Wodopójki (Acari, Hydrachnidia) trzech rezerwatów krajobrazowo-leśnych Roztocza

The materials of water mites collected in 1973–1974 in aquatic environments of three nature reserves in Roztocze were characterized. The collections comprised 995 Hydrachnidia belonging to 49 species. Twenty-eight species were collected in the Nad Tanwią Reserve, 30 species – in the Czartowe Pole Reserve, and 24 species – in the Szum Reserve. The analyzed reserves cover short river sections, therefore, the evaluated fauna can be regarded as relatively rich. The fauna of the examined reserves included widely distributed species as well as species typical of montane and submontane areas. In the analyzed reserves, the water mite fauna was dominated by rheobionts and rheophiles, and it was characteristic of upland rivers in the Lublin Region. One species new to Poland was identified: Atractides albaruthenicus Cich. et Bies. A comparison of the water mite fauna from the Nad Tanwią Reserve with the materials collected in 2001–2002 points to a significant reduction in the number of water mite species and considerable changes in the structure of synecological groups.Opracowano zbiory wodopójek pochodzące z lat 1973–1974 ze środowisk wodnych trzech rezerwatów Roztocza. Łącznie zebrano 995 osobników Hydrachnidia należących do 49 gatunków. W rezerwacie Nad Tanwią stwierdzono 28 gatunków, w rezerwacie Czartowe Pole 30 gatunków i w rezerwacie Szum 24 gatunki. Ponieważ eksplorowane rezerwaty obejmują krótkie odcinki rzek, badaną faunę można ocenić jako stosunkowo bogatą. W strukturze faunistycznej, obok gatunków szeroko rozmieszczonych, wyróżniono gatunki górskie i podgórskie. Fauna wodopójek badanych rezerwatów była zdominowana przez reobionty i reofile. Można ją określić jako typową dla rzek wyżynnych Lubelszczyzny. Stwierdzono jeden gatunek nowy dla Polski: Atractides albaruthenicus Cich. et Bies. Porównując faunę wodopójek rezerwatu Nad Tanwią z materiałami zebranymi w latach 2001–2002, stwierdzono znaczne zmniejszenie liczby gatunków wodopójek oraz istotne zmiany w strukturze grup synekologicznych

Modeling of variant copies of subunit D1 in the structure of photosystem II from Thermosynechococcus elongatus

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.In the cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1, living in hot springs, the light environment directly regulates expression of genes that encode key components of the photosynthetic multi-subunit protein-pigment complex photosystem II (PSII). Light is not only essential as an energy source to power photosynthesis, but leads to formation of aggressive radicals which induce severe damage of protein subunits and organic cofactors. Photosynthetic organisms develop several protection mechanisms against this photo-damage, such as the differential expression of genes coding for the reaction center subunit D1 in PSII. Testing the expression of the three different genes (psbAI, psbAII, psbAIII) coding for D1 in T. elongatus under culture conditions used for preparing the material used in crystallization of PSII showed that under these conditions only subunit PsbA1 is present. However, exposure to high-light intensity induced partial replacement of PsbA1 with PsbA3. Modeling of the variant amino acids of the three different D1 copies in the 3.0 Å resolution crystal structure of PSII revealed that most of them are in the direct vicinity to redox-active cofactors of the electron transfer chain. Possible structural and mechanistic consequences for electron transfer are discussed.DFG, SFB 498, Protein-Kofaktor-Wechselwirkungen in biologischen ProzessenEC/FP6/516510/EU/Linking molecular genetics and bio-mimetic chemistry - a multidisciplinary approach to achieve renewable hydrogen production/SOLAR-

Purification, characterisation and crystallisation of photosystem II from Thermosynechococcus elongatus cultivated in a new type of photobioreactor

AbstractThe thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus was cultivated under controlled growth conditions using a new type of photobioreactor, allowing us to optimise growth conditions and the biomass yield. A fast large-scale purification method for monomeric and dimeric photosystem II (PSII) solubilized from thylakoid membranes of this cyanobacterium was developed using fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC). The obtained PSII core complexes (PSIIcc) were analysed for their pigment stoichiometry, photochemical and oxygen evolution activities, as well as lipid and detergent composition. Thirty-six chlorophyll a (Chla), 2 pheophytin a (Pheoa), 9± 1 β-carotene (Car), 2.9±0.8 plastoquinone 9 (PQ9) and 3.8±0.5 Mn were found per active centre. For the monomeric and dimeric PSIIcc, 18 and 20 lipid as well as 145 and 220 detergent molecules were found in the detergent shell, respectively. The monomeric and dimeric complexes showed high oxygen evolution activity with 1/4 O2 released per 37–38 Chla and flash in the best cases. Crystals were obtained from dimeric PSIIcc by a micro-batch method. They diffract synchrotron X-rays to a maximum resolution of 2.9-Å, resulting in complete data sets of 3.2 Å resolution

Wheat pathogenesis-related proteins of class 4 have ribonuclease activity

AbstractWe have demonstrated that wheatwin1, a wheat pathogenesis-related protein of class 4 (PR4), has ribonuclease activity. Both native and recombinant proteins hydrolyse RNA from wheat coleoptils and have antifungal activity. Sepharose-bound wheatwin1 is able to interact with either wheat or Fusarium culmorum RNA. 3D modelling studies showed that, like ribonucleases A and T1, the action mechanism should involve two His residues, an Arg residue and an Asp residue

