“组学”在内生菌与植物互作研究中的应用

近二十年来,内生菌在新资源发现,对植物生理、发育、代谢调控等方面的潜力备受关注,像植物“器官”一样成为植物研究中的重要组成部分。它在植物基因变迁、生理运作、代谢转化、生长发育、生态演替、环境适应等诸方面都扮演着极为重要的角色,成为当前深入认识物种互作的前沿领域。随着科学技术的发展和认识的深入,以分子化水平进行整体研究,是全面、客观、系统揭示物种互作研究的必然发展趋势。以基因组学、转录组学、蛋白质组学和次生代谢组学等为主要代表的“组学”技术,获得迅猛发展,成为系统生物学研究手段的重要组成部分,推动了基因、转录、表达和代谢产物形成等各层次对内生菌–植物互作的全面认识。近年来,“宏–组学”和“多重–组学”的出现,并通过信息技术整合而发展起来的网络及模型,对于整体上认识和预测从基因到表观性状的物种互作机制,并在生物防控、植物育种、化学成分调控、物种进化、生物胁迫等方面获得许多新的认知。“组学”技术必将在植物尤其是经济作物的绿色高效、可持续的生产和发展中发挥更大优势。

Effect of Apis mellifera on community composition of local pollinator bees and their pollination network in Qinling Mountains and surrounding areas

The Qinling Mountains, known for their rich vegetation and diverse pollinating insects, have seen a significant decline in bee species richness and abundance over recent decades, largely due to the introduction and spread of Apis mellifera. This decline has caused cascading effects on the region's community structure and ecosystem stability. To improve the protection of native bees in the natural and agricultural landscape of the Qinling Mountains and its surrounding areas, we investigated 33 sampling sites within three habitats: forest, forest-agriculture ecotones, and farmland. Using a generalized linear mixing model, t-test, and other data analysis methods, we explored the impact of Apis mellifera on local pollinator bee richness, abundance, and the pollination network in different habitats in these regional areas. The results show that(1)Apis mellifera significantly negatively affects the abundance and richness of wild pollinator bees,while Apis cerana abundance is also affected by beekeeping conditions.(2)There are significant negative effects of Apis mellifera on the community structure of pollinator bees in the Qinling Mountains and its surrounding areas: the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Pielou evenness index, and Margalef richness index of bee communities at sites with Apis mellifera influence were significantly lower than those at sites without Apis mellifera influence.(3)The underlying driver of this effect is the monopolization of flowering resources by Apis mellifera. This species tends to visit flowering plants with large nectar sources, which constitute a significant portion of the local plant community. By maintaining a dominant role in the bee-plant pollination network, Apis mellifera competitively displaces native pollinator bees, reducing their access to floral resources. This ultimately leads to a reduction in local bee-plant interactions, decreasing the complexity and stability of the pollination network. These findings highlight the need for targeted conservation efforts to protect native pollinator species and maintain the ecological balance in the Qinling Mountains.

植食性昆虫、植物和共生微生物的功能关联

植食性昆虫和植物均能与微生物形成密切关系,它们各自的生态功能及相互关系也常被共生微生物所影响。近年来,随着分子水平研究方法的进展,植食性昆虫和植物中很多可遗传共生微生物(细菌、真菌等)被发现。共生微生物能够在营养、生殖、防御和解毒等方面给宿主带来显著影响,并与宿主形成竞争、互利或寄生等关系。植食性昆虫体内的含菌胞、肠道、血淋巴、唾液腺等常含有重要功能的共生微生物。新的分子生物学手段和高通量测序技术的应用使得我们能够增加对宿主和共生微生物(即使处于低丰度)之间关系的了解。尝试总结植食性昆虫和植物共生微生物的多样性及其关系、昆虫和植物互作机制、昆虫共生菌解毒植物毒素等方面的研究,突出强调应以系统观思维来理解共生微生物、植食性昆虫和植物间的功能关联,就将来值得研究的问题提出了建议。

Behavioral interactions between a coexisting rodent Micaelamys namaquensis and macroscelid Elephantulus myurus

