Figs (Ficus spp.) and fig wasps (Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae): hypotheses for an ancient symbiosis

Figs and their pollinating fig wasps are dependent on one another for propagation of their own kinds. The wasps reproduce by ovipositing through the styles of female flowers within the closed fig receptacles (syconia). About half of the female flowers within the syconia of monoecious figs have styles which are longer than the ovipositors of the wasp, and they will therefore produce seeds rather than wasp larvae. Since a longer ovipositor would enable a wasp to reach more ovules and deposit more eggs, the question arises at to why longer ovipositors have not evolved.
In an attempt to answer this question, four seemingly plausible hypotheses are examined but each is shown to be problematical in some way. Consideration is then given to a fifth hypothesis which proposes that ovipositor length is constrained by abortion of syconia with relatively few seed embryos and many agaonid larvae. It is argued first that this pattern of abortion will be selected during a sustained period of heavy wasp infestation because seeds will then become scarce relative to pollen-carrying wasps. Increased expenditure by the fig on seed production would therefore be favoured by natural selection. A greater expenditure on seeds would occur if young syconia with exceptionally heavy wasp infestations were dropped and the saved nutrients invested in syconia of a subsequent crop containing average levels of wasp larvae and seeds. Provided that the energy and nutrient cost of dropping young syconia is small, the selective advantage to the wasp of longer ovipositors is eliminated in this way. A stable coexistence of figs and wasps is therefore possible. The paper concludes by discussing two general predictions of the abortion hypothesis, and how these may be tested.     

鹅掌楸雌配子体败育对生殖的影响

胚珠和雌配子体败育是限制鹅掌楸生殖成功的一个重要因素。中国东部和西部鹅掌楸种群在雌配子体发育的各阶段上的败育程度有差异,以西部种群的发育较好。西部分布区较合适的生境促进了胚囊的发育,一定温度和湿度的环境可以活化珠心细胞输送营养物质供给雌配子体发育,提高受精和结籽的能力     

应用结构方程模型解析影响黄连木果实产量 和种子命运的因素

果实(种子)产量和质量是影响植物种群更新的重要因素。为了探明影响黄连木果实产量和种子命运的因素以及这些影响因素之间的相互作用, 作者于2009年对河南省济源市45株黄连木(Pistacia chinensis)结果样树的植株特征、果实特征、果实产量和种子命运等进行了测定, 并用结构方程模型进行综合分析。结果表明: (1)黄连木果实产量与树高、树冠面积和果序大小等特征成正相关, 但与胸径、果实大小相关性不显著; (2)与捕食者饱和假说的预测不一致, 单株果实产量对黄连木广肩小蜂(Eurytoma plotnikovi)的种子捕食率(即虫蛀率)无显著直接负向效应; (3)树高和果实大小对虫蛀率为显著直接正向效应, 胸径对虫蛀率为显著直接负向效应, 显示黄连木广肩小蜂对植株特征和果实特征有一定的选择能力; (4)空壳率与虫蛀率成显著负相关, 空壳果实越多, 越易逃避黄连木广肩小蜂的寄生, 空壳果实的存在对完好种子起到了一定保护作用, 可能是黄连木防御昆虫寄生的重要机制; (5)空壳率和虫蛀率对种子完好率有显著直接负向效应, 而胸径、果序大小和果实产量对完好率为间接正向效应, 树高和果实大小为间接负向效应。可见, 黄连木植株特征和果实特征均不同程度地影响其果实产量和昆虫寄生, 从而影响黄连木的种子质量和种群更新。     

夜间温度升高对双季早晚稻产量的影响

温度是影响水稻生长发育的重要因素,但夜间温度升高对双季水稻产量的影响还不清楚。利用两间玻璃室内夜间不同的温度条件,研究了水稻生长期间夜温升高对双季早、晚稻产量的影响。结果表明,夜间最低温度每升高1℃早稻产量降低5.42%-9.48%,而夜间最低温度每升高1℃晚稻产量提高8.99%-11.28%。夜温升高有利于早、晚稻的分蘖,增加有效穗数,但不利于颖花分化,使每穗粒数减少;夜温升高使早稻结实率下降,但提高晚稻的结实率。     

Seed abortion in wind-dispersed pods of Dalbergia sissoo: maternal regulation or sibling rivalry?

