7 research outputs found
Resynthesized lines from domesticated and wild Brassica taxa and their hybrids with B. napus L.: genetic diversity and hybrid yield
No full textResynthesized (Resyn) Brassica napus L. can be used to broaden the genetic diversity and to develop a heterotic genepool for rapeseed hybrid breeding. Domesticated vegetable types are usually employed as B. oleracea parents. We sought to evaluate the potential of wild species as parents for Resyn lines. Fifteen Resyn lines were derived by crossing wild B. oleracea ssp. oleracea and oilseed B. rapa, and 29 Resyn lines were generated from 10 wild Brassica species (B. bourgaei, B. cretica, B. incana, B. insularis, B. hilarionis, B. macrocarpa, B. montana, B. rupestris, B. taurica, B. villosa). Genetic distances were analyzed with AFLP markers for 71 Resyn lines from wild and domesticated B. oleracea, and compared with 55 winter, spring, vegetable, and Asian B. napus genotypes. The genetic distances clearly showed that Resyn lines with wild species provide a genetic diversity absent from the breeding material or Resyn lines from domesticated species. Forty-two Resyn lines were crossed with one or two winter oilseed rape testers, resulting in 64 hybrids that were grown in one year and four locations in Germany and France. The correlation between hybrid yield and genetic distance was slightly negative (r = -0.29). Most of the hybrids with Resyn lines from wild B. oleracea were lower in yield than hybrids with Resyn lines from domesticated B. oleracea. It is promising that Resyn lines descending from unselected wild B. oleracea accessions produced high-yielding hybrids when crossed with adapted genotypes: these Resyn lines would be suited to develop heterotic pools in hybrid breeding
THE EUROPEAN PUFACHAIN PROJECT (FP7) - A VALUE CHAIN FROM ALGAL BIOMASS TO LIPID-BASED PRODUCTS
No full textMass development of a filamentous and likely nitrophilous aerophytic green alga on tree bark:<i>Apatococcus ammoniophilus</i> sp. nov. (Chlorophyta, Trebouxiophyceae)
No full textIntroduction: A filamentous green alga forming significant biomass on twigs and needles was observed to have increased invasively in Denmark in recent decades. It was particularly abundant in coniferous plantations in western parts of Denmark that experience the highest modelled concentration of atmospheric nitrogen deposition. However, its species identity and taxonomy remained unknown. Material and methods: Selected algal samples from various substrates were analyzed for their ribosomal DNA sequences, metagenomic, and biochemical compounds [polyols and mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs)]. Results: Phylogenetic analyses revealed the alga’s position within the Trebouxiophyceae (Chlorophyta), forming an independent lineage within Apatococcus. Though it was associated with various other Trebouxiophyceae species, the metagenome showed exceptionally high coverage of the Apatococcus contigs, proving its predominance, consistent with the amplicon-based approach. The low molecular weight carbohydrates, arabitol, erythritol, and trehalose – with erythritol displaying the highest concentrations—were recovered. The presence of erythritol provided chemotaxonomic support for the classification in Apatococcus. Additionally, a unique UV-absorbing mycosporine amino acid (MAA), likely new for the Trebouxiophyceae, was found. The species is described here as A. ammoniophilus, and the observed morphological features leave no doubt that it has been recorded from Denmark more than a 100 years ago. Morphological features are shared with its closer relatives, such as the presence of a ring of particles surrounding the nucleus and the formation of two-celled units.Discussion: The presence of low molecular weight carbohydrates and the unique MAA in A. ammoniophilus well explain the biochemical basis for its aeroterrestrial lifestyle, as these organic compounds protect against desiccation and UV-radiation, respectively. Even though the genotype of A. ammoniophilus has also been found in inconspicuous biofilms devoid of filamentous stages on various substrates with presumably low ammonia deposition, the very invasive colonization in recent decades in western Denmark is assumed to be due to ammonia deposition. Consequently, A. ammoniophilus is suggested to be a potential biological indicator of air borne nitrogen deposition. A possible connection between filamentous growth and nitrogen accumulation needs further investigation, including culture experiments
The Protection of Minority Shareholders in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
No full textIn ihrer rechtsvergleichend angelegten Arbeit untersucht die Verfasserin den Schutz von Minderheitenaktionären in Vietnam, Thailand und Malaysia sowohl auf der Ebene der gesetzlichen Regelungen als auch auf der Ebene ihrer tatsächlichen Wirkung. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, einen Einblick in die tatsächliche Funktionsweise des Unternehmens- und Gesellschaftsrechts zu ermöglichen. Gestützt auf die Ergebnisse ihrer Feldforschung zeigt die Autorin, dass sich die Rechtsregelungen in den drei Jurisdiktionen auf dem Papier zwar denjenigen der USA annähern, zwischen dem »law in the books« und dem »law in action« jedoch ein erheblicher Unterschied besteht, dessen Ausmaß vom jeweiligen lokalen Kontext bestimmt wird. Die Autorin zeigt auf, dass sich die Mechanismen, die dem Schutz von Minderheitenaktionären dienen, in allen drei Jurisdiktionen trotz der erheblichen Unterschiede im lokalen Kontext ähnlichen Schwierigkeiten ausgesetzt sehen. Der Schutz von Minderheitenaktionären erweist sich im Ergebnis als ein öffentliches Gut, der in Anbetracht einer mangelnden Kontrolle durch den Kapitalmarkt auf stattliche Durchsetzung angewiesen ist und damit nicht nur Reformen der corporate governance, sondern auch der public governance voraussetzt.In her comparative