Alien Registration- Zaitlin, Hyman (Saco, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/3103/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Zaitlin, Irving (Saco, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/3104/thumbnail.jp

Intraspecific Diversity in Sinningia Speciosa (Gesneriaceae: Sinningieae), and Possible Origins of the Cultivated Florist\u27s Gloxinia

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The florist\u27s gloxinia is a familiar houseplant in the Gesneriaceae, the botanical family that includes the African violet (Saintpaulia) and other ornamental species. The gloxinia\u27s wild progenitor is Sinningia speciosa (Lodd.) Hiern, a Brazilian endemic. Although it has been cultivated for almost 200 years, little is known about the genetic diversity in S. speciosa, how the wild populations relate to one another or even where the cultivated forms originated. Using available wild collections, preliminary phenetic and phylogenetic investigations were conducted to elucidate the interspecific relationships within S. speciosa and to infer the origins of the cultivars. METHODOLOGY: Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was applied to 24 accessions of S. speciosa (17 wild collections, seven cultivars) and one accession each of Sinningia guttata and Sinningia macrophylla. A maximum likelihood (ML) tree was also calculated from an alignment of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer sequence from the same 26 accessions. PRINCIPAL RESULTS: Dice/UPGMA and principal coordinates analysis of the AFLP data partitioned S. speciosa into several distinct clusters, one of which included S. macrophylla. All cultivated \u27gloxinias\u27 grouped together in a major cluster with plants from Rio de Janeiro. The AFLP results were compared with a phylogenetic analysis of the ribosomal spacer region, which was informative in S. speciosa. The ML tree generally supported the AFLP results, although several clades lacked strong statistical support. CONCLUSIONS: Independent analyses of two different data sets show that S. speciosa is a diverse species comprised of several lineages. Genetic distance estimates calculated from the AFLP data were positively correlated with geographic distances between populations, indicating that reproductive isolation could be driving speciation in this taxon. Molecular markers are under development for population genetic studies in S. speciosa, which will make it possible to define evolutionarily significant units for purposes of conservation

Alien Registration- Zaitlin, Rose (Saco, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/3105/thumbnail.jp

Landfill: Gas to Energy

If Maine is to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions, it is important to develop both new sources of energy and new technologies to better access existing sources. The generation of electricity from gas produced by landfills is already underway. Sam Zaitlin describes Maine’s first waste-to-energy project located at Casella’s Hampden landfill

A Single Nucleotide Change in the Coat Protein Gene of Tobacco Mosaic Virus Is Involved in the Induction of Severe Chlorosis

AbstractYSI/1 is a mutant of the common strain (U1) of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) which induces a severe yellow mosaic in Nicotiana tabacum instead of the light green/dark green mosaic induced by its parental U1 virus. Although there was less coat protein (CP) in whole leaf extracts of YSI/1-infected leaves than in U1-infected leaves, severalfold more CP was found in the chloroplasts, most of which was associated with the thylakoids.Sequencing the CP genes of both viruses showed the presence of nucleotide differences at viral RNA positions 5770 and 6127, both of which result in amino acid replacements; YSI/1 has an Asp → Val change at amino acid 19 and a Ser → Phe change at amino acid 136. A common strain TMV engineered to contain the YSI/1 3′ end sequences, including the CP, induced the severe yellow mosaic of the YSI/1 mutant. A chimeric virus with the change only at nucleotide 5770 (amino acid 19) in the CP induced a severe yellow mosaic, showing that this replacement is involved in the induction of chlorosis by YSI/1. A second isolate of the same chimera also induced severe yellow mosaic symptoms; sequencing showed that it had gained the change at nucleotide 6127. However, a chimeric virus with the change only at nucleotide 6127 (amino acid 138) in the CP was unable to induce the severe yellow mosaic

Organelle_PBA, a Pipeline for Assembling Chloroplast and Mitochondrial Genomes from PacBio DNA Sequencing Data

