The historical relics in Chongqing Natural History Museum: An annotated checklist of original materials for 37 names of Chinese seed plants

A catalogue of type specimens deposited at the herbarium of Chongqing Natural History Museum (CQNM) is carried out. A total of 62 specimens belonging to 56 gatherings concerning 37 valid published names in 23 families of Chinese seed plants are documented as original materials. They include seven isotypes, 21 syntypes, of which 16 of them are isolectotypes and 34 paratypes. A checklist of the 37 names is presented with annotations on the typification, authorship citation, type localities and other taxonomic issues. Eight names were lectotypified, and one name’s second-step lectotype is proposed. Additionally, Distylium lanceolatum Chun, which is invalid pending for further study, and which has long been treated as a synonym of D. dunnianum H.Lév., is listed after the 37 names.

Highly Conserved Evolution of Aquaporin PIPs and TIPs Confers Their Crucial Contribution to Flowering Process in Plants

Flowering is the key process for the sexual reproduction in seed plants. In gramineous crops, the process of flowering, which includes the actions of both glume opening and glume closing, is directly driven by the swelling and withering of lodicules due to the water flow into and out of lodicule cells. All these processes are considered to be controlled by aquaporins, which are the essential transmembrane proteins that facilitate the transport of water and other small molecules across the biological membranes. In the present study, the evolution of aquaporins and their contribution to flowering process in plants were investigated via an integration of genome-wide analysis and gene expression profiling. Across the barley genome, we found that HvTIP1;1, HvTIP1;2, HvTIP2;3, and HvPIP2;1 were the predominant aquaporin genes in lodicules and significantly upregulated in responding to glume opening and closing, suggesting the importance of them in the flowering process of barley. Likewise, the putative homologs of the above four aquaporin genes were also abundantly expressed in lodicules of the other monocots like rice and maize and in petals of eudicots like cotton, tobacco, and tomato. Furthermore, all of them were mostly upregulated in responding to the process of floret opening, indicating a conserved function of these aquaporin proteins in plant flowering. The phylogenetic analysis based on the OneKP database revealed that the homologs of TIP1;1, TIP1;2, TIP2;3, and PIP2;1 were highly conserved during the evolution, especially in the angiosperm species, in line with their conserved function in controlling the flowering process. Taken together, it could be concluded that the highly evolutionary conservation of TIP1;1, TIP1;2, TIP2;3 and PIP2;1 plays important roles in the flowering process for both monocots and eudicots.

Criminal and Administrative Measures to Protect Forests from Illegal Logging in Ukraine

The conducted research showed a lack of coordination between different norms of Ukrainian criminal and administrative laws that define the offences in the sphere of illegal logging, and determine the type and degree of liability for committing them. This lack of coordination is manifested, specifically, in the competition of certain norms, their ineffectiveness, and the absence of liability for certain publicly dangerous actions connected with illegal logging and damaging trees. The authors carried out a comparative analysis of criminal administrative offences in this sphere and formulated recommendation on improving criminal and administrative legislations that protect public relations in the sphere of protecting forests in Ukraine. They suggest the following: 1) amending Art. 65 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences by establishing liability for selling illegally logged timber or shrubs; 2) amending Art. 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and Art. 65 the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences by introducing administrative liability for buying illegally logged timber or shrubs, as well as criminal liability for buying illegally logged timber or shrubs if it inflicted considerable damage; 3) amending Art. 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine by introducing criminal liability for destroying or damaging forest plantations, seedlings, young plants in tree nurseries and plantations, as well as young trees of natural origin and self-seed plants in the areas designated for reforestation if that inflicted considerable damage on protected public relations. The presented suggestions on improving current criminal and administrative legislations of Ukraine are aimed at improving the effectiveness of counteracting illegal logging in the country.

