中国小麦纹枯病化学防治研究进展

随着秸秆还田等耕作栽培措施的推广，中国小麦纹枯病发生日趋严重，对小麦的高产、稳产造成了很大威胁。由于缺乏免疫及高抗病性小麦品种，生产中对纹枯病一直采用播期拌种及春季喷雾相结合的化学防治方法。文章总结了当前中国小麦纹枯病的发生现状及主要病原；评述了三唑类药剂对纹枯病菌的毒力及对纹枯病的防治效果，介绍了生产中小麦纹枯病菌对三唑类药剂的抗药性现状及机理，分析了三唑类药剂对小麦的安全性；同时阐述了井冈霉素、甲基立枯磷及其他种类药剂在小麦纹枯病综合防治中的应用；指出小麦纹枯病化学防治的发展方向应是将生防菌剂同化学药剂相结合，实现生物防治与化学防治的协同应用。     

表达中国小麦花叶病毒（CWMV）外壳蛋白基因增强烟草对CWMV的抗病性

  目的  中国小麦花叶病毒（Chinese wheat mosaic virus，CWMV）是引起小麦黄花叶病的重要病原之一。获得表达CWMV外壳蛋白（coat protein，CP）的转基因烟草Nicotiana benthamiana（OECP）并分析其抗病性，为培育小麦抗病材料奠定工作基础。  方法  利用体外重组DNA技术构建含有CWMV外壳蛋白基因的表达载体，并通过农杆菌介导的转化方法，获得OECP。进一步利用Western Blot和PCR检测明确CWMV的外壳蛋白在OECP中能够正常的表达。  结果  部分转基因阳性植株出现矮化表型。此外，OECP阳性植株接种CWMV后7 d的定量分析表明，OECP中CWMV运动蛋白的表达量显著受到抑制。  结论  在烟草中表达CWMV的CP蛋白基因可显著增强烟草对CWMV的抗病性。     

基于转录组测序的半滑舌鳎长链非编码RNA的初步鉴定与分析

以抗病家系与易感家系半滑舌鳎为材料,进行哈维弧菌感染实验,并对易感家系感染前(CsSU)、易感家系感染后(CsSC)、抗病家系感染前(CsRU)、抗病家系感染后(CsRC)4组进行转录组测序,根据RNA-seq数据挖掘半滑舌鳎长链非编码RNA信息;通过生物信息学分析,筛选出与抗哈维弧菌病相关的差异长链非编码RNA(long non-coding RNA, lncRNA)。结果显示,共识别出4 584个lncRNA座位,包含5 714个转录本;其基本特征与编码基因的比较分析,lncRNA的GC含量低于编码基因,单外显子基因数多于编码基因,转录本的平均长度长于编码基因,基因表达量低于编码基因。对4组样品进行两两比较(CsRU vs CsSU、CsRC vs CsSC、CsRC vs CsRU、CsSC vs CsSU)分别筛选出818、813、261、140个差异表达lncRNA,其中CsRU与CsSU之间、CsRC与CsSC之间lncRNA数目差异最多,通过聚类分析确定了各实验组的表达模式之间的联系,CsRU与CsSU之间的表达模式最为相近。通过共表达分析,预测出lncRNA和274个编码基因可能存在14 539种相互关系,并进行了功能注释,进而筛选出7个关键lncRNA。qRT-PCR结果显示,差异表达lncRNAs的表达模式和转录组数据得到的基本一致。研究结果为揭示lncRNA在半滑舌鳎抗哈维弧菌免疫调控反应中的作用提供重要的参考数据。     

The importance of native valley oaks (Quercus lobata) as stopover habitat for migratory songbirds in urban Sacramento,California, USA

Urban development occupies over 375,000 ha (6%) of California's Central Valley, and expansion continues to displace natural and agricultural landscapes. The value of urban areas as habitat for native wildlife and the characteristics that determine its value, however, remain little studied. Many Neotropical migrant passerine bird species are declining due to changes in breeding, migratory, and wintering habitats and climatic conditions. During 2010–2013, we evaluated the importance of native valley oak (Quercus lobata) as stopover foraging habitat used by Neotropical migrant birds in urban areas of the Sacramento region in California, USA. Over 3 years, we surveyed spring and late summer-early fall migrant songbirds and measured tree canopy cover within 31 c.0.91 ha transects in Curtis Park, an older residential neighborhood. We detected 607 individuals from 20 migrant species, but four wood warblers comprised the bulk of observations: black-throated gray (Setophaga nigrescens), Wilson's (Cardellina pusilla), orange-crowned (Oreothlypis celata), and yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia). Migrant abundance was closely correlated with valley oak canopy abundance and increased linearly with oak canopy especially during fall migration. Migrants were nearly absent from areas lacking oak canopy. Migrant bird species as a group also foraged in valley oak substantially more often (74%) than would be expected based on its 15% relative canopy cover (χ²_1d.f. = 924, p < 0.0001), as did all species whose selectivity could be tested. These results are important in demonstrating previously undocumented migrant use of urban areas with remnant valley oak canopy and suggest that protecting existing valley oaks and increasing their use in future urban forestry and landscape plantings in the Central Valley could provide substantial habitat benefits for native migratory birds.     

