Hebertmacmillan6061

connections) than locally-persistent species, potentially explaining why these species arrived to new sites but did not establish locally-persistent adult populations. Our study is the first to combine seed, seedling, and adult survey data across sites to rigorously characterize how seed dispersal and local filtering govern community membership and shape climate-associated vegetation patterns. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Despite the recent advances in seed science research, information on seed dormancy and germination traits is still missing for many lineages of the seed plants. We translated and digitized a huge data set on seed dormancy and germination from the 'Reference book on dormant seed germination' by M. Nikolaeva, M. Razumova and V. Gladkova published in Russian in 1985 and previously not readily accessible to the great majority of people in the international scientific community interested in seeds. The data set contains information on the seed dormancy classification (sensu Nikolaeva et al., 1985; Baskin and Baskin, 2004), dormancy-breaking conditions/germination, and for some of the included species storage behaviour, of seeds of nearly 3000 gymnosperm and angiosperm species from 843 genera and 164 families occurring worldwide. Additionally, the data set contains about ´550 references, many of them unknown to seed scientists, to seed ecology research conducted between 1926 and 1985. The data set should be of value to applied, basic and theoretical plant biologists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists interested in the various aspects of regeneration of plants from seeds. There are no copyright or proprietary restrictions for research or teaching purposes. The originator of the data would appreciate notification when and how the data are used. When used in published analyses, this paper should be referred to as the data source. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.PREMISE Despite great attention given to the relationship between plant growth and carbon balance in alpine tree species, little is known about shrubs at the treeline. We hypothesized that the pattern of main nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) across elevations depends on the interplay between phenotypic trait plasticity, plant-plant interaction, and elevation. METHODS We studied the pattern of NSCs (i.e., glucose, fructose, sucrose, and starch) in alpine stands of Vaccinium myrtillus (above treeline) across an elevational gradient. In the same plots, we measured key growth traits (i.e., anatomical stem features) and shrub cover, evaluating putative relationships with NSCs. RESULTS Glucose content was positively related with altitude, but negatively related with shrub cover. Sucrose decreased at high altitude and in older populations and increased with higher percentage of vascular tissue. Starch content increased at middle and high elevations and in stands with high shrub cover. Moreover, starch content was negatively related with the number of xylem rings and the percentage of phloem tissue, but positively correlated with the percentage of xylem tissue. CONCLUSIONS We found that the increase in carbon reserves across elevations was uncoupled from plant growth, supporting the growth limitation hypothesis, which postulates NSCs accumulate at high elevation as a consequence of low temperature. learn more Moreover, the response of NSC content to the environmental stress caused by elevation was buffered by phenotypic plasticity of plant traits, suggesting that, under climate warming conditions, shrub expansion due to enhanced plant growth would be pronounced in old but sparse stands. © The Authors. American Journal of Botany published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Botanical Society of America.Kinetic enhancement of organophosphate hydrolysis is a long-standing challenge in catalysis. For prophylactic treatment against organophosphate exposure, enzymatic hydrolysis needs to occur at high rates in the presence of low substrate concentrations and enzymatic activity should persist over days and weeks. Here, the conjugation of small DNA scaffolds was used to introduce substrate binding sites with micromolar affinity to VX, paraoxon, and methyl-parathion in close proximity to the enzyme phosphotriesterase (PTE). The result was a decrease in KM and increase in the rate at low substrate concentrations. An optimized system for paraoxon hydrolysis decreased KM by 11-fold, with a corresponding increase in second-order rate constant. The initial rates of VX and methyl-parathion hydrolysis were also increased by 3.1- and 6.7-fold, respectively. The designed scaffolds not only increased the local substrate concentration, but they also resulted in increased stability and PTE-DNA particle size tuning between 25 and ~150 nm. The scaffold engineering approach taken here is focused on altering the local chemical and physical microenvironment around the enzyme and is therefore compatible with active site engineering via combinatorial and computational approaches. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.AIM The etiology of myelomeningocele is multifactorial. Genetic alterations in folate-dependent single carbon metabolism may to cause neural tube defects. ABO and Rhesus (Rh) blood groups, that share similar genetic localisations as folate mechanism, have relations with various metabolic and malignant diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the distribution of ABO or Rh blood group antigens and the incidence of myelomeningocele. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective data was reviewed of all myelomeningocele patients operated at our hospital between years 2014 and 2019. Age, sex, delivery method, physical and neurological examination findings, and radiological findings alongside with blood type of each patient were recorded. The data of blood group distribution among the study patients was compared to the data of healthy individuals in the same region. RESULTS Patients with group B and AB showed a higher chance of developing myelomeningocele. Rh-positive blood group was associated with high incidence of myelomeningocele (93.5%), whereas Rh-negative blood group showed least association (6.5%). Rh-positive blood group was also more frequent in patients with myelomeningocele with hydrocephalus and Chiari malformation. CONCLUSION ABO and Rh blood groups have an effect on the development of myelomeningocele under the influence of environmental or genetic factors.