Interstitial Telomeric-like Repeats (ITR) in Seed Plants as Assessed by Molecular Cytogenetic Techniques: A Review

The discovery of telomeric repeats in interstitial regions of plant chromosomes (ITRs) through molecular cytogenetic techniques was achieved several decades ago. However, the information is scattered and has not been critically evaluated from an evolutionary perspective. Based on the analysis of currently available data, it is shown that ITRs are widespread in major evolutionary lineages sampled. However, their presence has been detected in only 45.6% of the analysed families, 26.7% of the sampled genera, and in 23.8% of the studied species. The number of ITR sites greatly varies among congeneric species and higher taxonomic units, and range from one to 72 signals. ITR signals mostly occurs as homozygous loci in most species, however, odd numbers of ITR sites reflecting a hemizygous state have been reported in both gymnosperm and angiosperm groups. Overall, the presence of ITRs appears to be poor predictors of phylogenetic and taxonomic relatedness at most hierarchical levels. The presence of ITRs and the number of sites are not significantly associated to the number of chromosomes. The longitudinal distribution of ITR sites along the chromosome arms indicates that more than half of the ITR presences are between proximal and terminal locations (49.5%), followed by proximal (29.0%) and centromeric (21.5%) arm regions. Intraspecific variation concerning ITR site number, chromosomal locations, and the differential presence on homologous chromosome pairs has been reported in unrelated groups, even at the population level. This hypervariability and dynamism may have likely been overlooked in many lineages due to the very low sample sizes often used in cytogenetic studies.

Leaf nodule endosymbiotic Burkholderia confer targeted allelopathy to their Psychotria hosts

After a century of investigations, the function of the obligate betaproteobacterial endosymbionts accommodated in leaf nodules of tropical Rubiaceae remained enigmatic. We report that the α-d-glucose analogue (+)-streptol, systemically supplied by mature Ca.Burkholderia kirkii nodules to their Psychotria hosts, exhibits potent and selective root growth inhibiting activity. We provide compelling evidence that (+)-streptol specifically affects meristematic root cells transitioning to anisotropic elongation by disrupting cell wall organization in a mechanism of action that is distinct from canonical cellulose biosynthesis inhibitors. We observed no inhibitory or cytotoxic effects on organisms other than seed plants, further suggesting (+)-streptol as a bona fide allelochemical. We propose that the suppression of growth of plant competitors is a major driver of the formation and maintenance of the Psychotria–Burkholderia association. In addition to potential agricultural applications as a herbicidal agent, (+)-streptol might also prove useful to dissect plant cell and organ growth processes.

Dry-Season Fog Water Utilization by Epiphytes in a Subtropical Montane Cloud Forest of Southwest China

Fog water is generally considered to be an important water source for epiphytes in cloud forests because they cannot directly access ground-level water sources. However, the water use proportions of potential water sources and water use efficiency of epiphytes in the subtropical montane cloud forests (MCF) remain to be further explored. In this study, we investigated the water use pattern in the dry season and the intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi) of four epiphyte groups (i.e., epiphytic lichens, epiphytic bryophytes, epiphytic ferns, and epiphytic seed plants) using stable isotope (δ2H, δ18O, and δ13C) techniques. Our results indicated that the water sources of epiphytes were significantly different among groups and species. The contribution proportions of fog water to epiphytic lichens, epiphytic bryophytes, epiphytic ferns, and epiphytic seed plants were 83.2%, 32.7%, 38.8% and 63.7%, respectively. Epiphytic lichens and epiphytic seed plants mainly depended on fog water whereas the epiphytic bryophytes and epiphytic ferns relied on both fog water and humus. This may be due to their differences in morphological and structural traits (e.g., thallus or leaves, rhizoid or roots). Additionally, the difference in was also significant among epiphyte groups and species, which could be related to their different water acquisition patterns. In conclusion, our study reveals the differentiation of water utilization in epiphytes and confirms the importance of fog water for epiphytes during the dry season.

