The aim of this study was to identify polyphenolic compounds contained in ethanol and water extracts of black alder (
L.) acorns and evaluate their anti-cancer and antimicrobial effects. The ...significant anti-cancer potential on the human skin epidermoid carcinoma cell line A431 and the human epithelial cell line A549 derived from lung carcinoma tissue was observed. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of alder acorns inhibited the growth of mainly Gram-positive microorganisms (
,
,
) and yeast-like fungi (
,
), as well as Gram-negative (
,
,
,
) strains. The identification of polyphenols was carried out using an ACQUITY UPLC-PDA-MS system. The extracts were composed of 29 compounds belonging to phenolic acids, flavonols, ellagitannins and ellagic acid derivatives. Ellagitannins were identified as the predominant phenolics in ethanol and aqueous extract (2171.90 and 1593.13 mg/100 g DM, respectively) The results may explain the use of
extracts in folk medicine.
Проаналізовано матеріали радіоактивного забруднення лісового фонду Полісся України з використанням бази даних "щільность забруднення лісових масивів України радіонуклідами техногенного походження ...(134Cs, 137Cs, 90Sr, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu) за 1989-1992 рр., а також реляційної бази даних "Лісовий фонд України" станом на 2012 рік. Під час оброблення даних баз здійснено розподіл площ регіону досліджень за областями, лісогосподарськими підприємствами, щільністю радіоактивного забруднення, також окремо проведено розподіл насаджень з участю вільхи чорної за групами віку. У Волинській обл. виявлено 42,2 тис. га лісів, які віднесено до радіоактивно забруднених, а максимальні значення щільності радіоактивного забруднення ґрунту в них досягали до 5,0 Кі∙км-2. У Рівненській області площі радіоактивно забруднених лісів становили 377,9 тис. га, що у 9,0 разів більше, ніж у Волинській. Максимальні значення щільності радіоактивного забруднення ґрунту на Рівненщині досягали 15,0 Кі∙км-2. У лісах Житомирщини площа лісів, вражених радіонуклідами, становила 439,9 тис. га, що більше в 1,2 раза, ніж у Рівненській області. Максимальні значення щільності радіоактивного забруднення ґрунту на частині площ у Житомирській області перевищували 80 Кі/км-2. На площі 99,1 тис. га введено обмеження використання деревини вільхи чорної. Найбільші площі лісових насаджень вільхи чорної сконцентровані у Волинській області – 99593 га. Із просуванням на схід площі таких насаджень зменшуються і й Рівненській області становлять 63912 га (в 1,6 раза менше), у Житомирській – 38495 га (у 2,6 раза менше). Установлено, що у Волинській області зараз стиглих і перестійних насаджень нараховується 26189 га (26,3 % від загальної площі чорновільхових насаджень), у Рівненській – 15486 га (24,2 %) і Житомирській – 14188 га (36,9 %). Результати обстеження лісів з їх реабілітації, які подано у матеріалах лісовпорядкування лісогосподарських підприємств Волинського та Житомирського Полісся, мають суперечливий характер і потребують перевірки. Від часу аварії на Чорнобильській АЕС відбувається зменшення площ лісових кварталів, у яких введено заборону та обмеження на використання деревних порід, зокрема і вільхи чорної. У регіоні дослідження накопичились площі стиглих і перестійних лісових насаджень вільхи чорної, що, певною мірою, пояснюють забороною їх використання на площах зі щільністю радіоактивного забруднення ґрунту понад 10 Кі∙км-2.
Plants that form root-nodule symbioses are within a monophyletic ‘nitrogen-fixing’ clade and associated signalling processes are shared with the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. Central to symbiotic ...signalling are nuclear-associated oscillations in calcium ions (Ca2+), occurring in the root hairs of several legume species in response to the rhizobial Nod factor signal.
In this study we expanded the species analysed for activation of Ca2+ oscillations, including nonleguminous species within the nitrogen-fixing clade.
We showed that Ca2+ oscillations are a common feature of legumes in their association with rhizobia, while Cercis, a non-nodulating legume, does not show Ca2+ oscillations in response to Nod factors from Sinorhizobium fredii NGR234. Parasponia andersonii, a nonlegume that can associate with rhizobia, showed Nod factor-induced calcium oscillations to S. fredii NGR234 Nod factors, but its non-nodulating sister species, Trema tomentosa, did not. Also within the nitrogen-fixing clade are actinorhizal species that associate with Frankia bacteria and we showed that Alnus glutinosa induces Ca2+ oscillations in root hairs in response to exudates from Frankia alni, but not to S. fredii NGR234 Nod factors.
We conclude that the ability to mount Ca2+ oscillations in response to symbiotic bacteria is a common feature of nodulating species within the nitrogen-fixing clade.
