Bt肠毒素基因与plcR基因的相关性及肠毒素对小鼠的急性毒性

用PCR方法检测溶血肠毒素BL、肠毒素T和肠毒素S三种肠毒素基因(hblA、becT、entS)及毒素调控基因plcR在30株苏云金芽胞杆菌株(Bt)中的分布.结果表明,含有hblA基因、entS基因、becT基因及plcR基因片段的Bt菌株分别占66.7%、70%、70%和73.3%.其中,含有plcR基因的菌株都至少含有一种肠毒素基因,不含肠毒素基因的菌株也未检测到plcR基因,说明plcR基因与肠毒素基因有着密切的关系.用3个Bt菌株WB9、HD2和HD9(都含有hblA、becT、entS和plcR基因片段,HD2和HD9经RPLA与TECRA肠毒素检测试剂盒检测具有高滴度)对小白鼠进行口服急性毒性试验.结果表明,所有3种供试菌株的发酵上清液对小白鼠行为和健康没有明显影响,对内部器官(心、肝、肺等)也没有产生病理现象.图5表3参14     

汕头海域几丁质酶产生菌的筛选及其几丁质酶编码基因研究

在汕头海域表层沉积物中分离得到69株高产几丁质酶的菌株,对其中6株形态特征差异比较明显、几丁质酶活力比较高的菌株SWCH-1、SWCH-2、SWCH-3、SWCH-5、SWCH-6和SWCH-9进行了16S rDNA序列鉴定,发现它们分别归属于5个属.即短芽孢杆菌属(Brevibacillus)、类芽孢杆菌属(Paenibacillus)、芽孢杆菌属(Bacillus)、气单胞菌属(Aeromonas)和寡养单胞菌属(Stenotrophomonas).采用兼并引物对6株菌几丁质酶编码基因的催化保守区片段进行了PCR扩增和序列分析,发现菌株均含有18家族几丁质酶编码基因;但是其编码的蛋白序列与NCBI收录的蛋白序列存在着差异,其中菌株SWCH-1和SWCH-3的蛋白序列与数据库中序列的相似性比较低,分别为85%和81%,菌株含有比较新的几丁质酶编码基因,其全基因序列的克隆和酶蛋白的纯化分析尚在进一步研究中.图6参18     

一株对鳞翅目害虫高毒力的苏云金芽孢杆菌菌株基因型鉴定及新基因cry2Ah3克隆

HYW-8是本实验室自行分离的一株对鳞翅目害虫具有高毒力的苏云金芽孢杆菌,PCR-RFLP鉴定含有cry1Ab、cry1E基因和一种新的cry2A基因,根据cry2A全长基因序列设计特异引物,获得全长基因.测序结果表明,该基因开放阅读框为1 896 bp,编码632个氨基酸,相对分子质量(Mr)是70.774×103,等电点pI=7.79,与已知的cry2Ah2基因编码的蛋白的同源性最高为98%.该基因序列已在GenBank中登记注册,登录号为GU073380,并被国际Bt杀虫晶体蛋白基因命名委员会正式命名为cry2Ah3.SDS-PAGE分析,HYW-8菌株表达130×103大小蛋白,未见70×103大小蛋白.     

红树林沉积物Bt菌株的分离与cry基因型的鉴定（Isolation of Bacillus thuringiensis Strains from Mangrove Sediment Samples and Identification for cry Genes）

从收集自泉州洛江红树林保护区的400个沉积物土壤样品中,分离到18株苏云金芽孢杆菌(Bacillus thuringiensis,Bt).利用PCR-RFLP体系对Bt菌株杀虫晶体蛋白的基因型进行了鉴定,发现15株Bt含有cry1基因,4株含有cry2基因,有3株分别含有cry7、cry8、cry9基因.克隆了一个新型的cry2Ab基因,其编码蛋白与现有Cry2Ab型杀虫晶体蛋白的最高同源性为95%.     

