Identification and assessing the cultivars of Laminaria Lamx. (phaeophyceae) with molecular markers

Molecular markers were used to identify and assess cultivars of Laminaria Lamx. and to delineate their phylogenetic relationships. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used for detection. After screening, 11 primers were selected and they yielded 133 bands in all, of which approximately 99.2% were polymorphic. The genetic distances between gametophytes ranged from 0.412 to 0.956. Two clusters were formed with the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrogram based on the simple matching coefficient. All cultivars of Laminaria japonica Aresch. used for breeding in China fell into one cluster. L. japonica from Japan, L. saccharina (L.) Lam., and L. angustata Kjellm. formed the other cluster and showed higher genetic variation than L. japonica from China. Nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences, including internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) were studied and aligned. The nucleotides of the sequences ranged from 634 to 668, with a total of 692 positions including TTS1, ITS2, and the 5.8S coding region. The phylogenetic tree obtained by the neighbor-joining method favored, to some extent, the results revealed by RAPD analysis. The present study indicates that RAPD and ITS analyses could be used to identify and assess Laminaria germplasm and to distinguish some species and, even intraspecies, in Laminaria.

水稻对大气二氧化碳浓度及温度升高的光合适应的研究

基于长期观测资料，众多大气环流模型预测在二十一世纪末大气中二氧化碳浓度将达到700μmolmol'I，地球表面年平均温度也将升高1.5-4.OoC。水稻是亚洲的主要粮食作物，为世界近三分之一的人口提供食物能源。这项工作的目的，是利用人工模拟环境，预测在未来全球气候变化，二氧化碳及温度升高的条件下，水稻的光合生理反应及随之而来的对其产量的影响。本研究是美国环境署( EPA)与国际水稻研究所(IRRI)合作研究项目“Effects of UV-B and Global Climate Change on Rice”的一部分． 在这项研究中，采用了特殊设计并直接建立在水稻田间的开顶式气室（open-top chambers）。在此之前还没有这样大规模的在水稻主产区的此类模拟研究，水稻在气室中渡过了从萌发到收获的整个生长过程。模拟环境条件有三个浓度的二氧化碳（包括现有大气浓度，在此基础上升高200及300 μmolmol-l）和两个温度（即：现有大气温度及升高4度）共六个处理。供试水稻品种四个：IR72，IR65598-112-2，IR65600-42-5-2-BSI-313和N22。在实验中我们发现，水稻品种（如：1R72）单叶光合速率（以二氧化碳气体交换速率计）受二氧化碳浓度促进，在水稻营养生长期，二氧化碳及温度对其光合有协同促进作用．然而，随着花期的到来，在高温条件下，叶片光合能力（photosynthetic capacity）下降，出现光合适应现象（Photosynthetic acclirnation）.水稻群体光合作用同样受到二氧化碳浓度促进，但在后期(Grain fill stage)这种促进作用消失;在高浓度二氧化碳下生长的大多数水稻品种的叶片中有较多的碳水化和物（可溶性糖和淀粉）积累．耐高温品种N22叶片中淀粉积累较少：叶片中氮素含量降低，同时发现Rubisco总活性相应降低，这与NCi曲线所示光合效率降低相吻合;通过叶片叶绿素荧光动力学测定，没有发现光系统光能转化效率的变化;水稻籽粒产量随二氧化碳浓度升高而增加，但温度升高使产量降低12.8-36.8%;不同品种对二氧化碳浓度的反应没有显著差别;在高温条件下，耐高温品生长在高二氧化碳浓度下表现良好。 本文系统地研究了水稻光合作用在二氧化碳及温度条件影响下，对二氧化碳浓度及光强变化的反应曲线，初次对水稻单叶与群体光合对二氧化碳浓度变化的反应做了实验性对比;讨论了温度升高对水稻在高浓度二氧化碳下发生光合适应的影响，对光合适应现象的可能机制做了探讨，并提出对未来大气二氧化碳浓度及温度升高条件下水稻适应品种筛选的可能方向。