Where Water is Oxidized to Dioxygen: Structure of thePhotosynthetic Mn4Ca Cluster

Oxidation of water to dioxygen is catalyzed withinphotosystem II (PSII) by a Mn4Ca cluster, the structure of which remainselusive. Polarized extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS)measurements on PSII single crystals constrain the Mn4Ca cluster geometryto a set of three similar high-resolution structures. Combining polarizedEXAFS and X-ray diffraction data, the cluster was placed within PSIItaking into account the overall trend of the electron density of themetal site and the putative ligands. The structure of the cluster fromthe present study is unlike either the 3.0 or 3.5 Angstrom resolutionX-ray structures, and other previously proposed models

Likelihood-based molecular-replacement solution for a highly pathological crystal with tetartohedral twinning and sevenfold translational noncrystallographic symmetry

Translational noncrystallographic symmetry (tNCS) is a pathology of protein crystals in which multiple copies of a molecule or assembly are found in similar orientations. Structure solution is problematic because this breaks the assumptions used in current likelihood-based methods. To cope with such cases, new likelihood approaches have been developed and implemented in Phaser to account for the statistical effects of tNCS in molecular replacement. Using these new approaches, it was possible to solve the crystal structure of a protein exhibiting an extreme form of this pathology with seven tetrameric assemblies arrayed along the c axis. To resolve space-group ambiguities caused by tetartohedral twinning, the structure was initially solved by placing 56 copies of the monomer in space group P1 and using the symmetry of the solution to define the true space group, C2. The resulting structure of Hyp-1, a pathogenesis-related class 10 (PR-10) protein from the medicinal herb St John’s wort, reveals the binding modes of the fluorescent probe 8-­anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS), providing insight into the function of the protein in binding or storing hydrophobic ligands

Medicago truncatula contains a second gene encoding a plastid located glutamine synthetase exclusively expressed in developing seeds

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nitrogen is a crucial nutrient that is both essential and rate limiting for plant growth and seed production. Glutamine synthetase (GS), occupies a central position in nitrogen assimilation and recycling, justifying the extensive number of studies that have been dedicated to this enzyme from several plant sources. All plants species studied to date have been reported as containing a single, nuclear gene encoding a plastid located GS isoenzyme per haploid genome. This study reports the existence of a second nuclear gene encoding a plastid located GS in <it>Medicago truncatula</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study characterizes a new, second gene encoding a plastid located glutamine synthetase (GS2) in <it>M. truncatula</it>. The gene encodes a functional GS isoenzyme with unique kinetic properties, which is exclusively expressed in developing seeds. Based on molecular data and the assumption of a molecular clock, it is estimated that the gene arose from a duplication event that occurred about 10 My ago, after legume speciation and that duplicated sequences are also present in closely related species of the Vicioide subclade. Expression analysis by RT-PCR and western blot indicate that the gene is exclusively expressed in developing seeds and its expression is related to seed filling, suggesting a specific function of the enzyme associated to legume seed metabolism. Interestingly, the gene was found to be subjected to alternative splicing over the first intron, leading to the formation of two transcripts with similar open reading frames but varying 5' UTR lengths, due to retention of the first intron. To our knowledge, this is the first report of alternative splicing on a plant GS gene.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study shows that <it>Medicago truncatula </it>contains an additional GS gene encoding a plastid located isoenzyme, which is functional and exclusively expressed during seed development. Legumes produce protein-rich seeds requiring high amounts of nitrogen, we postulate that this gene duplication represents a functional innovation of plastid located GS related to storage protein accumulation exclusive to legume seed metabolism.</p

Water beetles (Coleoptera) of small reservoirs in the neighborhood of Swinoujscie (NW Poland)

The present paper describes a diversity of water beetle communities inhabiting five small water reservoirs, located in the north-western part of Wolin Island, near of Świnoujście city (Poland). The analyzed aspects of beetle communities included differences in species composition and the abundance of beetles in various water bodies, taking into account such features of the reservoirs as their size, periodical character, maximum depth, structure of vegetation and the percentage of surface shaded by plant canopy. In total, 60 species of beetles were recorded in the reservoirs, including three species endangered with extinction in Poland, i.e. Haliplus apicalis , H. furcatus , H. variegatus, and one species critically endangered with extinction in Poland, namely Spercheus emarginatus. The largest number of species (42) and individuals (1294) was found in a periodical, relatively big, open and shallow pool situated in a lowland peat bog and covered with soft submerged vegetation. However, the population of beetles found in this location was strongly dominated by two species, Hydrochara caraboides and Hygrotus decoratus, which resulted in the lowest biodiversity coef ficient (H` = 0.705) in comparison with the other investigated reservoirs. In permanent but significantly shaded reservoirs, the number of recorded species was almost two times lower and the abundance of beetles was even eight times lower. However, in such water bodies the diversity coef icient had the highest values (0.981 0.991). As fa As far as the environmental aspects were concerned, it was discovered that the most significant were the size of the reservoir and its permanent/non-permanent character. Only the differences in size reached the level of statistical validity (p = 0.040), explaining 34.8% of cases of species variability. The similarity among beetle communities inhabiting particular reservoirs varied from 31.63% to 53.3% and was connected with ecological similarity of the investigated water bodies