萘降解质粒pND6-1中萘趋化基因nahY的克隆和核苷酸序列分析

假单胞菌（Pseudomonas）ND6菌株的萘降解基因位于102kb的质粒pND6-1上。以pUC18质粒为载体，制备了含有1.5-3.0kbpND6-1DNA随机片段的基因文库。通过DNA测序和DNA序列的同源性分析，从基因文库中筛选出含有萘趋化基因nahY的克隆。NahY基因的大小为1617bp，编码的萘趋化蛋白由538个氨基酸组成，与假单胞菌G7菌株的nahY基因相比，核苷酸序列的同源性是96.7％，编码的氨基酸序列的同源性是95％。图4参7     

桃ACC合酶基因组DNA（pACSG01）的序列分析及其表达

以桃基因组DNA为模板，用套式PCR技术扩增并克隆了桃ACC合酶基因片段，将其克隆（定名为pACSG01）并进行序列测定，表明该自然全长1320bp，并富含HindⅢ和EcoRⅠ位点，与其它ACC合酶基因结构序列有一定的相似性，内含有两个内含子，编码的氨基酸序列与已克隆桃ACC合酶cDNA推导的氨基酸序列的同源性分别为57．4％和56．8％，pACSG01与我们已克隆的两个桃ACC合酶cDNA基因表达有所不同，RNA点杂交和RT－PCR结合Southern杂交分析表明，该基因在成熟和乙烯处理的果实均不表达，伤处理、LiCl和生长素处理也不能诱导核基因的表达，在衰老花瓣中也不表达，图3参18。     

解淀粉芽孢杆菌DC-4豆豉溶栓酶成熟肽编码序列的克隆及表达

利用PCR方法从解淀粉芽孢杆菌DC 4总DNA中扩增出豆豉溶栓酶 (DFE)成熟肽编码区片段 .测序结果表明 :DFE成熟肽编码区长 82 5bp,编码 2 75个氨基酸残基 ,分子量为 2 7.7× 10 3 ,推导的N’ -端氨基酸序列与豆豉溶栓酶N’ -端氨基酸测序结果完全一致 ,说明克隆到的基因确实是豆豉溶栓酶基因 .同源性分析表明 ,DFE成熟肽编码区的核苷酸和氨基酸序列与日本纳豆激酶的同源性分别为 80 .0 %和 86 .5 % ,这提示豆豉溶栓酶可能是一种新型的溶栓酶 .将表达质粒pET Nde转化E .coliBL2 1(DE3)中 ,IPTG可诱导表达大量的DFE融合蛋白 ,占菌体可溶性蛋白的 4 0 % ,主要以包涵体的形式存在 .图 3表 1参 19     

苏云金芽孢杆菌新基因cry1Ab17的克隆和生物信息学

利用高效克隆PCR产物的专用载体pMD18T,直接从苏云金芽孢杆菌WB9的PCR产物中克隆了cry1Ab17新基因.测序结果表明,该基因(GenBank登录号为AY646166)由3471个碱基组成,其编码的蛋白质含有1156个氨基酸残基,其中亲水性氨基酸占30.8%,疏水性氨基酸占45.2%,酸性氨基酸占12.9%,碱性氨基酸占11.1%.氨基酸序列的同源性分析结果表明,Cry1Ab17蛋白与已报道的Cry1Ab蛋白同源性为95.4%～99.7%,该蛋白的4个氨基酸残基———Pro170、Gly449、Gly796和Gly863与其它已报道Cry1Ab蛋白相应位置的氨基酸残基均不同.在核苷酸序列和氨基酸序列多重比较的基础上,应用PAUP4.0构建了Cry1A蛋白家族的系统发育树.SignalP分析结果显示,Cry1Ab17蛋白中不含信号肽序列.此外,对Cry1Ab17蛋白的二级结构和3个结构域也进行了预测和分析.图4表2参15     