A number of mechanisms are known to influence coexistence in small mammal communities. However, the role ofbehavioral interactions in promoting species coexistence is under-represented in the literature. We studied the behavioral interactionsof two coexisting small mammals, the Namaqua rock mouse Micaelamys namaquensis (Rodentia) and the Rock sengi Elephantulusmyurus (Macroscelidae), which have high dietary and microhabitat overlap. Using wild-caught individuals, intra- andinterspecific dyadic encounters were staged in tanks on a neutral rocky outcrop. Interspecific dyads displayed significantly moreactive avoidance behavior. There was no support for the prediction that the larger, more specialist species, E. myurus, is behaviorallydominant over M. namaquensis. Intraspecific encounters of E. myurus showed significantly more passive avoidance andamicable behavior, whereas the behavior of M. namaquensis did not differ between intra- and inter-specific encounters, both ofwhich were characterized by low levels of aggression and amicability. Thus, due to the lack of aggression, direct competition appearsweak and instead mutual avoidance may reduce or minimize interspecific interactions, potentially promoting coexistence.

Interactions between Soil Characteristics, Environmental Factors, and Plant Species Abundance: A Case Study in the Karst Mountains of Longhushan Nature Reserve, Southwest China

The ability to manage and restore plant communities in the face of human-induced landscape change may rely on our ability to predict how species respond to environmental variables.Understanding this response requires examining factors or their interactions that have influence on plant and resource availability.Our objective was to analyze the relationships between changes in plant abundance and the interaction among environmental habitat factors including soil, geological(rock type), and other environmental variables in the Longhushan karst mountains ecosystem.Species density and dominance were examined using ANOVA, ANCOVA,and Generalized Linear Models to establish the single or combined effects of these groups of factors.The results showed that trends in abundance were mainly affected by rock type(related to the percentage content of dolomite and calcite), soil characteristics in association with topography.Both plant indices were higher in dolomite dominated areas and varied positively with moisture, and elevation, but negatively with organic matter, while density also increased with slope degree.The results demonstrate that significant variations in species abundance was produced with the combination of variables from soil, geological, andenvironmental factors, suggesting their interaction influence on plants.We postulate that spatial variations in plant abundance in karst ecosystem depends on the carbonate rock type in addition to water and nutrient availability which are mainly controlled by topography and other factors such as soil texture and temperature.The study suggests that in karst areas carbonate rock type, in addition to local environmental variables, should be taken into account when analyzing the factors that have impact on plant communities.

Effects of Humic Acid and Bread Yeast on Growth and Yield of Eggplant （Solanum melongena L.）

This study was carried out at the vegetable research field, College of Agriculture, University of Duhok, during the growing season of 2009 using the eggplant local cultivar. And a factorial Randomized complete block design （F-RCBD）. The experiment consisted of two factors, the first was inoculations with and without humic acid, and the second factor was three levels of dry bread yeast （0.5, 10 gm/L）. The results revealed that the growth was significantly increased in term of plant height, branches number%, total chlorophyll and mineral content in leaves （N.P.K） and the yield in term of fruit number/plant, fruit weight （gm）, plant yield （gm/plant）, total yield （ton/hectare）, fruit length and fruit diameter. The interaction between humic acid and bread yeast was highly improved the growth and yield traits.

Aggregation Behaviors of a Two-Species System with Lose-Lose Interactions

We propose an aggregation evolution model of two-species （A- and B-species） aggregates to study the prevalent aggregation phenomena in social and economic systems. In this model, A- and B-species aggregates perform self-exchange-driven growths with the exchange rate kernels K（k, l） = Kkl and L（k, l） = Lkl, respectively, and the two species aggregates perform self-birth processes with the rate kernels J1（k） = J1 k and J2（ k ） = J2k, and meanwhile the interaction between the aggregates of different species A and B causes a lose-lose scheme with the rate kernel H（k,l） = Hkl. Based on the mean-field theory, we investigated the evolution behaviors of the two species aggregates to study the competitions among above three aggregate evolution schemes on the distinct initial monomer concentrations A0 and B0 of the two species. The results show that the evolution behaviors of A- and B-species are crucially dominated by the competition between the two self-birth processes, and the initial monomer concentrations Ao and Bo play important roles, while the lose-lose scheme play important roles in some special cases.