Background: The development of long-read sequencing technologies, such as single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing by PacBio, has produced a revolution in the sequencing of small genomes. Sequencing organelle genomes using PacBio long-read data is a cost effective, straightforward approach. Nevertheless, the availability of simple-to-use software to perform the assembly from raw reads is limited at present. Results: We present Organelle-PBA, a Perl program designed specifically for the assembly of chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes. For chloroplast genomes, the program selects the chloroplast reads from a whole genome sequencing pool, maps the reads to a reference sequence from a closely related species, and then performs read correction and de novo assembly using Sprai. Organelle-PBA completes the assembly process with the additional step of scaffolding by SSPACE-LongRead. The program then detects the chloroplast inverted repeats and reassembles and re-orients the assembly based on the organelle origin of the reference. We have evaluated the performance of the software using PacBio reads from different species, read coverage, and reference genomes. Finally, we present the assembly of two novel chloroplast genomes from the species Picea glauca (Pinaceae) and Sinningia speciosa (Gesneriaceae). Conclusion: Organelle-PBA is an easy-to-use Perl-based software pipeline that was written specifically to assemble mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes from whole genome PacBio reads. The program is available at https://github.com/aubombarely/Organelle_PBA

Natural Variability in Acyl Moieties of Sugar Esters Produced by Certain Tobacco and Other Solanaceae Species

A unique feature of glandular trichomes of plants in the botanical family Solanaceae is that they produce sugar esters (SE), chemicals that have been shown to possess insecticidal, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. Sugar esters of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) provide pest resistance, and are important flavor precursors in oriental tobacco cultivars. Acyl moieties of SEs in Nicotiana spp., petunia, and tomato are shown to vary with respect to carbon length and isomer structure (2–12 carbon chain length; anteiso-, iso-, and straight-chain). Sugar esters and their acyl groups could serve as a model to explore the basis of phenotypic diversity and adaptation to natural and agricultural environments. However, information on the diversity of acyl composition among species, cultivars, and accessions is lacking. Herein, described is the analysis of SE acyl groups found in 21 accessions of Nicotiana obtusifolia (desert tobacco), six of Nicotiana occidentalis subsp. hesperis, three of Nicotiana alata, two of N. occidentalis, four modern tobacco cultivars, five petunia hybrids, and one accession each of a primitive potato (Solanum berthaultii) and tomato (Solanum pennellii). A total of 20 different acyl groups was observed that were represented differently among cultivars, species, and accessions. In Nicotiana species, acetate and iso- and anteiso-branched acids prevailed. Straight-chain groups (2–8 carbons) were prominent in petunias, while octanoic acid was prominent in N. alata and N. × sanderae. Two unexpected acyl groups, 8-methyl nonanoate and decanoate were found in N. occidentalis subsp. hesperis. Longer chain groups were found in the petunia, tomato, and potato species studied

Geographical variation in the life history of Sebastes chrysomelas

I compared life history characteristics (growth, reproduction and lifespan) of the black and yellow rockfish, Sebastes chrysomelas, from central California (Monterey and Carmel Bays) and southern California (off Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz Island). Fish of both sexes from central California aged four and older were larger at age than fish from southern California. Central California fish were also heavier at length than fish collected in southern California. Although southern California fish matured at a smaller size than fish from central California, the age at maturity was the same for the two sites. At both sites, 100% of the males were mature by age five, and 100% of the females were mature at age six. Length and weight specific fecundity were greater for females collected in southern California, although the difference may be offset by smaller egg size in southern California. There was no apparent difference in mortality rates between the two areas. Higher water temperatures may explain the observed differences in growth between the two locations

Organelle_PBA, a Pipeline for Assembling Chloroplast and Mitochondrial Genomes from PacBio DNA Sequencing Data

Background: The development of long-read sequencing technologies, such as single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing by PacBio, has produced a revolution in the sequencing of small genomes. Sequencing organelle genomes using PacBio long-read data is a cost effective, straightforward approach. Nevertheless, the availability of simple-to-use software to perform the assembly from raw reads is limited at present. Results: We present Organelle-PBA, a Perl program designed specifically for the assembly of chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes. For chloroplast genomes, the program selects the chloroplast reads from a whole genome sequencing pool, maps the reads to a reference sequence from a closely related species, and then performs read correction and de novo assembly using Sprai. Organelle-PBA completes the assembly process with the additional step of scaffolding by SSPACE-LongRead. The program then detects the chloroplast inverted repeats and reassembles and re-orients the assembly based on the organelle origin of the reference. We have evaluated the performance of the software using PacBio reads from different species, read coverage, and reference genomes. Finally, we present the assembly of two novel chloroplast genomes from the species Picea glauca (Pinaceae) and Sinningia speciosa (Gesneriaceae). Conclusion: Organelle-PBA is an easy-to-use Perl-based software pipeline that was written specifically to assemble mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes from whole genome PacBio reads. The program is available at https://github.com/aubombarely/Organelle_PBA