Capability Of Different Species Research Articles

Comparisons between Plant and Animal Stem Cells Regarding Regeneration Potential and Application

Regeneration refers to the process by which organisms repair and replace lost tissues and organs. Regeneration is widespread in plants and animals; however, the regeneration capabilities of different species vary greatly. Stem cells form the basis for animal and plant regeneration. The essential developmental processes of animals and plants involve totipotent stem cells (fertilized eggs), which develop into pluripotent stem cells and unipotent stem cells. Stem cells and their metabolites are widely used in agriculture, animal husbandry, environmental protection, and regenerative medicine. In this review, we discuss the similarities and differences in animal and plant tissue regeneration, as well as the signaling pathways and key genes involved in the regulation of regeneration, to provide ideas for practical applications in agriculture and human organ regeneration and to expand the application of regeneration technology in the future.

Competition for fluctuating resources reproduces statistics of species abundance over time across wide-ranging microbiotas.

Across diverse microbiotas, species abundances vary in time with distinctive statistical behaviors that appear to generalize across hosts, but the origins and implications of these patterns remain unclear. Here, we show that many of these macroecological patterns can be quantitatively recapitulated by a simple class of consumer-resource models, in which the metabolic capabilities of different species are randomly drawn from a common statistical distribution. Our model parametrizes the consumer-resource properties of a community using only a small number of global parameters, including the total number of resources, typical resource fluctuations over time, and the average overlap in resource-consumption profiles across species. We show that variation in these macroscopic parameters strongly affects the time series statistics generated by the model, and we identify specific sets of global parameters that can recapitulate macroecological patterns across wide-ranging microbiotas, including the human gut, saliva, and vagina, as well as mouse gut and rice, without needing to specify microscopic details of resource consumption. These findings suggest that resource competition may be a dominant driver of community dynamics. Our work unifies numerous time series patterns under a simple model, and provides an accessible framework to infer macroscopic parameters of effective resource competition from longitudinal studies of microbial communities.

Reasons for the differences in biotransformation of conjugated linoleic acid by Lactobacillus plantarum

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has attracted a great deal of attention for its functions in weight loss, regulation of metabolism, and antioxidant capabilities. Many microorganisms, including rumen bacteria, propionic acid bacilli, and Lactobacillus, have CLA biotransformation ability. The CLA production capability of different species is different, as are those different strains of the same species. However, the reasons for this discrepancy remain unclear. In this study, 14 strains of Lactobacillus plantarum were found, through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, to be capable of converting linoleic acid to CLA. The transcriptional levels of CLA-related genes in the high- (AR195, WCFS1, and AR488) and low-yield strains (AR176, AR269, and AR611) were analyzed using real-time quantitative PCR. The transcriptional levels of cla-hy, cla-dh, and cla-dc in AR195 were the lowest in the exponential phase, but it had the highest CLA yield. Correlation analysis showed no correlation between CLA yield and the transcription level of these genes in the exponential phase. The results showed that a high transcriptional level in the exponential phase of cla-hy, cla-dh, and cla-dc did not necessarily lead to high CLA production. Investigation of the transcription level in different growth phases showed that the CLA biotransformation abilities of Lactobacillus plantarum strains significantly depended on the transcriptional maintenance of cla-hy, cla-dh, and cla-dc. We observed a correlation between CLA production and increased levels of cla-hy transcription, but a prerequisite is needed: the transcription of cla-dh and cla-dc should be upregulated and maintained a high transcriptional level during the platform period. This study provides a new strategy for screening high CLA-producing strains. It also lays a theoretical foundation for regulating CLA biotransformation and increasing the yield of CLA.

