Stress-induced recombination and the mechanism of evolvability

The concept of evolvability is controversial. To some, it is simply a measure of the standing genetic variation in a population and can be captured by the narrow-sense heritability (h²). To others, evolvability refers to the capacity to generate heritable phenotypic variation. Many scientists, including Darwin, have argued that environmental variation can generate heritable phenotypic variation. However, their theories have been difficult to test. Recent theory on the evolution of sex and recombination provides a much simpler framework for evaluating evolvability. It shows that modifiers of recombination can increase in prevalence whenever low fitness individuals produce proportionately more recombinant offspring. Because recombination can generate heritable variation, stress-induced recombination might be a plausible mechanism of evolvability if populations exhibit a negative relationship between fitness and recombination. Here we use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to test for this relationship. We exposed females to mating stress, heat shock or cold shock and measured the temporary changes that occurred in reproductive output and the rate of chromosomal recombination. We found that each stress treatment increased the rate of recombination and that heat shock, but not mating stress or cold shock, generated a negative relationship between reproductive output and recombination rate. The negative relationship was absent in the low-stress controls, which suggests that fitness and recombination may only be associated under stressful conditions. Taken together, these findings suggest that stress-induced recombination might be a mechanism of evolvability.     

Weak indirect effects inherent to nitrogen biogeochemical cycling within anthropogenic ecosystems: A network environ analysis

Indirect effects are assumed to be the major causes of the complexity and stability of ecological networks. The complexity of urban-rural complexes (URCs) could also be attributed to the indirect effects associated with human activities. No studies, however, have quantified the strength of indirect effects in relation to urban biogeochemistry. A network environ analysis (NEA) was used for this study to investigate and compare indirect effects in relation to the nitrogen (N) cycling networks of 22 natural ecosystems and five URCs. Results show that indirect effects were proven to be weak for URC N cycling networks (accounting for only ∼2% of the overall effects measured in natural ecosystems). The weak indirect effects found provide a counterexample for the hypothesis that indirect effects are in fact the dominant components of biogeochemical networks. It also implies that human activity in itself does not always raise the complexity of ecological processes as previously suggested. Weak indirect effects also lead to perturbation fragility for URC N cycles (where the decay rate is greater in comparison to natural ecosystems by a factor of 13). In order to improve the robustness and efficiency of URC biogeochemical cycling, a knockout analysis was carried out. By comparing results after removing single interactions between natural ecosystems and URCs it was found that the loss of indirect effects require cooperative strategies to optimize N cycling networks within URCs.     

Heat of absorption of CO2 in aqueous ammonia and ammonium carbonate/carbamate solutions

A reaction calorimeter was used to determine the enthalpies of absorption of CO₂ in aqueous ammonia and in aqueous solutions of ammonium carbonate at temperatures of 35–80 °C. The heat of absorption of CO₂ with 2.5 wt% aqueous ammonia solution was found to be about 70 kJ/mol CO₂, which is lower than that with MEA (around 85 kJ/mol) at 35 and 40 °C. The value decreases with increased loading, but not to as low a value as expected by the carbonate–bicarbonate reaction (26.88 kJ/mol). The enthalpy of absorption of CO₂ in aqueous ammonia at 60 and 80 °C decreases with loadings at first, then increases between 0.2 mol CO₂/mol NH₃ and 0.6 mol CO₂/mol NH₃, and then decreases again. The behavior of the heat of absorption of CO₂ in 10 wt% ammonium carbonate solution was found to be the same as that of aqueous ammonia at loadings above 0.6 mol CO₂/mol NH₃. The heat of absorption increases with increasing temperature. The heats of absorption are directly related to the extent of the various reactions with CO₂ and can be assessed from the species variation in the liquid phase.     

二噁英对免疫系统影响的研究进展

二噁英是持久性有机污染物的一种,它对人体健康的影响是多方面的,包括引起氯痤疮、诱发肿瘤、导致畸形、内分泌干扰、免疫毒性和肝毒性等等.本文着重总结了在二噁英对免疫系统的影响方面最近的研究进展.研究表明,二噁英可以从多方面干扰免疫系统的功能,它可以影响机体的体液和细胞免疫、超敏反应、自身免疫以及影响免疫细胞本身的活性,同时...     

葡多酚对口服乙醇小鼠肝细胞PCNA和Bcl-2表达的影响

为观察葡多酚(GPC)对小鼠乙醇性肝损伤的防护作用,将每天经口灌胃给予4 g·(kg·bw)-1乙醇的小鼠同时分别给予不同剂量的GPC,30 d后处死小鼠;取肝组织用MTT法检测各组小鼠肝细胞的增殖活性,用免疫组化法和图像分析方法检测PCNA和Bcl-2表达水平.结果显示:GPC高剂量组16 h的肝细胞增殖活性为0.4...     

