Heritability of inflorescence and floret traits in gerbera

Summary Heritability, repeatability, and components of variance were estimated for 68 morphological characters describing the inflorescence, scape, and florets of Gerbera hybrida. The heritability estimates were generally moderate to high for simple dimension characters and characters which were the mean of several measurements, low to moderate for ratio and composite characters, and low for enumeration characters and characters describing the intraplant variation of traits. The repeatability estimates were generally low for intraplant variation characters, moderate for simple ratio characters, and largest for composite and mean characters. For most of the characters, the variance among inflorescences from the same plant was the largest portion of the total phenotypic variance.     

Components of genetic variation for cut-flower yield in the Davis Population of Gerbera

Summary Genetic variances for cut-flower yield in Gerbera hybrida were partitioned into additive and dominance components. Mean additive variance was 37.3 with a standard error of 12.9. Mean dominance variance was 12.7 with a standard error of 32.6. The dominance ratio was 0.34. Narrow sense heritability, estimated from these components of variance, averaged 0.42 with a standard error of 0.13. Heritabilities estimated from parent-offspring regression averaged 0.25. Gain from selection was less then expected; realized heritabilities were approximately 0.20.     

Soil‐ecological evaluation of willows in a floodplain

Willows (Salix spp.) were supposed to be suitable candidates for the phytoremediation of polluted floodplain soils, but it is unknown how willow growth alters concentrations and mobility of pollutants under the conditions of ongoing periodically flooding. Therefore, effects of willow cropping on total concentrations and mobility of As and heavy metals and soil microbial properties were determined after three and four growing seasons under willows in comparison to native grassland in a flood channel of a River Elbe floodplain (Central Germany). After 4 y of willow coppice, the heavy metal concentrations (mg kg^–1) were increased not only in the grass control plots (final Cu 274, Pb 276, Zn 935) but also under the willows (final Cu 248, Pb 251, Zn 779) compared to the initial concentrations (initial Cu 170, Pb 156, Zn 579). This increase might likely be caused by the ongoing sedimentation by flood events. The smaller increase under willows compared to grass might be related to an initial net effect of phytoextraction. The concentrations of the mobile fractions of Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn were significantly lower under willows than under grass. Higher β‐glucosidase activities under willows than under grass might indicate a starting net decomposition of organic matter. Therefore, the study of long‐term and large‐scale effects are recommend before an appropriate evaluation of willow short‐rotation coppice for phytoremediation of polluted floodplains will be established.     

Measurement of the distribution of site enhancements in surface-enhanced Raman scattering

On nanotextured noble-metal surfaces, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is observed, where Raman scattering is enhanced by a factor, G, that is frequently about one million, but underlying the factor G is a broad distribution of local enhancement factors, eta. We have measured this distribution for benzenethiolate molecules on a 330-nanometer silver-coated nanosphere lattice using incident light of wavelength 532 nanometers. A series of laser pulses with increasing electric fields burned away molecules at sites with progressively decreasing electromagnetic enhancement factors. The enhancement distribution P(eta)deta was found to be a power law proportional to (eta)(-1.75), with minimum and maximum values of 2.8 x 10(4) and 4.1 x 10(10), respectively. The hottest sites (eta >10(9)) account for just 63 in 1,000,000 of the total but contribute 24% to the overall SERS intensity.     

A Ni-Fe-Cu center in a bifunctional carbon monoxide dehydrogenase/acetyl-CoA synthase

A metallocofactor containing iron, sulfur, copper, and nickel has been discovered in the enzyme carbon monoxide dehydrogenase/acetyl-CoA (coenzyme A) synthase from Moorella thermoacetica (f. Clostridium thermoaceticum). Our structure at 2.2 angstrom resolution reveals that the cofactor responsible for the assembly of acetyl-CoA contains a [Fe4S4] cubane bridged to a copper-nickel binuclear site. The presence of these three metals together in one cluster was unanticipated and suggests a newly discovered role for copper in biology. The different active sites of this bifunctional enzyme complex are connected via a channel, 138 angstroms long, that provides a conduit for carbon monoxide generated at the C-cluster on one subunit to be incorporated into acetyl-CoA at the A-cluster on the other subunit.     

