Effects of glyphosate on phenolic metabolism in yellow nutsedge leaves

The action of the herbicide glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)-glycine] on phenolic metabolism and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL; EC 4.3.1.5) activity was investigated in yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus L.). Glyphosate caused significant increases in the amount of total soluble hydroxyphenolics in the three fractions studied (neutral, acid and residual). Qualitative and quantitative differences in relation to these fractions and the amount of applied glyphosate were observed. Most of the phenolic compounds which increased after glyphosate treatment were benzoic acids (gentisic. p -OH-benzoic, salicylic and vanillic). Gentisic acid showed the greatest increase in neutral and acid fractions, being twenty- and four-fold, respectively, of the amount found in the control. PAL activity was not affected by the lowest doses of glyphosate (10−⁴and 10−³ M) , but a dramatic decrease in PAL activity was observed after 10−² M treatment. These findings, together with the low levels of cinnamic acids measured in treated yellow nutsedge plants, suggest that PAL activity is only marginally involved in glyphosate action. Since the herbicidal action probably takes place at 5-enol-pyruvylshikimate-3-P synthase (EC 2.5.1.19), an alternative pathway to PAL in phenolic biosynthesis should be activated yielding benzoic acids.     

Effect of hot water and ultra violet radiation on the incidence of seedborne fungi of okra

Seed samples of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) variety Arka anamika were subjected to hot water treatment at 42, 52 and 62°C for a period of 30 min and UV light treatment for 10, 20, 30 min at 28 ± 2°C. Their efficacy was tested against some seedborne fungal species. Among them, seeds under hot water treatment at 52°C for 30 min and UV light at 20 min were found to be more effective in the improvement of crop, both in greenhouse and field conditions. Ultimately, there was increase in the total number of leaves, fruits, length of the fruit, girth and biomass of the plants. Apart from these the total number of seeds per fruit, 1000 seed weight and ascorbic acid content were also found to be enhanced. These treatments also reduced the incidence of mycoflora in the seeds and thereby enhanced the seed germination percentage and vigour index of the seedlings.     

黄秋葵组培快繁的研究

黄秋葵 (ＨｉｂｉｓｃｕｓｅｓｃｕｌｅｎｔｕｓＬ .)为锦葵科一年生草本植物 ,别名羊角豆、秋葵。原产非洲 ,欧美及东南亚热带地区广泛栽培 (马传先 ,1999;李正应 ,1993;翁文 ,1997;雪珍等 ,1999)。黄秋葵是一种营养保健型蔬菜 ,其花、叶、芽、果均可食用 ,种子富含油脂、蛋白质及钾、钙、铁、锌、锰等矿物质 ,晒干后既可用于提取油脂和蛋白质 ,还可作为咖啡的添加剂或代用品。花、种子和根均可入药 ,对恶疮、痛疖有疗效。黄秋葵的愈伤组织在一定条件下比较容易产生体细胞胚并再生成完整植株 ,故黄秋葵的组培快繁研究也可为胚胎学研究和人…     

The genetic effective and adult census size of an Australian population of tiger prawns (Penaeus esculentus)

This study compares estimates of the census size of the spawning population with genetic estimates of effective current and long-term population size for an abundant and commercially important marine invertebrate, the brown tiger prawn (Penaeus esculentus). Our aim was to focus on the relationship between genetic effective and census size that may provide a source of information for viability analyses of naturally occurring populations. Samples were taken in 2001, 2002 and 2003 from a population on the east coast of Australia and temporal allelic variation was measured at eight polymorphic microsatellite loci. Moments-based and maximum-likelihood estimates of current genetic effective population size ranged from 797 to 1304. The mean long-term genetic effective population size was 9968. Although small for a large population, the effective population size estimates were above the threshold where genetic diversity is lost at neutral alleles through drift or inbreeding. Simulation studies correctly predicted that under these experimental conditions the genetic estimates would have non-infinite upper confidence limits and revealed they might be overestimates of the true size. We also show that estimates of mortality and variance in family size may be derived from data on average fecundity, current genetic effective and census spawning population size, assuming effective population size is equivalent to the number of breeders. This work confirms that it is feasible to obtain accurate estimates of current genetic effective population size for abundant Type III species using existing genetic marker technology.     

A simplified molecular method for distinguishing among species and ploidy levels in European water frogs (Pelophylax)

Western Palearctic water frogs in the genus Pelophylax are a set of morphologically similar anuran species that form hybridogenetic complexes. Fully reliable identification of species and especially of hybrid ploidy depends on karyological and molecular methods. In central Europe, native water frog populations consist of the Pelophylax esculentus complex, that is, P. lessonae (LL), P. ridibundus (RR) and the hybrid form P. esculentus that can have different karyotypes (RL, LLR and RRL). We developed existing molecular methods further and propose a simple PCR method based on size‐differences in the length of the serum albumin intron‐1 and the RanaCR1, a non‐LTR retrotransposon of the chicken repeat (CR) family. This PCR yields taxon‐specific banding patterns that can easily be screened by standard agarose gel electrophoresis and correctly identify species in all of the 160 samples that had been identified to karyotype with other methods. To distinguish ploidy levels in LR, LLR and RRL specimens, we used the ratio of the peak heights of the larger (ridibundus specific) to the smaller (lessonae specific) bands of fluorescently labelled PCR products resolved on a capillary DNA sequencer and obtained a correct assignment of the karyotype in 93% of cases. Our new method will cut down time and expenses drastically for a reliable identification of water frogs of the P. esculentus complex and potentially for identification of other hybridogenetic complexes and/or taxa, and it even serves as a good indicator of the ploidy status of hybrid individuals.     

