The role of pollination effectiveness on the attributes of interaction networks: from floral visitation to plant fitness

Ecology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martín H. Santiago‐Hernández ◽  
Silvana Martén‐Rodríguez ◽  
Martha Lopezaraiza‐Mikel ◽  
Ken Oyama ◽  
Antonio González‐Rodríguez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interaction Networks ◽  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Pollination Effectiveness ◽  
Floral Visitation

Overall and repeated floral visitation by insects suggests flower flies (Syrphidae) as the major pollinator group of Alaska Wild Rhubarb (Koenigia alaskana var. glabrescens; Polygonaceae) in Northwest Territories, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-191
Author(s):  
Paul M. Catling ◽  
Brenda Kostiuk ◽  
Jeffrey H. Skevington
Keyword(s):  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Alpine Plant ◽  
Floral Visitors ◽  
Floral Visitation ◽  
Ecological Importance ◽  
Flower Flies ◽  
Northwestern North America ◽  
Northeast Corner

Alaska Wild Rhubarb (Koenigia alaskana var. glabrescens; Polygonaceae) is a native Arctic, subarctic, and alpine plant of northwestern North America. Although the plant has some economic and ecological importance, its biology is poorly known. At 11 sites in the northeast corner of its range in Northwest Territories, we found that 87% of its floral visitors were flies, mostly Syrphidae, a diverse family known to be important pollinators. Insects visiting consecutive flowers on different plants and, thus, likely effecting pollination were also flies (78.6%) and also mostly Syrphidae (72.7%) followed by Hymenoptera (20%). Although syrphids were the dominant potential pollinators at most sites, there was some variation among sites. Our results provide quantitative support for pollinator diversity and the major role of Syrphidae in pollination of Alaska Wild Rhubarb. We suggest that pollination is not a limiting factor in this plant’s spread, nor its rare and local occurrence and restricted distribution, because the majority of its pollinators are widespread.

scholarly journals A QM/MM Study of Acylphosphatase Reveals the Nucleophilic-Attack and Ensuing Carbonyl-Assisted Catalytic Mechanisms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
zheng zhao ◽  
Phil bourne ◽  
Hao Hu ◽  
Huanyu Chu
Keyword(s):  
Energy Barrier ◽  
Potential Energy Surfaces ◽  
Catalytic Mechanism ◽  
Interaction Networks ◽  
Nucleophilic Attack ◽  
Reaction Coordinates ◽  
Transition State Stabilization ◽  
Catalytic Mechanisms ◽  
Energy Surfaces

Acylphosphatase is one of the vital enzymes in many organs/tissues to catalyze an acylphosphate molecule into carboxylate and phosphate. Here we use a combined <i>ab initio</i> QM/MM approach to reveal the catalytic mechanism of the benzoylphosphate-bound acylphosphatase system. Using a multi-dimensional reaction-coordinates-driving scheme, we obtained a detailed catalytic process including one nucleophilic-attack and then an ensuing carbonyl-shuttle catalytic mechanism by calculating two-dimensional potential energy surfaces. We also obtained an experiment-agreeable energy barrier and validated the role of the key amino acid Asn38. Additionally, we qualified the transition state stabilization strategy based on the amino acids-contributed interaction networks revealed in the enzymatic environment. This study provided usefule insights into the underlying catalytic mechanism to contribute to disease-involved research.

scholarly journals TOR coordinates with transcriptional and chromatin machinery to regulate thermotolerance and thermomemory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohan Sharma ◽  
Muhammed Jamsheer K ◽  
Brihaspati Narayan Shukla ◽  
Manvi Sharma ◽  
Prakhar Awasthi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Stress Signaling ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Epigenetic Landscape ◽  
Tor Signaling ◽  
Promoter Regions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Adaptation To Heat

ABSTRACTGlobal warming exhibits profound effects on plant fitness and productivity. To withstand stress, plants sacrifice their growth and activate protective stress responses for ensuring survival. However, the switch between growth and stress is largely elusive. In the past decade, emerging role of Target of Rapamycin (TOR) has been studied linking energy and stress signaling. Here, we have identified an important role of Glc-TOR signaling in plant adaptation to heat stress (HS). Glc-TOR via the E2Fa signaling module regulates the transcription of heat shock factor genes through direct recruitment of E2Fa onto their promoter regions. Glc also epigenetically governs the transcription of core HS signaling genes in a TOR-dependent manner. TOR acts in concert with p300/CREB HISTONE ACETYLTRANSFERASE1 (HAC1) and dictates the epigenetic landscape of HS loci to regulate thermotolerance. Arabidopsis plants defective in TOR and HAC1 exhibited reduced thermotolerance with a decrease in expression of core HS signaling genes. In addition, TOR also promotes accumulation of histone H3K4me3 marks at the promoters of thermomemory-related genes and therefore, governs thermomemory. Collectively, our findings thus reveal a mechanistic framework in which Glc-TOR signaling through different modules determines the integration of stress and energy signaling to regulate thermotolerance and thermomemory.

