Quantitative monitoring of changes in forest habitat connectivity following the great eastern Japan earthquake and tsunami

Landscape Ecology - In March of 2011 a huge tsunami devastated forest habitats along the coast of Sendai Bay in northeastern Japan. Evaluation and monitoring of the changes in habitat connectivity...     

Plasma Membrane Lipids Are the Powerful Components for Early Stage Aluminum Tolerance in Triticale

The order of aluminum (Al) tolerance in triticale lines (ST2>ST22) after re-elongation in an Al-free 0.2 mM calcium (Ca) solution for 9 h (Ca period) following 1 h pretreatment with 20 μM Al (Al period) agreed with that after 24 h of Al treatment. Permeability of the plasma membrane (PM) of root-tip cells after the Ca period was significantly increased in Al-sensitive ST22. Al was accumulated more heavily in the root-tip portion of ST22 than in that of ST2, although similar amounts of malic and citric acid anions were released from both triticale lines. We established a new system examining lipid permeability using synthesized nylon-2,8 ultrathin and porous capsules trapped previously with 0.1% (w/v) methylene blue solution and coated thereafter with PM lipid isolated from root tips by a newly developed technique. Permeability of the PM lipid measured with time in 0.2 mM Ca with or without 50 μM Al photometrically ( A ₆₈₀) was significantly greater in Al-sensitive ST22 after 5 min of Al treatment. This is the first report to directly show the primary and early role of PM lipid in Al tolerance in triticale.     

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry associated global analysis of rice root exudates under aseptical conditions

Components of rice root exudates were surveyed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and the effect of phosphate (P) starvation was investigated. Rice seedlings were aseptically grown in controlled environments under P-supplied (+P) or P-deficient (–P) conditions. Root exudates were collected from the culture solution 4 and 8 days after treatment (D4 and D8, respectively), which contain the first and second 4-day intervals. The collected solution was lyophilized and then eluted with methanol. In the present study, primary metabolites, such as sugars, amino acids, organic acids and fatty acids, were mainly targeted. After derivatization with methoxyamine hydrochloride and N-methyl-N-trifluoroacetamide, the samples were analyzed by GC-MS. Sugars and various amino acids (such as aspartic acid and l -isoleucine) were mainly detected and the components changed with the growth stage rather than the P content in the culture solution. The relative amount of sugars (such as glucose and fructose) and amino acids (such as aspartic acid and l -isoleucine) decreased in the D8 samples. Of the 78 detected compounds, orthogonal partial least-squares discrimination analysis (O-PLS-DA) showed that four compounds were related to the P content of the nutrient solution and 58 were related to the sampling date (days after treatment). The results suggest that the physiological change during seedling development was unexpectedly large and that the response to the environment was rather small.     

Methylene Blue Stainability of Root-Tip Protoplasts as an Indicator of Aluminum Tolerance in a Wide Range of Plant Species, Cultivars and Lines

We previously developed a new simple technique of methylene blue (MB) staining for the discrimination of aluminum (Al)-tolerant protoplasts from 4 plant species (rice, oats, maize and pea). The objectives of the present study were to confirm the applicability of this technique to a wider range of plant species, cultivars and lines, and to identify a common strategy for the early stage of Al tolerance. A total of 10 plant species, two Brachiaria spp., two Oryza spp., buckwheat, maize, pea, triticale, wheat and barley, corresponding to 18 different plant samples (species, cultivars, and lines), were used. Al tolerance (relative net root elongation of the longest root), which was screened at 20 μM AICI₃ in 0.2 mM CaCl₂ (pH 4.9) for 24 h, ranged widely from 10 to 88. Among cultivars and lines within the same species, Al accumulation in the root tip portion was higher in Al-sensitive plants, corresponding to more severe permeabilization of the plasma membranes (PM). Protoplasts isolated mainly from the epidermis, and outer and central parts of the cortex were stained to different degrees by MB, and the blue color was observed both on the surface and inside the protoplasts. Color pictures obtained after staining for 3 min with 0.1% MB were analyzed by Image Hyper II. The ratio of the heavily stained area at threshold 95 to the entire area stained with MB at threshold 125 was defined as MB stainability. MB stainability was negatively correlated with Al tolerance ( y = 48.6e^{−0.02 x} , R ²= 0.676**) suggesting the common importance of permeation characteristics of PM, in addition to PM negativity for Al tolerance in a wide range of plant species, cultivars and lines. Analysis of the PM lipid composition was proposed as an important topic for future studies on the negativity and permeation of PM.     

神经网络方法在网纹甜瓜外观等级判别中的应用

基于图像处理技术和神经网络理论提出一种适用于网纹甜瓜外观等级的判别方法,该方法通过对网纹甜瓜标准样本的学习即可实现对网纹甜瓜外观等级判别。结果表明,该方法对网纹甜瓜外观等级判别准确率较高。     

A New and Simple Technique for the Isolation of Plasma Membrane Lipids from Root-Tips

It has been suggested that plasma membrane (PM) lipids play a major role in aluminum (Al) tolerance; however, no direct investigations have been carried out using PM lipids from root-tips. Here we report a new technique for PM isolation as an alternative to the laborious two-polymer phase partitioning method that is commonly applied, as follows: 1) separation of protoplasts from 1-cm root-tip portions by enzymatic digestion, 2) attachment of the purified protoplasts to glass plates coated with polylysine, 3) preparation of PM ghosts by successive burst of the attached protoplasts using three separate buffer solutions (25 mM PIPES, 5 mM EDTA, and 2 mM MgCl₂, at pH 7.0) with slow stirring for 60 s. The PMs were confirmed to be devoid of organelle membranes by fluorescence microscopy, thin layer chromatography (TLC) and western blot analysis. The PM lipids obtained were found to be useful for studies on their differential permeability and lipid composition between lines of triticale or cultivars of maize under Al stress.