短小芽孢杆菌A—30耐碱性木聚糖酶基因的分子生物学研究

采用PCR方法对短小芽孢杆菌A－30菌株的耐碱性木聚糖酶基因进行克隆。在木聚糖选择平板上用刚果红染色法筛选出阳性克隆，提取阳性克隆的重组质粒进行酶切鉴定和测序。该基因在大肠杆菌中表达，过夜培养物胞外、胞内和周质空间的木聚糖酶酶活分别为0．159IUmL^-1、0.322IUmL^-1和0.007IUmL^-1。此木聚糖酶表现出较宽的pH作用范围，最适作用pH7左右，在pH9时仍有60％以上的酶活性。图4参14     

Importance of greater interdisciplinarity and geographic scope when tackling the driving forces behind biological invasions

Invasive non-native species are important drivers of ecosystem change, yet the driving forces of biological invasions themselves are poorly understood. Such information is essential to ensure policies focus on the most relevant drivers, and that future scenarios capture the full range of potential outcomes for invasive non-native species. I carried out a bibliometric analysis of articles published from 2000 to 2020 that address either invasive non-native species or biodiversity and ecosystem services and that also mention 1 or more drivers of ecosystem change. I examined 5 indirect drivers (demographic, economic, governance, sociocultural, and technological) and 6 direct drivers (climate change, invasive non-native species, land-use or sea-use change, natural hazards, pollution, and resource extraction). Using the Web of Science core collection of citation indexes, I undertook searches of article titles and keywords and retrieved 27,462 articles addressing invasive non-native species and 110,087 articles dealing with biodiversity or ecosystem services. Most research to date on biological invasions as well as on biodiversity and ecosystem services has focused on anthropogenic direct drivers of ecosystem change rather than indirect drivers. Yet currently, less than 18% of articles addressing biological invasions examined drivers of ecosystem change, a similar level to that found over 20 years ago for biodiversity or ecosystem services. Knowledge of the drivers of biological invasions is limited, emphasizes tractable drivers over those that require an interdisciplinary approach, and is biased toward developed economies. Drivers generally deemed important for biological invasions, such as governance and resource extraction, accounted for less than 2% of research effort. The absence of a systematic understanding of the forces that drive invasive non-native species and how they interact means that attempts to mitigate or forecast biological invasions are likely to fail. To address biological invasions requires a much better orientation of national and international research on drivers in relation to both their actual importance as well as their policy relevance.     

Mitigating the effects of climate change on the nests of sea turtles with artificial irrigation

For sea turtles, like many oviparous species, increasing temperatures during development threaten to increase embryonic mortality, alter offspring quality, and potentially create suboptimal primary sex ratios. Various methods are being implemented to mitigate the effects of climate change on reproductive success, but these methods, such as breeding programs, translocations, and shading, are often invasive and expensive. Irrigation is an alternative strategy for cooling nests that, depending on location, can be implemented relatively quickly and cheaply. However, multiple factors, including ambient conditions, nest substrate, and species characteristics, can influence irrigation success. Additionally, irrigation can vary in duration, frequency, and the volume of water applied to nests, which influences the cooling achieved and embryonic survival. Thus, it is critical to understand how to maximize cooling and manage risks before implementing irrigation as a nest-cooling strategy. We reviewed the literature on nest irrigation to examine whether artificial irrigation is feasible as a population management tool. Key factors that affected cooling were the volume of water applied and the frequency of applications. Embryonic responses varied with species, ambient conditions, and the timing of irrigation during development. Nest inundation was the key risk to a successful irrigation regime. Future irrigation regimes must identify clear targets, either primary or adult sex ratios, that maximize population viability. Monitoring population responses and adjusting the irrigation regime in response to population characteristics will be critical. Most studies reported on the manipulation of only one or two variables, further research is required to understand how altering multiple factors in an irrigation regime influences the cooling achieved and embryonic responses.     

