A novel glycoside hydrolase 74 xyloglucanase CvGH74A is a virulence factor in Coniella vitis

Grape white rot is a destructive fungal disease occurring worldwide. Recently, Coniella vitis was identified as the predominant pathogen causing this disease in China. As the periderms of grape shoots are severely degraded by C. vitis, it was speculated that cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) might play a key role in the pathogenesis of this disease. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the hydrolytic activity of the CWDEs of C. vitis. The results showed that xylanase (Xy) and xyloglucanase (XEG) had high levels of hydrolytic activity both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, a high-virulence fungal strain exhibited higher levels of Xy and XEG activities compared with a low-virulence strain. The genome of the fungus was found to harbor two XEG-coding genes CvGH74A and CvGH74B, which belonged to the glycoside hydrolase (GH)74 family. The expression level of CvGH74A was found to be high during pathogen infection. CvGH74A gene deletion mutants were generated using the split-marker method. The deletion of CvGH74A decreased both the hydrolytic activities of XEG and Xy and also the ability of the fungus to infect the grape leaves. No differences in the hyphal growth, morphology of colonies, or conidiation were found between the ΔCvGH74A mutant strains and the wild-type strain. Together, these results suggested that CvGH74A acted as an important virulence factor, and its enzymatic activity might regulate the virulence of the pathogen. This study was novel in reporting that GH74 XEG acted as a virulence factor in C. vitis.     

引入科研前沿对植物生理学教学方法的改进和效果分析

大学生普遍存在科研创新意识差、缺乏科研热情的现象.补充相关科研进展,将科研前沿引进课堂成为一种趋势,笔者对植物生理学光合作用这一章关于补充光合碳同化科研进展与否的教学实践结果进行对比分析,采用调查问卷的形式,围绕已讲授和未讲授光合碳同化适应性进化这一科研前沿进行调查,旨在实现学生对光合碳同化途径多元化发展进化的理解和深化,启发学生对固有知识的质疑和求解热情,达到提升科研兴趣和创新能力,实现精品课程培养满足国家和地方发展需要的高素质人才的目的.     

玉米粒重一致性QTL整合图谱的构建及元分析

为进一步研究候选基因发掘、克隆以及基因组结构,在生物信息学基础上,利用公共网络资源上已发表的149个玉米粒重相关QTL位点信息,初步探讨了玉米粒重"一致性"QTL发掘。结果表明:构建出一个包含了80个玉米粒重QTL位点的整合图谱,并在第7染色体上确定出一个"一致性"QTL,由标记bcd349和gpm760a界定,置信区间为463.29~505.50,间距42.21cM。     

品种及初生重对仔猪死亡率和21日龄个体重的影响

试验对2 319头仔猪的初生重与21日龄个体重和死亡率进行分析。结果表明:大约克仔猪哺乳期死亡率最低,21日龄体重最高;随着初生重的增加,仔猪死亡率降低,21日龄个体重增加。     

铜仁烤烟单叶重现状与提升烟叶质量对策

根据铜仁烤烟单叶重的调查数据，认真梳理了铜仁烤烟单叶重的现状，分析了铜仁烤烟单叶重存在的问题，从烟叶收购政策和烟叶生产技术两个方面有针对性的提出提升铜仁烟叶质量的对策，为铜仁烤烟产业的持续健康发展提供理论指导。     

Markers for Predicting Overweight or Obesity of Broodmares

Obesity has become of great concern to all equine community from both veterinary and welfare points of view. For estimating obesity markers of brood mares, 17 mares with body conditions were subjected to blood sampling and ultrasound examination to measure rump fat for 6 consecutive weeks. Body length (L), girth (G), and height (H) were measured to estimate body weight (BW), body fat %, body fat mass (BFM) and body mass index (BMI). Mares were classified into three groups according to body condition score (BCS) and rump fat thickness (RF). Overweight mares (O) had BCS >7 and RF >7 mm, moderate (M) had BCS and RF >3 to ≤7, and emaciated (E) had BCS and RF ≤ 3 mm. Glucose, triglycerides, nitric oxide (NO), insulin, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1), leptin, ovarian hormones, and thyroid hormones were measured. Results revealed that BCS, G, L, L × G × H, BW, RF, fat %, and BFM correlated significantly (P < .0001) with body condition. Tetraiodothyronine concentrations of E mares were significantly high (P = .04), but triiodothyronine concentrations tended (P = .07) to be low. Insulin (P = .06) and IGF-1 (P = .07) concentrations tended to be high in O mares. Moderate mares had the highest leptin concentrations (P = .007), but E mares had the lowest P4 concentrations (P = .01). Overweight mares had nonsignificantly high glucose, NO, and triglycerides. In conclusion, back fat and morphometric measurements are the easiest and simple assessment of overweight and obesity. Obese and overweight mares showed slight hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hyperglycemia. Hyperleptinemia alone is not indicative of obesity.     

