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SOFM (self-organizing feature map) clustering is powerful in analyzing and solving complicated and non-linear problems. This method was used and compared with fuzzy C-means clustering and TWINSPAN, the most common classification methods, in analysis of plant communities in the Guancen Mts., China. The dataset consisted of importance values of 112 species in 53 quadrats of 10 m × 20 m. All the three methods classified the 53 quadrats into eight groups, representing eight associations of vegetation. They were all effective in the analysis of ecological data. The consistency of SOFM clustering with fuzzy C-means clustering (FCM) and TWINSPAN classification was 81.1% and 94.3%, respectively. SOFM clustering has some advantages and more potentiality in application to studies of ecology.
Small-scale vegetation patterns are frequently the results of plant-plant interactions such as facilitation and competition. Facilitation should be particularly pronounced when both abiotic and biotic stresses are high, but few studies were conducted in such habitats. In heavily-grazed pastures on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, an area with both high abiotic stress and strong biotic disturbance, we made relevés of herb species both beneath and outside canopies of three shrub species (Spiraea alpina, Sibiraea angustata and Potentilla fruticosa) differing in palatability and canopy structure. Herb species richness (S), pooled cover (PC) of all species, number of flowering species (FS) and number of inflorescences of all species (IN) were greater outside than beneath the shrub canopies. Evenness (J), in contrast, was smaller outside, while Shannon’s diversity index (H) was the same. Differences in S and J between plots beneath and outside the shrub canopies were greater in the case of P. fruticosa than in the cases of S. angustata and S. alpina, but differences in PC, FS or IN did not depend on the shrub species. Among the common species (frequency ≥6), 47–85% were equally frequent beneath and outside the shrubs, 13–39% were more frequent outside and 3–13% were more frequent beneath the shrubs. For the rarest species (frequency < 6), however, more species occurred beneath than outside the shrubs. The ordination diagram showed a clear separation between the relevés outside and beneath the shrubs and a gradient from P. fruticosa via S. alpina to S. angustata, accompanied by a distinct decrease in the extent of the difference between the vegetation beneath and outside the shrub canopies. In conclusion, the three shrub species facilitated some species in the herb layer and each shrub species had a specific impact, related to its canopy structure and palatability but also to the grazing pressure, which was greater around the P. fruticosa shrubs than around S. alpina and S. angustata.
Edible black ant ( Polyrhachis vicina Roger) is a traditional edible insect species in China. It has long been used as an important ingredient of health foods. The aim of the present study was to investigate the changes of organic compounds following sun drying of edible black ant. The results showed that fresh and sun dried edible black ant samples have 28 organic components. Nine of them found in the present study have not been reported previously such as 8-heptadecene and (E,E)-6,10,14-trimethyl-5,9,13-pentadecatrien-2-one. Five constituents disappeared and 4 components formed while the ant was sun dried. The major organic compounds of fresh and sun dried edible black ant belong to fatty acids and hydrocarbons. Some compounds such as fatty acids, aldehyde and alkanes appeared during the procedure indicating that sun drying speeds up lipid oxidation and hydrolytic rancidity.
High ozone (O3) can cause great damage to plants. However, the effect of high O3 on nitrogen (N) absorption, distribution, and utilization in rice at different growth stages under different planting densities is poorly understood. In the present study, a conventional cultivar (Yangdao 6) and a hybrid cultivar (II You 084) with different planting densities were exposed to an elevated amount of O3 (E-O3; 50% higher than that of the control, C-O3) under a freeair gas concentration enrichment (FACE) system. N absorption, distribution, and utilization of the green leaves, stems, and shoots at tillering, jointing heading, and maturity were investigated. Results showed that E-O3 significantly increased the N content in the shoots of Yangdao 6 by 7.5%, 12.7%, and 19.6%, respectively, at jointing, heading, and maturity. Also, the N content in the shoots of II You 084 increased by 5.4%, 6.5%, and 8.4% at the corresponding growth stage upon E-O3 application. E-O3 significantly decreased N accumulation of II You 084 by 8.3%, 4.9%, 4.7%, and 19.2%, respectively, at tillering, jointing, heading, and maturity. Further, E-O3 had a decreasing effect on the N distribution in green leaves (p ≤ 0.05) of both cultivars, but exerted an increasing effect on that in the stems of both cultivars (p ≤ 0.05). In addition, E-O3 significantly decreased the N use efficiency (NUE) for biomass of the two cultivars in all growth stages. These results revealed that E-O3 could increase the N content in rice plants but decrease the N accumulation and utilization in both cultivars. The effects of E-O3 on N absorption, distribution, and utilization were not affected by planting density.
Abiotic stresses like salinity and abnormally cold environments cause significant yield losses in many crops including wheat. Therefore, concerted efforts are being made by breeders to develop new varieties with salt and cold tolerance to ensure stable yields over varied environments. This study was undertaken to screen six hundred and seventy-seven accessions of international wheat genetic resources to identify lines with high level of tolerance to salinity and cold environments. Based on the results of two years study in different agroecological locations, 51 accessions were classified as salt tolerant and 115 accessions were classified as cold tolerant. Of these, 35 accessions had good agronomic characteristics. Also, there were 39 genotypes with combined tolerance to cold as well as salinity. Thus, there were good lines which can be used directly or as parents for breeding wheat varieties for wide adaptation and high yield. Further analysis of the data showed that early genotypes had good cold tolerance but a poor salt tolerance. It was also observed that small number of both test spikelet and spikelet, short spike length and good seed-plump were positively associated with cold tolerance. Therefore, maturity and spike traits should be taken into considered when selecting wheat lines for wide adaptation breeding.
