A novel coordination network of Tb(III) with 2-hydroxy-trimesic acid showing very intense photoluminescence

Metals in Catalysis, Biomimetics & Inorganic Material

The contrasting roles of host species diversity and parasite population genetic diversity in the infection dynamics of a keystone parasitic plant

Diversity among species and genetic diversity within species are both important components of ecological communities that can determine the outcome of species interactions, especially between hosts and parasites. We sought to understand the impact of species diversity on host community resistance to infection by a keystone parasitic plant (Rhinanthus minor L.) and genetic diversity of the parasite on its successful establishment in a grassland community. We used an experimental approach where large pots were planted with mixtures of mesotrophic grassland species at high and low species diversity. The parasitic plant was sown in a proportion of these with high and low genetic diversity treatments. Establishment of the parasite was monitored over 2 years and the pots harvested at the end of each growing season to determine the impact of infection on plant community biomass. We found a strong effect of host plant species diversity on the establishment of the parasitic plant, with successful establishment considerably lower in the high species diversity treatment. Genetic diversity appeared to promote establishment of the parasite in the high species diversity treatment, and also facilitated longer term fitness in the low species diversity treatment. Host community structure was influenced by R. minor, with grass relative biomass decreasing and legume relative biomass increasing when the parasite was present. There was no direct impact of the presence of the parasite on the relative biomass of nonleguminous forbs. Synthesis. Our data demonstrate the importance of host community species diversity in deterring the establishment of a generalist parasite. They also highlight the role of genetic diversity in determining the outcome of host–parasite interactions in multispecies communities. These findings, therefore, have important implications for the establishment and management of species‐rich grasslands and provide insight into the community dynamics of parasitic plants and their hosts

A combined linkage, microarray and exome analysis suggests MAP3K11 as a candidate gene for left ventricular hypertrophy

Background: Electrocardiographic measures of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) are used as predictors of cardiovascular risk. We combined linkage and association analyses to discover novel rare genetic variants involved in three such measures and two principal components derived from them. Methods: The study was conducted among participants from the Erasmus Rucphen Family Study (ERF), a Dutch family-based sample from the southwestern Netherlands. Variance components linkage analyses were performed using Merlin. Regions of interest (LOD > 1.9) were fine-mapped using microarray and exome sequence data. Results: We observed one significant LOD score for the second principal component on chromosome 15 (LOD score = 3.01) and 12 suggestive LOD scores. Several loci contained variants identified in GWAS for these traits; however, these did not explain the linkage peaks, nor did other common variants. Exome sequence data identified two associated variants after multiple testing corrections were applied. Conclusions: We did not find common SNPs explaining these linkage signals. Exome sequencing uncovered a relatively rare variant in MAPK3K11 on chromosome 11 (MAF = 0.01) that helped account for the suggestive linkage peak observed for the first principal component. Conditional analysis revealed a drop in LOD from 2.01 to 0.88 for MAP3K11, suggesting that this variant may partially explain the linkage signal at this chromosomal location. MAP3K11 is related to the JNK pathway and is a pro-apoptotic kinase that plays an important role in the induction of cardiomyocyte apoptosis in various pathologies, including LVH

Mode of reproduction, ploidy and fluctuating asymmetry: comparison of co-existing sexual and asexual freshwater snails

We compared fluctuating asymmetry of ecologically similar sexual and asexual freshwater snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). The asexual snails are triploid apomictic parthenogens, whereas the sexual snails are diploid. Although earlier studies have shown that the average heterozygosity does not differ between sexuals and asexuals, higher ploidy level and accumulation of mutations may affect the fluctuating asymmetry of asexuals. However, it is unclear how large this genetic effect might be relative to the environmental effects; empirical studies of the effects of genetic stress on fluctuating asymmetry suggest that weak effects are to be expected. Our aim in this study was to contrast the magnitude of variation in fluctuating asymmetry due to environment to that due to ploidy and mode of reproduction. For this purpose, we assessed fluctuating asymmetry in radula morphology of co-existing sexual and asexual females, knowing that the asexuals represented a group of different clonal genotypes. For reference, we also assessed among-population variation in fluctuating asymmetry and contrasted this to among-individual variation in fluctuating asymmetry. The radula is a bilaterally symmetric feeding structure that is composed of repeated rows of teeth. We found significant among-individual variation in fluctuating asymmetry, indicating sufficiently powerful statistical analysis, but we found no statistically significant differences in fluctuating asymmetry between sympatric asexual and sexual snails, or among different snail populations. Our results suggest that genetic effects of ploidy and asexuality on fluctuating asymmetry are too small to be detected against the environmental variation. These results suggest that the asexual and sexual snails respond to external stress factors similarly, at least with respect to the level of fluctuating asymmetry

Heavy metals modify costs of reproduction and clonal growth in the stoloniferous herb Potentilla anserina

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