The economic benefits and costs of trees in urban forest stewardship: A systematic review

Understanding the benefits provided by urban trees is important to justify investment and improve stewardship. Many studies have attempted to quantify the benefits of trees in monetary terms, though fewer have quantified the associated costs of planting and maintaining them. This systematic review examines the methods used to jointly analyse the costs and benefits of trees in the urban landscape, assesses the relative balance of benefits and costs, and attempts to understand the wide variation in economic values assigned in different studies. The benefits most frequently studied are those related to environmental regulation and property values, and the available data show that these usually outweigh the costs. Aesthetic, amenity, and shading benefits have also been shown to provide significant economic benefits, while benefits in terms of water regulation, carbon reduction and air quality are usually more modest. Variation in benefits and costs among studies is attributed largely to differences in the species composition and age structure of urban tree populations, though methodological differences also play a role. Comparison between studies is made difficult owing to differences in spatiotemporal scope, and in the way urban forest composition and demographic structure were reported. The overwhelming majority of studies concern deciduous trees in Northern America, and much less is known about urban forests in other regions, especially in the tropics. Future work should thus seek to fill these knowledge gaps, and standardise research protocols across cities. In light of ambitious goals in many cities to increase tree cover, ongoing advances in valuation methods need to provide a more comprehensive accounting of benefits and costs, and to better integrate economic assessment into the decision-making process.     

Sorghum extrusion process combined with biofortified sweet potato contributed for high iron bioavailability in Wistar rats

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of sorghum and sweet potato on the bioavailability of iron, gene expression of proteins involved in iron metabolism and the plasma antioxidant capacity in animals fed with whole sorghum grains processed by dry heat or extrusion, combined or not with sweet potato flour with high content of carotenoids. Five experimental groups were tested (n = 7): dry heat sorghum flour (DS); extruded sorghum flour (ES); whole sorghum flour + sweet potato flour (DS + SP); extruded sorghum flour + sweet potato flour (ES + SP) and positive control (FS). The evaluations included: hemoglobin gain, hemoglobin regeneration efficiency, gene expression of divalente metal transporter 1 (DMT-1), duodenal citochroma B (DcytB), ferroportin, hephaestin, transferrin and ferritin and total plasma antioxidant capacity (TAC). The ES + SP group showed higher (p < 0.05) expression of DcytB, ferroportin and hephaestin when compared to the control group. The DS group showed high (p < 0.05) expression of DMT-1 and the ES showed high mRNA expression of transferrin and ferritin. The changes in the sorghum physicochemical properties from extrusion process reduced the iron and phytate content, and increased the gene expression of proteins involved in iron metabolism, improving iron bioavailability. The combination of sweet potato and sorghum flour (dry or extruded) improved the iron capture and total antioxidant capacity, probably due to the presence of β-carotene and antioxidant compounds.     

Dough rheological properties and noodle-making performance of non-waxy and waxy whole-wheat flour blends

Dough rheological properties and noodle-making performance of non-waxy whole-wheat flour (WWF) with partial- or full-waxy (PW- or FW-) WWF substitution were studied. The substitution levels were 0, 250, 500, 750, and 1000 g/kg, respectively. FW-WWF reduced the peak viscosity and pasting temperature of WWF blends as its substitution level was increased due to its higher proportions of B-type starch granules and short amylopectin chains, while PW-WWF increased peak viscosity with the increasing substitution level because of its higher amylopectin content. As demonstrated by farinograph and rheometer measurements, FW-WWF interfered with gluten development because of the increased competition for water by arabinoxylans and amylopectin; however, PW-WWF enhanced dough strength due primarily to its increased protein content. Consequently, FW-WWF showed a detrimental effect on cooked noodle texture as the cooked noodle hardness was reduced by 50% at the 1000 g/kg substitution level. In contrast, PW-WWF enhanced noodle integrity and elasticity by increasing cooked noodle cohesiveness and resilience by 10.1% and 14.8%, respectively, at the 1000 g/kg substitution level. The results suggest that with waxy WWF substitution, the changes in starch composition, arabinoxylans, and protein content could modify the interactions among flour components and influence the quality characteristics of noodle products.     

Prediction of baking results from farinograph measurements by using stepwise linear regression and artificial neuronal networks

In an effort to extract additional data from farinograph experiments a model was developed to simulate the measurements and correlate the parameters of the model with results from baking tests. This additional information can be used in bakeries to predict the baking properties of the flours and adjust the recipes to maintain a constant product quality. For this eight different flours were characterized with a farinograph and 13 different results from baking experiments. An approach with five nonlinear differential equations was able to model the farinograph measurements very well (average R² = 0.995 ± 0.005). While a stepwise multilinear regression only showed weak correlations in cross validation between a single parameter of the model and the baking volume (R² = 0.745) and the volume yield (R² = 0.796) respectively, the artificial neuronal network was more successful. For the baking weight (R² = 0.926), the dough yield gross (R² = 0.909) and net (R² = 0.913) strong correlations were found. A good correlation for the baking volume (R² = 0.853) was also determined, while the volume yield showed comparable results to the linear regression (R² = 0.792).