85 research outputs found
Efficiency of self-cleaning properties in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
An experimental study was carried out to assess the efficiency of self-cleaning properties of three wheat cultivars and their potential in the protection against Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, a fungus that causes powdery mildew. Leaf samples with intact epicuticular structure were compared to such with wiped wax crystals. Contact angles were determined and the surfaces were subjected to a standardized contamination test with hydrophobic fluorescence powder. Another set of samples was inoculated with conidia of B. graminis and, after various time intervals, exposed to artificial fog or rain. For the intact surfaces of all cultivars contact angles of about 165° were measured. It is therefore suggested that wheat should be termed superhydrophobic. The wiping of the wax crystals led to a significant decrease of contact angles. This fact underlines the importance of surface roughness for achieving extreme water-repellency. In the standardized contamination test significantly more particles remained on the wiped surfaces than on those who had been left intact. This result was ascribed to increased adhesion on the smoothed samples.The inoculation with subsequent precipitation revealed a significantly better removal effect of conidia from intact than from wiped surfaces. This was irrespective of the wheat cultivar. In general, conidia were more effectively removed by rain than by fog. This was probably due to the higher kinetic energy and the greater amount of water when using rain. If fog application was delayed by 3 hours a higher percentage of conidia remained on the surface. As possible causes are discussed increased adhesion by conidia secretions or the development of primary germ tubes.Despite its highly efficient self-cleaning properties proved here, wheat is frequently infected by Blumeria graminis. We conclude that the high water content of the mildew conidia, the ability of Blumeria graminis to germinate at very low humidities and its rapid irreversible adhesion are effective adaptations in order to overcome the barrier of a superhydrophobic self-cleaning surface
The Hidden Sexuality of Alexandrium Minutum: An Example of Overlooked Sex in Dinoflagellates
Dinoflagellates are haploid eukaryotic microalgae in which rapid proliferation causes dense
blooms, with harmful health and economic effects to humans. The proliferation mode is
mainly asexual, as the sexual cycle is believed to be rare and restricted to stressful environmental
conditions. However, sexuality is key to explaining the recurrence of many dinoflagellate
blooms because in many species the fate of the planktonic zygotes (planozygotes)
is the formation of resistant cysts in the seabed (encystment). Nevertheless, recent
research has shown that individually isolated planozygotes in the lab can enter other routes
besides encystment, a behavior of which the relevance has not been explored at the population
level. In this study, using imaging flow cytometry, cell sorting, and Fluorescence In
Situ Hybridization (FISH), we followed DNA content and nuclear changes in a population of
the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum that was induced to encystment. Our results
first show that planozygotes behave like a population with an “encystment-independent”
division cycle, which is light-controlled and follows the same Light:Dark (L:D) pattern as the
cycle governing the haploid mitosis. Resting cyst formation was the fate of just a small fraction
of the planozygotes formed and was restricted to a period of strongly limited nutrient
conditions. The diploid-haploid turnover between L:D cycles was consistent with two-step
meiosis. However, the diel and morphological division pattern of the planozygote division
also suggests mitosis, which would imply that this species is not haplontic, as previously
considered, but biphasic, because individuals could undergo mitotic divisions in both the
sexual (diploid) and the asexual (haploid) phases. We also report incomplete genome duplication
processes. Our work calls for a reconsideration of the dogma of rare sex in
dinoflagellates.Versión del edito
Effect of food concentration and type of diet on Acartia survival and naupliar development
We have performed life table experiments to investigate the effects of different food types and concentrations on the larval development and survival up to adulthood of Acartia tonsa. The food species offered comprised a wide taxonomic spectrum: the pigmented flagellates Isochrysis galbana, Emiliania huxleyi, Rhodomonas sp., Prorocentrum minimum, the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii, grown on medium offering enriched macronutrient concentrations and the ciliate Euplotes sp. initially cultured on Rhodomonas. For the ciliate species, also the functional response was studied. In order to avoid limitation by mineral nutrients, food algae have been taken from the exponential growth phase of the nutrient replete cultures. The suitability of Rhodomonas as a food source throughout the entire life cycle was not a surprise. However, in contrast to much of the recent literature about the inadequacy or even toxicity of diatoms, we found that also Thalassiosira could support Acartia-development through the entire life cycle. On the other hand, Acartia could not complete its life cycle when fed with the other food items, Prorocentrum having adverse effects even when mixed with Rhodomonas and Thalassiosira. Isochrysis well supported naupliar survival and development, but was insufficient to support further development until reproduction. With Emiliania and Euplotes, nauplii died off before most of them could reach the first copepodite stages. Acartia-nauplii showed a behavioral preference for Euplotes-feeding over diatom feeding, but nevertheless Euplotes was an insufficient diet to complete development beyond the naupliar stages
Eine Studie über Fertigkeiten in der Ersten Hilfe am Kölner Interprofessionellen Skills Lab (KIS)
Evolution of the upper mantle beneath the southern Baikal rift zone: an Sr-Nd isotope study of xenoliths from the Bartoy volcanoes
"Herzlich Willkommen beim online-Experiment" - Blended Learning im Problem-basierten Lernen [Bericht über Entwicklungsprozess]
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