Sorption of Cu2+ and Zn2+ Ions by Humic Acids of Tundra Peat Gley Soils (Histic Reductaquic Cryosols)

Eurasian Soil Science - Sorption properties of humic acid (HA) preparations extracted from the peaty horizon of peat gley tundra soil (Histic Reductaquic Cryosols) are characterized. The kinetic...     

Pregnancy rates of mares inseminated with semen cooled for 18 hours and then frozen

The ability to ship cooled stallion sperm for subsequent freezing at a facility specializing in cryopreservation would be beneficial to the equine industry. Stallion sperm has been centrifuged, cooled to 5 degrees C for 12 h, and frozen without a detrimental effect on motility in a previous study; however, no fertility data were available. Experiment 1 compared the post-thaw motility of sperm cooled for 18 h at 15 or 5 degrees C at either 400 or 200 x 10(6) sperm/mL and then frozen. Storage temperature, sperm concentration, or the interaction of temperature and concentration had no effect on total (TM) and progressive motility (PM) after cooling. Post-thaw TM and PM were higher for control than (P < 0.05) for treated samples. There was no difference in post-thaw TM and PM due to temperature or concentration. Experiment 2 further evaluated procedures for cooling before freezing. Ejaculates were either cooled to 5 degrees C for 18 h and centrifuged, centrifuged at room temperature and then cooled to 5 degrees C for 18 h before freezing, or centrifuged and frozen immediately (control). There was no difference among treatments on post-thaw TM or PM. In Exp. 3, mares were inseminated with semen that had been extended in skim milk-egg yolk without glycerol, centrifuged, resuspended at 200 x 10(6) sperm/mL, cooled to 5 degrees C for 18 h, and then frozen or not cooled for 18 h before freezing (control). Pregnancy rates did not differ for mares receiving semen cooled and then frozen (21 of 30, 70%) or semen frozen directly without prior cooling (16 of 30, 53%). In summary, a procedure was developed for cooling stallion sperm for 18 h before freezing without a resultant decrease in fertility.     

Field evaluation of insect-resistant transgenic Populus nigra trees

The performance of insect-resistant transgenic poplar trees (Populusnigra) expressing a Cry1Ac gene from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. Kurstaki HD-1 against poplar defoliators was evaluated in the field at the Manas Forest Station in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region during1994–1997. The results showed that the average percentage of highly damaged leaves on the transgenic trees was 10% while that on the control trees in nearby plantations reached 80–90%. The average number of pupae per m² of soil at 20cm depth in transgenic poplar plantation was 18 which was only 20% of that found in the non-transgenic control field. The number of pupae and the leaf-damage on transgenic trees described above are all far below the threshold set for chemical protection measures. The non-transformed poplar trees grown in the same plantation with the transgenic trees were also protected indicating that cross protection occurred between these two kinds of trees. Insect-resistant transgenic poplar trees have a potential application value in afforestation. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mechanical injury and fungal infection induce acquired resistance in Norway spruce

Norway spruce trees (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) pretreated by wounding and fungal infection showed highly enhanced resistance to a subsequent challenge inoculation with the pathogenic bluestain fungus Ceratocystis polonica (Siem.) C. Moreau. This is the first time the effectiveness of the constitutive and inducible defenses has been shown to depend on prior wounding and infection in conifers, although such acquired resistance has previously been found in several angiosperms. Trees that were pretreated with a combination of 12 bark wounds (1.6 x 10 cm), four fungal inoculations and four sterile inoculations 1-15 days before mass inoculation with C. polonica at 400 inoculations per square meter over a 0.8 m stem section had significantly shorter necroses in the phloem, less bluestained sapwood, and less dead cambium than untreated control trees. Pretreatment with four fungal or sterile inoculations alone did not lead to enhanced resistance. Pretreatment by bark wounding alone seemed to provide an intermediate degree of resistance compared to bark wounding, fungal inoculations and sterile inoculations combined. All trees had a marked increase in the number of resin ducts in the year of inoculation compared with previous years, suggesting that formation of traumatic resin ducts play an important role in the development and maintainance of enhanced resistance.     

The molecular basis of the sparse fur mouse mutation

The ornithine transcarbamylase-deficient sparse fur mouse is an excellent model to study the most common human urea cycle disorder. The mutation has been well characterized by both biochemical and enzymological methods, but its exact nature has not been revealed. A single base substitution in the complementary DNA for ornithine transcarbamylase from the sparse fur mouse has been identified by means of a combination of two recently described techniques for rapid mutational analysis. This strategy is simpler than conventional complementary DNA library construction, screening, and sequencing, which has often been used to find a new mutation. The ornithine transcarbamylase gene in the sparse fur mouse contains a C to A transversion that alters a histidine residue to an asparagine residue at amino acid 117.