不同年代推出的冬小麦(Triticun aestivum L)品种农艺性状以及光合生理生态特性

本文探讨了五十年来北京地区广泛推广的17个冬小麦(Triticun aestivum L)品种在品种改良的过程中农艺性状和某些光合特性的变化趋势。从中选出形态、产量和推出年代差异最大的3个冬小麦品种：京冬8号、农大139和燕大1817，种植在相同的环境条件下，进一步研究与冬小麦产量提高有关的生理生态特性，以及它们的气体交换特性对于外界环境变化的响应。本试验于1999-2001年在北京农林科学院试验农场（39o09’N, 116o04’E）进行。结果如下： 1. 在冬小麦品种改良的过程中，小麦品种的经济产量、收获指数、千粒重提高，而生物产量、株高、单株穗数、单株籽粒产量和穗长降低。籽粒产量与株高、穗数极显著负相关，与穗粒重、收获指数、千粒重极显著正相关。株高与穗长、单株籽粒产量、穗数显著正相关，而与收获指数和千粒重极显著负相关。收获指数与穗数极显著负相关，而与千粒重极显著正相关。说明株高降低、收获指数提高和千粒重的提高对于冬小麦品种改良过程中产量的提高起重要作用。 2. 随品种推出年代的延迟，各品种苗期-拔节期的净光合速率（PN）、 气孔导度（gs）、蒸腾速率（ E）、量子产率（Fv/Fm）均呈增加的趋势，水分利用率（WUE）呈降低的趋势。在孕穗期-蜡熟期，旗叶的PN也随品种推出年代而呈增大的趋势，而在成熟期呈减小的趋势。gs在孕穗期-灌浆期增大，在蜡熟期和成熟期减小;各个时期的E均呈递增趋势;而WUE呈降低趋势。旗叶的Fv/Fm在孕穗期和开花期呈递增的趋势，而在成熟期下降。在苗期至孕穗期，PN、 E均与产量显著正相关;在拔节始期和孕穗期gs与产量显著正相关（R=0.616, 0.499, P<0.05），在苗期-拔节期、开花期和成熟期，WUE与历史产量和试验产量显著负相关（P<0.05, 或P<0.001），在苗期和拔节期Fv/Fm与产量正相关（P<0.05）。在冬小麦品种的改良过程中，其光合作用的改良不仅表现在净光合速率上，而且还表现在荧光动力学参数Fv/Fm上， 即PSII的原初光能转化效率有所提高。 3. 孕穗期至灌浆期，高产品种京冬8号旗叶的PN、gs、E、叶绿素含量和水分含量均最高，而水分利用率（WUE）较低，且具有较高的光呼吸和较低的暗呼吸，其旗叶的叶比重也较高。京冬8号（上世纪90年代推出）叶片气体交换的日变化表现为：在拔节期，全天的净光合速率均最高，而后随生育进程差异变小，通常上午较高，而在中午和下午较低。其旗叶Fv/Fm的变化趋势与净光合速率相似。燕大1817（上世纪40年代推出）的光合作用的午休现象较不明显，且在下午恢复较快，说明它可能具有一定的抗光抑制能力。孕穗至灌浆期是冬小麦籽粒形成和充实的关键时期，此时，叶片光合产物充足与否直接影响千粒重。进一步研究它们“源库”关系的结果表明，京冬8号“源库”关系协调，能够充分发挥“源“和“库”的潜力，且具有最高的收获指数、穗粒重和千粒重，而其它两个品种燕大1817和农大139都存在提高其品种产量潜力的限制因素。因此我们认为，高产品种的高产不仅因为其叶片具有较高的光合速率和较低的暗呼吸消耗，而且有较大的“库”容量和收获指数。 4. 当CO2浓度从360增加到720 µmol.mol-1时，单位叶面积的净光合速率和叶片的水分利用率 随CO2浓度升高而升高。但不同品种差异很大，京冬8号PN 和WUE最高，增加最多，分别提高了173 %和81 %;其次为农大139（上世纪70年代推出），燕大1817增加最少，分别提高了76 %和65 %。E随CO2 浓度的增加而提高;农大139和燕大1817的gs随CO2浓度的增大而减小，而京冬8号则增大。京冬8号和农大139旗叶胞间CO2浓度（Ci） 随CO2 浓度的增加而增大，而燕大1817 的Ci先增大，而后又急剧降低，且京冬8号的Ci最低，燕大1817 最高。在高CO2浓度下，京冬8号的光合速率显著高于其它两个品种，而Ci却低于其它两个品种，说明京冬8号的光合潜力高于其它两个品种。灌浆期高产品种京冬8号旗叶在田间不同自然光强下，净光合速率都是最高的（差异最大时，比燕大1817提高24.8 %）。因此，冬小麦光合作用的潜力，也在一定程度上得到改良。

