Europe-wide reduction in primary productivity caused by the heat and drought in 2003

Future climate warming is expected to enhance plant growth in temperate ecosystems and to increase carbon sequestration. But although severe regional heatwaves may become more frequent in a changing climate, their impact on terrestrial carbon cycling is unclear. Here we report measurements of ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes, remotely sensed radiation absorbed by plants, and country-level crop yields taken during the European heatwave in 2003. We use a terrestrial biosphere simulation model to assess continental-scale changes in primary productivity during 2003, and their consequences for the net carbon balance. We estimate a 30 per cent reduction in gross primary productivity over Europe, which resulted in a strong anomalous net source of carbon dioxide (0.5 Pg C yr(-1)) to the atmosphere and reversed the effect of four years of net ecosystem carbon sequestration. Our results suggest that productivity reduction in eastern and western Europe can be explained by rainfall deficit and extreme summer heat, respectively. We also find that ecosystem respiration decreased together with gross primary productivity, rather than accelerating with the temperature rise. Model results, corroborated by historical records of crop yields, suggest that such a reduction in Europe's primary productivity is unprecedented during the last century. An increase in future drought events could turn temperate ecosystems into carbon sources, contributing to positive carbon-climate feedbacks already anticipated in the tropics and at high latitudes.     

Exotoxin in malaria infection (Plasmodium berghei)

Zusammenfassung Swiss Mäuse, die unbehandelt eine Infektion mitPl. berghei niemals überleben, wurden mit Serum von frisch infizierten Tieren (12. Infektionstag) immunisiert und anschliessend infiziert. Obgleich sich danach in allen Fällen eine schwere Parasitämie entwickelte, heilten 44% derjenigen Tiere nach dem 35. Infektionstag spontan aus, die mit 3 mg Serumprotein/Maus immunisiert waren. Wegen der offensichtlich eingetretenen Immunoblockade überlebten dagegen nach Immunisation mit höheren Proteinmengen (mehr als 30 mg per Maus) keine Tiere.     

Ecology: living in synchrony on Greenland coasts?

Theory indicates that correlated weather may synchronize populations, but the extent to which this holds for non-identical, nonlinear systems is uncertain. Post and Forchhammer claim to have shown climate-induced synchrony for musk oxen and caribou that are separated by the Greenland ice sheet. However, logical and mathematical errors undermine their finding. Whether or not large-scale weather can be a major synchronizing factor across species remains an open question.     

Mutation of RRM2B, encoding p53-controlled ribonucleotide reductase (p53R2), causes severe mitochondrial DNA depletion

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) depletion syndrome (MDS; MIM 251880) is a prevalent cause of oxidative phosphorylation disorders characterized by a reduction in mtDNA copy number. The hitherto recognized disease mechanisms alter either mtDNA replication (POLG (ref. 1)) or the salvage pathway of mitochondrial deoxyribonucleosides 5'-triphosphates (dNTPs) for mtDNA synthesis (DGUOK (ref. 2), TK2 (ref. 3) and SUCLA2 (ref. 4)). A last gene, MPV17 (ref. 5), has no known function. Yet the majority of cases remain unexplained. Studying seven cases of profound mtDNA depletion (1-2% residual mtDNA in muscle) in four unrelated families, we have found nonsense, missense and splice-site mutations and in-frame deletions of the RRM2B gene, encoding the cytosolic p53-inducible ribonucleotide reductase small subunit. Accordingly, severe mtDNA depletion was found in various tissues of the Rrm2b-/- mouse. The mtDNA depletion triggered by p53R2 alterations in both human and mouse implies that p53R2 has a crucial role in dNTP supply for mtDNA synthesis.     

Distinction of influenza viruses of different host cell origin

Summary Influenza A viruses grown in different animal or human cells retain their antigenic make-up as tested by the usual immunological assays. With the aid of aSambucus nigra (L.) extract containing its lectins the viruses can be distinguished after one single passage in a different cell type by a change in their hemagglutinating properties. Binding of such lectins to influenza viruses may be a means for a more subtle classification, relating to the host cell origin of the virus.     

The mode of formation of intracytoplasmic structures in tumours induced by viruses of the avian sarcoma leucosis group

Zusammenfassung Die durch Viren der Vögel-Sarkom-Leukose-Gruppe hervorgerufenen intrazytoplasmatischen Strukturen sind sehr wahrscheinlich Immunpräzipitate.

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This paper is dedicated to Prof.H. Lettré on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with desert ephemerals growing under and beyond the canopies of Tamarisk shrubs

The arbuscular mycorrhizal （AM） fungal status of the four most common ephemeral plant species, Chorispora tenella （Pall.） DC., Ceratocephalus testiculatus （Crantz） Bess., Eremopyrum orientale （L.） Jaub et. Spash and Veronica campyIopoda Boiss growing in an area dominated by Tamarisk shrubs （Tamarix spp.） was investigated. Samples of the four ephemerals and their rhizosphere soils were collected from underneath and beyond the canopies of the Tamarisk shrubs. Plant mycorrhizal status and soil AM fungal spore densities and community structures were analyzed and compared under and beyond the shrub canopies. The mycorrhizal colonization rates of the ephemerals and spore densities in their corresponding rhizosphere soils were significantly lower under the shrub canopies than beyond. The number of AM fungal species under the shrubs （12） was also lower than beyond the canopies （19）. When soil properties in the rhizospheres of the four ephemerals were examined, available N and P and total P, organic matter content, total salt content and electrical conductivity （EC） were all higher under the canopies than beyond. In contrast, soil available K and pH showed no such trend. A total of 21 AM fungal species were isolated from rhizosphere soils of the four ephemerals. Five belonged to Acaulospora, one to Archaeospora, thirteen to Glomus and two to Paraglomus. We conclude that the canopies of Tamarix spp. exerted some influence on the AM status of the ephemerals and on the AM fungal communities and some of the properties of their rhizosphere soils.