Positive and Negative Effects of a Threatened Parrotfish on Reef Ecosystems

Species that are strong interactors play disproportionately important roles in the dynamics of natural ecosystems. It has been proposed that their presence is necessary for positively shaping the structure and functioning of ecosystems. We evaluated this hypothesis using the case of the world's largest parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum), a globally imperiled species. We used direct observation, animal tracking, and computer simulations to examine the diverse routes through which B. muricatum affects the diversity, dispersal, relative abundance, and survival of the corals that comprise the foundation of reef ecosystems. Our results suggest that this species can influence reef building corals in both positive and negative ways. Field observation and simulation outputs indicated that B. muricatum reduced the abundance of macroalgae that can outcompete corals, but they also feed directly on corals, decreasing coral abundance, diversity, and colony size. B. muricatum appeared to facilitate coral advancement by mechanically dispersing coral fragments and opening up bare space for coral settlement, but they also damaged adult corals and remobilized a large volume of potentially stressful carbonate sediment. The impacts this species has on reefs appears to be regulated in part by its abundance—the effects of B. muricatum were more intense in simulation scenarios populated with high densities of these fish. Observations conducted in regions with high and low predator (e.g., sharks) abundance generated results that are consistent with the hypothesis that these predators of B. muricatum may play a role in governing their abundance; thus, predation may modulate the intensity of the effects they have on reef dynamics. Overall our results illustrate that functionally unique and threatened species may not have universally positive impacts on ecosystems and that it may be necessary for environmental managers to consider the diverse effects of such species and the forces that mediate the strength of their influence. Efectos Positivos y Negativos de un Pez Loro Amenazado Sobre Ecosistemas Arrecifales     

Form-specific fragances fromOphrys insectifera L. (Orchidaceae) attract species of different pollinator genera. Evidence of sympatric speciation?

Two closely related forms ofOphrys insectifera were observed in the field to attract different pollinator species selectively.O. i. ssp.insectifera attracted males of two species ofArgogorytes (Sphecidae, Hymenoptera Aculeata) andO. i. ssp.aymoninii attractedAndrena combinata males (Andrenidae, Apoidea, Hymenoptera Aculeata). A third form,O. aff.i. ssp.insectifera, attracted none of these three species. Volatile compounds from flowers and inflorescences of the three forms (originating from Öland, Sweden, and Aveyron, France) were collected, using entrainment, enfleurage, and solvent extraction techniques, and identified by gas chromatography — mass spectrometry. Scent differences between the three forms were confirmed in the amounts of aliphatic hydrocarbons (C₁₁–C₁₉), methyl esters (C₁₄–C₁₈), short chain aliphatic 1-alcohols (C₆–C₁₂), and monoterpene alcohols (C₁₀).     

Estimation of the surface stress from the streamwise pressure gradient: The Kármán Integral Momentum Equation revisited

A method is developed to estimate the stress at the surface in a portable wind tunnel for wind erosion studies. The boundary layer height and the pressure gradient are used in a simple expression from the Kármán Integral Momentum Equation. Values of friction velocity u _* are within 10% of experimental values obtained through correlation techniques, including measurements of differential pressures with the Murdoch Turbulence Probe MTP and the X-wire, hot-wire anemometer XWA. Wind velocity and stress profiles reveal logarithmic trends and a constant stress layer near the surface in the DAWA portable wind tunnel. Realignment of the statistics with the mean wind is essential.     

Using decision science to evaluate global biodiversity indices

Global biodiversity indices are used to measure environmental change and progress toward conservation goals, yet few indices have been evaluated comprehensively for their capacity to detect trends of interest, such as declines in threatened species or ecosystem function. Using a structured approach based on decision science, we qualitatively evaluated 9 indices commonly used to track biodiversity at global and regional scales against 5 criteria relating to objectives, design, behavior, incorporation of uncertainty, and constraints (e.g., costs and data availability). Evaluation was based on reference literature for indices available at the time of assessment. We identified 4 key gaps in indices assessed: pathways to achieving goals (means objectives) were not always clear or relevant to desired outcomes (fundamental objectives); index testing and understanding of expected behavior was often lacking; uncertainty was seldom acknowledged or accounted for; and costs of implementation were seldom considered. These gaps may render indices inadequate in certain decision-making contexts and are problematic for indices linked with biodiversity targets and sustainability goals. Ensuring that index objectives are clear and their design is underpinned by a model of relevant processes are crucial in addressing the gaps identified by our assessment. Uptake and productive use of indices will be improved if index performance is tested rigorously and assumptions and uncertainties are clearly communicated to end users. This will increase index accuracy and value in tracking biodiversity change and supporting national and global policy decisions, such as the post-2020 global biodiversity framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity.     