analysis of the protection of minority shareholders in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, the author first compares the law-on-the-books, then evaluates which informal rules and enforcement characteristics determine the protection of minority shareholders in each country, and finally compares these factors and their impact. The analysis of the formal rules aiming to protect minority shareholders in the three countries shows that a conversion towards the Anglo-American concept of corporate law is taking place. However, in all three jurisdictions, there is a gap between the »law in the books« and the »law in action« although the degree of this gap depends on the local context. Although the local context is very different in the three countries for various reasons, the legal devices to protect minority shareholders face similar problems in all three jurisdictions. In sum, monitoring of corporations – and thus the protection of minority shareholders – remains a public good. Due to the lack of control by a fully developed capital market, public enforcement remains a key issue. The author therefore concludes that in all three countries, further improvement of corporate governance requires reforms of public governance
Grasshopper DCMD : an undergraduate electrophysiology lab for investigating single-unit responses to behaviorally-relevant stimuli
No full textAuthor Posting. © Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education 15 (2017): A162-A173.Avoiding capture from a fast-approaching predator is an important survival skill shared by many animals. Investigating the neural circuits that give rise to this escape behavior can provide a tractable demonstration of systems-level neuroscience research for undergraduate laboratories. In this paper, we describe three related hands-on exercises using the grasshopper and affordable technology to bring neurophysiology, neuroethology, and neural computation to life and enhance student understanding and interest. We simplified a looming stimuli procedure using the Backyard Brains SpikerBox bioamplifier, an open-source and low-cost electrophysiology rig, to extracellularly record activity of the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD) neuron from the grasshopper’s neck. The DCMD activity underlies the grasshopper's motor responses to looming monocular visual cues and can easily be recorded and analyzed on an open-source iOS oscilloscope app, Spike Recorder. Visual stimuli are presented to the grasshopper by this same mobile application allowing for synchronized recording of stimuli and neural activity. An in-app spike-sorting algorithm is described that allows a quick way for students to record, sort, and analyze their data at the bench. We also describe a way for students to export these data to other analysis tools. With the protocol described, students will be able to prepare the grasshopper, find and record from the DCMD neuron, and visualize the DCMD responses to quantitatively investigate the escape system by adjusting the speed and size of simulated approaching objects. We describe the results from 22 grasshoppers, where 50 of the 57 recording sessions (87.7%) had a reliable DCMD response. Finally, we field-tested our experiment in an undergraduate neuroscience laboratory and found that a majority of students (67%) could perform this exercise in one two-hour lab setting, and had an increase in interest for studying the neural systems that drive behavior.Funding for this project was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health Small Business Innovation Research grant #2R44MH093334: “Backyard Brains: Bringing Neurophysiology into Secondary Schools.
CO measurements from the ACE-FTS satellite instrument: data analysis and validation using ground-based, airborne and spaceborne observations
No full textThe Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) mission was launched in August 2003 to sound the atmosphere by solar occultation. Carbon monoxide (CO), a good tracer of pollution plumes and atmospheric dynamics, is one of the key species provided by the primary instrument, the ACE-Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS). This instrument performs measurements in both the CO 1-0 and 2-0 ro-vibrational bands, from which vertically resolved CO concentration profiles are retrieved, from the mid-troposphere to the thermosphere. This paper presents an updated description of the ACE-FTS version 2.2 CO data product, along with a comprehensive validation of these profiles using available observations (February 2004 to December 2006). We have compared the CO partial columns with ground-based measurements using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and millimeter wave radiometry, and the volume mixing ratio profiles with airborne (both high-altitude balloon flight and airplane) observations. CO satellite observations provided by nadir-looking instruments (MOPITT and TES) as well as limb-viewing remote sensors (MIPAS, SMR and MLS) were also compared with the ACE-FTS CO products. We show that the ACE-FTS measurements provide CO profiles with small retrieval errors (better than 5% from the upper troposphere to 40 km, and better than 10% above). These observations agree well with the correlative measurements, considering the rather loose coincidence criteria in some cases. Based on the validation exercise we assess the following uncertainties to the ACE-FTS measurement data: better than 15% in the upper troposphere (8-12 km), than 30% in the lower stratosphere (12-30 km), and than 25% from 30 to 100 km. © Author(s) 2008.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
On the neural encoding of object information : a model simulation study of the fly lobula plate network
No full textHennig P. On the neural encoding of object information : a model simulation study of the fly lobula plate network. Bielefeld: Universität; 2011