Controlling sprouting in potato tubers using ultraviolet-C irradiance

Legislation limiting the use of chlorpropham (CIPC), the major potato sprout suppressant, has led to a need for new technologies to extend storage life of tubers. Ultra violet C (UV-C) has been used postharvest to reduce disease incidence on many crops, yet its use and efficacy as a sprout suppressant has not been investigated. The aim of this project was to identify the optimum dose and treatment timing of UV-C treatment on potato tubers as an alternative method of sprout suppression to reduce the dependence on chemical sprout suppressants. Up to six potato cultivars over two seasons were treated with varying doses of UV-C ranging from 0 to 30 kJ m⁻² either at harvest or at first indication of dormancy break. The tubers were stored at 9 °C and sprout growth and incidence assessed. Treatment with moderate UV-C doses (5–20 kJ m⁻²) suppressed sprout length and sprout incidence in a range of cultivars. Periderm DNA damage and programmed cell death were not detected in response to any of the UV-C doses. The inactive ABA metabolite, ABA-GE, increased in response to 10 or 20 kJ m⁻² within 72 h of treatment. Multivariate analysis showed a negative relationship between ABA metabolites and sprout growth/incidence during storage. This study found that UV-C reduced sprout growth in potato with no deleterious effects on tuber quality. This suggests potential for further development as an alternative or supplement to conventional sprout suppressant technologies.     

Preharvest application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) in two plum cultivars. 1. Improvement of fruit growth and quality attributes at harvest

Two plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) cultivars ‘Black Splendor’ (BS) and ‘Royal Rosa’ (RR) were treated with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) at 3 concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mM) along the on-tree fruit development: 63, 77 and 98 days after full blossom (DAFB). On a weekly basis, fruit samples were taken for measuring fruit size and weight and parameters related to quality. Results revealed that MeJA was effective in increasing fruit size and weight, the 0.5 mM being the most effective for BS cultivar and 2.0 mM for RR. At harvest, those fruit treated with 0.5 mM MeJA had the highest firmness and colour Hue values. Total acidity was also generally higher in MeJA-treated fruit than in controls, while the content of total soluble solids remained unaffected. In addition, total phenolics and total antioxidant activity were found at higher concentrations in 0.5 and 2.0 mM MeJA-treated than in control fruit over at last 3 weeks of fruit development for BS and RR cultivars, respectively. Overall results suggest that MeJA could be a promising preharvest tool to increase plum size and quality with enhanced bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity, although the optimum concentration is cultivar dependent.     

春大豆鼓粒期冠层翻叶原因及翻叶对叶片净光合速率和粒重的影响

为明确春大豆鼓粒期冠层翻叶原因及翻叶对粒重的影响。在大田条件下,以28份大豆品种为材料,采用随机区组试验设计,研究了鼓粒初期植株顶部4片叶的单叶面积、比叶重、叶型指数、叶片含水量与翻叶率的关系;比较了翻叶与对照叶片的净光合速率、百粒重及粒重的差异。结果表明,不同大豆品种间翻叶率在0~26.5%之间,且差异显著,其中以‘中黄313’、‘中黄42’和‘中黄13’最高;单叶面积在46~151 cm²之间,其中以‘中黄39’、‘中黄42’和‘中黄13’最大;比叶重在0.536~1.64 mg/cm²之间,其中以‘中黄322’、‘中黄313’和‘中黄13’最低;叶型指数在1.35~3.51之间,其中以‘中黄70’、‘中黄80’和‘中黄42’最低。供试大豆品种分为3个类群,第I类群品种单叶面积小,比叶重高,叶型指数大,翻叶率为1.03%;第III类群品种单叶面积大,比叶重小,翻叶率高达19.7%;第II类群共4个品种,单叶面积、比叶重、叶型指数、翻叶率介于第I类和第III类群之间。翻叶后显著降低叶片净光合速率,平均降幅31.7%,粒数较多的‘新大豆27号’百粒重降低10.38%~22.4%,而粒数少的‘吉育60’粒重没有降低。大豆上层叶片单叶面积大、比叶重小及叶型指数低的叶片翻叶率高,翻叶降低叶片净光合速率,进而降低同节位百粒重及单节粒重,不利于大豆高产。     

Relationships Between Measurements of Body Fat in Thoroughbred Horses

Equine obesity is increasing in prevalence, and weight loss diets are frequently recommended for these horses. However, there are also management situations in which horses are deemed to be too thin. To monitor the efficacy of weight change programs, estimates of body fat are often made. There are several systems available to estimate body fat, and there are benefits and challenges to using each method. The objective of this study was to compare four different methods of estimating body fat in Thoroughbred horses. In 14 mature Thoroughbred horses, relationships among body condition score (BCS), morphometric measurements, ultrasonic measures of subcutaneous fat depots, and estimation of total body fat (BF_D) via measurement of total body water through deuterium oxide dilution were evaluated. Body condition scores ranged from 4.5 to 6.5 on a 9-point scale. Body condition score, heart girth-to-body weight ratio, and BF_D were all positively correlated with each other (P < .05). Subcutaneous fat depth at the tailhead tended to be positively related to BF_D when only horses with BCS ≥ 5 were included (P = .0680). These data suggest that BCS remains a simple means of monitoring adiposity in mature horses in moderate condition. Tailhead fat depots may become useful for monitoring changes in body fat in Thoroughbreds with a BCS above 5, although more work with animals of higher adiposity is required and at different times of year.