We described the structure of two different morphological gall types, subglobular and fusiform in Ephedra distachya. The gall midge, Xerephedromyia ustjurtensis Fedotova (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) induces both types of gall formation. Galls are persistent resinous stem swellings usually subglobular and rarely fusiform in shape. Mature galls are solid, hard, indehiscent woody structure with many circular exit holes on their surface. Galls are anatomically similar, but different from the unaffected stems. The mean number of larval cavities varied significantly between subglobular and fusiform galls, while variation of diameter of the larval cavities was not significant between the gall morphotypes. We documented significant (p < 0.05) variation in total gall densities between sexes of Ephedra distachya, where male plants (mean = 0.89 ± 0.15) supporting higher gall densities than females (mean = 0.36±0.04). Total gall densities varied significantly (p < 0.05) among three sample populations of E. distachya and exhibited an increasing trend from mesic to xeric sites along an altitudinal gradient. Gall size also varied between plant sexes and among sites.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae MERIT.ferm was used as mono- and mixed-cultures with Williopsis saturnus var. mrakii NCYC500 in mango wine fermentation. A ratio of 1:1000 (Saccharomyces:Williopsis) was chosen for mixed-culture fermentation to enable longer persistence of the latter. The monoculture of S. cerevisiae and mixed-culture was able to ferment to dryness with 7.0% and 7.7% ethanol, respectively. The monoculture of W. mrakii produced 1.45% ethanol. The mango wines fermented by S. cerevisiae alone and the mixed-culture were more yeasty and winey, which reflected their higher amounts of fusel alcohols, ethyl esters and medium-chain fatty acids. The mango wine fermented by W. mrakii alone was much less alcoholic, but fruitier, sweeter, which corresponded to its higher levels of acetate esters.
The refinement of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) from Hippophae rhamnoides L. seed oil was carried out by molecular distillation (MD) using response surface methodology (RSM). A central composite rotate design was used in order to optimize the experimental parameters: distilling temperature and feed flow. The optimal MD conditions were determined and the quadratic response surfaces were drawn from the mathematical models. The results suggested that the distilling temperature and feed flow significantly affected both the UFA content and oil yield in the two models. The optimum conditions for refining UFA were: distilling temperature 107.5 °C and feed flow 1 ml min−1. Optimal values predicted by RSM for the UFA content and oil yield were 82.38% and 62.59%, respectively. Close agreement between experimental and predicted values was obtained.
Two new y-type HMW-GSs in Ae. tauschii , 1Dy12.1* t and 1Dy12.2 t with the mobility order of 1Dy12.2 t > 1Dy12.1* t > 1Dy12.1 t >1Dy12, were identified by both SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF-MS. Molecular cloning and sequencing showed that the genes encoding subunits 1Dy12.1* t and 1Dy12.2 t had identical nucleotide acid sequences with 1,947 bp encoding a mature protein of 627 residues. Their deduced molecular weights were 67,347.6 Da, satisfactorily corresponding to that of 1Dy12.2 t subunit determined by MALDI-TOF-MS (67,015.7 Da), but was significantly smaller than that of the the 1Dy12.1* t subunit (68,577.1 Da). Both subunits showed high similarities to 1Dy10, suggesting that they could have a positive effect on bread-making quality. Interestingly, the expressed protein of the cloned ORF from accessions TD87 and TD130 in E. coli co-migrated with subunit 1Dy12.2 t , but moved slightly faster than 1Dy12.1* t on SDS-PAGE. The expressed protein in transgenic tobacco seeds, however, had the same mobility as the 1Dy12.1* t subunit, as confirmed by both SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Although direct evidence of phosphoprotein could not be obtained by specific staining method, certain types of post-translational modifications (PTMs) of the 1Dy12.1* t subunit could not be excluded. We believe PTMs might be responsible for the molecular weight difference between the subunits 1Dy12.1* t and 1Dy12.2 t .
Gliadin is a main component of gluten proteins that affect functional properties of bread making and contributes to the viscous nature of doughs. In this study, thirteen novel ω-gliadin genes were identified in several Triticum species, which encode the ARH-, ATDand ATN-type proteins. Two novel types of ω-gliadins: ATD- and ATN- have not yet been reported. The lengths of 13 sequences were ranged from 927 to 1269 bp and the deduced mature proteins were varied from 309 to 414 residues. All 13 genes were pseudogenes because of the presence of internal stop codons. The primary structure of these ω-gliadin genes included a signal peptide, a conserved N-terminal domain, a repetitive domain and a conserved C-terminus. In this paper, we first characterize ω-gliadin genes from T. timopheevi ssp. timopheevi and T. timopheevi ssp. araraticum. The ω-gliadin gene variation and the evolutionary relationship of ω-gliadin family genes were also discussed.
