Background Actinorhizal root nodules result from the interaction between a nitrogen-fixing actinomycete called Frankia and roots of dicotyledonous trees and shrubs belonging to 8 plant families and 25 genera. Most actinorhizal plants are capable of high rates of nitrogen fixation comparable to those found in legumes. As a consequence, these trees are able to grow in poor and disturbed soils and...

To verify the acclimation capacity of evergreen Fagaceae species on calcareous soil, we compared ecophysiological traits between Quercus glauca Thunb., Q. salicina Blume, Q. myrsinaefolia Blume, and Castanopsis cuspidata (Thunb.) Schottky as typical woody species from southwestern Japan. We also examined the inoculation effects of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi Astraeus hygrometricus and Scler...

Several bacteria were evaluated in greenhouse studies for their effectiveness at preventing formation of galls induced by Rhizobium vitis, the Gram negative bacterium that causes crown gall disease of grapevines. Three endophytic bacteria isolated from Malus domestica yielded promising results and were selected for further examination: Pseudomonas fluorescens isolate 1100-6, Bacillus subtilis i...

We determined the capacity of putative antidiabetic plants used by the Eastern James Bay Cree (Canada) to modulate key enzymes of gluconeogenesis and glycogen synthesis and key regulating kinases. Glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and glycogen synthase (GS) activities were assessed in cultured hepatocytes treated with crude extracts of seventeen plant species. Phosphorylation of AMP-dependent prot...

Conifers' exceptionally large genome (20-30 Gb) is scattered with 60% retrotransposon (RT) components and we have little knowledge on their origin and evolutionary implications. RTs may impede the expression of flanking genes and provide sources of the formation of novel small RNA (sRNAs) populations to constrain events of transposon (TE) proliferation/transposition. Here we show a declining ex...

In Latin America and the Caribbean, precious wood species like mahoganies (Swietenia spp.) and cedars (Cedrela spp.) are seriously injured by the mahogany shootborer, Hypsipyla grandella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) larva, which bores into the main shoot of trees. In previous experiments focused on searching for a preventive method for managing this pest, a wood extract of bitterwood, Quas...

The importance of dispersal for the maintenance of biodiversity, while long-recognized, has remained unresolved. We used molecular markers to measure effective dispersal in a natural population of the vertebrate-dispersed Neotropical tree, Simarouba amara (Simaroubaceae) by comparing the distances between maternal parents and their offspring and comparing gene movement via seed and pollen in th...

Larvae of. Culex tarsalis Coquillett and Culiseta inornata Williston are abundant in duck ponds within the San Joaquin freshwater marsh. Culex tarsalis are found year-round and Culiseta inornata are found during the winter months. Each duck pond has an area ofopen water ringed with emergent Scirpus californicus (bulrush) and Typha latifolia and Typha anpstifolia (cattails). Low densities of lar...