Photosynthetic inorganic carbon utilization of gametophytes and sporophytes of Undaria pinnatifida (Phaeophyceae)

The characteristics of inorganic carbon assimilation by photosynthesis were investigated in male and female gametophytes and juvenile sporophytes of Undaria pinnatifida. Gametophytes and sporophytes have detectable extracellular and intracellular carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity, and the CA inhibitor, acetazolamide (AZ), significantly inhibited their photosynthesis O-2 evolution. In pH-drift experiments, it was found that gametophytes did not raise the final pH of seawater above 9.00 (CO2 concentrations of about 2.2 mu M), indicating a low ability to utilize inorganic carbon. In contrast, sporophytes rapidly raised pH to over 9.53 and depleted the free CO2 Concentration to less than 0.16 mu M. The apparent photosynthetic affinity for CO2 was almost the same for gametophytes and sporophytes, whereas gametophytes had a much lower affinity for HCO3- than sporophytes. Two inhibitors of band 3 anion exchange protein (DIDS and SITS) inhibited the photosynthesis of gametophytes but not that of sporophytes. It was indicated that both gametophytes and sporophytes were capable of using HCO3-, which involved the external CA activity, and a direct HCO3- use also occurred in the former, but the latter showed a greater capacity of HCO3- use than the former. In addition, male and female gametophytes did not show great differences in the inorganic carbon uptake mechanism underlying photosynthesis.

一种新奇的甲烷氧化细菌——能兼性营养和厌氧生长的沼气甲基弯菌

经过细心的条件选择实现了无甲烷条件下甲烷氧化菌沼气甲基弯菌81Z(methylosinus methanica 81Z)利用C2化合物的生长，同时 发现二碳代谢中间产物甘氨酸的胞外积累及对生长的抑制作用。又在此基础上从81Z原种中富集得到一株菌81Z-A，兼性生长能力大 幅度提高，而且除乙酸外又能利用丙酮酸、苹果酸、柠檬酸、葡萄糖而生长。对细胞氧化各种有机底物时氧吸收的测定及酶分析结 果发现了在其它甲烷氧化细菌中未曾发现的异柠檬酸裂解酶和苹果酸酶的存在，表明81Z除了具有通常II型菌的碳代谢途径外，具 有特殊的补偿代谢途径——乙醛酸支路以及从乙酸生糖的回补途径。因此推证其兼性生长的能力是固有的，从而说明了甲烷氧化菌 的专一性概念没有普遍意义。说明了81Z还能在含有二碳的培养基中厌氧生长，包括细胞的分裂和增值行为。虽然这种厌氧生长还 很弱，但至少可以说明它不是严格好氧的，这对于传统的关于甲烷氧化菌的严格好氧的概念是一个冲击。81Z正常条件下是利用甲 烷而生长的，当供给它乙酸、乙醛酸和丝氨酸时能促进含C-C键有机物氧化的活性，而对甲烷单加氧酶和其它C2化合物的氧化有抑 制或阻遏作用，对碳同化的丝氨酸途径的关键酶羟基丙酮酸还原酶有阻抑作用。同时也证明了81Z的甲烷单加氧酶和甲醇氧化活性 可被甲烷、甲醇所诱导，而因甲酸而降低。The growth of Methylosinus methanica 81Z on C2-compounds without methane was realized by selecting suitable conditions. The intermediate product Gly from its C2 metabolism was found to accumulate out cells and inhibit its growth. 81Z-A, which was obtained from 81Z by richening, could grow on C2- compounds rapidly. It can even grow on pyruvate, malate, citrate and glucose. The results of measurements of oxygen consumption by cell suspensions in the presence of various organic compounds and the results of enzyme assays of detected activities of isocitrate lyaze and malic enzyme in cell extracts which were not found in other methantrophs showed that 81Z possesses not only the regular carbon metabalic pathways but also some peculiar anaplerotic pathways--the glyoxylate cycle and the gluconeogenic pathway from acetate. As a consequence of these studies, its ability of facultative growth is inherent. Therefore, the concept of obligate dependence on C2- compounds of methanotrophs is not of universal significance. The ability of 81Z's growth(including desintegration and proliferation behaviour) on C2-compounds anaerobically was also demonstrated. Despite of the weakness of this growth, at least it could be said that 81Z is not strictly aerobic. This is a strike to the traditonal concept about the strictly aerobic action of methanotrophs. Regularly, 81Z grows on methane. The presence of acetate, glyoxylate and serine could increaze its ability of oxidizing the organic coumpounds containing C-C ponds. In contrast, they could inhibit the activities of MMO and other C2-compounds oxidation, they also repressed the key enzyme hydroxypyruvate reductase of the serine-pathway for carbon assimilation. At the some time, it was testified that the activities of MMO and methanol oxidation were inducible by methane or methanol and were lower in the presence of formate.

