Influence of larval and juvenile life history on age at first maturity in two tropical amphidromous fish species

This study investigates how age at first maturity of two tropical amphidromous species Sicyopterus lagocephalus (Pallas, 1770) and Cotylopus acutipinnis (Guichenot, 1863) varies in relation to their larval and juvenile life history. Reproductive stage was estimated based on histological observation of ovaries of more than 200 females of each species caught monthly over 1 year. The age of fish was estimated by interpreting the daily increments deposited on otoliths during the oceanic larval phase, and the juvenile phase in the river. The age at first maturity was approximately 9 months for S. lagocephalus and 7 months for C. acutipinnis, corresponding to approximately 70–130 and 90–130 days after they returned to freshwater respectively. For both species, the time spent in freshwater before maturity was significantly influenced by the duration of the pelagic larval stage at sea (PLD) and the season of return in freshwater. Individuals with a long PLD, or returning in freshwater during the warmer season, maturated faster once in freshwater. This reproductive advantage may minimise the risk of extirpation due to catastrophic events at each generation and thus probably benefits amphidromous species living in very unpredictable tropical rivers.     

Efficacy of oxyclozanide against the rumen fluke Calicophoron daubneyi in experimentally infected goats

Paramphistome infections are very common in ruminants and may induce clinical signs, but little is known about effective treatments. In this study, the efficacy of oxyclozanide against Calicophoron daubneyi was studied in goats and its activity tested against immature stages (10 days post-infection) at a dose of 22.5mg/kg bodyweight (BW) and against adult stages using two doses (15 and 22.5mg/kg BW). There was a reduction (82%) in the number of immature worms (compared to controls) but the result was not statistically significant. When tested against adult stages, however, oxyclozanide reduced the worm burdens by 95.6% and 95.9% at doses of 15 and 22.5mg/kg BW, respectively, with no significant difference between the two doses. The experiment demonstrated that oxyclozanide is highly effective in reducing the number of adult paramphistomes in goats.     

Model-based evaluation of irrigation needs in Mediterranean vineyards

The irregular rainfall distribution causes interannual variation of water status in Mediterranean vineyards. A frequential analysis of irrigation needs was carried out from continuous simulation of the soil water balance during 39?years in south France. The off-season soil water refilling was often incomplete, with a higher frequency in soils with a high total transpirable soil water (TTSW) and/or susceptible to runoff and high evaporation. On soils with high TTSW (over 250?mm), the irrigation need was nil or small (except in situations of high runoff) and focused on the beginning of the crop cycle. On soils with lower TTSW, the irrigation need increased on average and was spread all along the grapevine cycle due to the limited buffering effect of the soil water reservoir. For 100?mm TTSW, the irrigation need was 40–60?mm for half of the years. The calculated irrigation needs were sensitive to the soil (TTSW, susceptibility to runoff and evaporation) and canopy (crop coefficient) properties. Therefore, soil and canopy management should be considered together with irrigation for an integrated approach of water management.     

Complete Larval Development of the Fresh Water Prawn Macrobrachium vollenhovenii in Cameroon

The African River prawn Macrobrachium vollenhovenii is the largest of the local Palaemonidae prawns along the Cameroonian coast and an important target species for fisheries and aquaculture. A preliminary study on larviculture of this species was carried out at the IRAD-AQUASOL hatchery in Kribi, Cameroon. Berried females M. vollenhovenii were obtained from the Lobe and Lokoundje Rivers in the Southern Region, typical Lower Guinea rainforest streams. The larval rearing system consisted of a single recirculation system of four 65 L cylindrical plastic containers connected to a submerged biological filter container (65 L). Experiments were conducted three times in the same condition, with two batches of larvae reared separately in duplicate per experiment, at a density of 40/L, temperature 26°C, and salinity 16%. Larvae were fed from 1 day after hatching until metamorphosis to postlarvae (PL) with newly hatched Artemia nauplii, three times daily at the rate of 5 nauplii per mL water. The number of newly hatched larvae per female body weight unit was not affected by the female size and ranged between 531 to 1349 larvae g^?1. The six batches succeeded from hatching to metamorphosis, and the 11 distinct larval stages described for M. rosenbergii were found. Larvae in all the batches developed more or less at the same pace up to stage V. However, a clear difference in the timing of appearance of the developmental stages was observed between batches and individuals of the same batch during the subsequent stages. The transition from stage V to stage VI and from stage IX to stage X was longer than the passage to other stages and seems to be the critical rearing period of M. vollenhovenii. From day 20 onward to sampling, the larval stage index (LSI) showed that larval development of the batch 1 was significantly faster than for all other batches. The time for first appearance of postlarvae was variable between batches (41–74 days), and batch 1 larvae passed through metamorphosis within a shorter span of time (41 days). Survival up to postlarvae was variable among batches, ranging between 3%–9%, and was better in batch 1 (9.31 ± 1.09). The general poor performance in terms of survival and metamorphosis rates of larvae seems to be related to the wild condition of broodstock. To improve performance of larvae, domestication of stock may be necessary. This result is the first recorded success in larviculture of M. vollenhovenii in Cameroon.     

A high-throughput seed germination assay for root parasitic plants

Background

Some root-parasitic plants belonging to the Orobanche, Phelipanche or Striga genus represent one of the most destructive and intractable weed problems to agricultural production in both developed and developing countries. Compared with most of the other weeds, parasitic weeds are difficult to control by conventional methods because of their life style. The main difficulties that currently limit the development of successful control methods are the ability of the parasite to produce a tremendous number of tiny seeds that may remain viable in the soil for more than 15 years. Seed germination requires induction by stimulants present in root exudates of host plants. Researches performed on these minute seeds are until now tedious and time-consuming because germination rate is usually evaluated in Petri-dish by counting germinated seeds under a binocular microscope.

Results

We developed an easy and fast method for germination rate determination based on a standardized 96-well plate test coupled with spectrophotometric reading of tetrazolium salt (MTT) reduction. We adapted the Mosmann’s protocol for cell cultures to germinating seeds and determined the conditions of seed stimulation and germination, MTT staining and formazan salt solubilization required to obtain a linear relationship between absorbance and germination rate. Dose–response analyses were presented as applications of interest for assessing half maximal effective or inhibitory concentrations of germination stimulants (strigolactones) or inhibitors (ABA), respectively, using four parameter logistic curves.

Conclusion

The developed MTT system is simple and accurate. It yields reproducible results for germination bioassays of parasitic plant seeds. This method is adapted to high-throughput screenings of allelochemicals (stimulants, inhibitors) or biological extracts on parasitic plant seed germination, and strengthens the investigations of distinctive features of parasitic plant germination.

     

Crystal structure of the low-pH form of the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein G

The vesicular stomatitis virus has an atypical membrane fusion glycoprotein (G) exhibiting a pH-dependent equilibrium between two forms at the virus surface. Membrane fusion is triggered during the transition from the high- to low-pH form. The structure of G in its low-pH form shows the classic hairpin conformation observed in all other fusion proteins in their postfusion conformation, in spite of a novel fold combining features of fusion proteins from classes I and II. The structure provides a framework for understanding the reversibility of the G conformational change. Unexpectedly, G is homologous to gB of herpesviruses, which raises important questions on viral evolution.