继往开来的微生物遗传学研究

微生物遗传学是一门具有悠久历史的学科,微生物遗传学研究不仅为遗传学中一些基本理论的阐明奠定了基础,还有力推动了分子生物学的发展。从DNA是遗传物质的证明,到"一个基因一种酶"的假说,再到近年来的CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术,都离不开微生物遗传学的发展。随着基因组测序技术的迅猛发展,微生物遗传学也迎来了全面快速发展的时期,我国微生物遗传学研究在与微生物生理代谢、微生物组学、环境微生物学、合成生物学等学科的交叉融合中取得了长足进步。《微生物学通报》本期推出了"微生物遗传学主题刊",旨在展现我国微生物遗传学研究的最新进展和成果,促进我国微生物遗传学的交流和发展。

Emergent plant presence and richness alter competitive interactions between two foating plants

Interactions between two plant species can be infuenced by the presence of other plant species and such an effect may change as the diversity of the other species increases.To test these hypotheses,we frst constructed aquatic communities consisting of 1,2 and 4 emergent plant species and then grew ramets of Lemna minor only,ramets of Spirodela polyrhiza only or ramets of both L.minor and S.polyrhiza within these aquatic communities.We also included controls with ramets of L.minor,S.polyrhiza or both but without any emergent plants.Biomass and number of ramets of L.minor and S.polyrhiza were signifcantly smaller with than without the emergent plants,but they did not differ among the three richness levels.The presence of S.polyrhiza did not signifcantly affect the growth of L.minor,and such an effect was not dependent on the richness of the emergent plant species.Without the emergent plant species,the presence of L.minor markedly reduced biomass(-92%)and number of ramets(-88%)of S.polyrhiza.However,such a competitive effect of L.minor on S.polyrhiza became much weaker in the presence of one emergent plant species(-46%biomass and-39%number of ramets)and completely disappeared in the presence of two or four emergent plant species.Therefore,both the presence and richness of emergent plant species can alter competitive interactions between the two duckweed species.These fndings highlight the importance of species diversity in regulating plant-plant interactions.

入侵植物对本地生态系统三级营养关系的调控机制

入侵植物常形成单一优势种群,严重威胁本地的生物多样性和生态系统的结构和功能.入侵植物通过多种方式改变和影响入侵地的生物群落,其对本地植物和植食性昆虫的影响也会传递到更高营养级.研究入侵植物对于不同营养级生物的影响以及其入侵对当地三级营养关系的调控机制,对于揭示植物入侵机制和准确评估入侵后效至关重要.本文从植物-植物关系、植物-昆虫关系、昆虫-天敌关系以及植物-昆虫-天敌三级营养关系等方面系统地解析了外来入侵植物介入本地食物链的机制.采用野外调查、生物测定、化学物质分析、昆虫行为学、挥发性信号物质采集分析等技术和方法,可以从食物链的营养物质流动、化学防御物质级联和信号物质传递三个角度来解析外来入侵植物对不同营养级生物的调控机制.从多营养级互作的角度综述了入侵植物对本地生态系统三级营养关系的调控机制.

Phylogenetic constrains on mycorrhizal specificity in eight Dendrobium(Orchidaceae) species

Plant phylogeny constrains orchid mycorrhizal(OrM) fungal community composition in some orchids. Here, we investigated the structures of the OrM fungal communities of eight Dendrobium species in one niche to determine whether similarities in the OrM fungal communities correlated with the phylogeny of the host plants and whether the Dendrobium-OrM fungal interactions are phylogenetically conserved. A phylogeny based on DNA data was constructed for the eight coexisting Dendrobium species,and the OrM fungal communities were characterized by their roots. There were 31 different fungal lineages associated with the eight Dendrobium species. In total, 82.98% of the identified associations belonging to Tulasnellaceae, and a smaller proportion involved members of the unknown Basidiomycota(9.67%). Community analyses revealed that phylogenetically related Dendrobium tended to interact with a similar set of Tulasnellaceae fungi. The interactions between Dendrobium and Tulasnellaceae fungi were significantly influenced by the phylogenetic relationships among the Dendrobium species. Our results provide evidence that the mycorrhizal specificity in the eight coexisting Dendrobium species was phylogenetically conserved.

