Three indigenous tree species with contrasting leafing phenologies (evergreen, dry-season deciduous, and wet-season deciduous) were grown in monoculture and together with two other life-forms with which they commonly occur in tropical forests: a palm and a giant, perennial herb. To calculate nutrient leaching over an 11-year period, concentrations of nutrients in soil water were find more multiplied by drainage rates estimated from a water balance. The effect of plant-life-form richness on retention differed according to tree species identity and nutrient. Nitrate retention was greater in polycultures of the dry-season deciduous tree species (mean of 7.4 kg ha(-1) year(-1) of NO(3)-N lost compared to 12.7 in monoculture), and calcium

and magnesium retention were greater in polycultures of the evergreen and wet-season deciduous tree species. Complementary use of light led to intensification of soil exploitation by roots, the main agent responsible for enhanced nutrient retention in some polycultures. Other mechanisms included differences in nutrient demand among species, and avoidance of catastrophic failure due to episodic weather events or pest outbreaks. Even unrealistically simple multi-life-form mimics of tropical forest can safeguard a site’s nutrient capital if careful attention is paid to species’ characteristics and temporal changes in interspecific

interactions.”
“Plants undergo contrasting developmental programs in dark and light. Photomorphogenesis, a light-adapted programme is repressed

in the dark by the synergistic actions of CUL4(COP1-SPA) E3 PRIMA-1MET ubiquitin ligase and a subset of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors called phytochrome interacting factors (PIFs). To promote photomorphogenesis, light activates the phytochrome family of sensory photoreceptors, which inhibits these repressors by poorly understood mechanisms. Here, we show that the CUL4(COP1-SPA) E3 ubiquitin ligase is necessary for the light-induced degradation Nutlin-3 cell line of PIF1 in Arabidopsis. The light-induced ubiquitylation and subsequent degradation of PIF1 is reduced in the cop1, spaQ and cul4 backgrounds. COP1, SPA1 and CUL4 preferentially form complexes with the phosphorylated forms of PIF1 in response to light. The cop1 and spaQ seeds display strong hyposensitive response to far-red light-mediated seed germination and light-regulated gene expression. These data show a mechanism by which an E3 ligase attenuates its activity by degrading its cofactor in response to light.”
“The applicability of single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICPMS) is currently limited to particles larger than similar to 10 nm in diameter. In this work, the size detection limit (DLs) was improved by resolving the ion bursts originating from silver or gold nanoparticles (AgNPs or AuNPs) using real time data acquisition with 0.1 ms time resolution. Such acquisition is here called the Fast Acquisition Speed Technique (FAST).