蜻蜓凤梨开花相关基因AfFPF1初步研究

FPF1 (flowering-promoting factor 1)是参与植物开花期遗传控制的重要家族之一。迄今为止,人们对蜻蜓凤梨中FPF1家族了解有限。本研究以热带花卉蜻蜓凤梨为材料,基于转录组测序数据,克隆获得AfFPF1基因。该基因编码的蛋白含103个氨基酸,分子质量为12.06 kD。AfFPF1转录本在蜻蜓凤梨的根中显著高表达,此外其表达量受外源乙烯强诱导,且响应赤霉素。AfFPF1基因在拟南芥中异位表达使其开花时间提前,莲座叶数目减少,促进其根系生长。对转基因拟南芥内源开花基因进行表达量检测,发现转基因植株中,一些开花促进基因如AtFT、AtAP1、AtLFY、AtFUL、AtSOC1表达量显著升高,而抑制开花基因AtFLC表达量下调,进一步证实AfFPF1能正调控拟南芥的开花时间,且可能与这些基因相互作用。研究结果初步证实AfFPF1可能参与调控蜻蜓凤梨开花过程,为进一步研究AfFPF1功能、通过基因工程调控蜻蜓凤梨开花以及乙烯诱导蜻蜓凤梨开花分子机制提供了理论依据。     

Orchid seed removal by ants in Neotropical ant‐gardens

• Most plants that inhabit ant‐gardens (AGs) are cultivated by the ants. Some orchids occur in AGs; however, it is not known whether their seeds are dispersed by AG ants because most orchid seeds are tiny and dispersed by wind.
• We performed in situ seed removal experiments, in which we simultaneously provided Azteca gnava ants with seeds of three AG orchid species and three other AG epiphyte species (Bromeliaceae, Cactaceae and Gesneriaceae), as well as the non‐AG orchid Catasetum integerrimum.
• The seeds most removed were those of the bromeliad Aechmea tillandsioides and the gesneriad Codonanthe uleana, while seeds of AG orchids Coryanthes picturata, Epidendrum flexuosum and Epidendrum pachyrachis were less removed. The non‐AG orchid was not removed. Removal values were positively correlated with the frequency of the AG epiphytes in the AGs, and seeds of AG orchids were larger than those of non‐AG orchids, which should favour myrmecochory.
• Our data show that Azt. gnava ants discriminate and preferentially remove seeds of the AG epiphytes. We report for the first time the removal of AG orchid seeds by AG ants in Neotropical AGs.

     

Florivory by the Crab Armases angustipes (Grapsidae) Influences Hummingbird Visits to Aechmea pectinata (Bromeliaceae)1

Armases angustipes (Grapsidae) crabs were recorded on 31.5 percent of Aechmea pectinata inflorescences, a common ornithofilous bromeliad in rain forests of southeastern Brazil. Crabs foraged mainly in the morning and used newly opened flowers, usually damaging the corolla, consuming the stamens and stigma, and interfering with hummingbird visits. This florivory may reduce the reproductive success of A. pectinata, both directly through consumption of flowers and indirectly by reducing pollinator visits.     

Are ontogenetic shifts in foliar structure and resource acquisition spatially conditioned in tank‐bromeliads?

The phenotypic plasticity of plants has been explored as a function of either ontogeny (apparent plasticity) or environment (adaptive plasticity), although few studies have analyzed these factors together. In the present study, we take advantage of the dispersal of Aechmea mertensii bromeliads by Camponotus femoratus or Pachycondyla goeldii ants in shaded and sunny environments, respectively, to quantify ontogenetic changes in morphological, foliar, and functional traits, and to analyze ontogenetic and ant species effects on 14 traits. Most of the morphological (plant height, number of leaves), foliar (leaf thickness, leaf mass area, total water content, trichome density), and functional (leaf δ¹³C) traits differed as a function of ontogeny. Conversely, only leaf δ¹⁵N showed an adaptive phenotypic plasticity. On the other hand, plant width, tank width, longest leaf length, stomatal density, and leaf C concentration showed an adaptation to local environment with ontogeny. The exception was leaf N concentration, which showed no trend at all. Aechmea mertensii did not show an abrupt morphological modification such as in heteroblastic bromeliads, although it was characterized by strong, size‐related functional modifications for CO₂ acquisition. The adaptive phenotypic variation found between the two ant species indicates the spatially conditioned plasticity of A. mertensii in the context of insect‐assisted dispersal. However, ant‐mediated effects on phenotypic plasticity in A. mertensii are not obvious because ant species and light environment are confounding variables. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 175 , 299–312.     