Effects of vegetation control on ecosystem water use efficiency within and among four grassland ecosystems in China

Through 2-3-year (2003-2005) continuous eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide and water vapor fluxes, we examined the seasonal, inter-annual, and inter-ecosystem variations in the ecosystem-level water use efficiency (WUE, defined as the ratio of gross primary production, GPP, to evapotranspiration, ET) at four Chinese grassland ecosystems in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and North China. Representing the most prevalent grassland types in China, the four ecosystems are an alpine swamp meadow ecosystem, an alpine shrub-meadow ecosystem, an alpine meadow-steppe ecosystem, and a temperate steppe ecosystem, which illustrate a water availability gradient and thus provide us an opportunity to quantify environmental and biological controls on ecosystem WUE at different spatiotemporal scales. Seasonally, WUE tracked closely with GPP at the four ecosystems, being low at the beginning and the end of the growing seasons and high during the active periods of plant growth. Such consistent correspondence between WUE and GPP suggested that photosynthetic processes were the dominant regulator of the seasonal variations in WUE. Further investigation indicated that the regulations were mainly due to the effect of leaf area index (LAI) on carbon assimilation and on the ratio of transpiration to ET (T/ET). Besides, except for the swamp meadow, LAI also controlled the year-to-year and site-to-site variations in WUE in the same way, resulting in the years or sites with high productivity being accompanied by high WUE. The general good correlation between LAI and ecosystem WUE indicates that it may be possible to predict grassland ecosystem WUE simply with LAI. Our results also imply that climate change-induced shifts in vegetation structure, and consequently LAI may have a significant impact on the relationship between ecosystem carbon and water cycles in grasslands.

Contributions of Pelagic and Benthic Dietary Sources to Freshwater Mussels: Evidence from Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis

In Gonghu Bay of Lake Taihu, tissue of five mussel species showed delta C-13 values similar to or slightly below that of pelagic suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM). This indicated that mussels in this area either fed non-selectively and so reflected available carbon in the pelagic habitat or selected for phytoplankton. The situation was the same for Anodonta woodiana woodiana and Cristaria plicata in Meiliang Bay; however, for the remaining three species, Hyriopsis cumingii, Arconaia lanceolata, and Lamprotula rochechouarti, tissue had intermediate delta C-13 values, falling between those for pelagic SPOM and benthic sediment organic matter (SOM), suggesting a possible preferential selection of phytoplankton from the pelagic SPOM but more likely reflecting local differences in pelagic SPOM and benthic SOM composition and available organic carbon sources. The mixing model showed that pelagic SPOM accounted for over 98% of carbon incorporated by all mussels in Gonghu Bay and two mussels in Meiliang Bay, suggesting the dietary importance of pelagic food sources for mussels. Less than 50% of the assimilation in H. cumingii, A. lanceolata, and L. rochechouarti came from the pelagic carbon sources in Meiliang Bay, which suggested that these species consumed a mix of benthic and pelagic derived carbon sources.