Responses of biotic interactions of dominant and subordinate species to decadal warming and simulated rotational grazing in Tibetan alpine meadow

Warming increases competition among plant species in alpine communities by ameliorating harsh environmental conditions,such as low temperatures. Grazing, as the main human activity, may mitigate the effect of warming, as previously reported.However, it is critical to refine the effects of warming on biotic interactions among species, for example, by taking the competitive ability of species into consideration. Based on a 10-year warming and grazing experiment in a Tibetan alpine meadow, we evaluated interspecific biotic interactions of dominant and subordinate species, using the approach of interspecific spatial associations. Warming significantly increased competition between subordinate and dominant species as well as among subordinate species, but not among dominant species. Moreover, facilitation of dominant-subordinate species also increased under warming. Simulated rotational grazing had similar effects to warming, with increasing interspecific competition. Our results show that, when studying the effects of warming on biotic interactions among species, it is necessary to characterize different species pairs relative to their competitive ability, and that simulated rotational grazing does not mitigate the effects of warming in the long term. Our results also provide evidence that the spatial pattern of species is a critical mechanism in species coexistence.

CO_(2)stimulation and response mechanisms vary with light supply in boreal conifers

Aims Black spruce(Picea mariana[Mill.]B.S.P.)and white spruce(Picea glauca[Moench]Voss.)are congeneric species.Both are moderately shade tolerant and widely distributed across North American boreal forests.Methods To understand light effects on their ecophysiological responses to elevated CO_(2),1-year-old seedlings were exposed to 360µmol mol−1 and 720µmol mol−1 CO_(2)at three light conditions(100%,50%and 30%of full light in the greenhouse).Foliar gas exchanges were measured in the mid-and late-growing season.Important Findings Elevated CO_(2)increased net photosynthesis(Pn)and photosynthetic water use efficiency,but it reduced stomatal conductance and transpiration.The stimulation of photosynthesis by elevated CO_(2)was greatest at 50%light and smallest at 100%.Photosynthesis,maximum carboxylation rate(Vcmax)and light-saturated rate of electron transport(Jmax)all decreased with decreasing light.Elevated CO_(2)significantly reduced Vcmax across all light treatments and both species in mid-growing season.However,the effect of elevated CO_(2)became insignificant at 30%light later in the growing season,with the response being greater in black spruce than in white spruce.Elevated CO_(2)also reduced Jmax in white spruce in both measurements while the effect became insignificant at 30%light later in the growing season.However,the effect on black spruce varied with time.Elevated CO_(2)reduced Jmax in black spruce in mid-growing season in all light treatments and the effect became insignificant at 30%light later in the growing season,while it increased Jmax later in the season at 100%and 50%light.These results suggest that both species benefited from elevated CO_(2),and that the responses varied with light supply,such that the response was primarily physiological at 100%and 50%light,while it was primarily morphological at 30%light.

Changes in niche differentiation and environmental filtering over a hydric stress gradient

Aims Diversity in communities is determined by species’ability to coexist with each other and to overcome environmental stress that may act as an environmental filter.Niche differentiation(ND)results in stronger intra-than interspecific competition and promotes coexistence.Because stress affects interactions,the strength of ND may change along stress gradients.A greater diversity of plant growth forms has been observed in stressful habitats,such as deserts and alpine regions,suggesting greater ND when stress is strong.We tested the hypothesis that niche differences and environmental filters become stronger with stress.Methods In a semiarid grassland in southern Mexico,we sowed six annual species in the field along a hydric stress gradient.Plants were grown alone(without interactions),with conspecific neighbors(intraspecific interactions)or with heterospecific neighbors(interspecific interactions).We analyzed how the ratio of intra-to interspecific competition changed along the gradient to assess how water availability determines the strength of ND.We also determined if hydric stress represented an environmental filter.Important Findings We observed stronger intra-than interspecific competition,especially where hydric stress was greater.Thus,we found ND in at least some portion of the gradient for all but one species.Some species were hindered by stress,but others were favored by it perhaps because it eliminates soil pathogens.Although strong ND was slightly more frequent with stress,our species sample was small and there were exceptions to the general pattern,so further research is needed to establish if this is a widespread phenomenon in nature.