Occurrence, distribution, and source of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in soil and leaves from Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, China

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were measured in soil and three plant species samples taken at different land use areas in Shenzhen China. The concentrations of ??₇BDEs (BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE-154, and BDE-183) and BDE-209 in the surface soils ranged from 0.23 to 271 and 8.9 to 5,956 ng/g dry weight (dw), respectively. These figures are comparable to that in the soils of electronic waste dismantling sites. BDE-209 was the predominant congener (contributes 85?C99% of ??₈PBDEs (??₇PBDEs plus BDE-209)) in soils. The regression slopes of total organic carbon and individual BDE congeners were rather gentle, indicating that factors other than soil organic matter regulated the soil concentrations. Proximity to sources of deposition processes might be the major factors. In the plant leaves, ??₇BDEs and BDE-209 concentrations ranged from 1.29 to 5.91 and 5.49 to 28.2 ng/g dw, respectively. BDE-209 is also the dominant component, but the contribution was much lower compared with that in soils. Bauhinia purpurea Linn. and Michelia alba DC. show some similarities on the uptake of PBDEs, while Ficus microcarpa var. pusillifolia is different from them. The correlations between plant leaf concentrations and predicted gaseous concentrations were moderate, indicating that gaseous concentration did not influence the leaf concentration significantly.     

曝气复氧对底泥氮素生物地球化学循环影响的作用机制研究

通过分析底泥氮污染物释放规律和转化过程,以及底泥生境、氮形态变化和氮循环功能微生物群落结构变化的规律,探讨了不同曝气复氧条件影响底泥氮生物地球化学循环的生物代谢、物理化学联合作用的机制。结果表明：曝气复氧对底泥中氮的生物地球化学循环影响是一个包括微生物代谢作用和物理化学作用的复杂联合作用过程。水体好氧环境的改变主要引起参与底泥氮循环的硝化、亚硝化和反硝化功能菌群群落结构的演变,对异养菌和氨化菌的影响不大,证明环境好氧条件的改变对底泥有机质生物分解产生氨氮的微生物代谢过程影响不大,主要对底泥释放的氨氮硝化、反硝化等生物转化过程产生大的影响。不同溶解氧条件下,底泥释放的氮素在微生物作用下主要以NH4＋-N和NO3--N的形式进入试验体系,并在特定的氧化还原电位（临界值-200 mV）和pH（临界值6.70）条件下通过物理化学作用在底泥中以离子交换态氮（IEF-N）、碳酸盐结合态氮（CF-N）、铁锰氧化态氮（IMOF-N）及有机态和硫化物结合态氮（OSF-N）等不同形态氮相互转化,同时,在氮的转化和循环过程中部分输入上覆水体。在低溶解氧组实验条件下[ρ（DO）〈0.5 mg.L-1],底泥向水体输出氮总量为底泥可转化态氮的19.7%,主要为氨氮,最大释放速率达到289.13 mg.m-2.d-1,释放的质量浓度可达到18.8 mg.L-1;好氧条件下（DO饱和）,底泥向水体输出氮总量为底泥可转化态氮的1.8%;好氧-缺氧条件下为11.7%,主要以N2的形式释出系统。     

蚯蚓和堆肥固定化添加模式对漆酶降解土壤五氯酚的影响

利用土壤五氯酚（PCP）污染模拟实验,研究两种不同生态型蚯蚓（赤子爱胜蚓Eisenia foetida和壮尾环毛蚓Amynthas robustus E.Perrie）和堆肥固定化添加模式对漆酶降解土壤PCP的影响。在42 d培养期内,测试了不同处理下PCP质量分数、漆酶活性,以及土壤呼吸和微生物碳氮等微生物指标。结果表明：堆肥固定化漆酶降解土壤PCP的效果优于壳聚糖固定化漆酶和自由漆酶,主要原因是堆肥固定化漆酶能够有效地提高漆酶稳定性,减缓其活性下降速度。此外,堆肥还能提高土壤微生物的数量与活性,显著提升土壤漆酶的活性。添加两种生态型蚯蚓对漆酶活性影响不显著,但均可以显著提高土壤微生物的数量与活性,加速土壤中PCP的降解。壮尾环毛蚓对土壤微生物数量与活性的提升效果优于赤子爱胜蚓。     

系统工程方法建设应急救援平台的探讨

功能全面、实用高效的应急救援平台是实施科学、有效的应急救援的基础之一,也是一个复杂的人、机、信息综合系统,系统工程的分析方法及思想对指导应急救援平台的建设具有较强的针对性和指导意义.在分析了国内外应急救援平台的现状并明确了其功能、要求后,运用系统工程方法从应急救援方式、设备、人员、信息系统、移动平台5个方面进行了分析和...     

民航维修系统建立风险管理的探索

中国民航维修系统正在建立安全管理体系,本文介绍了风险管理目的、构建原则并举例说明风险管理的实施步骤。为中国民航维修系统建立风险管理进行了有益的探索。