Assessing the extent and nature of wildlife trade on the dark web

Use of the internet as a trade platform has resulted in a shift in the illegal wildlife trade. Increased scrutiny of illegal wildlife trade has led to concerns that online trade of wildlife will move onto the dark web. To provide a baseline of illegal wildlife trade on the dark web, we downloaded and archived 9852 items (individual posts) from the dark web, then searched these based on a list of 121 keywords associated with illegal online wildlife trade, including 30 keywords associated with illegally traded elephant ivory on the surface web. Results were compared with items known to be illegally traded on the dark web, specifically cannabis, cocaine, and heroin, to compare the extent of the trade. Of these 121 keywords, 4 resulted in hits, of which only one was potentially linked to illegal wildlife trade. This sole case was the sale and discussion of Echinopsis pachanoi (San Pedro cactus), which has hallucinogenic properties. This negligible level of activity related to the illegal trade of wildlife on the dark web relative to the open and increasing trade on the surface web may indicate a lack of successful enforcement against illegal wildlife trade on the surface web.     

Estimating freshwater turtle mortality rates and population declines following hook ingestion

Freshwater turtle populations are susceptible to declines following small increases in the mortality of adults, making it essential to identify and understand potential threats. Freshwater turtles ingest fish hooks associated with recreational angling, and this is likely a problem because hook ingestion is a source of additive mortality for sea turtles. We used a Bayesian‐modeling framework, observed rates of hook ingestion by freshwater turtles, and mortality of sea turtles from hook ingestion to examine the probability that a freshwater turtle in a given population ingests a hook and subsequently dies from it. We used the results of these analyses and previously published life‐history data to simulate the effects of hook ingestion on population growth for 3 species of freshwater turtle. In our simulation, the probability that an individual turtle ingests a hook and dies as a result was 1.2–11%. Our simulation results suggest that this rate of mortality from hook ingestion is sufficient to cause population declines. We believe we have identified fish‐hook ingestion as a serious yet generally overlooked threat to the viability of freshwater turtle populations.     

Content analysis of newspaper coverage of the Florida panther

Populations of large carnivores are declining globally, and analysis of public discourse about carnivores is useful for understanding public opinion and influences on management and policy. Portrayal of carnivores in the media affects public perceptions and support for their conservation. We conducted a content analysis of 513 articles about Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) published from 2003 to 2006 in newspapers with local circulation in core panther habitat in southwest Florida and papers with statewide circulation to compare the differences in the amount of coverage and portrayals of panther risks to people and property on the basis of proximity of human communities to panthers. Local papers published significantly more news articles and significantly longer news articles primarily about panthers. Articles in local and statewide papers used both episodic frames, which focus on specific occurrences (e.g., a panther sighting or predation) and thematic frames, which focus on general trends (e.g., abundance of panthers over time). Local articles more often emphasized risks that panthers might harm people, pets, or livestock than statewide papers. Our results are consistent with theory that proximity to human-carnivore conflict influences perceptions and salience of risks posed by large carnivores. Most articles mentioned panthers as a secondary topic, which we believe was a result of the relevance an endangered carnivore has in discussions of public land management, development, and regulations in Florida. Claims made by sources quoted in each article had a neutral to positive depiction of panthers, and most quotations were from federal and state agency scientists. We suggest continued use by the media of agency sources provides the opportunity for clear, concordant messages about panther management. Content analysis provides a way to monitor media portrayal of carnivores for consistency with agency outreach goals.