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Hydrophobins are small secreted proteins that are present as several gene copies in most fungal genomes. Their properties are now well understood: they are amphiphilic and assemble at hydrophilic/hydrophobic interfaces. However, their physiological functions remain largely unexplored, especially within mycorrhizal fungi. In this study, we identified hydrophobin genes and analysed their distributio
We reconstructed the past coastal environment of the Baltic Sea from c. 7300 to 3500 cal. a BP, with a focus on sea surface salinity (SSS). To quantitatively determine the SSS, two methods were employed: measurements of 87Sr/86Sr ratios in mollusc shells (SSSS r) and process length variations of dinoflagellate cysts Operculodinium centrocarpum (SSSpl). The SSSS r was ~6–7 between 6
It is generally accepted that China will be a great competitor to the Western industrialized countries in the twenty-first century. Is this a reasonable opinion? Is it true that China’s size and growth rate are important in measuring its potential as a competitor? Two questions should be considered. First, is the growth rate of the Chinese economy based on productivity gains? If economic growth is
Effects of the fungicide propiconazole on soil microorganisms were tested using [3H] leucine incorporation and [14C] acetate in ergosterol incorporation to measure bacterial and fungal growth inhibition, respectively. Growth was compared to basal respiration (BR) and substrate-induced respiration (SIR) in soil microcosms established according to the OECD 217 guideline. Fungal growth was most sensi
Climate change has the potential to affect the ecology and evolution of every species on Earth. Although the ecological consequences of climate change are increasingly well documented, the effects of climate on the key evolutionary process driving adaptation - natural selection - are largely unknown. We report that aspects of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, along with the North Atl
We analyze the convergence rate of the Dirichlet-Neumann iteration for the fully discretized one dimensional unsteady transmission problem. Specifically, we consider the coupling of two linear heat equations on two identical non overlapping intervals. The Laplacian is discretized using finite differences on one interval and finite elements on the other and the implicit Euler method is used for the
During the last decade there has been an ongoing controversy regarding the extent to which nitrogen fertilization can increase carbon sequestration and net ecosystem production in forest ecosystems. The debate is complicated by the fact that increased nitrogen availability caused by nitrogen deposition has coincided with increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The latter could furthe
Even though anthropogenic nano-sized tungsten carbide nanoparticles (WC NPs) have been found in the environment, there are currently no investigations on their environmental fate. This work studies the interaction between natural organic matter (NOM) and WC NPs, as well as the potential uptake by the aquatic model organism Daphnia magna. We here show that the affinity between WC NPs and humic acid
Background: Soils are important global carbon pools that are under threat from intensive land use through a variety of agricultural practices. Sustainable management of agricultural soils may have the potential to mitigate climate change through increased carbon sequestration and increase their fertility. Among management practices to increase carbon sequestration, crop rotation designs have often
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is a cereal grass mainly used as animal fodder and raw material for the malting industry. The map-based reference genome sequence of barley cv. â € Morex' was constructed by the International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium (IBSC) using hierarchical shotgun sequencing. Here, we report the experimental and computational procedures to (i) sequence and assemble more th
In boreal forests, ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi are found in soil layers containing decomposed litter and humus-rich soil organic matter (SOM). This chapter summarizes the present understanding of the mechanisms for oxidative decomposition of SOM and the hydrolysis and mobilization of organic N and P sources by ECM fungi. It discusses how these processes may influence the formation and stability of
Fluctuations in soil moisture create drying-rewetting events affecting the activity of microorganisms. Microbial responses to drying-rewetting are mostly studied in soils that are air-dried before rewetting. Upon rewetting, two patterns of bacterial growth have been observed. In the Type 1 pattern, bacterial growth rates increase immediately in a linear fashion. In the Type 2 pattern, bacterial gr
The identification of causal links between microbial community structure and ecosystem functions are required for a mechanistic understanding of ecosystem responses to environmental change. One of the most influential factors affecting plants and microbial communities in soil in managed ecosystems is the current land-use. In forestry, wood ash has been proposed as a liming agent and a fertilizer,
Many separate-sexed organisms have sex chromosomes controlling sex determination. Sex chromosomes often have reduced recombination, specialized (frequently sex-specific) gene content, dosage compensation and heteromorphic size. Research on sex determination and sex chromosome evolution has increased over the past decade and is today a very active field. However, some areas within the field have no
Mineral weathering plays an important role in soil formation, long-term plant nutrition, and the global carbon cycle. The dissolution rate of most soil minerals is extremely slow. Nearly 100. years ago it was proposed that plants actively mine for nutrients locked in soil minerals. In more recent times the role of plant-associated mycorrhizal fungi has been emphasized. In this chapter we criticall
Cereal grasses of the Triticeae tribe have been the major food source in temperate regions since the dawn of agriculture. Their large genomes are characterized by a high content of repetitive elements and large pericentromeric regions that are virtually devoid of meiotic recombination. Here we present a high-quality reference genome assembly for barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). We use chromosome confo
Moraxella catarrhalisis a human respiratory pathogen that causes acute otitis media in children and is associated with exacerbations in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The first step inM. catarrhaliscolonization is adherence to the mucosa, epithelial cells, and extracellular matrix (ECM). The objective of this study was to evaluate the role ofM. catarrhalisint
A Δ11 desaturase from the oblique banded leaf roller moth Choristoneura rosaceana takes the saturated myristic acid and produces a mixture of (E)-11-tetradecenoate and (Z)-11-tetradecenoate with an excess of the Z isomer (35:65). A desaturase from the spotted fireworm moth Choristoneura parallela also operates on myristic acid substrate but produces almost pure (E)-11-tetradecenoate. The two desat