scholarly journals The role of 3’UTR-protein complexes in the regulation of protein multifunctionality and subcellular localization

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diogo M. Ribeiro ◽  
Alexis Prod’homme ◽  
Adrien Teixeira ◽  
Andreas Zanzoni ◽  
Christine Brun
Keyword(s):  
Cellular Localization ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Interaction Networks ◽  
Human Interactome ◽  
Multifunctional Proteins ◽  
Interaction Partners ◽  
Moonlighting Proteins ◽  
Rna Interaction

AbstractMultifunctional proteins often perform their different functions when localized in different subcellular compartments. However, the mechanisms leading to their localization are largely unknown. Recently, 3’UTRs were found to regulate the cellular localization of newly synthesized proteins through the co-translational formation of 3’UTR-protein complexes. Here, we investigate the formation of 3’UTR-protein complexes involving multifunctional proteins by exploiting large-scale protein-protein and protein-RNA interaction networks. Focusing on 238 human ‘extreme multifunctional’ (EMF) proteins, we predicted 1411 3’UTR-protein complexes involving 128 EMF proteins and evaluated their role in regulating protein cellular localization and multifunctionality. Notably, we find that EMF proteins lacking localization addressing signals, yet present at both the nucleus and cell surface, often form 3’UTR-protein complexes. In addition, they provide EMF proteins with the diversity of interaction partners necessary to their multifunctionality. Archetypal moonlighting proteins are also predicted to form 3’UTR-protein complexes thereby reinforcing our findings. Finally, our results indicate that the formation of 3’UTR-protein complex may be a common phenomenon in human cells, affecting up to 20% of the proteins in the human interactome.

scholarly journals Cannabis Microbiome and the Role of Endophytes in Modulating the Production of Secondary Metabolites: An Overview

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meysam Taghinasab ◽  
Suha Jabaji
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Cannabis Sativa ◽  
Plant Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Mineral Nutrient ◽  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Shed Light

Plants, including cannabis (Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa), host distinct beneficial microbial communities on and inside their tissues and organs, including seeds. They contribute to plant growth, facilitating mineral nutrient uptake, inducing defence resistance against pathogens, and modulating the production of plant secondary metabolites. Understanding the microbial partnerships with cannabis has the potential to affect the agricultural practices by improving plant fitness and the yield of cannabinoids. Little is known about this beneficial cannabis-microbe partnership, and the complex relationship between the endogenous microbes associated with various tissues of the plant, and the role that cannabis may play in supporting or enhancing them. This review will consider cannabis microbiota studies and the effects of endophytes on the elicitation of secondary metabolite production in cannabis plants. The review aims to shed light on the importance of the cannabis microbiome and how cannabinoid compound concentrations can be stimulated through symbiotic and/or mutualistic relationships with endophytes.

scholarly journals Role of salicylic acid glucosyltransferase in balancing growth and defence for optimum plant fitness

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yudai Kobayashi ◽  
Noriho Fukuzawa ◽  
Ayaka Hyodo ◽  
Hangil Kim ◽  
Shota Mashiyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Salicylic Acid ◽  
Plant Fitness

Using evolutionary functional-structural plant modelling to understand the effect of climate change on plant populations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorad de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Vital Rates ◽  
Climate Change Responses ◽  
Mechanistic Basis

The “holy grail” of trait-based ecology is to predict the fitness of a species in a particular environment based on its functional traits, which has become all the more relevant in the light of global change. However, current ecological models are ill-equipped to predict ecological responses to novel conditions due to their reliance on statistical methods and current observations rather than the mechanisms underlying how functional traits interact with the environment to determine plant fitness. Here, I will advocate the use of functional-structural plant (FSP) modelling in combination with evolutionary modelling to explore climate change responses in natural plant communities. Gaining a mechanistic understanding of how trait-environment interactions drive natural selection in novel environments requires consideration of individual plants with multidimensional phenotypes in dynamic environments that include abiotic gradients and biotic interactions, and their effect on the different vital rates that determine plant fitness. Evolutionary FSP modelling explicitly represents the trait-environment interactions that drive eco-evolutionary dynamics from individual to population scales and allows for efficient navigation of the large, complex and dynamic fitness landscapes that emerge from considering multidimensional plants in multidimensional environments. Using evolutionary FSP modelling as a tool to study climate change responses of plant communities can further our understanding of the mechanistic basis of these responses, and in particular, the role of local adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, and gene flow.

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