生真菌(虫草菌DY6F)的分类地位,研究在利用PCR技术对该虫草子实体的核糖体内转录间隔区(internal transcribed spacer, ITS)、延伸因子1α(elongation factor 1α,EF-1α)和RNA聚合酶Ⅱ大亚基(RNA polymeraseⅡlarge subunit, RPB1)的基因片段进行扩增与测序的基础上,分别基于这3个基因片段构建单基因系统进化树,并基于EF-1α和RPB1 2个基因联合序列构建多基因系统进化树。结果显示,该虫草子实体的这些基因序列与线虫草属拟黑虫草菌(Ophiocordyceps nigrella)的相应基因序列相似度为99%～100%,且在进化树上,二者聚于同一分支,支持率均为100%。因此,虫草菌DY6F被鉴定为拟黑虫草菌,该虫草为拟黑虫草。     

山水林田湖草沙一体化保护和修复工程与景观生态学

我国山水林田湖草沙生命共同体及其保护和修复工程的理论研究和实践正逐渐开展,需要系统的学科理论支撑,景观生态学作为地理学和生态学的交叉科学,能够以其宏观空间理论和技术体系满足这一需求。本文将景观生态学作为山水林田湖草沙一体化保护和修复工程的支撑学科,首先,明确了山水林田湖草沙生命共同体是镶嵌的异质景观、具有景观的所有特征并遵循景观生态学原理;其次,阐述了景观生态建设理论如何应用于山水林田湖草沙一体化保护和修复工程的规划和评价;最后,总结景观生态建设研究的新趋势,提出待解决的理论和实践问题,并论述山水林田湖草沙一体化保护和修复工程如何为解决这些问题提供广阔的研究空间。景观生态学和山水林田湖草沙一体化保护和修复工程实践相结合,将为实现我国乃至全球生态、经济、社会可持续发展提供极为有效的途径。     

茶树品种‘金牡丹’自然杂交后代遗传鉴定

为了对‘金牡丹’茶树自然杂交后代进行遗传鉴定,利用EST-SSR毛细管电泳荧光标记技术对65个金牡丹自然杂交后代进行研究。结果表明,28对SSR标记共扩增出192个等位片段,平均等位基因数(Na)、平均观测杂合度(Ho)及遗传多态信息量(PIC)分别为6.86、0.540、0.532。单亲基因型已知时的累积排除概率为0.999,说明选择的28对SSR标记位点具有高度的多态性和较高的排除概率,适用于遗传分析和个体的亲子鉴定。15个‘金牡丹’自然杂交后代的遗传鉴定结果表明,MD44、JMD45、JMD47、JMD32为早生绿茶类型;JMD51、JMD53为闽北肉桂乌龙茶类型;MD2、JMD56为闽南‘铁观音’乌龙茶类型;JMD24、JMD26、JMD29、JMD55、JMD59、JMD27、JMD61为‘黄棪’乌龙茶类型。     

Doubling protected land area may be inefficient at preserving the extent of undeveloped land and could cause substantial regional shifts in land use

Projection of land use and land-cover change is highly uncertain yet drives critical estimates of carbon emissions, climate change, and food and bioenergy production. We use new, spatially explicit land availability data in conjunction with a model sensitivity analysis to estimate the effects of additional land protection on land use and land cover. The land availability data include protected land and agricultural suitability and is incorporated into the Moirai land data system for initializing the Global Change Analysis Model. Overall, decreasing land availability is relatively inefficient at preserving undeveloped land while having considerable regional land-use impacts. Current amounts of protected area have little effect on land and crop production estimates, but including the spatial distribution of unsuitable (i.e., unavailable) land dramatically shifts bioenergy production from high northern latitudes to the rest of the world, compared with uniform availability. This highlights the importance of spatial heterogeneity in understanding and managing land change. Approximately doubling the current protected area to emulate a 30% protected area target may avoid land conversion by 2050 of less than half the newly protected extent while reducing bioenergy feedstock land by 10.4% and cropland and grazed pasture by over 3%. Regional bioenergy land may be reduced (increased) by up to 46% (36%), cropland reduced by up to 61%, pasture reduced by up to 100%, and harvested forest reduced by up to 35%. Only a few regions show notable gains in some undeveloped land types of up to 36%. Half of the regions can reach the target using only unsuitable land, which would minimize impacts on agriculture but may not meet conservation goals. Rather than focusing on an area target, a more robust approach may be to carefully select newly protected land to meet well-defined conservation goals while minimizing impacts to agriculture.     

右美托咪定联合芬太尼对心脏瓣膜置换术患者细胞免疫功能的影响及心脑保护作用研究

摘要 目的：观察右美托咪定联合芬太尼对心脏瓣膜置换术患者细胞免疫功能的影响及在心脑保护中的作用。方法：纳入海南医学院第二附属医院2019年4月~2021年6月间接收的体外循环（CPB）下心脏瓣膜置换术患者97例,根据信封抽签法将患者分为对照组（芬太尼,48例）和观察组（右美托咪定联合芬太尼,49例）。对比两组血流动力学指标[平均动脉压（MAP）、心率（HR）]、心肌损伤指标[肌钙蛋白（cTnI）、肌酸激酶同工酶（CK-MB）、心型脂肪酸结合蛋白（HFABP）]、脑损伤指标[神经元特异性烯醇化酶（NSE）、S-100β]、细胞免疫功能、镇痛情况及不良反应发生率。结果：观察组CPB开始后10 min（T2）时间点HR、MAP低于对照组,CPB结束（T3）、术毕（T4）时间点HR、MAP高于对照组（P<0.05）。两组术前（T1）、术后24 h、术后48 h视觉模拟评分法（VAS）评分升高后降低（P<0.05）,观察组术后24 h、术后48 h VAS评分低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组术后48 h CD4⁺、CD4⁺/CD8⁺高于对照组,CD8⁺低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组术后48 h cTnI、CK-MB、HFABP低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组术后48 h NSE、S100B低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组的不良反应发生率低于对照组（P<0.05）。结论：心脏瓣膜置换术患者选用右美托咪定联合芬太尼麻醉方案,有助于减轻疼痛,稳定血流动力学,减轻免疫抑制,同时还可发挥心脑保护效果,降低不良反应发生率,是一种可靠的麻醉方案。