СЕЛЕКЦИОННАЯ ОЦЕНКА СОДЕРЖАНИЯ СИРИНГИНА У ПРЕДСТАВИТЕЛЕЙ РОДА СИРЕНЬ (SYRINGA L.) В ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОМ БОТАНИЧЕСКОМ САДУ НАН БЕЛАРУСИ

Geodocumentating and selection estimation of 23 taxa of the lilac genus collection (Syringa L.) were conducted in the Central Botanical Gardens of NAS of Belarus (hereinafter – CBG). The obtained data were used to document the taxa of the named collection on the basis of the geographic information system ArcGIS. This allowed us to determine the characteristics of the location of the investigated lilac species and serves as the basis for carrying out a large number of studies, combining the data of the researchers of different generations. The following parameters were defined: coordinates of the location within CBG, percentage proportion syringin, bark proportion in relation to the timber, dry matter content in the crust. Integrated productivity was calculated in the studied taxa. On this basis, each taxon is added to particular selection categories: category 1 – shrubs with high productivity (1.80 and more kg/t of raw material); category 2 – shrubs with average productivity (0.80– 1.80 kg/t of raw material); category 3 – shrubs with low productivity (0.80 and below kg/t of raw materials). Проведено геодокументирование на базе географической информационной системы ArcGIS и се- лекционная оценка по содержанию сирингина 23 таксонов рода сирень (Syringa L.) коллекции Центрального ботанического сада НАН Беларуси (ЦБС). Полученные данные использованы для документирования названной коллекции. Это позволило определить характеристики локации изучаемых экземпляров видовой сирени, что может послужить основой для проведения большого числа исследований, объединяя данные разных поколений исследователей. Определены следующие показатели: координаты расположения на территории ЦБС, процентное содержание сирингина и сухого вещества в коре и доля коры по отношению к древесине. По данным характеристикам вычислена комплексная продуктивность изученных таксонов. На этой основе каждый таксон причислен к определенной селекционной категории: 1 категория – кустарники с высокой продуктивностью (1,80 и выше кг сирингина на тонну сырья); 2 категория – кустарники со средней продуктивностью (0,80–1,80 кг/т сырья); 3 категория – кустарники с низкой продуктивностью (0,80 и ниже кг/т сырья). Не установлена зависимость между систематической принадлежностью и принадлежностью к определенной селекционной категории, так как в пределах каждой серии встречаются таксоны как с высоким показателем комплексной продуктивности, так и с низким.

Intra-Body Variations of Stable Isotope Ratios (δ13C, δ15N) and Influence of Storage Methods in Aquatic and Post-Aquatic Stages of the Common Toad, Bufo bufo

Isotopic signatures of carbon and nitrogen are widely used for analysis of the structure of food webs in aquatic ecosystems. The study of animals raises a number of methodological questions, including choice of representative tissues and organs for sampling as well as storage of the studied organisms. Furthermore, the impacts of preservation methods can be tissue-specific, age-specific, and even taxon-specific; thus, studies of these impacts on particular taxa are necessary. We focused on the C and N isotope composition of the common toad (Bufo bufo), one of the most widespread European anuran amphibians. We hypothesized that its different tissues and organs may vary in isotopic composition, and ethanol and freezing may have different effects on isotopic values. Our results showed that both “tissue” and “storage method” factors significantly affected the δ13C values of tadpoles and postmetamorphic juveniles, whereas only the “tissue” factor had a significant effect on the δ15N values. The two stages, tadpoles and postmetamorphs, should be analyzed separately despite the brief postmetamorphic period of the juveniles. The skin, legs, muscles, and tail in tadpoles and legs, muscles and heart in juveniles can be used for δ13C and δ15N analysis regardless of the method of storage. The results will serve for the optimization of future study designs in isotopic ecology

The Effects of Sampling Depth on Benthic Testate Amoeba Assemblages in Freshwater Lakes: A Case Study in Lake Valdayskoe (the East European Plain)

Testate amoebae are widely used as proxies in paleoecological reconstructions of lacustrine environments; however, our knowledge on their distribution along depth gradients are limited. This study investigates the distribution of benthic testate amoebae along a sampling depth gradient (0 to 57 m) and related environmental characteristics in Lake Valdayskoe, Russia. In total, 101 species belonging to twenty-one genera were identified. Four types of testate amoeba assemblages (littoral, sublittoral, bottom slope and profundal) were distinguished that corresponded well to the bottom zones of the lake. The results of redundancy analysis indicated that sampling depth, temperature, pH and bottom inclination significantly explained 40.2% of the total variance in the species composition. Temperature and sampling depth had the largest individual contributions of 19.2 and 7.4% (p < 0.001), respectively. The minimal values of species diversity were observed on the littoral and at the lower boundary of the thermocline. We estimated depth optima and ranges for the species with high occurrences and distinguish stenobathic and eurybathic species. These data might improve the interpretations of paleoecological records of subfossil testate amoeba assemblages in lacustrine surface sediments and serve as basis for the development of a transfer function for reconstruction of lake depths

The Effects of Sampling Depth on Benthic Testate Amoeba Assemblages in Freshwater Lakes: A Case Study in Lake Valdayskoe (the East European Plain)

Testate amoebae are widely used as proxies in paleoecological reconstructions of lacustrine environments; however, our knowledge on their distribution along depth gradients are limited. This study investigates the distribution of benthic testate amoebae along a sampling depth gradient (0 to 57 m) and related environmental characteristics in Lake Valdayskoe, Russia. In total, 101 species belonging to twenty-one genera were identified. Four types of testate amoeba assemblages (littoral, sublittoral, bottom slope and profundal) were distinguished that corresponded well to the bottom zones of the lake. The results of redundancy analysis indicated that sampling depth, temperature, pH and bottom inclination significantly explained 40.2% of the total variance in the species composition. Temperature and sampling depth had the largest individual contributions of 19.2 and 7.4% (p < 0.001), respectively. The minimal values of species diversity were observed on the littoral and at the lower boundary of the thermocline. We estimated depth optima and ranges for the species with high occurrences and distinguish stenobathic and eurybathic species. These data might improve the interpretations of paleoecological records of subfossil testate amoeba assemblages in lacustrine surface sediments and serve as basis for the development of a transfer function for reconstruction of lake depths

Interchangeability of class I and II fumarases in an obligate methanotroph Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z.

