Research progress on ecological adaptation and prevention of Parengyodontium album on the surface of cultural relics.

Cultural relics as the crystallization of human history are non-renewable and irreplaceable resources. Microorganisms are widely colonized on ancient wall paintings, stone cultural relics, and other types of cultural heritages to cause harm. The dominant disease fungus, Parengyodontium album, is extensively distributed and can seriously threaten the long-term preservation of precious cultural heritage due to surviving in various cultural relics and extreme environments. The classification and nomenclature of P. album have undergone several changes, so its impact on cultural relic received little attention. Here, we summarized the brief histories of its classification and development, distribution range, and cultural heritage preference of P. album. We further analyzed the physiological, biochemical, and ecological characteristics and potential biological degradation mechanism. We proposed that P. album could be used as an indicative species of microbial hazardous effects on cultural heritage. We discussed the prevention and control countermeasures of such typical mural microorganisms and pointed out key research directions in this field.

Proteomic analysis reveals the mechanism of different environmental stress-induced tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to monochloramine disinfection.

Although drinking water disinfection proved to be an effective strategy to eliminate many pathogens, bacteria can still show disinfection tolerance in drinking water distribution systems. To date, the molecular mechanisms on how environmental stress affects the tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to monochloramine are not well understood. Here, we investigated how three stress conditions, namely starvation, low temperature, and starvation combined with low temperature, affected the monochloramine tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen commonly found in drinking water distribution systems. All stress conditions significantly promoted monochloramine tolerance, among which starvation had the most drastic effects. Proteomic analyses suggested that the three conditions not only triggered a positive antioxidant defense against oxidative damages but also prepared the bacteria to employ a passive defense mechanism against disinfectants via dormancy. Moreover, the expression of antioxidant enzymes reached the maximum under the starvation condition and further low temperature treatment had little effect on bacterial response to oxidative stress. Instead, we found further treatment of the starved cells with low temperature decreased the osmotic stress response and the stringent response, which generally play pivotal roles in disinfection tolerance. Taken together, these findings shed light on how abiotic factors influence the bacterial disinfection tolerance and will aid design of efficient strategies to eliminate Pseudomonas aeruginosa from drinking water.

Bacterial type II toxin-antitoxin systems acting through post-translational modifications.

The post-translational modification (PTM) serves as an important molecular switch mechanism to modulate diverse biological functions in response to specific cues. Though more commonly found in eukaryotic cells, many PTMs have been identified and characterized in bacteria over the past decade, highlighting the importance of PTMs in regulating bacterial physiology. Several bacterial PTM enzymes have been characterized to function as the toxin component of type II TA systems, which consist of a toxin that inhibits cell growth and an antitoxin that protects the cell from poisoning by the toxin. While TA systems can be classified into seven types based on nature of the antitoxin and its activity, type II TA systems are perhaps the most studied among the different TA types and widely distributed in eubacteria and archaea. The type II toxins possessing PTM activities typically modify various cellular targets mostly associated with protein translation and DNA replication. This review mainly focuses on the enzymatic activities, target specificities, antitoxin neutralizing mechanisms of the different families of PTM toxins. We also proposed that TA systems can be conceptually viewed as molecular switches where the 'on' and 'off' state of the system is tightly controlled by antitoxins and discussed the perspective on toxins having other physiologically roles apart from growth inhibition by acting on the nonessential cellular targets.

How to teach genetic drift.

Genetic drift is one of the four important factors affecting population genetic balance. Because its form of action is not as apparent as mutation, selection, and migration, which are intuitive and easy to understand, there are potential difficulties in understanding and mastering genetic drift. A particularly prominent problem is that the current introduction of genetic drift contents in textbooks is systematically insufficient. They are either even too rough, or completely neglecting the mathematical foundation such as the binomial theorem, resulting in long-term inadequate learning of genetic drift. In this paper, we summarize the five basic attributes of genetic drift, namely inherent, universal, random, non-directional, and regular features. Based on the concept that the genetic basis of genetic drift is the free combination of male and female gametes, we pointed out that the attribute of random sampling error is the inherent essential feature of genetic drift. Then step by step, from an extremely small population consisting of only one individual (N = 1), we deduced that the effect of genetic drift decreased while population size increased. Through introducing the mathematical model of the binomial theorem, the characteristics of the binomial distribution, and the results of computer simulations, the effect of genetic drift is visually and intuitively displayed to help the teaching the concept of genetic drift.

[Research progress on the bioweathering and controlling of stone cultural relics]. / çŸ³è´¨æ–‡ç‰©çš„ç”Ÿç‰©é£ŽåŒ–åŠå ¶é˜²æ²»ç ”ç©¶è¿›å±•.

The bioweathering of stone cultural relics is a ubiquitous problem. Weathering prevention is an escalating challenge under the increasing global climate and environmental changes. Here, the mechanisms of lichen-microorganism mediated weathering of stone materials and their relationships with climatic and environmental factors were reviewed. The biological protection of lichens and the evaluation of the efficacy of biocides in lichen-control were discussed. The potential research directions in this field were proposed. Research on lichen-rock interfaces suggested that biological weathe-ring could be mainly attributed to physical and chemical weathering which represented by mycelium penetration and calcium oxalate formation. Bioweathering of outdoor stone cultural relics is closely related with the whole ecosystem encompassing factors, such as stone matrix, surrounding environment, and climate factors. Lichens have both biological weathering and protection effects on stone heritage. For the restoration of bioweathered stone cultural relics, environmental conditions for pre-servation of stone cultural relics should be improved step by step. The related industry regulations and national standards for evaluating biological weathering and control efficiency should be established to promote the efficient development of scientific protection.