Summary Dalbergia sissoo, a wind-dispersed tropical tree, shows a positively skewed distribution of seeds per pod. This is attributed to the enhanced dispersal advantage of few-seeded pods due to their reduced wing loading (ratio of weight to pod surface area) and low settling velocity. The proximate mechanisms causing the positively skewed distribution were investigated. The distribution could not be attributed to the distribution pattern of ovule number per ovary, pollen grain limitation, lack of ovule fertilization, or post-fertilization elimination of many-seeded pods. Rather, it was caused by the post-fertilization abortion of seeds within a pod 2 weeks after fertilization. This intra-pod seed abortion (IPSA) is due to a dominance hierarchy of fertilized ovules from the distal (near stigma) to the basal end, generated by the temporal differences in fertilization. The dominant developing seeds at the distal end cause the abortion of others through the production and diffusion of an aborting agent. When the dominance hierarchy of the siblings is not intense, pods are formed with more than one seed. We argue that the positively skewed distribution of seeds per pod is not due to maternal regulation but is a result of sibling rivalry. We propose that this sibling rivalry is generated by genetic differences in pollen grain fitness and disucss the results in the context of parent-offspring conflict.     

The pro-life argument from substantial identity and the pro-choice argument from asymmetric value: a reply to Patrick Lee

Lee claims that foetuses and adult humans are phases of the same identical substance, and thus have the same moral status because: first, foetuses and adults are the same physical organism, and second, the development from foetus to adult is quantitative and thus not a change of substance. Versus the first argument, I contend that the fact that foetuses and adults are the same physical organism implies only that they are the same thing but not the same substance, much as living adults and their corpses are the same thing (same body) but not the same substance. Against Lee's second argument, I contend that Lee confuses the nature of a process with the nature of its result. A process of quantitative change can produce a change in substance. Lee also fails to show that foetuses are rational and thus have all the essential properties of adults, as required for them to be the same substance. Against the pro-choice argument from asymmetric value (that only the fact that a human has become conscious of its life and begun to count on its continuing can explain human life's asymmetric moral value, i.e. that it is vastly worse to kill a human than not to produce one), Lee claims that foetus's lives are asymmetrically valuable to them before consciousness. This leads to counterintuitive outcomes, and it confuses the goodness of life (a symmetric value that cannot account for why it is worse to kill a human than not produce one) with asymmetric value.     

2个果梅品种雌蕊分化进程及相关生化指标分析

为了解果梅(Prunus mume Sieb.et Zucc.)雌蕊分化进程及其败育机制,采用石蜡切片法观察了不同时期果梅品种‘龙眼’(‘Longyan’)和‘大嵌蒂’(‘Daqiandi’)花芽纵切面的解剖结构,并对2个品种不同时期花器官发育状况、花芽百分率、花芽纵径和横径以及花芽中的可溶性糖、可溶性蛋白质和淀粉含量进行了测定分析.结果显示:雌蕊分化期、雌蕊分化末期及盛花期,品种‘龙眼’的不完全花比例均显著小于品种‘大嵌蒂’,其中,盛花期‘龙眼’不完全花比例仅为5.0％,而‘大嵌蒂’不完全花比例高达76.3％.品种‘龙眼’雌蕊分化过程经历未分化期、分化初期、分化期及分化末期4个阶段,且最终有95.0％的花芽在分化末期能顺利形成完全花;品种‘大嵌蒂’雌蕊分化过程则包含未分化期、分化初期、分化期、解体期、解体后修复期和分化末期6个阶段,且仅有23.7％的花芽能形成完全花.雌蕊分化的不同阶段2个品种花芽纵径和横径的变化与其分化进程基本一致.品种‘龙眼’完全花的可溶性糖和可溶性蛋白质含量均高于品种‘大嵌蒂’的完全花和不完全花、淀粉含量则低于后两者;品种‘大嵌蒂’不完全花的可溶性糖和可溶性蛋白质含量最低、淀粉含量则最高,与2个品种的完全花有显著差异.综合分析结果表明:品种‘大嵌蒂’的花芽在12月中上旬停止伸长生长、雌蕊分化停滞直至逐渐解体,这一时期即为品种‘大嵌蒂’雌蕊败育的关键时期;导致果梅雌蕊选择性败育的原因可能与花芽中大分子营养物质的分解代谢有关.     

