In-depth mechanistic study on the formation of acrylamide and other vinylogous compounds by the maillard reaction

The formation of acrylamide was studied in low-moisture Maillard model systems (180 degrees C, 5 min) based on asparagine, reducing sugars, Maillard intermediates, and sugar degradation products. We show evidence that certain glycoconjugates play a major role in acrylamide formation. The N-glycosyl of asparagine generated about 2.4 mmol/mol acrylamide, compared to 0.1-0.2 mmol/mol obtained with alpha-dicarbonyls and the Amadori compound of asparagine. 3-Hydroxypropanamide, the Strecker alcohol of asparagine, generated only low amounts of acrylamide ( approximately 0.23 mmol/mol), while hydroxyacetone increased the acrylamide yields to more than 4 mmol/mol, indicating that alpha-hydroxy carbonyls are much more efficient than alpha-dicarbonyls in converting asparagine into acrylamide. The experimental results are consistent with the reaction mechanism based on (i) a Strecker type degradation of the Schiff base leading to azomethine ylides, followed by (ii) a beta-elimination reaction of the decarboxylated Amadori compound to afford acrylamide. The beta-position on both sides of the nitrogen atom is crucial. Rearrangement of the azomethine ylide to the decarboxylated Amadori compound is the key step, which is favored if the carbonyl moiety contains a hydroxyl group in beta-position to the nitrogen atom. The beta-elimination step in the amino acid moiety was demonstrated by reacting under low moisture conditions decarboxylated model Amadori compounds obtained by synthesis. The corresponding vinylogous compounds were only generated if a beta-proton was available, for example, styrene from the decarboxylated Amadori compound of phenylalanine. Therefore, it is suggested that this thermal pathway may be common to other amino acids, resulting under certain conditions in their respective vinylogous reaction products.     

Quantitative trait loci associated with drought tolerance in the model legume Medicago truncatula

Water shortage and heterogeneity in precipitation constitute the essential limiting factors for agricultural production in the Mediterranean basin. To understand the complex inheritance of tolerance to drought stress in Medicago truncatula, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) analysis was performed using a set of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between the susceptible line Jemalong A17 and the tolerant line F83005.5. We conducted two experiments where the RILs and parental lines were grown in 0 mM and 75 mM of mannitol (D-) in tubes and in control and 33% of the field capacity (FC) in pots. In both experiments, line and line by water treatment interaction were significant. QTLs analysis showed that several putative genomic regions are involved in the variation of measured traits under the two water treatments in tubes and pots. A total of 21 QTLs on 8 linkage groups were detected for the measured traits in both experiments, 11 of them were in tubes conditions. Eight of these 11 QTLs were identified in control treatment and three in mannitol. While the number of QTLs identified in tubes under control conditions was more than under mannitol conditions, the highest number of QTLs was detected in water-stressed conditions in pots. The percentage of phenotypic variance explained by a single QTL (R ²) ranges from 11.7 to 26.3% in tubes and from 11.2 to 18.4% in pots depending on the trait, with 6 QTLs in each condition explaining <15% of the phenotypic variance. The number of common QTLs under two water treatments was one for length of stems (LS), number of internodes (NIN) and aerial dry weight (ADW) in tubes, and zero for NIN and one for LS and leaf area (LA) in pots. However, a few overlapping QTLs were found in tubes and pots on linkage groups 5 and 7 for LS and NIN.     

Assessing ecological equivalence in biodiversity offset schemes: Key issues and solutions

Habitat loss through development is one of the major causes of biodiversity loss. The increasingly common legal requirement to first avoid, then reduce and, if necessary, offset impacts of plans and projects on biodiversity has however not always been appropriately enforced. The blame lies mainly in bad governance such as patchy monitoring or poorly defined liabilities. Biodiversity offsets also suffer from the lack of formal methods for designing and sizing offset requirements. We address this gap by reviewing different tools, methods and guidelines that have been developed in different regulatory contexts. We then formulate a typology of approaches that variously combine these methods and guidelines. We discuss how these relate to the objectives of offset policies and the components of biodiversity and ecosystems to which they apply. Together, these perspectives should contribute to improving existing methods (e.g. by incorporating time-related issues) and our typology should support the development of offset policies.     

Fluids from aging ocean crust that support microbial life

Little is known about the potential for life in the vast, low-temperature (<100 degrees C) reservoir of fluids within mid-ocean ridge flank and ocean basin crust. Recently, an overpressured 300-meter-deep borehole was fitted with an experimental seal (CORK) delivering crustal fluids to the sea floor for discrete and large-volume sampling and characterization. Results demonstrate that the 65 degrees C fluids from 3.5-million-year-old ocean crust support microbial growth. Ribosomal RNA gene sequence data indicate the presence of diverse Bacteria and Archaea, including gene clones of varying degrees of relatedness to known nitrate reducers (with ammonia production), thermophilic sulfate reducers, and thermophilic fermentative heterotrophs, all consistent with fluid chemistry.     

