@article{AllanBossdorfDormannetal.2014, author = {Allan, Eric and Bossdorf, Oliver and Dormann, Carsten F. and Prati, Daniel and Gossner, Martin M. and Tscharntke, Teja and Bl{\"u}thgen, Nico and Bellach, Michaela and Birkhofer, Klaus and Boch, Steffen and B{\"o}hm, Stefan and B{\"o}rschig, Carmen and Chatzinotas, Antonis and Christ, Sabina and Daniel, Rolf and Diek{\"o}tter, Tim and Fischer, Christiane and Friedl, Thomas and Glaser, Karin and Hallmann, Christine and Hodac, Ladislav and H{\"o}lzel, Norbert and Jung, Kirsten and Klein, Alexandra-Maria and Klaus, Valentin H. and Kleinebecker, Till and Krauss, Jochen and Lange, Markus and Morris, E. Kathryn and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Nacke, Heiko and Pasalic, Esther and Rillig, Matthias C. and Rothenwoehrer, Christoph and Schally, Peter and Scherber, Christoph and Schulze, Waltraud X. and Socher, Stephanie A. and Steckel, Juliane and Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf and T{\"u}rke, Manfred and Weiner, Christiane N. and Werner, Michael and Westphal, Catrin and Wolters, Volkmar and Wubet, Tesfaye and Gockel, Sonja and Gorke, Martin and Hemp, Andreas and Renner, Swen C. and Sch{\"o}ning, Ingo and Pfeiffer, Simone and K{\"o}nig-Ries, Birgitta and Buscot, Francois and Linsenmair, Karl Eduard and Schulze, Ernst-Detlef and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and Fischer, Markus}, title = {Interannual variation in land-use intensity enhances grassland multidiversity}, series = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, volume = {111}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, number = {1}, publisher = {National Acad. of Sciences}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0027-8424}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1312213111}, pages = {308 -- 313}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Although temporal heterogeneity is a well-accepted driver of biodiversity, effects of interannual variation in land-use intensity (LUI) have not been addressed yet. Additionally, responses to land use can differ greatly among different organisms; therefore, overall effects of land-use on total local biodiversity are hardly known. To test for effects of LUI (quantified as the combined intensity of fertilization, grazing, and mowing) and interannual variation in LUI (SD in LUI across time), we introduce a unique measure of whole-ecosystem biodiversity, multidiversity. This synthesizes individual diversity measures across up to 49 taxonomic groups of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria from 150 grasslands. Multidiversity declined with increasing LUI among grasslands, particularly for rarer species and aboveground organisms, whereas common species and belowground groups were less sensitive. However, a high level of interannual variation in LUI increased overall multidiversity at low LUI and was even more beneficial for rarer species because it slowed the rate at which the multidiversity of rare species declined with increasing LUI. In more intensively managed grasslands, the diversity of rarer species was, on average, 18\% of the maximum diversity across all grasslands when LUI was static over time but increased to 31\% of the maximum when LUI changed maximally over time. In addition to decreasing overall LUI, we suggest varying LUI across years as a complementary strategy to promote biodiversity conservation.}, language = {en} } @article{AlluSojaWuetal.2014, author = {Allu, Annapurna Devi and Soja, Aleksandra Maria and Wu, Anhui and Szymanski, Jedrzej and Balazadeh, Salma}, title = {Salt stress and senescence: identification of cross-talk regulatory components}, series = {Journal of experimental botany}, volume = {65}, journal = {Journal of experimental botany}, number = {14}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0022-0957}, doi = {10.1093/jxb/eru173}, pages = {3993 -- 4008}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Leaf senescence is an active process with a pivotal impact on plant productivity. It results from extensive signalling cross-talk coordinating environmental factors with intrinsic age-related mechanisms. Although many studies have shown that leaf senescence is affected by a range of external parameters, knowledge about the regulatory systems that govern the interplay between developmental programmes and environmental stress is still vague. Salinity is one of the most important environmental stresses that promote leaf senescence and thus affect crop yield. Improving salt tolerance by avoiding or delaying senescence under stress will therefore play an important role in