Chinese Journal of Appplied Environmental Biology 

About: Chinese Journal of Appplied Environmental Biology is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Fermentation. Over the lifetime, 1669 publications have been published receiving 4054 citations.

Telling Duckweed Apart: Genotyping Technologies for the Lemnaceae

Abstract: 1 Why duckweed? In his monographic study [1, 2] Elias Landolt wrote: “Within the last sixty years the family of Lemnaceae became more and more important as suitable research material for plant physiology and phytochemistry. Some of the advantages of Lemnaceae are: fast and predominantly vegetative reproduction (genetically uniform clones), only small laboratory space requirement, and aseptic culture. In addition, the family aroused attention as a food source due to its high productivity and its high protein content. Furthermore, Lemnaceae are used as multipurpose test objects and for nutrient and mineral removal from sewage water. The literature on Lemnaceae has been growing exponentially for the last 30 years. Hillman [3] cites 250 titles in his review of the descriptive and experimental literature of the family Lemnaceae. ... The bibliography of the present work ... contains more than 3 000 titles.” It only can be added that 25 years later the “Web of Sciences” cited more than 3 000 additional papers concerning duckweed in reviewed journals. It is thus quite apparent that the special properties of this family of aquatic plants are now capturing more interests from the scientific community worldwide than ever before. Duckweed belongs to f lowering plants but f lowering of these species is rather rare . Instead, the preferred mode of propagation is vegetative. Vegetative propagation here means that the frond primordia will start to develop and grow out of the pockets of mother plants [1, . Some duckweed (species of the genera Spirodela, Landoltia and Lemna) possess two meristematic primordia in the pockets, whereas in others (genera Wolffia and Wolffiella) daughter fronds were formed from a meristematic region in the single reproductive pouch of a mother frond . As an example, in Wolffia borealis approximately 10 daughter fronds were formed from one mother frond with a formation rate of 0.62 fronds per day . At the time of emergence of the daughter frond out from the pouches of the mother frond it contains already more or less developed primordia for the next generation of fronds. This mechanism of propagation is the basis of the exponential growth rate and responsible for the fascinating “secret of duckweed” in rapidly producing biomass. Doubling times of 2 days or less also under natural conditions are not rare in this family of plants. This high productivity is connected with high reproducibility when cultivation is carried out under standardized conditions. These properties have important implications for the practical applications of duckweed on the basis of its rapid biomass production. Duckweed biomass can be used and has already been demonstrated for the production of ethanol following saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting glucose . The high protein content in some strains and under alternative growth conditions makes the biomass also valuable as animal feed or human food [7, 10, . There is another important fact in duckweed cultivation: instead of fertilizing the plants with chemicals that are likely to rise in costs both economically and ecologically, duckweeds in general are adapted to eutrophic conditions and can grow well on municipal or Telling Duckweed Apart: Genotyping Technologies for the Lemnaceae Klaus J. Appenroth1, Nikolai Borisjuk2 & Eric Lam2* (1University of Jena, Institute of General Botany & Plant Physiology, Jena 07743, Germany) (2Plant Biology & Pathology, Rutgers State University of New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA)

Assessment of threatened status of chinese pangolin (manis pentadactyla)