玉簪品种的引种，栽培和组织培养

本研究通过对玉簪属植物的组织培养，发现以腋芽、花序、试管苗的叶片为外植体，均可达到迅速繁殖的目的，但对于不同的玉簪品种来说，所能采用的外植体的种类又不尽相同：对于非嵌合体玉簪品种，以腋芽、花序、试管苗的叶片作外植体都可以;而对于嵌合体玉簪品种，如果以花序或试管苗的叶片为外植体，通过诱导不定芽进行快繁，在所得的试管苗中，超过50%的个体失去斑叶特性，这在实际生产中是不可行的，如果以腋芽为外植体，所得试管苗中多于95%的可保持原有嵌合体特征，故为理想的外植体。 在以腋芽为外植体的离体培养中，取嵌合玉簪品种H. ‘Francee’和H. ‘Ground Master’的芽作材料，通过对试验结果的分析、比较，选出了合适的繁殖培养基：MS ＋ BA0.5mg/L + NAA0.5mg/L + KH2PO4150mg/L + 水解乳蛋白500mg/L + 蔗糖30g/L + 琼脂 5.6g/L，其可提高腋芽分化率，达到了快速繁殖的目的，此外，该培养基还可保持原来的生长势，降低斑叶特性分离比;同时选出了生根培养基：MS + IAA1mg/L + 蔗糖30g/L + 琼脂5.6g/L。 以花葶为外植体的试验，证实了此种方式仅适合非嵌合体玉簪的快速繁殖。 在以叶片为外植体的研究中，取了嵌合体品种H. ‘Francee’、H. ‘Ground Master’、H. ‘Gold Standard’、H. ‘Color Glory’和H. ‘Little Ming’的再生叶征作材料，通过对试验结果的分析、比较、观察到在培养基：MS + BA4mg/L + NAA0.1mg/L + 蔗糖 30g/L + 琼脂 5.6g/L上只有芽的形成，培养基：MS + BA0.4mg/L + NAA0.4mg/L + 蔗糖 30g/L + 琼脂 5.6g/L则利于根的发生，而培养基：MS + BA4mg/L + NAA0.4mg/L + 蔗糖 30g/L + 琼脂 5.6g/L促进根或（和）不定芽的产生，则因品种的不同而变化，另外还发现，经诱导不定芽途径所得到的试管苗，仅少于5%的个体保持斑叶特性，所以不可用于嵌合体玉簪的组织培养，但可快速繁殖非嵌合体玉簪。

Duplication and independent selection of cell-wall invertase genes GIF1 and OsCIN1 during rice evolution and domestication