Ant species identity mediates reproductive traits and allocation in an ant-garden bromeliad

Background and Aims

Determining the sources of variation in floral morphology is crucial to understanding the mechanisms underlying Angiosperm evolution. The selection of floral and reproductive traits is influenced by the plant''s abiotic environment, florivores and pollinators. However, evidence that variations in floral traits result from mutualistic interactions with insects other than pollinators is lacking in the published literature and has rarely been investigated. We aimed to determine whether the association with either Camponotus femoratus or Pachycondyla goeldii (both involved in seed dispersal and plant protection) mediates the reproductive traits and allocation of Aechmea mertensii, an obligatory ant-garden tank-bromeliad, differently.

Methods

Floral and reproductive traits were compared between the two A. mertensii ant-gardens. The nitrogen flux from the ants to the bromeliads was investigated through experimental enrichments with stable isotopes (¹⁵N).

Key Results

Camponotus femoratus-associated bromeliads produced inflorescences up to four times longer than did P. goeldii-associated bromeliads. Also, the numbers of flowers and fruits were close to four times higher, and the number of seeds and their mass per fruit were close to 1·5 times higher in C. femoratus than in P. goeldii-associated bromeliads. Furthermore, the ¹⁵N-enrichment experiment showed that C. femoratus-associated bromeliads received more nitrogen from ants than did P. goeldii-associated bromeliads, with subsequent positive repercussions on floral development. Greater benefits were conferred to A. mertensii by the association with C. femoratus compared with P. goeldii ants.

Conclusions

We show for the first time that mutualistic associations with ants can result in an enhanced reproductive allocation for the bromeliad A. mertensii. Nevertheless, the strength and direction of the selection of floral and fruit traits change based on the ant species and were not related to light exposure. The different activities and ecological preferences of the ants may play a contrasting role in shaping plant evolution and speciation.     

光萼荷属植物SSR反应体系确立与指纹图谱构建

利用正交试验设计优化并确立光萼荷属（Aechmea）植物SSR反应体系,构建部分光萼荷属植物的SSR分子指纹图谱。结果表明：光萼荷属植物的最佳SSR反应体系为10 μL总体积包括1×PCR buffer、Mg²⁺ 2.0 mmol·L^-1、dNTPs 200 μmol·L^-1、引物2.5 μmol·L^-1、模板DNA 90 ng和Taq DNA聚合酶1.5 U。利用该体系和6对SSR引物对15份光萼荷属植物进行扩增反应和电泳检测,其中M1、M3、M4等3对SSR引物扩增图谱清晰、多态性较高,均能将该15份光萼荷属植物鉴别出来,初步建立了15份光萼荷属植物的SSR分子指纹图谱,进一步证明该SSR反应体系稳定可靠,可以有效用于光萼荷属植物种质资源鉴定。     

Directional growth of a clonal bromeliad species in response to spatial habitat heterogeneity

Habitat selection by directional growth of plants has previously been investigated but field evidence for this phenomenon is extremely scarce. In this study we demonstrate directional clonal growth in Aechmea nudicaulis, a monocarpic, perennial bromeliad native to spatially heterogeneous sandy coastal plains (restinga) in Brazil. This habitat is characterized by a matrix of bare sand with interspersed vegetation islands. Due to very high soil surface temperatures and other stress factors such as drought, A. nudicauliscan only germinate inside vegetation islands. Nevertheless, this species is very common on bare sand. In this study we tested the hypothesis that clonal fragments occurring at the border and inside vegetation islands show habitat selection by growing preferentially towards the bare sand habitat (i.e. away from the center of vegetation islands).We randomly chose 116 clonal fragments in two distinct micro-environments (inside vegetation islands, and in the border area between bare sand and vegetation islands) in the natural habitat of A.nudicaulisand measured their growth direction in relation to the island center. We measured the growth directions of entire clonal fragments (defined as the line that connects the oldest and the youngest ramets of a clonal fragment) as well as the growth direction of the youngest internode on each fragment (the growth direction of the youngest ramet in relation to its parent ramet). We used Monte Carlo simulations to test for deviations from randomness in the growth direction of clonal fragments and individual internodes. The clonal fragments of A.nudicaulis showed a significant tendency to grow away from the center of vegetation islands. In other words, the main growth direction of clonal fragments growing inside vegetation islands or at the border between bare sand and vegetation islands was preferentially directed towards bare sand environments. Individual internodes at the border of vegetation islands also exhibited this tendency to grow towards the outside of vegetation islands, but internodes growing inside vegetation islands did not show directional growth. These results provide the first field evidence for habitat selection through directional growth of a clonal plant species.Co-ordinationg editor: J. Tuomi