The need for alternative plant species interaction models

Aims The limitations of classical Lotka–Volterra models for analyzing and interpreting competitive interactions among plant species have become increasingly clear in recent years.Three of the problems that have been identified are(i)the absence of frequency-dependence,which is important for long-term coexistence of species,(ii)the need to take unmeasured(often unmeasurable)variables influencing individual performance into account(e.g.spatial variation in soil nutrients or pathogens)and(iii)the need to separate measurement error from biological variation.Methods We modified the classical Lotka–Volterra competition models to address these limitations.We fitted eight alternative models to pin-point cover data on Festuca ovina and Agrostis capillaris over 3 years in an herbaceous plant community in Denmark.A Bayesian modeling framework was used to ascertain whether the model amendments improve the performance of the models and increase their ability to predict community dynamics and to test hypotheses.Important Findings Inclusion of frequency-dependence and measurement error,but not unmeasured variables,improved model performance greatly.Our results emphasize the importance of comparing alternative models in quantitative studies of plant community dynamics.Only by considering possible alternative models can we identify the forces driving community assembly and change,and improve our ability to predict the behavior of plant communities.

The Facilitation of Restoration by Cushion Plant Androsace tapete in a Degraded Alpine Grassland

The cushion plant Androsace tapete is an endemic species that is widely distributed in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and also predominant in the alpine grassland that is locally degraded due to overgrazing and other reasons. As an ecosystem engineer cushion plant, its ability to facilitate the restoration of degraded alpine grassland was studied in a degraded alpine grassland at an elevation of 4500 m on the southern slope of the Nyainqentanglha Mountains in Damxung. The species diversity, soil nutrients and water content underneath and outside the cushion plant A. tapete were investigated. The results showed that soil nutrients underneath the A. tapete cushion were significantly increased by about 16%-48% compared to outside the cushion, of which the organic matter and total N were increased by 16.2% and 18.9% respectively, and the soil water content was increased about 12%. The index of species diversity of richness(S), Shannon-Wiener’s H and Simpson’s D all increased with the coverage of cushion plant A. tapete. Our results suggested that this cushion plant can facilitate restoration of the degraded alpine grassland by modifying the local soil environment and increasing the community diversity, so it should be conserved for the restoration of degraded alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Role of Salix reinii patches in spatio-temporal patterns of cohabitants on a Japanese volcano

Shrub patches often support the colonizers particularly under stressful and/or disturbed environments.The intensities of stresses and disturbances on mountains are often related to an elevation gradient and are decreased by shrub patches(canopy and litter).We aim to clarify these relationships by using shrub patches at different elevations on a volcano.We monitored all shoots in plots established inside and outside of patches of Salix reinii(Salicaceae)and their related environments,such as temperature,light,moisture and chemistry,at three elevations on Mount Koma(1131 m a.s.l.),northern Japan,from early spring in 2005 to summer in 2006.The patch structures were evaluated by area,branch density and litter thickness.The structures of shrub patches did not differ among the elevations.The patches increased the diversity of rare species,by an overall increase in plant species richness.The moisture,nitrogen and phosphate contents in the patches were higher than outside of patches.The effects of shrub patches on the cohabitants were overall positive,although the effects were negative on seedling abundance,shoot survival and flowering.These results suggest that the growth patterns of shrub patches determine the plant community structures and facilitate plant diversity.

Heterospecific interactions and the proliferation of sexually dimorphic traits

Sexual selection is expected to promote speciation by fostering the evolution of sexual traits that minimize reproductive interactions among existing or incipient species. In species that compete for access to, or attention of, females, sexual selec- tion fosters more elaborate traits in males compared to females. If these traits also minimize reproductive interactions with het- erospecifics, then species with enhanced risk of interactions between species might display greater numbers of these sexually di- morphic characters. We tested this prediction in eight families of North American birds. In particular, we evaluated whether the number of sexually dimorphic traits was positively associated with species richness at a given site or with degree of sympatry with congeners. We found no strong evidence of enhanced sexual dimorphism with increasing confamilial species richness at a given site. We also found no overall relationship between the number of sexually dimorphic traits and overlap with congeners across these eight families. However, we found patterns consistent with our prediction within Anatidae （ducks, geese and swans） and, to a lesser degree, Parulidae （New World warblers）. Our results suggest that sexually selected plumage traits in these groups potentially play a role in reproductive isolation [Current Zoology 58 （3）： 453--462, 2012].