Background: Various evolutionary models have been proposed to interpret the fate of paralogous duplicates, which provides substrates on which evolution selection could act. In particular, domestication, as a special selection, has played important role in crop cultivation with divergence of many genes controlling important agronomic traits. Recent studies have indicated that a pair of duplicate genes was often sub-functionalized from their ancestral functions held by the parental genes. We previously demonstrated that the rice cell-wall invertase (CWI) gene GIF1 that plays an important role in the grain-filling process was most likely subjected to domestication selection in the promoter region. Here, we report that GIF1 and another CWI gene OsCIN1 constitute a pair of duplicate genes with differentiated expression and function through independent selection. Results: Through synteny analysis, we show that GIF1 and another cell-wall invertase gene OsCIN1 were paralogues derived from a segmental duplication originated during genome duplication of grasses. Results based on analyses of population genetics and gene phylogenetic tree of 25 cultivars and 25 wild rice sequences demonstrated that OsCIN1 was also artificially selected during rice domestication with a fixed mutation in the coding region, in contrast to GIF1 that was selected in the promoter region. GIF1 and OsCIN1 have evolved into different expression patterns and probable different kinetics parameters of enzymatic activity with the latter displaying less enzymatic activity. Overexpression of GIF1 and OsCIN1 also resulted in different phenotypes, suggesting that OsCIN1 might regulate other unrecognized biological process. Conclusion: How gene duplication and divergence contribute to genetic novelty and morphological adaptation has been an interesting issue to geneticists and biologists. Our discovery that the duplicated pair of GIF1 and OsCIN1 has experiencedsub-functionalization implies that selection could act independently on each duplicate towards different functional specificity, which provides a vivid example for evolution of genetic novelties in a model crop. Our results also further support the established hypothesis that gene duplication with sub-functionalization could be one solution for genetic adaptive conflict.

Effects of heavy metals on plants and resistance mechanisms

Goal, Scope and Background. As one of the consequences of heavy metal pollution in soil, water and air, plants are contaminated by heavy metals in some parts of China. To understand the effects of heavy metals upon plants and the resistance mechanisms, would make it possible to use plants for cleaning and remediating heavy metal-polluted sites. Methods. The research results on the effects of heavy metals on plants and resistant mechanisms are compiled from Chinese publications from scientific journals and university journals, mostly published during the last decade. Results and Discussion. Effects of heavy metals on plants result in growth inhibition, structure damage, a decline of physiological and biochemical activities as well as of the function of plants. The effects and bioavailability of heavy metals depend on many factors, such as environmental conditions, pH, species of element, organic substances of the media and fertilization, plant species. But, there are also studies on plant resistance mechanisms to protect plants against the toxic effects of heavy metals such as combining heavy metals by proteins and expressing of detoxifying enzyme and nucleic acid, these mechanisms are integrated to protect the plants against injury by heavy metals. Conclusions. There are two aspects on the interaction of plants and heavy metals. On one hand, heavy metals show negative effects on plants. On the other hand, plants have their own resistance mechanisms against toxic effects and for detoxifying heavy metal pollution. Recommendations and Outlook. To study the effects of heavy metals on plants and mechanisms of resistance, one must select crop cultivars and/or plants for removing heavy metals from soil and water. More highly resistant plants can be selected especially for a remediation of the pollution site. The molecular mechanisms of resistance of plants to heavy metals should be studied further to develop the actual resistance of these plants to heavy metals. Understanding the bioavailability of heavy metals is advantageous for plant cultivation and phytoremediation. Decrease in the bioavailability to farmlands would reduce the accumulation of heavy metals in food. Alternatively, one could increase the bioavailability of plants to extract more heavy metals.

Composition of volatile oil of Primula obconica in Central China

Primula obconica was introduced to Europe from Hubei, China in 1880, and has been cultivated worldwide as one of popular ornamental plants. The volatile oil of wild P. obconica collected from its original place, Yichang, Hubei was first investigated. A total of 43 compounds constituting 93.49% of the oil were identified by using GC and GC-MS. The major compounds were methyl 2,4-dihydroxy-5-methyl benzoate (30.41%), methyl 2,6-dihydroxy-4-methyl benzoate (29.27%), and hypnone (8.92%) etc. In comparison with the published data of some European cultivars, the native P. obconica seems to be allergen-free due to absence of primin and miconidin.