Abstract: Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) mainly distribute in the south of the Yangtze River, China, and only a few are found in the countries bordering Guangxi and Yunnan provinces of China. Some information of its threatened status is given in this paper. Nineteen factors threatening this species survival were used to assess its threatened status, and the attributes of these factors were known from published information and the findings of this study. Each of the factors was given a score on the basis of the potential to cause this species risk in survival, ranging from a maximum of 5 (risk is highest) to 0 (no impact). The overall threatening index (T i) is the summed scores of all factors divided by the total possible scores. The results show that Chinese pangolin belongs to susceptible species due to its taxonomic uniqueness (monotypic order, family and genus), food specialization and stenophagy (only eating several species of ants and termites), very low reproductive rate (usually one cub per litter, one litter per year), and strict requirement for habitat and very poor defense (moving slowly, shy, curling up into a ball when threatened). The potential extinction risk for this animal is very high. The high threatening index (T i = 0.694 7) suggests that this species in high threatened situation and has become a endangered species. The most key external threatening factors of this species are over hunting,utilization and rampant smuggling occurring at the border between China and Viet Nam, owing to its rare value in medicine and food. The second is the loss, alteration and insularity of its habitat, and fragmented population distribution pattern. Now Chinese pangolin is very rare both in China and in the countries close to China. The estimated population number has decreased by 88.88%～94.12 % since the end of the 1960′s. The population density in habitat has declined to 0.001 134～0.056 individual per square kilometer. The high hunting pressure, habitat loss, alteration and insularity, and rampant smuggling will continue, so the threatened status of this species will become more serious, the potential extinction risk will also rise increasingly. To prevent the increasing threatened situation of Chinese pangolin, the most important task at present is to relieve hunting pressure, protect available habitat and crack down smuggling of pangolins. According to the threatened species categories and criteria used in IUCN red list (version 3.1), China Red Data Book of Endangered Animals, CITES Appendix Species and National Importance Protected Animals List in China, Chinese pangolin should be moved up to Endangered categories from Vulnerable categories in China Red Data Book of Endangered Animals and from Lower Risk, near threatened categories in IUCN Red List, and also should be shifted to Appendix Ⅰ from CITES Appendix Ⅱ, and to the List of Rank Ⅰ from the List of the Rank Ⅱ National Importance Protected Animals in China. Fig 3, Tab 1, Ref 40

Abiotic Stress-induced Expression of Artemisinin Biosynthesis Genes in Artemisia annua L.

Abstract: The abiotic stress-induced expression pattern of three genes responsible for artemisinin accumulation was preliminarily elucidated in cultured Artemisia annua plants. The semi-quantitative RT-PCR determination showed that upon exposure to chilling, heat shock or UV light, the transcription levels of amorpha-4,11-diene synthase gene (ADS) and cytochrome P450 monooxygenase gene (CYP71AV1) were up-regulated; In contrast, under the circumstance without stress treatments, the expression levels of ADS and CYP71AV1 genes were relatively low, while the mRNA generated by the transcription of cytochrome P450 reductase gene (CPR) remained stable under pre-and post-treatments. The induced outcome by chilling stress was also supported by the measurement data from real-time fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR. Consequently, for A. annua shoots claimed by low temperature, the transcripts of ADS and CYP71AV1 genes were 11 folds and 7 folds higher than those of the control, but the CPR mRNA copy was almost equivalent to the control. Furthermore, a transient pre-chilling treatment led to an elevated artemisinin content up to 7.5~8.8 mg/g dry weight (DW), i.e., increased by 66.7%~95.6% as compared with the control, thereby providing art open space for enhanced artemisinin production by the environmental stresses.

Invasive mechanism and biological control ofalligatorweed, alternanthera philoxeroides (amaranthaceae), in china

Abstract: Alligatorweed, Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb., with its center of origin in the Rio de la Plata Basin of southern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina, is a widespread invasive weed in North America, southeast Asia, southern Europe, Oceania, and the East and West Africa, and now has become one of the most serious invasive weeds in the world. It is one of the first listed 9 invasive plants in the Chinese state biodiversity report. This paper reviewed the origin, distribution, spreading and damage of alligatorweed, and analyzed its invasive mechanism. As the most successful case study on controlling the invasive weed by classical biological control approach in China, the process, practice and some experiments of using Agasicles hygrophila to control alligatorweed were also recommended. In addition, some challenges and possible strategies with regard to managing alligatorweed were discussed. Ref 60

Induction of callus from jatropha curcas and rapid propagation

Abstract: The explants of Jatropha curcas, hypocotyl, blade and petiole, were used for the test on MS with BA and IBA. The induction of shoot bud was recorded highest on MS medium with 0. 5 mg/L BA and 1 mg/L IBA from blade. Under the condition with the same BA concentration, if IBA concentration was reduced, it would be obviously effective for budding from hypocotyl callus. The petioles required much lower concentrations of the two growth regulators (0. 1 mg/L BA + 0. 1 mg/L IBA) . Regenerated shoots were rooted on growth regulator-free MS medium and could be transplanted in soil after simply hardening for several days. Fig 1 , Tab 2, Ref 13