maintaining high agricultural productivity. Experimental evidence suggests that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) functions as a common signalling molecule in both developmental and salt-induced leaf senescence. In this study, microarray-based gene expression profiling on Arabidopsis thaliana plants subjected to long-term salinity stress to induce leaf senescence was performed, together with co-expression network analysis for H2O2-responsive genes that are mutually up-regulated by salt induced-and developmental leaf senescence. Promoter analysis of tightly co-expressed genes led to the identification of seven cis-regulatory motifs, three of which were known previously, namely CACGTGT and AAGTCAA, which are associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive genes, and CCGCGT, described as a stress-responsive regulatory motif, while the others, namely ACGCGGT, AGCMGNC, GMCACGT, and TCSTYGACG were not characterized previously. These motifs are proposed to be novel elements involved in the H2O2-mediated control of gene expression during salinity stress-triggered and developmental senescence, acting through upstream transcription factors that bind to these sites.}, language = {en} } @article{ArnoldNikoloski2014, author = {Arnold, Anne and Nikoloski, Zoran}, title = {In search for an accurate model of the photosynthetic carbon metabolism}, series = {Mathematics and computers in simulation : transactions of IMACS}, volume = {96}, journal = {Mathematics and computers in simulation : transactions of IMACS}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0378-4754}, doi = {10.1016/j.matcom.2012.03.011}, pages = {171 -- 194}, year = {2014}, abstract = {The photosynthetic carbon metabolism, including the Calvin-Benson cycle, is the primary pathway in C-3-plants, producing starch and sucrose from CO2. Understanding the interplay between regulation and efficiency of this pathway requires the development of mathematical models which would explain the observed dynamics of metabolic transformations. Here, we address this question by casting the existing models of Calvin-Benson cycle and the end-product processes into an analysis framework which not only facilitates the comparison of the different models, but also allows for their ranking with respect to chosen criteria, including stability, sensitivity, robustness and/or compliance with experimental data. The importance of the photosynthetic carbon metabolism for the increase of plant biomass has resulted in many models with various levels of detail. We provide the largest compendium of 15 existing, well-investigated models together with a comprehensive classification as well as a ranking framework to determine the best-performing models for metabolic engineering and planning of in silica experiments. The classification can be additionally used, based on the model structure, as a tool to identify the models which match best the experimental design. The provided ranking is just one alternative to score models and, by changing the weighting factor, this framework also could be applied for selection of other criteria of interest.}, language = {en} } @article{AttermeyerHornickKayleretal.2014, author = {Attermeyer, Katrin and Hornick, T. and Kayler, Zachary and Bahr, A. and Zwirnmann, E. and Grossart, Hans-Peter and Premke, K.}, title = {Enhanced bacterial decomposition with increasing addition of autochthonous to allochthonous carbon without any effect on bacterial community composition}, series = {Biogeosciences}, volume = {11}, journal = {Biogeosciences}, number = {6}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1726-4170}, doi = {10.5194/bg-11-1479-2014}, pages = {1479 -- 1489}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations - mainly of terrestrial origin - are increasing worldwide in inland waters. Heterotrophic bacteria are the main consumers of DOC and thus determine DOC temporal dynamics and availability for higher trophic levels. Our aim was to study bacterial carbon (C) turnover with respect to DOC quantity and chemical quality using both allochthonous and autochthonous DOC sources. We incubated a natural bacterial community with allochthonous C (C-13-labeled beech leachate) and increased concentrations and pulses (intermittent occurrence of organic matter input) of autochthonous C (phytoplankton lysate). We then determined bacterial C consumption, activities, and community composition together with the C flow through bacteria using stable C isotopes. The chemical analysis of single sources revealed differences in aromaticity and low-and high-molecular-weight substance fractions (LMWS and HMWS, respectively) between allochthonous and autochthonous C sources. Both DOC sources (allochthonous and autochthonous DOC) were metabolized at a high bacterial growth efficiency (BGE) around 50\%. In treatments with mixed sources, rising concentrations of added autochthonous DOC resulted in a further, significant increase in bacterial DOC consumption of up to 68\% when nutrients were not limiting. This rise was accompanied by a decrease in the humic substance (HS) fraction and an increase in bacterial biomass. Changes in DOC concentration and consumption in mixed treatments did not affect bacterial community composition (BCC), but BCC differed in single vs. mixed incubations. Our study highlights that DOC quantity affects bacterial C consumption but not BCC in nutrient-rich aquatic systems. BCC shifted when a mixture of allochthonous and autochthonous C was provided simultaneously to the bacterial community. Our results indicate that chemical quality rather than source of DOC per se (allochthonous vs. autochthonous) determines bacterial DOC turnover.}, language = {en} } @article{AudisioClineSolanoetal.2014, author = {Audisio, Paolo and Cline, Andrew R. and Solano, Emanuela and Mancini, Emiliano and Lamanna, Francesco and Antonini, Gloria and Trizzino, Marco}, title = {A peculiar new genus and species of pollen-beetle (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae) from eastern Africa, with a molecular phylogeny of related Meligethinae}, series = {Systematics and biodiversity}, volume = {12}, journal = {Systematics and biodiversity}, number = {1}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1477-2000}, doi = {10.1080/14772000.2013.877539}, pages = {77 -- 91}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @article{AzumaKuekenshoenerMaetal.2014, author = {Azuma, Yusuke and Kuekenshoener, Tim and Ma, Guangyong and Yasunaga, Jun-ichiro and Imanishi, Miki and Tanaka, Gen and Nakase, Ikuhiko and Maruno, Takahiro and Kobayashi, Yuji and Arndt, Katja Maren and Matsuoka, Masao and Futaki, Shiroh}, title = {Controlling leucine-zipper partner recognition in cells through modification of a-g interactions}, series = {Chemical communications}, volume = {50}, journal = {Chemical communications}, number = {48}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {1359-7345}, doi = {10.1039/c4cc00555d}, pages = {6364 -- 6367}, year = {2014}, abstract = {By focusing on the a-g interactions, successful design and selection were accomplished to obtain a leucine-zipper segment that discriminates the appropriate partner over another that provides very similar patterns of electrostatic interactions.}, language = {en} } @article{BadalyanDierichStibaetal.2014, author = {Badalyan, Artavazd and Dierich, Marlen and Stiba, Konstanze and Schwuchow, Viola and Leimk{\"u}hler, Silke and Wollenberger, Ulla}, title = {Electrical wiring of the aldehyde oxidoreductase PaoABC with a polymer containing osmium redox centers}, series = {Biosensors}, volume = {4}, journal = {Biosensors}, number = {4}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, doi = {10.3390/bios4040403}, pages = {403 -- 421}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Biosensors for the detection of benzaldehyde and g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are reported using aldehyde oxidoreductase PaoABC from Escherichia coli immobilized in a polymer containing bound low potential osmium redox complexes. The electrically connected enzyme already electrooxidizes benzaldehyde at potentials below -0.15 V (vs. Ag|AgCl, 1 M KCl). The pH-dependence of benzaldehyde oxidation can be strongly influenced by the ionic strength. The effect is similar with the soluble osmium redox complex and therefore indicates a clear electrostatic effect on the bioelectrocatalytic efficiency of PaoABC in the osmium containing redox polymer. At lower ionic strength, the pH-optimum is high and can be switched to low pH-values at high ionic strength. This offers biosensing at high and low pH-values. A "reagentless" biosensor has been formed with enzyme wired onto a screen-printed electrode in a flow cell device. The response time to addition of benzaldehyde is 30 s, and the measuring range is between 10-150 µM and the detection limit of 5 µM (signal to noise ratio 3:1) of benzaldehyde. The relative standard deviation in a series (n = 13) for 200 µM benzaldehyde is 1.9\%. For the biosensor, a response to succinic semialdehyde was also identified. Based on this response and the ability to work at high pH a biosensor for GABA is proposed by coimmobilizing GABA-aminotransferase (GABA-T) and PaoABC in the osmium containing redox polymer.