Amino acids during development of mountain birch leaves

Summary. The nutritive value of tree foliage for herbivores decreases rapidly with leaf maturation, due in particular to the decline in leaf nitrogen content. Since the amino acid content of plants differs from the need of herbivores for individual amino acids, we examined developmental changes in the contents of amino acids throughout the growth season of mountain birch. The contents of free and protein-bound amino acids, as well as essential and nonessential ones, displayed different patterns with leaf maturation, suggesting that total nitrogen or protein levels are poor predictors of the nutritive status of leaves. The contents of protein-bound amino acids were 100 times higher than those of free amino acids, indicating that the role of free amino acids in nutrition of herbivores is probably less important than that of protein-bound amino acids. Among protein-bound amino acids, both the absolute and the relative contents of two nitrogen-rich essential amino acids, lysine and arginine, decreased during early leaf growth, presumably reducing nitrogen availability in developing leaves. Essential amino acids were mainly positively related to each other, suggesting the co-ordinated regulation of their synthesis. Changes in correlations among individual free amino acids reflected developmental changes in allocation preferences between biosynthesis pathways with leaf growth. Received 31 January 2003; accepted 17 March 2003. R1D=" Correspondence to: Teija Ruuhola, e-mail: teiruu@utu.fi     

Effects of aluminum on NAD kinase activity in chloroplast fraction from leaves of rice seedlings

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Effects on Wood Quality Characteristics of Hormone Breeding of Beech Seedlings Treated by Polystimulin-A6

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of polystimulin-A6 (PS-A6) on the wood quality characteristics of beech (Fagus orientalis L.) seedlings. In order to examine the seedling development, the total of 1200 seedlings treated with PS-A6 at four different concentrations and a total of 300 control seedlings were measured related to seedling height, root collar diameter, stem dry weight, root dry weight, leaf width, and length. It was also counted the leaf numbers. Finally, it was found that there was a very significant difference between PS-A6 treatments and control treatments. The seedlings treated with PS-A6 seem to perform well in comparison to control seedlings.     

Phenogenetic monitoring of the weeping birch (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Betula pendula</Emphasis> Roth.) in the Middle Urals: testing a new method for assessing developmental instability in higher plants

Variation of bilateral leaf structures in Middle Ural cenopopulations of the weeping birch (Betula pendula Roth.) growing in gradients of industrial pollution was studied to test the efficiency of a new method of population and individual phenogenetic monitoring allowing an indirect assessment of developmental destabilization by segregating the variance of total asymmetry (TA _R ²) into its additive components, the variances of fluctuating asymmetry (FA _R ²) and directional asymmetry (DA _R ²). The method was tested in the impact zones of two copper-smelting plants in the Middle Urals. The degree of impact was characterized by the index of technogenic pollution (ITP) reflecting the average total contents of 15 water-soluble pollutants in snow samples. The level of asymmetry was estimated from the numbers of denticles with incoming veins (dentovenal elements) on the left and right leaf margins. Spearman’s coefficient of rank correlation between the group values of variance in fluctuating asymmetry (FA _R ²) and corresponding ITP values reached r _S = 0.914 (p < 0.001), providing evidence that the method is highly appropriate for ecological indication of the phenogenetic response of trees to environmental pollution.     

金属半导体纳米粒子对水培水稻幼苗的毒性及吸收转运规律

金属半导体纳米粒子由于其独特的理化性质被广泛应用于工业生产和科学研究,而遗留在水环境中的金属半导体纳米粒子对植物的危害程度和累积水平还有待研究和完善.本文以水稻为实验对象,通过水培试验研究了氧化铜纳米粒子(CuONPs)、氧化锌纳米粒子(ZnONPs)和硫化锌纳米粒子(ZnSNPs)在不同浓度(10、50和100 mg·L~(-1))下的植物毒性及其在水稻体内的吸收转运行为.纳米粒子悬浮液的粒径分布和Zeta电位分析结果表明,CuONPs在水中的分散性和稳定性高于ZnONPs和ZnSNPs.ZnONPs悬浮液中溶解的金属离子量高于CuONPs和ZnSNPs悬浮液.毒性实验结果表明,较高浓度(50和100 mg·L~(-1))的ZnONPs和CuONPs不同程度地阻碍了水稻幼苗的生长,增加了根系中丙二醛(MDA)的含量,降低了根系活力和叶片中的叶绿素含量.50和100 mg·L~(-1)的ZnONPs导致根系鲜重分别降低至对照组的47.3%和44.3%,100 mg·L~(-1)ZnONPs和CuONPs使根系活力由对照组的710.4μg·g-1·h~(-1)分别降低至150.0和481.9μg·g-1·h~(-1).ZnSNPs在实验设置浓度下体现了促进水稻生长的作用.10 mg·L~(-1)的ZnSNPs使地上部分鲜重增加到对照组的109.8%,100 mg·L~(-1)时使根系活力提高到了对照组的2倍.Zn的选择性吸收和生物转运系数均高于Cu,本研究结果证明了金属半导体纳米粒子的植物毒性和累积水平与纳米粒子在水中的理化性质及植物对不同毒物的反应程度有关.     