•Several alder woodland habitat types are in danger of disappearing in Europe.•Vegetation surveys, pollen analysis and historical data reveal woodland history.•Dynamic changes between forest, alder ...swamps and semi-natural grasslands shown.•Alder swamp woodlands are favored by moderate farming intensity.•Intermediate disturbance regime (grazing and hay mowing) is recommended.
Alnus glutinosa (alder) swamp woodlands are in danger of disappearing in Europe and, in Norway, several habitats with alder are threatened. Knowledge about the dynamics of alder swamp woodlands is crucial for the conservation and management of this vegetation. Our studied site, Rambjøra, in western Norway encompasses the Rambjøra Landscape Protected Area. We combined information from three sources—recent alder swamp woodland ecology, vegetation history, and agricultural history—to reveal the long-term vegetation dynamics of Rambjøra in relation to land-use. Dynamic changes in the predominance of forest or semi-natural grassland over 2800years, concurrent with varying anthropogenic disturbances are inferred. At the investigated site, alder swamp woodland developed after forest clearance and changes in the water balance. The abundance of alder swamp woodlands have varied through time, increasing with low-impact land-use and declining with intensified use or abandonment. The highest biodiversity is found in periods with grazing, hay mowing, and probably fodder and fire wood collection. This indicates that agricultural practices of moderate intensity (grazing and hay cutting) should be part of the future management in order to maintain the biodiversity and meet the objective of the protection of Rambjøra. The study demonstrates the advantages of combining vegetation surveys, pollen records, and land-use history to provide a long-term perspective on vegetation development, and in our case also as an aid when establishing conservation strategies. Our findings need to be considered in future conservation and restoration of ecosystems with alder swamp woodlands.
•Extracellular freezing theory was tested quantitatively using a dynamic model.•The model showed an excellent fit against measured stem diameter dynamics.•The model provided estimates for elastic and ...hydraulic properties for phloem and xylem.•The model may be used to study winter hardiness and freezing injuries in trees.
When freezing occurs in trees in the autumn living cells are able to withstand the rapid dehydration that they experience due to the chemical properties of ice that fills apoplastic spaces. Elasticity and hydraulic permeability of living tissue are important properties influencing the frost tolerance of trees, because of their effects on how rapidly the dehydration occurs. Stem diameter change measurements have been used to quantify these tissue properties during the summer, but no such attempt has yet been made during winter when the apoplast is frozen. Here the dynamics of xylem, phloem and whole stem diameter changes for three tree species were simulated by formulating a mechanistic model using temperature of ice as a driver for water exchange between symplast and apoplast in accordance with theory of extracellular freezing. Hence in our model formulation, a decrease in the temperature of the apoplastic ice leads to a decrease in the apoplastic water potential drawing water from the living cells, which could be also observed in diameter change measurements in the field. The model was successful in explaining diameter changes in the case of all tree species when modelled diameter changes were fitted against measured diameter changes. Estimates for the elastic modulus, the time constant of diameter changes and the hydraulic permeability at tissue level were obtained by the fitting of three model parameters. The elastic modulus of the living tissue was found to exhibit a negative temperature dependency, while the time constant of diameter changes was found to exhibit a positive temperature dependency. Overall, this modelling approach offers an easy and non-destructive way of gaining valuable information about physiological properties of trees and their tissues in the winter. However, a complete understanding of the parameters estimated by the model requires further investigation into the physical processes that result in winter diameter changes.
The results of research conducted over the past 30 years in the forest ecosystems of Zhytomyr Polissia, in the areas affected by radioactive contamination as a result of the Chornobyl accident. In ...the course of the research carried out at the Poliskyi Branch of the Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry and Forest Melioration named after G. M. Vysotsky, methods of forest radioecology, botany, and forestry were used, and the results were processed using statistical analysis. The peculiarities of radioactive contamination of the most common herbaceous and dwarf-shrub plants in the stands of black alder in damp fairly fertile site types were studied. As indicators characterizing these features, we used 137Cs specific activity in the aboveground part of plants and the transfer factor of radionuclide to plant phytomass from the soil. It was found that the highest values of the transfer factor of 137Cs from the soil to the aerial part of the plant phytomass in 1999 are characteristic of ferns: for Dryopteris cristata (L.) A. Gray (276.9 m2∙kg-1∙10-3), Dryopteris carthusiana (Vill.) H. P. Fuchs (236.5 m2∙kg-1∙10-3), Thelypteris palustris Schott (171.2 m2∙kg-1∙10-3), and Athyrium filix-femina (L.) Roth (164.0 m2∙kg-1∙10-3). It was found that among the higher plants, the highest values of this indicator are for the Agrostis stolonifera L. (263.5 m2∙kg-1∙10-3), Galium uliginosum L. (155.8 m2∙kg-1∙10-3) and Maianthemum bifolium (L.) F. W. Schmidt (155.4 m2∙kg-1∙10-3). It was found out that the previously noted trends and interspecific differences in radionuclide accumulation persist after 22 years. It is shown, using the example of three plant species (Lysimachia vulgaris L., Galium uliginosum, and Maianthemum bifolium), that during the observation period (1991-2021) there is a gradual decrease in radioactive contamination of living ground cover plants and the intensity of 137Cs intake into them. This is explained by the decay of the radioactive element, its entry into various perennial components of forest ecosystems, some fixation in the soil, and, possibly, its removal beyond their borders. The established decrease in 137Cs specific activity in the aboveground part of plants is described by linear equations: for Lysimachia vulgaris – Am = –605.34a + 3745.6; R² = 0.98; Galium uliginosum – Am = –5107.5a + 30698; R² = 0.99; Maianthemum bifolium – Am = –4661.6 a + 28280; R² = 0.98. The identified peculiarities of radioactive contamination of various plant species, changes in 137Cs specific activity in them, and transfer factors of the radionuclide from the soil in stands of black alder in damp fairly fertile site types can be used in scientific works to predict possible changes in its redistribution within the ecosystem, as well as in the practice of harvesting medicinal plants in areas contaminated with radionuclides.