}, language = {en} } @article{BaetenWartonVanCalsteretal.2014, author = {Baeten, Lander and Warton, David I. and Van Calster, Hans and De Frenne, Pieter and Verstraeten, Gorik and Bonte, Dries and Bernhardt-R{\"o}mermann, Markus and Cornelis, Johnny and Decocq, Guillaume and Eriksson, Ove and Hedl, Radim and Heinken, Thilo and Hermy, Martin and Hommel, Patrick and Kirby, Keith J. and Naaf, Tobias and Petrik, Petr and Walther, Gian-Reto and Wulf, Monica and Verheyen, Kris}, title = {A model-based approach to studying changes in compositional heterogeneity}, series = {Methods in ecology and evolution : an official journal of the British Ecological Society}, volume = {5}, journal = {Methods in ecology and evolution : an official journal of the British Ecological Society}, number = {2}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {2041-210X}, pages = {156 -- 164}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @article{BalazadehSchildhauerAraujoetal.2014, author = {Balazadeh, Salma and Schildhauer, Joerg and Araujo, Wagner L. and Munne-Bosch, Sergi and Fernie, Alisdair and Proost, Sebastian and Humbeck, Klaus and M{\"u}ller-R{\"o}ber, Bernd}, title = {Reversal of senescence by N resupply to N-starved Arabidopsis thaliana: transcriptomic and metabolomic consequences}, series = {Journal of experimental botany}, volume = {65}, journal = {Journal of experimental botany}, number = {14}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0022-0957}, doi = {10.1093/jxb/eru119}, pages = {3975 -- 3992}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Leaf senescence is a developmentally controlled process, which is additionally modulated by a number of adverse environmental conditions. Nitrogen shortage is a well-known trigger of precocious senescence in many plant species including crops, generally limiting biomass and seed yield. However, leaf senescence induced by nitrogen starvation may be reversed when nitrogen is resupplied at the onset of senescence. Here, the transcriptomic, hormonal, and global metabolic rearrangements occurring during nitrogen resupply-induced reversal of senescence in Arabidopsis thaliana were analysed. The changes induced by senescence were essentially in keeping with those previously described; however, these could, by and large, be reversed. The data thus indicate that plants undergoing senescence retain the capacity to sense and respond to the availability of nitrogen nutrition. The combined data are discussed in the context of the reversibility of the senescence programme and the evolutionary benefit afforded thereby. Future prospects for understanding and manipulating this process in both Arabidopsis and crop plants are postulated.}, language = {en} } @article{BaselHarmsPrechtletal.2014, author = {Basel, Nicolai and Harms, Ute and Prechtl, Helmut and Weiss, Thomas and Rothgangel, Martin}, title = {Students' arguments on the science and religion issue: the example of evolutionary theory and Genesis}, series = {Journal of biological education}, volume = {48}, journal = {Journal of biological education}, number = {4}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0021-9266}, doi = {10.1080/00219266.2013.849286}, pages = {179 -- 187}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Treating creationism as a controversial topic within the science and religion issue in the science classroom has been widely discussed in the recent literature. Some researchers have proposed that this topic is best addressed by focusing on sociocognitive conflict. To prepare new learning opportunities for this approach, it is necessary to know the concrete arguments that students use in their discussions on this issue. Therefore, this study aimed to provide a systematic description of these arguments. For this purpose, upper secondary students (N=43) argued for either the acceptance of evolutionary theory or faith in Genesis in a written speech. The study was conducted during their regular biology and religious education classes. Generated arguments were analysed by qualitative content analysis. Three dimensions of the arguments were described: the content (science or religion), the valuation of the argument (positive or negative), and whether the argument consisted of a descriptive or normative argumentation. The results indicate that students found it easier to generate arguments about the scientific side of the issue; however, these arguments were negatively constructed. The results are discussed with regard to implications for educational approaches for teaching controversial issues at the high-school level.}, language = {en} }