Evaluation of genetic diversity and population structure of five Chinese indigenous donkey breeds using microsatellite markers

China had the largest population of raising donkeys in the world, however the number of Chinese indigenous donkey decreased dramatically due to the increase of agriculture mechanization in the last century. The species has still been important in China because of its edible and medical value, therefore the survey on its genetic diversity in China is necessary for its conservation and utilization. In this study, 15 microsatellite markers were used to evaluate genetic diversity and population structure of five Chinese indigenous donkey breeds. The mean values of expected heterozygosity, allelic richness, and total number of alleles for all the tested Chinese donkeys were 0.70, 6.04, and 6.28 respectively, suggesting that the genetic diversity of Chinese indigenous donkeys is rich. The Bayesian analysis and principal component analysis plot yielded the same clustering result, which revealed that Guanzhong donkey was the most differentiated breed in all detected samples, and Jinnan (JN) and Guangling (GL) were genetically closed together. Additionally, our results indicated that the heterozygote deficit was severe in two Chinese indigenous donkey breeds (GL and JN), and it warned us that animal conservation activities on this species should be considered carefully in near future.

Colorimetric Sensor Array for Qualitative Water Analysis

A chemosensor array comprising 45 off-the-shelf colorimetric dyes, dubbed the Singapore Tongue (SGT), that is capable of discriminating different brands of bottled water and waters of different geographical attribute is described. Twelve kinds of bottled waters were tested by the SGT, and changes of absorbance spectra were analyzed by unsupervised classification methods to validate the SGT system for water analysis. All 12 bottled waters were discriminated at 1 × concentration, and SGT could distinguish the identity of samples of the waters diluted up to 100 times, except distilled waters. Following the study of 63 tap waters in different mass rapid transit stations in Singapore, two distinct clusters were observed from a principal component analysis plot, which correspond to the origin of the tap water. The successful discrimination and identification of in this study demonstrates the practical application of the SGT as a simple tool for water analysis.

Host Selection in Tomicus piniperda L.: Composition of Monoterpene Hydrocarbons in Relation to Attack Frequency in the Shoot Feeding Phase

The aim of this study was to investigate the host selection capacity of the pine shoot beetle, Tomicus piniperda, in the shoot-feeding phase and analyze the chiral and non-chiral host volatiles by means of GC-MS and 2D-GC in five Pinus species originating from France (Pinus sylvestris, P. halepensis, P. nigra laricio, P. pinaster maritima, P. pinaster mesogeensis). Dominating monoterpenes were (-)-α-pinene, (+)-α-pinene, (-)-β-pinene and (+)-3-carene. The amounts of the enantiomers varied considerably within and among the species. In a principal component analysis-plot, based on the absolute amounts of 18 monoterpene hydrocarbons, separation of the pine species into two groups was obtained. P. halepensis and P. sylvestris were grouped according to the amount of (+)-α-pinene and (+)-3-carene, while P. nigra laricio, P. pinaster maritima and P. pinaster mesogeensis were grouped according to (-)-α-pinene and (D)-β-pinene. P. nigra laricio was the species most attacked and P. halepensis the one least attacked by T. piniperda.