The methanotrophic bacterium Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z is an industrially promising candidate for bioconversion of methane into value-added chemicals. Here, we have study the metabolic consequences of the breaking in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle by fumarase knockout. Two fumarases belonging to non-homologous class I and II fumarases were obtained from the bacterium by heterologous expression in Escherichia coli. Class I fumarase (FumI) is a homodimeric enzyme catalyzing the reversible hydration of fumarate and mesaconate with activities of ~94 and ~81 U mg-1 protein, respectively. The enzyme exhibited high activity under aerobic conditions, which is a non-typical property for class I fumarases characterized to date. The calculation of kcat/S0.5 showed that the enzyme works effectively with either fumarate or mesaconate, but it is almost four times less specific to malate. Class II fumarase (FumC) has a tetrameric structure and equal activities of both fumarate hydration and malate dehydration (~45 U mg-1 protein). Using mutational analysis, it was shown that both forms of the enzyme are functionally interchangeable. The triple mutant strain 20Z-3E (ΔfumIΔfumCΔmae) deficient in the genes encoding the both fumarases and the malic enzyme accumulated 2.6 and 1.1 mmol g-1 DCW fumarate in the medium when growing on methane and methanol, respectively. Our data suggest the redundancy of the metabolic node in the TCA cycle making methanotroph attractive targets for modification, including generation of strains producing the valuable metabolites

Spectroscopical study of bacteriopurpurinimide-naphthalimide conjugates for fluorescent diagnostics and photodynamic therapy

Two novel bis(chromophoric) dyads ABPI-NI1 and ABPI-NI2 containing 1,8-naphthalimide and bacteriopurpurinimide units linked by p-phenylene-methylene (ABPI-NI1) and pentamethylene (ABPI-NI2) spacers were prepared to test their ability to be used in the design of effective agents for both photodynamic therapy (PDT) and fluorescent tumor imaging. Photophysical studies revealed that the emission from the naphthalimide chromophore in both conjugates was partially quenched due to resonance energy transfer between the photoactive components. Compound ABPI-NI2 with more sterically flexible oligomethylene group demonstrated higher fluorescence intensity as compared with that for ABPI-NI1

Round-the-World Voyage of the Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus): Phylogeographic Data Covering the Entire Species Range

A total of 205 COI sequences and 310 cyt b sequences of the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from basins of all seas throughout the vast range of this species were analyzed. Median networks of haplotypes constructed in this study, combined with the results of reconstruction of paleogeographic conditions, led to the conclusion that the threespine stickleback emerged as a species in the Pacific Ocean basin and spread to Europe from the south, populating the system of water bodies that existed in the Oligocene. The main water body was the Paratethys Ocean (Sea), which existed 5&ndash;34 Mya. In the area of the modern North Sea, stickleback populations, part of which later migrated to the eastern and western coasts of North America, gave rise to the group of haplotypes that has the widest distribution in northern Europe. The stickleback populations belonging to the lineage that dispersed along the Arctic and western coasts of North America displaced the carriers of the haplotypes of the ancient phylogenetic lineage that inhabited the Pacific coast. The ancestors of G. wheatlandi dispersed from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean via the Arctic to meet G. aculeatus, which circled the globe from east to west

Round-the-World Voyage of the Threespine Stickleback (<i>Gasterosteus aculeatus</i>): Phylogeographic Data Covering the Entire Species Range

A total of 205 COI sequences and 310 cyt b sequences of the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from basins of all seas throughout the vast range of this species were analyzed. Median networks of haplotypes constructed in this study, combined with the results of reconstruction of paleogeographic conditions, led to the conclusion that the threespine stickleback emerged as a species in the Pacific Ocean basin and spread to Europe from the south, populating the system of water bodies that existed in the Oligocene. The main water body was the Paratethys Ocean (Sea), which existed 5–34 Mya. In the area of the modern North Sea, stickleback populations, part of which later migrated to the eastern and western coasts of North America, gave rise to the group of haplotypes that has the widest distribution in northern Europe. The stickleback populations belonging to the lineage that dispersed along the Arctic and western coasts of North America displaced the carriers of the haplotypes of the ancient phylogenetic lineage that inhabited the Pacific coast. The ancestors of G. wheatlandi dispersed from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean via the Arctic to meet G. aculeatus, which circled the globe from east to west

Invasion ecology: an international perspective centered in the Holarctic

The Fourth International Symposium on Alien Species in the Holarctic was convened September 22-28, 2013, by the Russian Academy of Sciences at the I.D. Papanin Institute for the Biology of Inland Waters (IBIW) on the Volga River in Borok (approximate to 355 km north of Moscow). The Organizing Committee spanned five countries (France, People's Republic of China, Poland, Russian Federation, and the United States), with participants (n=150) across the breadth and depth of the Russian Federation, from countries in proximity to it (i.e., Armenia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Siberia, and The Republic of China), and more globally from the United States to Tasmania and Norway to South Africa. This report provides a synopsis of invasive species issues that were discussed at the symposium and, as such, provides an international window for the evaluation of fisheries-related topics in this part of the globe