Searching for plant NLR immune receptors conferring resistance to potyviruses

To fight against invasion by pathogens,plants have evolved an elaborate innate immune system,of which the nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat-containing receptor(NLR)acts as the sensor and immune executor.Potyviruses,comprising one of the largest genera of plant viruses,cause severe crop yield losses worldwide.Inherited crop resistance to potyviruses can be used in breeding and plant transgenesis to control disease development.This review summarizes achievements in mapping and cloning NLR genes conferring dominant resistance against potyvirus in the families Fabaceae,Solanaceae,Brassicaceae,and Cucurbitaceae.It compares mechanisms of potyviral protein recognition and downstream signaling employed by NLRs and discusses strategies for exploiting NLRs to better control diseases caused by potyviruses.

Oxygen Transfer and Hydrodynamics in a Flexible Fibre Biofilm Reactor for Wastewater Treatment

A flexible fibre biofilm reactor was developed for treatment of organic wastewaters.The hydrodynamic characteristics and mass transfer coefficients of oxygen were studied and compared with those of the conventional activated sludge processes.Tracer experiments were performed to obtain the residence time distributions of the reactors.The results indicated that both reactors could be treated as mixed flow reactors.The effects of flow rates of water and air on the overall mass transfer coefficient of oxygen were investigated,and the correlations between the mass transfer coefficient and the ratio of flow rates were obtained.Compared to the conventional activated sludge reactor,the mass transfer coefficients in the flexible fibre reactor were similar to but slightly lower,and less sensitive to the variation in the ratio of flow rates.It indicated that the fibre packing in the reactor hindered the oxygen transfer to some extent.

A practical soil management to improve soil quality by applying mineral organic fertilizer

Heavy use of chemical fertilizer causes increasing soil and environmental crisis, and the use of organic fertilizer increases obvious in recent years. In this study,mineral organic fertilizer(MOF) and compound fertilizer(CF) were applied in amaranth culture to explore the effects of these two kinds of fertilizers on soil quality and the potential function for CO_2 fixation. Some soil parameters were tested, e.g. p H value, organic carbon content, microbial biomass, urease activity, and available potassium content. In addition, some parameters of soil infiltration water were also determined, such as p H and HCO_3^- concentration. Experimental results showed that MOF improved soil quality and amaranth biomass and increased possible soil carbon sink.On the contrary, the utilization of CF worsened soil quality and made the soil acidize. These results suggested that MOF can partially replace CF to improve plant growth, soil quality and possible CO_2 sink.

Iron and lead ion adsorption by microbial flocculants in synthetic wastewater and their related carbonate formation

Although microbial treatments of heavy metal ions in wastewater have been studied, the removal of these metals through incorporation into carbonate minerals has rarely been reported. To investigate the removal of Fe^3＋ and Pb^2＋, two representative metals in wastewater, through the precipitation of carbonate minerals by a microbial flocculant （MBF） produced by Bacillus mucilaginosus. MBF was added to synthetic wastewater containing different Fe^3＋ and Pb^2＋ concentrations, and the extent of flocculation was analyzed. CO2 was bubbled into the mixture of MBF and Fe^3＋/Pb^2＋ to initiate the reaction. The solid substrates were analyzed via X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results showed that the removal efficiency decreased and the MBF adsorption capacity for metals increased with increasing heavy metal concentration. In the system containing MBF, metals （Fe^3＋ and Pb^2＋）, and CO2, the concentrated metals adsorbed onto the MBF combined with the dissolved CO2, resulting in oversaturation of metal carbonate minerals to form iron carbonate and lead carbonates. These results may be used in designing a method in which microbes can be utilized to combine CO2 with wastewater heavy metals to form carbonates, with the aim of mitigating environmental problems.

Solubilization of potassium containing minerals by high temperature resistant Streptomyces sp.isolated from earthworm's gut

A potassium solubilizing bacterial strain des- ignated EGT, which is tolerant of high temperature, was isolated from an earthworm＇s gut to obtain a bacterium that can weather potassium-bearing rock effectively through solid-state fermentation. Molecular phylogeny and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated the bacterial strain was a member of the Streptomyces genus. To assess its potential to release potassium from silicate minerals, this strain was used to degrade potassium-bearing rock powder by solid-state fermentation. After fermentation, the amount of water-soluble A1, Fe and K of the substrate with active inoculum was higher than those of the control, which had autoclaved inoculum, and those of the fresh substrate. The result indicated that the strain had the ability to weather potassium-bearing rock and could be used as an inoculum in the production of potassium bio-fertilizer, due to its potassium release activity from rock and tolerance to high temperature.

