Boron and zinc uptake of cucurbits — Field test and in silico approach

Total mineral uptake capacity of zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L. cv. giromontiina) grown in an experimental field at Gödöllő was studied. The mineral content of the soil (brown acidic sandy forest soil) showed unexpectedly high content (mg kg−1 DW) of Ba (95.5), Cr (32.9), Ni (27.8), Pb (15.4) and Zn (53.3). Boron (B) concentration of the soil was relatively low (7.1 mg kg−1 DW), but its bioaccumulation content in root, (2.5) shoot, (33.1) and leaf (50.1) tissues of the plant (mg kg−1 DW). Zinc (Zn) was also bioaccumulated in the plant with contents (mg kg−1 DW) of 47.1 (roots), 23.0 (shoots) and 56.1 (leaves) as compared with 53.3 (in the soil). Toxic element exclusion was observed in zucchini (mg kg−1 DW) concerning Ba (29.0), Co (0.2), Cr (5.3), Ni (5.8) and Pb (3.4) measured in the roots when compared with their concentrations in the soil: Ba (95.5), Co (10.2), Cr (32.9), Ni (27.8) and Pb (15.4). In silico sequence analyses of nucleotide and amino acid sequences of aquaporins (NIP, TIP, SIP and Si-TRP), boron-exporters (BOR), and rbcL of cpDNA revealed plant species with high sequence similarities to the sequences of Cucurbits, which predicted additional plants with intensive mineral (B and Zn) uptake capacity, similar to Cucurbits with phytoextraction potential

Use of Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) for characterization of riverrine phytoplankton associations in Hungary

The phytoplankton database of the Middle Danube Basin was analysed and evaluated in order to describe the characteristic algal assemblages of the rivers. The dataset were extracted from the database of the Hungarian monitoring network and academic institutions. We implemented the Kohonen Self Organizing Map (SOM) method by which we can visualize the assemblages in topology-preserving projection of two-dimensional space. The method is capable of evaluating large datasets (more than 1800 samples in the present investigation). As a result, we can identify the different algal communities which characterize different river types. The algal communities were described as different ratios of algal functional groups. Since some of the groups are in close relation with certain types of environmental pressure it is also possible to highlight those rivers or river sections (or those periods) which are far from the expected good ecological status