Perception of beef cattle producers in the state of Paraná regarding animal identification by hot iron branding

The aim of this work was to study the perception of beef cattle producers in the state of Paraná, Brazil, about hot iron branding. Seventeen beef cattle producers answered a questionnaire about their perspective on cattle identification methods and animal welfare aspects. Results showed that there is a consensus among farmers that the identification of animals at their farms is an important practice. The majority of farmers (12/17) use hot iron branding as the main method of identification of cattle and most farmers (11/17) believe it is an efficient Method. Considering costs and applicability, 10/17 farmers believe there are other methods of identification that would be viable for utilization at their farms; ear tagging (7/17) and microchipping (3/17) were the most mentioned alternatives. Farmers affirmed believing that animals are sentient beings (16/17) and capable of experiencing pain (17/17). On a scale from 1-5, scores attributed to pain experienced capabilities of different species were high for human babies, sheep and dogs (median = 5.0). The median score attributed to the pain experienced by cattle during branding with a hot iron was 4.0, ranging from 2.0 to 5.0. In conclusion, the opinion of cattle producers in the State of Paraná, Brazil, indicates recognition of animal sentience and their ability to experience pain. Future efforts should focus on refining and developing new methods that are effective and inexpensive, motivating producers to use procedures that respect the quality of life of their animals.

Contribution of filamentous fungi to the musty odorant 2,4,6-trichloroanisole in water supply reservoirs and associated drinking water treatment plants

In this study, the distribution of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (2,4,6-TCA) in two water supply reservoirs and four associated drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) were investigated. The 2,4,6-TCA concentrations were in the range of 1.53–2.36 ng L−1 in water supply reservoirs and 0.76–6.58 ng L−1 at DWTPs. To determine the contribution of filamentous fungi to 2,4,6-TCA in a full-scale treatment process, the concentrations of 2,4,6-TCA in raw water, settled water, post-filtration water, and finished water were measured. The results showed that 2,4,6-TCA levels continuously increased until chlorination, suggesting that 2,4,6-TCA could form without a chlorination reaction and fungi might be the major contributor to the 2,4,6-TCA formation. Meanwhile, twenty-nine fungal strains were isolated and identified by morphological and molecular biological methods. Of the seventeen isolated fungal species, eleven showed the capability to convert 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) to 2,4,6-TCA. The highest level of 2,4,6-TCA formation was carried out by Aspergillus versicolor voucher BJ1-3: 40.5% of the original 2,4,6-TCP was converted to 2,4,6-TCA. There was a significant variation in the capability of different species to generate 2,4,6-TCA. The results from the proportions of cell-free, cell-attached, and cell-bound 2,4,6-TCA suggested that 2,4,6-TCA generated by fungi was mainly distributed in their extracellular environment. In addition to 2,4,6-TCA, five putative volatile by-products were also identified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. These findings increase our understanding on the mechanisms involved in the formation of 2,4,6-TCA and provide insights into managing and controlling 2,4,6-TCA-related problems in drinking water.

A Vocal-Based Analytical Method for Goose Behaviour Recognition

Since human-wildlife conflicts are increasing, the development of cost-effective methods for reducing damage or conflict levels is important in wildlife management. A wide range of devices to detect and deter animals causing conflict are used for this purpose, although their effectiveness is often highly variable, due to habituation to disruptive or disturbing stimuli. Automated recognition of behaviours could form a critical component of a system capable of altering the disruptive stimuli to avoid this. In this paper we present a novel method to automatically recognise goose behaviour based on vocalisations from flocks of free-living barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis). The geese were observed and recorded in a natural environment, using a shielded shotgun microphone. The classification used Support Vector Machines (SVMs), which had been trained with labeled data. Greenwood Function Cepstral Coefficients (GFCC) were used as features for the pattern recognition algorithm, as they can be adjusted to the hearing capabilities of different species. Three behaviours are classified based in this approach, and the method achieves a good recognition of foraging behaviour (86–97% sensitivity, 89–98% precision) and a reasonable recognition of flushing (79–86%, 66–80%) and landing behaviour(73–91%, 79–92%). The Support Vector Machine has proven to be a robust classifier for this kind of classification, as generality and non-linear capabilities are important. We conclude that vocalisations can be used to automatically detect behaviour of conflict wildlife species, and as such, may be used as an integrated part of a wildlife management system.

