Divergent response of heavy metal bioavailability in soil rhizosphere to agricultural land use change from paddy field to various drylands

The heavy metal pollution induced by agricultural land use change has attracted great attention. In this study, the divergent response of bioavailability of heavy metals in rhizosphere soil to different...

Divergent Response to the SSRI Citalopram in Male and Female Three-Spine Sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are psychotropic pharmaceuticals used as antidepressants. SSRIs are commonly found in surface waters in populated areas across the globe. They exert their effect by blocking the serotonin re-uptake transporter in the presynaptic nerve ending. The present study examined whether behavioural effects to exposure to SSRI citalopram depend on personality and sex in the stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Three aspects of stickleback behaviour are examined: feeding behaviour, aggression, and boldness. We exposed sticklebacks to 350–380 ng/l citalopram for 3 weeks. Feeding and aggressive behaviour were recorded before and after exposure, whereas scototaxis behaviour was tested after exposure. The results show treatment effects in feeding and aggressive behaviour. Feeding is suppressed only in the male group (χ2 = 20.4, P < 0.001) but not in the females (χ2 = 0.91, P = 0.339). Aggressive behaviour was significantly affected by treatment (χ2 = 161.9, P < 0.001), sex (χ2 = 86.3, P < 0.001), and baseline value (χ2 = 58.8, P < 0.001). Aggressiveness was suppressed by citalopram treatment. In addition, the fish showed no change in aggression and feeding behaviour over time regardless of sex and treatment, which indicate personality traits. Only females are affected by treatment in the scototaxis test. The exposed females spent significantly (χ2 = 5.02, P = 0.050) less time in the white zone than the female controls.

Federalism in a Time of Plague: How Federal Systems Cope With Pandemic

This article compares and contrasts the responses of Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United States to the COVID-19 outbreak and spread. The pandemic has posed special challenges to these federal systems. Although federal systems typically have many advantages—they can adapt policies to local conditions, for example, and experiment with different solutions to problems—pandemics and people cross regional borders, and controlling contagion requires a great deal of national coordination and intergovernmental cooperation. The four federal systems vary in their relative distribution of powers between regional and national governments, in the way that health care is administered, and in the variation in policies across regions. We focus on the early responses to COVID-19, from January through early May 2020. Three of these countries—Australia, Canada, and Germany—have done well in the crisis. They have acted quickly, done extensive testing and contact tracing, and had a relatively uniform set of policies across the country. The United States, in contrast, has had a disastrous response, wasting months at the start of the virus outbreak, with limited testing, poor intergovernmental cooperation, and widely divergent policies across the states and even within some states. The article seeks to explain both the relative uniform responses of these three very different federal systems, and the sharply divergent response of the United States.

Genome-Wide Identification, Expression Profile of the TIFY Gene Family in Brassica oleracea var. capitata, and Their Divergent Response to Various Pathogen Infections and Phytohormone Treatments

TIFY, a plant-specific gene family with the conserved motif TIF[F/Y]XG, plays important roles in various plant biological processes. Here, a total of 36 TIFY genes were identified in the Brassica oleracea genome and classified into JAZ (22 genes), TIFY (7 genes), ZML (5 genes), and PPD (2 genes) subfamilies based on their conserved motifs, which were distributed unevenly across nine chromosomes with different lengths (339–1077 bp) and exon numbers (1–8). Following phylogenetic analysis with A. thaliana and B. rapa TIFY proteins, ten clades were obtained. The expression of these TIFY genes was organ-specific, with thirteen JAZ genes and two PPD genes showing the highest expression in roots and leaves, respectively. More importantly, the JAZs showed divergent responses to various pathogen infections and different phytohormone treatments. Compared with the susceptible line, most JAZs were activated after Plasmodiophora brassicae infection, while there were both induced and inhibited JAZs after Fusarium oxysporum or Xanthomonas campestris infection in the resistance line, indicating their probably distinct roles in disease resistance or susceptibility. Further, the JAZs were all upregulated after MeJA treatment, but were mostly downregulated after SA/ET treatment. In summary, these results contribute to our understanding of the TIFY gene family, revealing that JAZs may play crucial and divergent roles in phytohormone crosstalk and plant defense.