Induction of Calcium Carbonate by Pseudomonas Putida

The purpose of this research is to study how the bacteria Pseudomonas putida (DCB13) utilises calcium ions in a culture medium with carbon dioxide (CO2) to yield calcium carbonate (CaCO3). The bacteria strain P. putida is a dominant strain isolated from the dolomitic surfaces in areas of Karst topographies, Guizhou Province. The experimental method was as follows: a modified beef extract-peptone medium (beef extract 3.0 g, peptone 10 g, NaCl 5.0 g, CaCl2 2.0 g, glass powder 2.0 g, distilled water 1 L and a pH between 6.5 and 7.5) was inoculated with P. putida in order to attempt to induce the synthesis of CaCO3. The sample was then processed by centrifugation every 24 hours during the 7-day cultivation period. The pH, carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity, and the concentrations of both HCO3- and Ca2+ of the supernatant fluid were measured. Subsequently, precipitation in the culture medium was analyzed to confirm, or otherwise, the presence and if present, the formation of CaCO3. Methods used included X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Results showed that P. putida can improve its pH value in this culture medium; concentrations of HCO3- and Ca2+ showed a significant decline over the duration of the cultivation period. CA activity reached its maximum during the second day; XRD, SEM and TEM all revealed the presence of CaCO3 as a precipitate. Additionally, these results did not occur in an aseptic control group: no detectable level of CaCO3 was yielded therein. In conclusion: P. putida can metabolise active materials such as secretase by its own growth and metabolism, and can either utilise atmospheric CO2, or respire, to induce CaCO3 production.

Effect in Cell Cycle Caused by Overexpression of SpTrz2p in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

[ Objective] This study aimed to investigate the effect in cell cycle caused by overexpression of SpTrz2p in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. [ Method] The trz2 ~ gene from S. pombe was cloned into pREPgx plasmid to construct an overexpression vector of SpTrz2p, which was then transformed into wild-type S. pombe ceils. The cell cycle was determined with flow cytometry. [ Result ] Overexpression of SpTrz2p in yeast caused changes in cell morphology and cell cycle. The majority of the cells were arrested at G1 phase, indicating that overexpression of SpTrz2p indeed affected the cell cycle. [ Conclusion] This study suggested that overexpression of SpTrz2p is lethal to the cells by affecting the cell cycle.

Differences in the gene expressive quantities of carbonic anhydrase and cysteine synthase in the weathering of potassium-bearing minerals by Aspergillus niger

We investigated the differences in the gene expression of carbonic anhydrase （CA） and cysteine synthase （CysM） between two weathering conditions, with either soluble potassium or insoluble potassium. We cultured a strain of A. niger by adopting a variant Czapek medium （using NazHPO4 as a substitute for KzHPO4） in two groups, Group A （containing silicate minerals bearing potassium but without KC1） and Group B （with KCI） . We extracted the mRNAs of CA and CysM from these two groups and performed real-time quantitative polymerase chain reactions （RT-qPCR）. We constructed relative standard curves by using glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase （GAPDH） as the reference to confirm a consistent amplification effi- ciency of the target genes （CA and CysM） and the reference gene and quantified the gene expression of the targets in a relative manner. Our results showed that CA and CysM in Group A were upregulated for 1.7 times and 11.7 times, respectively, com- pared with those in Group B. Furthermore, we also analyzed some metabolic pathways and functions of the A. niger-induced weathering of potassium-bearing minerals, which involved the synthesizing of these two enzymes. Thus our work provides materials for further study of the roles of A. niger in the metabolic regulation during the weathering process of potassi- um-beating minerals.

Barley St#pe Mosaic Virus yb Interacts with Glycolate Oxidase and Inhibits Peroxisomal ROS Production to Facilitate Virus Infection

Dear Editor Plants are naturally infected by a wide range of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, and fungi, and have evolved many strategies to circumvent pathogenic stresses.

Weathering of Carbonate Rocks by Biological Soil Crusts in Karst Areas

The weathering of carbonate rocks by biological soil crusts （BSC） in karst areas is very common. It is helpful to understand the weathering mechanisms and processes for avoiding karst rock-desertification. The weathering of carbonate rocks by BSC in karst areas, namely the expansion, contraction and curl resulting from environmental wetting-drying cycles, was investigated and ana- lyzed in this paper. The bulk density, area and thickness of BSC were determined and the weathering amount of limestone and dolomite per unit area of BSC was calculated as 3 700 and 3 400 g·m-2; the amount of biomass on the surface of limestone and dolomite was calculated as 1 146 and 1 301 g·m-2, respectively. Such an increased weathering amount was not only the result of chemical and physical weathering of BSC on carbonate rocks, but also the attachment and cementation of BSC to clay particles, dust-fall, sand particles, solid particles brought by strong air currents, wind and other factors in the surrounding environment, which may also be related to the special environment and the special time period. Based on the results obtained, a weathering mode of BSC is studied, and the mechanisms of weathering by BSC are discussed. In conclusion, we suggest that the mechanical force exerted by the expansion and constriction of gelatinous and mucilaginous substances through wetting and drying of BSC play a significant role in the physical weathering process of the carbonate substrates.