[How to deduce the seven basic class asci of ordered tetrads in Neurospora].

Genetic analysis is an important part of undergraduate genetics teaching and tetrad analysis is unique and integral for genetic analysis of fungi. The ordered tetrad in Neurospora is an important material for genetic analysis, which can not only be used to study recombination between genes and centromeres, but also between genes themselves, as well as study the fine cross patterns between non-sister chromatids of homologous chromosomes. However, in textbooks and related professional journals, there is a lack of specific introduction to the induction methods of the seven basic class asci used in two genes analysis. In the present paper, we designed a table presenting the correlation between the three tetrad types (PD, NPD, T) and the four segregation pattern groups (Ⅰ Ⅰ, Ⅱ Ⅱ, Ⅰ Ⅱ, Ⅱ Ⅰ) to visually show the 12 possible combinations (3×4=12). Then five of them were excluded through the "×" symbol and in addition with three comments attached with the table, thus finally we obtained seven basic ascus types. We hope that this analytical method can assist the teaching of ordered tetrad analysis in Neurospora.

Analysis of the composition and characteristics of culturable endophytic bacteria within subnival plants of the Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China.

This study first described the composition and characteristics of culturable endophytic bacteria isolated from wild alpine-subnival plant species growing under extreme environmental conditions (i.e., on the border of a glacier with frequently fluctuating and freezing temperatures, strong wind, and high ultraviolet radiation). Using a cultivation-dependent approach and 16S rRNA gene amplification techniques, 93 bacterial isolates showing different phenotypic properties were obtained from 20 different subnival plant species, of which gram-positive bacteria (61.5%), psychrotolerant bacteria (67.3%), and pigmented isolates (70.9%) accounted for a large proportion. All these characteristics of endophytes were closely related to the survival environment of their host plants and were in good agreement with microbes occurring in other cold environments. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the endophytic isolates consisted of five phylogenetic groups comprising α-proteobacteria, γ-proteobacteria, the high G+C content gram-positive bacteria, the low G+C content gram-positive bacteria, and Flavobacterium-Bacteroides-Cytophaga. The largest generic diversity was found in the HGC group, while Clavibacter, Agreia, Rhodococcus, Sphingomonas, and Pseudomonas were the most prevalent genera. Of all isolates, 46.4% showed a high sequence similarity (98-100%) to strains discovered from other cold environments such as glaciers, tundra, and polar seas. Furthermore, 36.4% of the isolates produced Indole-3-acetic acid and 76.3% were able to solubilize mineral phosphate, which revealed that endophytic bacteria with multiple physiological functions were abundant and widespread in subnival plants. These results are essential for understanding the ecological roles of endophytes and as a foundation for further studying the interactions with plants and environment.

[Effects of fertilization on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Elymus nutans roots].

By using traditional staining and DNA cloning and sequencing techniques, this paper studied the effects of fertilization on the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) colonization and AM fungal community in Elymus nutans roots across an 8-year nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization gradient. With the increasing level of fertilization, the AM colonization and arbuscular colonization per unit root length reduced from 67.5% to 7.3% and from 5.2% to 0.1%, respectively. A total of 24 AM fungal phylotypes were detected in E. nutans roots, whilst the mean AM fungal richness reduced from 6 to 2.6 across the fertilization gradient. Different fertilization had significant effects on the AM fungal community composition, and there existed significant correlations between the AM fungal community composition and the soil available P and root N contents. The availability of N and P increased gradually across the fertilization gradient, and had significant negative correlations with both AM colonization and AM fungal richness. It was suggested that high level fertilization would reduce the activity of AM symbionts, and result in the large loss of AM fungal biodiversity.

[Systematic classification and community research techniques of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: a review].

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are an important component of natural ecosystem, being able to form symbiont with plant roots. The traditional AMF classification is mainly based on the morphological identification of soil asexual spores, which has some limitations in the taxonomy of AMF. Advanced molecular techniques make the classification of AMF more accurate and scientific, and can improve the taxonomy of AMF established on the basis of morphological identification. The community research of AMF is mainly based on species classification, and has two kinds of investigation methods, i. e., spores morphological identification and molecular analysis. This paper reviewed the research progress in the systematic classification and community research techniques of AMF, with the focus on the molecular techniques in community analysis of AMF. It was considered that using morphological and molecular methods together would redound to the accurate investigation of AMF community, and also, facilitate the improvement of AMF taxonomy.

[Seasonal variation and related affecting factors of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Caragana korshinskii roots].

With the combination of root staining and PCR-DGGE, the seasonal variation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in Caragana korshinskii roots was investigated; and by the methods of principal component analysis and canonical correspondence analysis, the relationships between this variation and soil factors were analyzed. It was found that the total infection rate of AMF and the infection rates of arbuscules and vesicles in C. korshinskii roots as well as the spore density of AMF in soil varied significantly among seasons. From spring to autumn, the total infection rate of AMF had a decreasing trend, whereas the other three indicators were in adverse. A total of nine AMF phylotypes were detected in spring, summer, and autumn, but the community composition and diversity indices of AMF had definite differences among the seasons. The infection rate of vesicles decreased with increasing soil total N, P, and organic C, while the spore density of AMF increased with decreasing soil moisture and available P. The seasonal variation of AMF community composition in C. korshinskii roots was mainly affected by soil total P, available P, and organic C.