Effects of irradiance on pigment signatures of harmful algae during growth process

Three harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, Phaeocystis globosa, Thalassiosira rotula, and Prorocentrum donghaiense were isolated from the coast of China and cultured in batches at three light intensities (40, 70 and 150 µmol photons·m−2·s−1). The variation patterns of cell numbers and growth rates with light intensity during growth process were different among species. In P. globosa and T. rotula, maximum growth rates were found at 150 µmol photons·m−2·s−1 and ranged from 0.60 divisions per day in T. rotula, to 1.17 divisions per day in P. globosa. The highest growth rate of P. donghaiense, however, was found at 70 µmol photons·m−2·s−1 (0.36 divisions per day). In general, all the three HAB species showed adaptation to increasing light intensity by decreasing cellular concentrations of chlorophyll a (Chl a), but the variation patterns during the growth process were species-specific. The cellular concentrations of Chl a in P. donghaiense and T. rotula increased gradually with incubation time, but the opposite trend was found in P. globosa. Most of the pigment ratios and pigment indices of these three species were nearly constant during the growth process and showed small changes at different light intensities illustrating the applicability of chemotaxonomy during the initial and developing stages of HAB events, which is very important to study the ecological issues related to HAB species. Ratios of photoprotective carotenoids, such as diadinoxanthin, diatoxanthin and β, β-carotene to total chlorophylls a (Tchl a) showed the trend of increasing with the increase of light intensity during growth process. The species-specific and pigment-specific variations in pigment ratios/indices at different light intensities during growth process probably reflected the differences in the pigment composition as well as the adaption capabilities of different species to the changes of physical conditions.

Vulnerability of Antarctic shelf biodiversity to predicted regional warming

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 37:149-163 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00760 Vulnerability of Antarctic shelf biodiversity to predicted regional warming David K. A. Barnes*, Lloyd S. Peck British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK *Email: dkab@bas.ac.uk ABSTRACT: Predictions of sensitivity to climate change of polar benthos vary markedly depending on whether physiological or ecological/biodiversity criteria are considered. A realistic consensus view must be achieved as soon as possible. Having been very cool and constant for several million years, polar hotspots such as the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) are now rapidly warming. The current rate of CO2 increase and, with a lag phase, temperature, is unparalleled—maybe for 10s of millions of years. Experimental evidence suggests the shallow mega- and macrobenthos is very sensitive to temperature change (stenothermal). Being warmed to about 10°C kills most species tested to date but even smaller experimental rises (just 2 or 3°C above normal) drastically hinders their ability to perform critical functions, such as predator avoidance behaviour. In contrast, new evidence of bathymetric and geographic distributions shows species ranges encompass localities with varying and warmer temperatures such as the intertidal zone or the shelf of South Georgia. This suggests, at the species level, an unexpected ability to live in areas with significantly different and raised temperature regimes. Scientists have focused on potential responses of a few species in a few areas. However, these are often atypical of fauna on the whole. Distribution assessments suffer from not knowing the capacity differences between populations and how fast they arise. To begin meaningful estimates of how shelf mega- and macrobenthos will respond to rapid warming, where and at what should we be looking? The AP continental shelf is probably amongst the most sensitive. A more widespread evaluation of the capabilities of different species and across life-history cycles is needed. We need to compare differences between communities in the more temperature-variable and -stable sites to predict ecological scale responses to future changes. KEY WORDS: Ecology · Physiology · Polar ectotherm · Climate change · Acclimation · Macrobenthos · Distribution · Temperature limit Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Barnes DKA, Peck LS (2008) Vulnerability of Antarctic shelf biodiversity to predicted regional warming. Clim Res 37:149-163. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00760 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 37, No. 2-3. Online publication date: October 16, 2008 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.