In this paper, the draft genomes of
RTGN7 and RTP1Z1, derived from
root nodules, are reported. The assembly of RTGN7 is 6.6 Mbp, composed of 59 contigs, with an N
of 321,872. RTP1Z1's assembly is 6.3 ...Mbp, composed of 151 contigs, with an N
of 76,442 bp.
1. The objective was to test whether a decrease in oxygen concentration in streams affects the diversity and activity of aquatic hyphomycetes and consequently leaf litter decomposition. 2. Senescent ...leaves of Alnus glutinosa were immersed for 7 days in a reference stream, for fungal colonization, and then incubated for 18 days in microcosms at five oxygen concentrations (4%, 26%, 54%, 76% and 94% saturation). Leaf decomposition (as loss of leaf toughness), fungal diversity, reproduction (as spore production) and biomass (ergosterol content) were determined. 3. Leaf toughness decreased by 70% in leaves exposed to the highest O₂ concentration, whereas the decrease was substantially less (from 25% to 45%) in treatments with lower O₂. Fungal biomass decreased from 99 to 12 mg fungi g⁻¹ ash-free dry mass on exposure to 94% and 4% O₂ respectively. Sporulation was strongly inhibited by reduction of dissolved O₂ in water (3.1 x 10⁴ versus 1.3 x 10³ spores per microcosms) for 94% and 4% saturation respectively. 4. A total of 20 species of aquatic hyphomycetes were identified on leaves exposed to 94% O₂, whereas only 12 species were found in the treatment with 4% O₂ saturation. Multidimensional scaling revealed that fungal assemblages exposed to 4% O₂ were separated from all the others. Articulospora tetracladia, Cylindrocarpon sp. and Flagellospora curta were the dominant species in microcosms with 4% O₂, while Flagellospora curvula and Anguillospora filiformis were dominant at higher O₂ concentrations. 5. Overall results suggest that the functional role of aquatic hyphomycetes as decomposers of leaf litter is limited when the concentration of dissolved oxygen in streams is low.
is a clinically relevant genus of bacteria, with this paper reporting draft genomes of five
strains derived from
root nodules. The genome sizes of the isolates ranged from 6.1 to 6.9 Mbp, composed of ...22-59 contigs. The
values ranged from 303,875 to 865,751 bp, presenting a GC% of 66.07%-66.96%.
Interest in the cultivation of mushrooms, including medicinal mushrooms like Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) has increased in recent years. To provide commercial cultivators with vigorous and productive ...strains of I. obliquus, 38 strains were isolated from the conks in Estonia and Finland. The growth rates of these isolates were determined on Malt Extract Agar (MEA), and on wood sticks of Betula pendula, B. pubescens, Alnus incana and A. glutinosa. Growth rates differed for the various isolates, depending on temperature as well as substrate. On the MEA at 9°C the fastest-growing strain of I. obliquus was PAT21061, at 18°C PAT22871 and at 22°C PAT21058. On B. pendula, the I. obliquus strain, PATKJ180 had the highest growth rate; on B. pubescens, PAT21061; on A. glutinosa, PATKA880; and on A. incana, PATKA2679 exhibited the highest growth rate. But the growth rate characteristics of I. obliquus were not correlated with the host species origin of the fungus isolate. Still, the ability of strains to form conks is unknown and needs to be tested in vivo. Because I. obliquus grows faster in Betula wood than Alnus, the use of Betula wood for producing inoculation dowels is recommended in order to shorten the production time.
PDF