Transposable element landscapes illuminate past evolutionary events in the endangered fern Vandenboschia speciosa

Vandenboschia speciosa is an endangered tetraploid fern species with a large genome (10.5 Gb). Its geographical distribution is characterized by disjoined tertiary flora refuges, with relict populations that survived past climate crises. Here we analyze the transposable elements (TEs) and found that they comprise about 76% of the V. speciosa genome, thus being the most abundant kind of DNA sequences in this gigantic genome. V. speciosa genome is composed of 51% and 5.6% of Class I and Class II elements, respectively. LTR retrotransposons were the most abundant TEs in this species (at least 42% of the genome), followed by non-LTR retrotransposons that constituted at least 8.7% of the genome of this species. We introduce an additional analysis to identify the nature of non-annotated elements (19% of the genome). A BLAST search of the non-annotated contigs against the V. speciosa TE database allowed determining the identity of almost half of them, which were most likely diverged sequence variants of the annotated TEs. In general, TE composition in V. speciosa resembles TE composition in seed plants. In addition, repeat landscapes revealed three episodes of amplification for all TEs, most likely due to demographic changes associated to past climate crises.

Brussels sprouts seeds growing without mother plants transplanting in the conditions of the Moscow region

В течение 2019–2021 годов на опытно-производственной базе ФГБНУ ВНИИФ в Московской области (Одинцовский городской округ) выращивали растения капусты брюссельской сорта Геркулес 1342 для получения семян в беспересадочной культуре без применения химически синтезированных препаратов защиты растений и агрохимикатов. Беспересадочный способ позволил вырастить семена капусты брюссельской исключив основные, наиболее затратные и трудоемкие агротехнические мероприятия: отбор и уборка с поля маточных растений с корневой системой, перевозка в хранилище и хранение маточников при соблюдении режима хранения, зачистка маточников и весенняя подготовка к высадке, высадка маточников в открытый грунт. После высадки в поле и приживания маточных растений потери могут достигать 50%. В беспересадочной культуре сохранность семенных растений после перезимовки составляла 80%, а семенная продуктивность достигала 23 г с одного растения, при лабораторной всхожести – 98%, что значительно превосходит контрольный вариант – выращивание семян в пересадочной культуре. Растения, выращенные из семян, полученных в беспересадочной культуре, склонности к преждевременному цветению не проявляли и формировали нормальные, по морфологическим признакам, продуктивные растения. Семенные растения капусты брюссельской сорта Геркулес 1342 успешно переживали в открытом грунте без укрытия как малоснежную зиму 2020 года, так и зиму 2021 года с достаточно высоким снежным покровом – до 55 см. При этом растения имели незначительные повреждения не от мороза, а от мышей. В отличие от маточных растений, высаживаемых в открытый грунт, после зимнего хранения, маточные растения, выращенные в беспересадочной культуре, не имели повреждения точек роста вследствие солнечных ожогов. Таким образом сохранялось наиболее продуктивное первое цветение. During 2019–2021, Brussels sprouts of the Hercules 1342 cultivar were grown at the experimental production base of the FSBSI VNIIF in the Moscow region, Odintsovo District in order to obtain seeds in a non-planting culture without the use of chemically synthesized plant protection preparations and agrochemicals. The non-planting method made it possible to grow Brussels sprouts seeds by eliminating the main, most expensive and time-consuming agrotechnical measures: selection and cleaning of mother plants with a root system from the field, transportation to the storage and storage of mother plants while observing the storage regime, cleaning of mother plants and spring preparation for planting, planting in the open ground. After planting in the field and taking root of the mother plants, losses can reach 50%. In a seedless culture, the safety of seed plants after overwintering was 80%, and the seed productivity reached 23 grams per plant, with laboratory germination – 98%, which significantly exceeds the control variant: growing seeds in a transplant culture. Plants grown from seeds obtained in a non-planting culture did not show a tendency to premature flowering and formed normal ones. According to morphological characteristics, productive plants. Seed plants of Brussels sprouts of the Hercules 1342 cultivar successfully survived both the low – snow winter of 2020 and the winter of 2021 with a sufficiently high snow cover-up to 55 cm in the open ground without shelter. At the same time, the plants had minor damage not from frost, but from mice. Unlike the mother plants planted in the open ground, after winter storage, the mother plants grown in a non-planting culture did not have damage to the growth points due to sunburn. Thus, the most productive first flowering was preserved.