The scale of saproxylic beetles response to landscape structure depends on their habitat stability

Context

Forest management and disturbances cause habitat fragmentation for saproxylic species living on old-growth attributes. The degree of habitat spatiotemporal continuity required by these species is a key question for designing biodiversity-friendly forestry, and it strongly depends on species’ dispersal. The “stability–dispersal” model predicts that species using stable habitats should have lower dispersal abilities than species associated with ephemeral habitat and thus respond to habitat availability at smaller scales.

Objectives

We aimed at testing the stability–dispersal model by comparing the spatial scales at which saproxylic beetle guilds using substrates with contrasted stability (from stable to ephemeral: cavicolous, fungicolous, saproxylophagous and xylophagous guilds) are affected by landscape structure (i.e. habitat amount and aggregation).

Methods

We sampled saproxylic beetles using a spatially nested design (plots within landscape windows). We quantified habitat availability (tree cavities, polypores and deadwood) in 1-ha plots, 26-ha buffers around plots and 506-ha windows, and analyzed their effect on the abundance and diversity of associated guilds.

Results

The habitat amount within plots and buffers positively affected the abundance of the cavicolous and the fungicolous guilds whereas saproxylophagous and xylophagous did not respond at these scales. The habitat aggregation within windows only positively affected the saproxylophagous species richness within plots and also on the similarity in species composition among plots.

Conclusions

Beetle guilds specialized on more stable habitat were affected by landscape structure at smaller spatial scales, which corroborated the stability–dispersal model. In managed forests, the spatial grain of conservation efforts should therefore be adapted to the target habitat lifetime.

     

The larger,the better? Effects of delayed diameter-limit cutting on old-growth attributes and saproxylic beetle diversity in temperate oak forests

Intensive management implies harvesting large, old trees, which reduces the old-growth attributes. This negatively affects biodiversity, especially saproxylic beetles. In managed temperate oak forests, rotation extension induced by increasing the diameter threshold of final harvest by about 10 cm compared to conventional practices (i.e. DBH around 70 cm) might mitigate this negative effect. Here, we used a gradient of the proportion of overmature trees (DBH?≥?80 cm) among mature trees (DBH?≥?70 cm) across plots of high oak French forests to test the potential effect of increasing diameter threshold on (1) structural features and (2) species composition and diversity of saproxylic beetles communities. We assessed deadwood and microhabitats availability (i.e. volume/density and diversity) and canopy openness in 81 1-ha plots across eleven French forests. Results highlighted that a larger proportion of overmature trees, for a given density of mature trees, had limited effects on structural features: only cavities density showed a significant positive response, with no cascading effect on cavicolous beetles. Moreover, the proportion of overmature trees had no significant effect on the composition of saproxylic beetles communities (and ecological variables altogether explained only 17% of the composition inertia). By contrast, mature tree density enhanced microhabitat density and indirectly increased the abundance of rare species. Thus, shifting DBH from 70 to 80 cm in high oak forest could have no or limited effect on saproxylic beetles conservation. Improved strategies might rather stem from combining (1) longer rotation extension and (2) less intensive management practices in extended rotation stands.     

Breakdown of the Scab Resistance Gene Vf in Apple Leads to a Founder Effect in Populations of the Fungal Pathogen Venturia inaequalis

ABSTRACT The recent breakdown of Vf, a major resistance gene to apple scab, provided an opportunity to analyze a population genetic process within the matching virulent subpopulation of the fungus Venturia inaequalis. We utilized the amplified fragment length polymorphism technique and allelic variation at four microsatellite loci to assess genetic structure of 133 isolates of V. inaequalis from a single commercial apple orchard sampled from one cultivar carrying the Vf gene (Judeline) and three cultivars devoid of the Vf gene. Both analyses indicated a strong decrease of the genetic diversity among isolates from the Vf cultivar compared with the high level of diversity among isolates from the three other cultivars. This leads to a high genetic differentiation between virVf and avrVf groups (F(ST) > 0.17). Analyses of the genetic distance between AFLP patterns based on the Jaccard index indicate that all virVf isolates could be assigned to a single clonal lineage. These results lead us to conclude that the clonal structure of the population isolated from the Vf cultivar is an example of a founder effect in response to a resistance gene breakdown and it is likely that this event occurred in the orchard during the sampling year.