Response of Microcystis to copper stress - Do phenotypes of Microcystis make a difference in stress tolerance?

To elucidate the role of phenotype in stress-tolerant bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis, two phenotypes of M. aeruginosa-unicellular and colonial strains were selected to investigate how they responded to copper stress. Flow cytometry (FCM) examination indicated that the percents of viable cells in unicellular and colonial Microcystis were 1.92-2.83% and 72.3-97.51%, respectively, under 0.25 mg l(-1) copper sulfate treatment for 24 h. Upon exposure to 0.25 mg l(-1) copper sulfate, the activities of antioxidative enzyme, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), were significantly increased in colonial Microcystis compared to unicellular Microcystis. Meanwhile, the values of the photosynthetic parameters (F-v/F-m, ETRmax and oxygen evolution rate) decreased more rapidly in unicellular Microcystis than in colonial Microcystis. The results indicate that colonial Microcystis has a higher endurance to copper than unicellular Microcystis. This suggests that the efficient treatment concentration of copper sulfate as algaecides will be dependent on the phenotypes of Microcystis. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

水稻OsYAB6和OsUGE1基因克隆与功能分析

YABBY基因家族是植物中特有的一个家族，它们具有氨基端的C2C2型的锌指结构域和羧基端的螺旋-环-螺旋YABBY结构域，这是其它真核生物中尚未发现的一种典型的并列保守结构域。在双子叶植物拟南芥中发现YABBY家族主要是促进侧生器官远轴面细胞的分化命运。 本论文从水稻中克隆到OsYAB6，序列比对发现它和拟南芥中的FIL/YABBY3同源性最高，推测它们是同源基因。OsYAB6超表达拟南芥中，侧生器官如叶片的近轴面细胞表现出明显的远轴面化的特点，与拟南芥中YABBY3超表达的表型相似，说明OsYAB6在拟南芥中仍可促进叶片细胞向远轴面细胞分化。拟南芥YABBY在侧生器官中的表达模式都具有极性分布的特点，与其决定远轴面细胞分化命运的功能是一致的。对水稻OsYAB6表达模式的研究发现，OsYAB6主 要在分生组织中表达，但不具有近-远轴面的极性。在叶中的表达集中在维管组织且只局限在韧皮部。这与拟南芥 YABBY基因在叶片中表达模式不同，暗示OsYAB6在水稻中有其新的功能。在转OsYAB6拟南芥中，尽管叶片的维管组织 近-远轴极性分布正常，但叶脉的排列模式不规则，说明OsYAB6超表达影响了维管组织的发育。这些结果表明，在进 化过程中YABBY家族的功能发生变化，OsYAB6在水稻中专一地在发育中的维管组织尤其是韧皮部表达，可能参与调控维管组织的发育，由于其在蛋白序列上的保守性使其保留与拟南芥中的同源基因相似功能。这也是本论文的创新之处。 该论文还对一个核苷糖异构酶OsUGE-1的生物学功能做了探索。OsUGE-1的表达受各种非生物胁迫诱导，但有关其在植物抗逆中的功能还不清楚。本研究发现超表达OsUGE-1的拟南芥提高了对高盐、干旱、低温胁迫的抗性，在转基因拟南芥中的棉籽糖含量比野生型显著提高。表明OsUGE-1超表达使拟南芥过量积累棉籽糖，从而提高了植物的抗逆性。该结果对于提高农作物的抗逆性具有潜在的应用价值。