妊娠早期流产的阴道超声影像表现及与血清瘦素、ADAM12、CA-125水平的相关性研究

摘要 目的：探讨妊娠早期流产的阴道超声影像表现及与血清瘦素、融合素 -α（ADAM12）、糖类抗原 -125（CA-125）的相关性。方法：选取 2017年 7月 -2020年 9月于我院就诊的 419例具有早期先兆流产征象的孕妇患者,按妊娠结局分为妊娠早期流产组（流产组,61例）和正常早期妊娠组（正常组,358例）。所有患者均进行阴道超声检查,观察卵黄囊的大小和形态。测定胎儿冠臀长（CRL）、胎囊直径（GSD）、卵黄囊直径（YSD）和胎心率（FHR）。同时检测患者血清瘦素、ADAM12、CA-125水平。采用 Spearman秩相关分析评价阴道超声影像学表现与血清瘦素、ADAM12、CA-125水平的相关性。结果：正常组孕妇超声影像表现可见孕囊形态饱满,孕周和胎芽大小相符,可清晰显示原始心管、卵黄囊和胎心波动。流产组孕妇部分超声影像表现可见卵黄囊过大、过小或未见显示,胎芽略小,卵囊位置位于宫腔中下段,孕囊外形稍欠规则,同时可见原始心管或胎心波动。流产组孕妇平均 CRL、GSD、FHR均显著低于正常组,差异均有统计学意义（P＜0.05）;流产组患者平均 YSD稍低于常组,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。流产组孕妇各孕周 CRL、GSD、FHR均显著低于正常组,差异均有统计学意义（P＜0.05）;流产组患者第 6-7周 YSD高于正常组、第8-9周和第 10-11周 YSD低于正常组,差异均有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。流产组患者血清瘦素、ADAM12水平明显低于正常妊娠组,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）,流产组患者血清 CA-125水平明显高于正常妊娠组,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。妊娠早期流产患者阴道超声参数 CRL、GSD、FHR与血清瘦素、ADAM12呈正相关（P＜0.05）,与 CA-125水平呈负相关（P＜0.05）。结论：妊娠早期阴道超声及血清瘦素、ADAM12、CA-125可作为早期流产的有效预测因素,阴道超声参数 CRL、GSD、FHR与血清瘦素、ADAM12、CA-125水平具有相关性,临床可通过测定这些指标以提高妊娠早期流产预测的准确性。     

Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA在恒河猴药物流产胎盘中的表达

目的：通过检测重要的细胞凋亡调节因子Bax和Bcl-2的表达,探讨恒河猴胎盘细胞凋亡与药物流产的关系。方法：利用RT-PCR和原位杂交的方法检测恒河猴对照组和药物流产组(RU-486与AG诱导)胎盘中Bax和Bcl-2mRNA的表达。结果：Bax mRNA在流产胎盘中的表达量明显高于对照组胎盘。在胎盘绒毛滋养层细胞可见明显表达,基底层蜕膜细胞也有表达。Bcl-2mRNA在流产胎盘中的表达量明显低于对照组胎盘,表达部位与Bax类似。结论：RU-486和AG可能通过上调Bax mRNA和下调Bcl-2mRNA的表达,导致胎盘组织凋亡细胞的数量明显增加,从而影响胎盘的正常结构和功能,增加了流产的危险性。     

ART患者早期流产组织染色体异常及相关因素分析

目的:分析ART患者早期流产组织染色体异常及其相关影响因素。方法:回顾性分析2013-2017年ART患者行早期流产组织染色体检查的409例样本,分析胚胎染色体非整倍性发生及其与女方年龄、不孕年限、不孕因素、促排卵指标之间的关系。结果:ART流产患者中,流产组织染色体非整倍性发生率为57.46%,发生频次以16三体占比最高(23.95%),其次是22三体(13.45%)及Turner(9.24%)。流产组织染色体非整倍性患者平均年龄高于染色体整倍性患者(P0.001)。16三体组患者年龄低于22三体(P0.01)及Turner组(P0.05)。16三体组患者平均Gn使用量低于22三体组(P0.05)。16三体组患者移植15天血HCG值低于22三体(P0.05)及Turner组(P0.01)。结论:ART患者流产组织染色体非整倍性与女方年龄正相关,但16三体及Turner的发生与女方年龄相关性不大,且16三体更容易引发早期流产。