Seasonal changes in the contents of nutrients in five macrophyte species from the lake Velenjsko jezero (Slovenia)

The study was designed to depict the seasonal dynamic in relative abundance of macrophyte species, nutrient availability and their content in macrophytes to assess the capability of different species to store nutrients in nutrient rich lake Velenjsko jezero. The concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in the lake sediment, water and aboveground biomass of macrophytes (Nuphar luteum, Najas marina, Najas minor, Potamogeton lucens andPotamogeton pectinatus) were measured at three locations monthly from June to September 2004. Seasonal variability in the contents of total phosphorus in macrophyte tissues was high, but all examined species reached similar maximal concentration in the beginning of their growth. Later in the season, concentrations declined to a high degree. Seasonal variability in the contents of total nitrogen was smaller. Floating-leaved species Nuphar luteum was present in a low amounts and contained much more total nitrogen in its above-ground tissues than the submersed species. Because of different species lifespans, differences in the content of nutrients among species were very high in particular month. Nuphar luteum, Najas minor and Potamogeton lucens were rarely present in the lake and they contributed less to storing nutrients in their biomass. Potamogeton pectinatus was commonly present in the early summer, but in August Najas marina prevailed by far and its growth had high effect on the concentration of nutrients in sediment and water. Thereforenremoving of 1 t dry weight of Najas marina biomass from the lake would contribute to removal of 2.7 kg of phosphorus and 28.2 kg of nitrogen from the lake.

Dispersal mode and assessments of recovery on the shores of Gruinard, the ‘anthrax island’

Formaldehyde run-off was an unintended impact of the anthrax decontamination procedure on the island of Gruinard. The death of intertidal organisms was observed where formaldehyde reached the shore during 1986. The extent to which shores on Gruinard have recovered was assessed with survey work in 2000. Recovery estimates were based on the hypothesis that the process of recolonization is partly dependent on species’ dispersal capability. Underdevelopment of the assemblage of species lacking planktonic dispersal stages (direct developers) is therefore evidence that the process of recolonization is ongoing, rather than complete. A novel multivariate test showed that, when comparing quadrats from Gruinard and nearby mainland shores, assemblages of direct developing molluscs were significantly more distinct than assemblages of molluscs with planktonic dispersal stages. The average densities of species with direct development were generally lower on Gruinard than on mainland shores. While some species with direct development have similar densities on Gruinard and on the surrounding shores, the recovery of the overall assemblage was still incomplete after 14 years. In contrast, the harvested species, Littorina littorea, appeared to benefit from the absence of humans visiting Gruinard’s shores. Populations of L. littorea on Gruinard contained significantly higher proportions of large individuals. Depending on the dispersal capabilities of different species, Gruinard is either still in recovery or acts as a reserve.

Effects on Growth and Accumulation of Zinc in Six Seaweed Species

Seaweed species from a coastal area contaminated by heavy metals (Sepetiba Bay) in Rio de Janeiro State (Brazil) presented different levels of Zn concentrations. In some species the levels were 20 times higher than that from a noncontaminated area. The present study was undertaken to investigate the capability of different species to tolerate and accumulate zinc. For this purpose six species, Ulva lactuca, Enteromorpha flexuosa, Padina gymnospora, Sargassum filipendula, Hypnea musciformis,and Spyridia filamentosa,were cultivated under laboratory semistatic conditions in five Zn concentrations in seawater, 10, 20, 100, 1000, and 5000 μg · liter −1for a period of 21 days. All species died at 5000 μg · liter −1of Zn, two species ( U. lactucaand E. flexuosa) died at 1000 μg · liter −1, and one, H. musciformis,died with 100 μg · liter −1. The lowest concentration of Zn that presented growth inhibition in the six species was 20 μg · liter −1. The brown alga P. gymnosporapresented the highest accumulation level of Zn, and H. musciformisthe lowest level. The results of tolerance and accumulation under laboratory conditions, associated with field results, indicate the species of Padinaand Sargassumas the best species for monitoring heavy metals in tropical coastal areas, and the potential use of their biomass to remove heavy metals from wastewaters.