When a clonal genome finds its way back to a sexual species: evidence from ongoing but rare introgression in the hybridogenetic water frog complex

Besides several exceptions, asexual metazoans are usually viewed as ephemeral sinks for genomes, which become ‘frozen’ in clonal lineages after their emergence from ancestral sexual species. Here, we investigated whether and at what rate the asexuals are able to introgress their genomes back into the parental sexual population, thus more or less importantly affecting the gene pools of sexual species. We focused on hybridogenetic hybrids of western Palaearctic water frogs (Pelophylax esculentus), which originate through hybridization between P. ridibundus and P. lessonae, but transmit only clonal ridibundus genome into their gametes. Although usually mating with P. lessonae, P. esculentus may upon mating with P. ridibundus or another hybrid produce sexually reproducing P. ridibundus offspring with the introgressed ex‐clonal genome. We compared the rate of nuclear amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and mitochondrial introgression in two types of populations, that is, those where P. ridibundus occurs in isolation and those where it lives with the hybridogens. Although significant differentiation (Φpt) between sexual and clonal ridibundus genomes suggested limited gene flow between sexuals and hybridogens, a non‐negligible (~5%) proportion of P. ridibundus bore introgressed mtDNA and AFLP markers. Whereas transfer of mtDNA was exclusively unidirectional, introgression of nuclear markers was bidirectional. The proportion of introgressed P. ridibundus was highest in syntopic populations with P. esculentus, proving an ongoing and site‐specific interspecific genetic transfer mediated by hybridogenetic hybrids. It turns out that asexual hybrids are not just a sink for genes of sexual species, but may significantly influence the genetic architecture of their sexual counterparts.     

Effects of Temperature on Bud-Sprouting and Early Growth of Cyperus esculentus in the Dark

Cyperus esculentus tubers and early growth of their sprouts. Percent sprouting increased with increasing temperature within the range of 12 to 38 C, while no sprouting occurred at 10 C and few tubers sprouted at 42 C. The rate of sprouting also increased with temperature up to 35 C. A base temperature of 11.4 C was determined for bud-sprouting of tubers in this species. Higher temperatures led to larger sprouts and greater survival rate. In particular, increased temperature favored root growth, and hence resulted in high root: shoot ratio of the sprouts. Larger tubers produced larger sprouts as a consequence of mobilizing a greater amount of their reserves, but they tended to utilize a smaller proportion of their reserves. The efficiency of reserve utilization significantly differed among the incubation temperatures, and its relation with temperature followed a quadratic pattern. This pattern is different from that documented for the bud-sprouting of rhizomes and stolons of other perennials. Our results demonstrate that temperature is crucial to the successful establishment of C. esculentus. Received 24 June 1999/ Accepted in revised form 14 December 1999     

A cryptic invasion within an invasion and widespread introgression in the European water frog complex: consequences of uncontrolled commercial trade and weak international legislation

In Western Europe, many pond owners introduce amphibians for ornamental purposes. Although indigenous amphibians are legally protected in most European countries, retailers are circumventing national and international legislation by selling exotic nonprotected sibling species. We investigated to what extent non‐native species of the European water frog complex (genus Pelophylax) have become established in Belgium, using morphological, mitochondrial and nuclear genetic markers. A survey of 87 sampling sites showed the presence of non‐native water frogs at 47 locations, mostly Marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus). Surprisingly, at least 19% of all these locations also harboured individuals with mitochondrial haplotypes characteristic of Anatolian water frogs (Pelophylax cf. bedriagae). Nuclear genotyping indicated widespread hybridization and introgression between P. ridibundus and P. cf. bedriagae. In addition, water frogs of Turkish origin obtained through a licensed retailer, also contained P. ridibundus and P. cf. bedriagae, with identical haplotypes to the wild Belgian populations. Although P. ridibundus might have invaded Belgium by natural range expansion from neighbouring countries, our results suggest that its invasion was at least partly enhanced by commercial trade, with origins as far as the Middle East. Also the invasion and rapid spread of Anatolian lineages, masked by their high morphological similarity to P. ridibundus, is likely the result of unregulated commercial trade. We expect that Anatolian frogs will further invade the exotic as well as the native range of P. ridibundus and other Pelophylax species elsewhere in Western and Central Europe, with risks of large‐scale hybridization and introgression.