Volume and texture improvement of gluten-free bread using quinoa white flour

Patients suffering from coeliac disease have to avoid traditional cereals-based products and depend on the availability of gluten-free alternatives. The gluten-free bread matrix and its foam stability are strongly affected by the choice of ingredients. In this study, the impact of quinoa white flour on bread quality parameters, in particular volume, has been investigated. The pseudocereal proved to be a suitable substrate for dough aeration using yeast, since considerably more glucose and a higher activity of α-glucosidase were found in comparison to rice and corn flour. Consequently, quinoa white flour was used to replace 40–100% of the rice and corn flour in a gluten-free control recipe. As a result, quinoa white flour enhanced the specific volume by 33%, which was related to the absence of bran components and the increased α-glucosidase activity. The significance of the latter was proven by separately adding sucrose and fungal amyloglucosidase to the control recipe. Moreover, the crumb featured homogeneous and finely distributed gas bubbles and the taste was not compromised. Thus, it was possible to improve the quality of gluten-free bread by using quinoa white flour, which might be a relief for coeliac patients.     

Reconstructing overfishing: Moving beyond Malthus for effective and equitable solutions

Inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis of the root causes of overfishing can lead to misguided and ineffective fisheries policies and programmes. The “Malthusian overfishing narrative” suggests that overfishing is driven by too many fishers chasing too few fish and that fishing effort grows proportionately to human population growth, requiring policy interventions that reduce fisher access, the number of fishers, or the human population. By neglecting other drivers of overfishing that may be more directly related to fishing pressure and provide more tangible policy levers for achieving fisheries sustainability, Malthusian overfishing relegates blame to regions of the world with high population growth rates, while consumers, corporations and political systems responsible for these other mediating drivers remain unexamined. While social–ecological systems literature has provided alternatives to the Malthusian paradigm, its focus on institutions and organized social units often fails to address fundamental issues of power and politics that have inhibited the design and implementation of effective fisheries policy. Here, we apply a political ecology lens to unpack Malthusian overfishing and, relying upon insights derived from the social sciences, reconstruct the narrative incorporating four exemplar mediating drivers: technology and innovation, resource demand and distribution, marginalization and equity, and governance and management. We argue that a more nuanced understanding of such factors will lead to effective and equitable fisheries policies and programmes, by identifying a suite of policy levers designed to address the root causes of overfishing in diverse contexts.     

Isolation and partial characterization of polypeptides associated with phytotoxin in cultures of the cool-temperature biotype of Stemphylium botryosum pathogenic on alfalfa

Stemphylium botryosum pathogenic on alfalfa (Medicago sativa) produced a phytotoxin in a defined liquid medium which caused symptoms similar in sequence and appearance to stemphylium leafspot lesion development on attached alfalfa leaflets. The molecular weight of the phytotoxin was estimated to be 19500 by gel filtration chromatography. Treatment of partially purified phytotoxin with proteinase K or subtilisin resulted in loss of phytotoxic activity. Action of the proteases in inducing loss of phytotoxicity was inhibited by phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride. Concentrated culture filtrates were fractionated by chromatofocusing, HPLC ion-exchange and gel filtration. Gel filtration also was followed by non-denaturing electrophoresis or isoelectric focusing (IEF). Analysis of sequential fractions from each procedure by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) indicated that phytotoxic activity was consistently coincident with the presence of two major polypeptides (M_r = 26900 ± 2%; 19500 ± 4%) and a triplet of polypeptides (M_r = 15500). The constant association between the three polypeptides suggested an intermolecular interaction during fractionation. The phytotoxic activity eluted from the chromatofocusing column between pH 5·79 and 5·43 whereas IEF estimated the isoelectric point to be between 5·40 and 5·02.Immobilized concanavalin A and wheat germ lectin failed to bind phytotoxicity. Proteolytic activity in some phytotoxic gel filtration fractions was reduced by addition of phenyl-methylsulphonyl fluoride and separated from phytotoxicity by non-denaturing electrophoresis, indicating that phytotoxicity was not due to serine protease activity.Pathogenicity tests of the cool-temperature biotype on 20 plant species representing eight plant families resulted in a compatible interaction only on M. sativa and M. polymorpha. In contrast, sensitivity to the phytotoxin was observed on both pathogen-resistant and susceptible alfalfa clones along with all other plants tested with the exception of Triticum aestivum, Zea mays, Apium graveolens and Melilotus officinalis, indicating non-host-specificity of the phytotoxic polypeptides produced by the cool-temperature biotype.