Effect of manganese on the resistance of tomato to Pseudocercospora fuligena

Black leaf mold caused by Pseudocercospora fuligena is an important fungal disease of tomato in Southeast Asia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the control of this disease using high manganese (Mn) applied to the root substrate and to evaluate the role of the leaf apoplast in plant response to fungal infection. In a nethouse experiment in Thailand, Mn above the optimum for plant growth but below toxicity increased resistance of tomato plants to black leaf mold. Enhanced resistance caused by Mn was also obtained when tomato plants were grown under controlled conditions in a mist chamber and artificially inoculated with the fungus. Manganese significantly increased plant peroxidases in the leaf apoplast. The highest peroxidase activity was measured when plants were inoculated with Pseudocercospora fuligena. Defense‐related proteins in the leaf apoplast increased when plants were inoculated with Pseudocercospora fuligena but not when treated with high Mn. It is concluded that Mn above the optimum level for plant growth can contribute to the control of Pseudocercospora fuligena in tomato. The Mn effect on disease resistance is associated with the activation of plant peroxidases in the leaf apoplast. A systemic response, possibly mediated by NADH peroxidase activity, also seems to trigger disease resistance in leaves with low Mn concentrations.     

One-third of reef-building corals face elevated extinction risk from climate change and local impacts

The conservation status of 845 zooxanthellate reef-building coral species was assessed by using International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Criteria. Of the 704 species that could be assigned conservation status, 32.8% are in categories with elevated risk of extinction. Declines in abundance are associated with bleaching and diseases driven by elevated sea surface temperatures, with extinction risk further exacerbated by local-scale anthropogenic disturbances. The proportion of corals threatened with extinction has increased dramatically in recent decades and exceeds that of most terrestrial groups. The Caribbean has the largest proportion of corals in high extinction risk categories, whereas the Coral Triangle (western Pacific) has the highest proportion of species in all categories of elevated extinction risk. Our results emphasize the widespread plight of coral reefs and the urgent need to enact conservation measures.     

Insecticide use: Contexts and ecological consequences

Constraints to the sustainability of insecticide use include effects on human health, agroecosystems (e.g., beneficial insects), the wider environment (e.g., non-target species, landscapes and communities) and the selection of insecticide-resistant traits. It is possible to find examples where insecticides have impacted disastrously on all these variables and others where the hazards posed have been (through accident or design) ameliorated. In this review, we examine what can currently be surmised about the direct and indirect long-term, field impacts of insecticides upon the environment. We detail specific examples, describe current insecticide use patterns, consider the contexts within which insecticide use occurs and discuss the role of regulation and legislation in reducing risk. We consider how insecticide use is changing in response to increasing environmental awareness and inevitably, as we discuss the main constraints to insecticide use, we suggest why they cannot easily be discarded. Gregor Devine has an MSc in pest management and a PhD in applied entomology from Imperial College, London. He is a Senior Research Scientist employed by Rothamsted Research, UK. He is currently investigating novel disease vector control methods in Peru in association with the US Naval Medical Research Center Detachment, the Peruvian Ministry of Health, the University of California-Davis, and the US Centers for Disease Control. Michael Furlong has an MSc in pest management and a PhD in applied entomology from Imperial College, London. He is a Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Queensland, Australia. His research interests include biological control, and the design and implementation of sustainable Integrated Pest Management strategies for international development. He works in Australia, China, North Korea and the Pacific Islands.     

Coordinated activation of Hsp70 chaperones

Hsp70s are a ubiquitous family of molecular chaperones involved in many cellular processes. Two Hsp70s, Lhs1p and Kar2p, are required for protein biogenesis in the yeast endoplasmic reticulum. Here, we found that Lhs1p and Kar2p specifically interacted to couple, and coordinately regulate, their respective activities. Lhs1p stimulated Kar2p by providing a specific nucleotide exchange activity, whereas Kar2p reciprocally activated the Lhs1p adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase). The two ATPase activities are coupled, and their coordinated regulation is essential for normal function in vivo.     

Reduction of nitrogen losses in agriculture by fertilizer additives: Appeal for more detailed scientific work—Comments on Guo et al. “Efficacy of four nitrification inhibitors for the mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions under different soil temperature and moisture,” Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science (2022), 185(1), 60–68

In Guo et al. (2022), the difference between pure nitrification inhibitors (NI), fertilizers treated with NI, and formulations containing NI was insufficiently considered. Presented results are misleading and inappropriate to evaluate the efficiency of an NI application by pure NI as well as NI-treated products such as ENTEC^® 26 and PIADIN^®, in particular with respect to practical field conditions.     

Changes in soil microbial and nematode communities during ecosystem decline across a long-term chronosequence

Following the creation of new land surfaces, there is an initial build-up phase, but in the prolonged absence of catastrophic disturbance an ecosystem decline phase has often been observed. While a number of studies have investigated the changes in soil biota that occur during the build-up phase, few studies have investigated how the soil food web changes during the ecosystem decline phase, even though such studies may assist our understanding of biotic factors that contribute to long-term ecosystem changes. We investigated the response of soil microbial and nematode communities to ecosystem decline by studying each of four stages of a long-term (280,000 year) forested chronosequence caused by uplift of marine terraces in the Waitutu region of Fiordland National Park, New Zealand. With increasing chronosequence age there were large increases in ratios of C to N, C to P, and N to P in both the organic layer and mineral soil layer, indicative of greater nutrient (notably P) limitation over time. Variables related to soil microbial biomass and activity were lower on the older terraces when expressed on a per unit soil C basis, reflecting that the quality of the soil organic matter, which is the resource that supports microbial metabolism, declined over time. This in turn had important consequences for population densities of soil nematodes and enchytraeids, including both microbe-feeding and predatory groups. There were significant increases in the fungal:bacterial biomass ratio and in the fungal-feeding:bacterial-feeding nematode densities. Taken collectively, our results suggest a decline in soil microbial activity and soil fauna, and an increase in the relative importance of the fungal-based (vs. bacterial-based) energy channel during long-term ecosystem development on terraces of marine origin. This corroborates the hypothesis that the studied sites represent a retrogressive shift in soil organic matter quality over a long-term chronosequence.