Accumulation and distribution of90Sr and137Cs in birch in the zone affected by liquid discharge from the Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Plant

The data are presented that concern the accumulation and distribution of artificial radionuclides (⁹⁰Sr and¹³⁷Cs) in the aboveground organs of birch growing in the vicinity of the Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in the permanently inundated part of the Ol'khovka swamp, on its banks periodically flooded with water, and in watershed areas not influenced by the swamp (control). Concentrations of both radionuclides in birch trees from the swamp and its banks were several times as high as in trees from the watershed. The distribution of⁹⁰Sr in birch trunk proved to be acropetal. Trees growing on the inundated part of the swamp and on dry land significantly differed in the distribution of¹³⁷Cs. The factors controlling the distribution and accumulation of both radionuclides in birch trees growing in these areas are discussed.     

外源水杨酸对Pb2+胁迫下玉米幼苗生理特性的影响

为了研究水杨酸对重金属胁迫下植物幼苗的缓解效应,以玉米叶片的叶绿素、游离脯氨酸、可溶性蛋白质量比和丙二醛(MDA)含量,以及过氧化物酶(POD)与超氧化物酶(SOD)活性为指标,采用水培法研究了不同质量浓度水杨酸对150 mg/L Pb2+胁迫下玉米幼苗生理特性的影响.结果表明,经30 mg/L水杨酸缓解后受迫玉米幼苗的根长、株高和根系活性明显增加,叶片的叶绿素、游离脯氨酸与可溶性蛋白质量比均明显提高,叶片的SOD与POD活性均高于对照组和各处理组,且叶片的MDA含量显著降低.外源水杨酸可通过正向调控植物物质与能量代谢,以及保护酶系统活性来维持细胞膜的稳定性,并有效减缓膜脂过氧化进程,缓解了Pb2+胁迫对玉米幼苗的毒害.     

毛叶山桐子培育新方法及其工程化研究

毛叶山桐子的人工培育困难,至今没有人工林地。本研究通过小型试验、扩大试验和工程化试验,对毛叶山桐子的育苗方法进行了系统研究,得出了毛叶山桐子育苗的最佳条件。     

Effects of elevated CO2 concentration on growth and water usage of tomato seedlings under different ammonium/nitrate ratios

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is generally expected to enhance photosynthesis and growth of agricultural C3 vegetable crops, and therefore results in an increase in crop yield. However, little is known about the combined effect of elevated CO2 and N species on plant growth and development. Two growth-chamber experiments were conducted to determine the effects of NH4^＋/NO3^- ratio and elevated CO2 concentration on the physiological development and water use of tomato seedlings. Tomato was grown for 45 d in containers with nutrient solutions varying in NH4^＋/NO3^- ratios and CO2 concentrations in growth chambers. Results showed that plant height, stem thickness, total dry weight, dry weight of the leaves, stems and roots, G value （total plant dry weight/seedling days）, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, leaf-level and whole plant-level water use efficiency and cumulative water consumption of tomato seedlings were increased with increasing proportion of NO3- in nutrient solutions in the elevated CO2 treatment. Plant biomass, plant height, stem thickness and photosynthetic rate were 67%, 22%, 24% and 55% higher at elevated CO2 concentration than at ambient CO2 concentration, depending on the values of NH4^＋/NO3^- ratio. These results indicated that elevating CO2 concentration did not mitigate the adverse effects of 100% NH4^＋-N （in nutrient solution） on the tomato seedlings. At both CO2 levels, NH4^＋/NO3^- ratios of nutrient solutions strongly influenced almost every measure of plant performance, and nitrate-fed plants attained a greater biomass production, as compared to ammonium-fed plants. These phenomena seem to be related to the coordinated regulation of photosynthetic rate and cumulative water consumption of tomato seedlings.     

Instability of cytogenetic parameters and genome instability in Betula pendula Roth

The seed progeny of weeping birch (Betula pendula Roth.) have been used as a test object for monitoring the state of the environment in the city of Voronezh. An increase in the number of cytogenetic disturbances observed in the root meristem cells of birch seedlings provides evidence for genome instability in the test species.