Environmental Control in Biology最新文献

{"title":"Development of Eco-Friendly Soap-Based Firefighting Foam for Forest Fire","authors":"T. Kawahara, Shuichi Hatae, T. Kanyama, Yukihito Ishizaki, K. Uezu","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.75","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.75","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, large-scale forest fires have been occurring frequently worldwide and 60,000 to 140,000 km of forests have been vanishing yearly. The forest fires and the damage from the smoke associated with them have caused lost of human life and health hazards as well as loss of forest vegetation, biomass, and ecosystems in massive areas. The damage in the Europe’s Mediterranean coast, North America’s west coast, Russia, and Australia are especially serious. There were over 170 large-scale forest fires concentrated throughout Greece from June to October in 2007. Additionally, in 2007 the forest fires that broke out from October 20 to 23 in Southern California of North America over an area almost equivalent to the size of Tokyo (2,187 km) destroyed approximately 2,000 km of forests and about 1,700 homes in 7 d time until October 27 (Hayasaka, 2010). In these forest fires, the use of firefighting foam has greatly improved fire extinguishing effects. The surfactant in firefighting foam significantly lowers surface tension in water and allows water to be efficiently adherent to flammable materials and additionally allows water to penetrate into the flammable materials. Because of this, it is highly effective in firefighting efforts by the increased cooling effect, suppression of oxygen supply, suppression of chemical reactions in the flammable material, and blockage of radiated heat, etc. However, for forest fires, the use of water alone is common in extinguishing activities. This is because the mountainous areas are also the source of water for urban residents and the pollution caused by the run-off from the firefighting foam into rivers and the surrounding environment would be especially concerning. A cautious stance in the use of firefighting foam is being taken and even in the United States, therefore, there was a case where the concern regarding secondary environmental damage from firefighting foam led to allowing fires to extinguish naturally and resulted in a large area of new and old forests to be destroyed. We have been developing firefighting foam involving naturally derived fatty acid salts (soap) as the main component. The soap is much lower in toxicity to aquatic organisms compared to synthetic detergents with environmental water in river, lake and sea (Lin et al., 2006; Kawano et al., 2007; Goto et al., 2007; 2008; Kawano et al., 2014). The reason why the toxicity of the soap is lower to aquatic microorganisms and fish is that it reacts with metal ions such as calcium ions that exist in the environment to form metal soap. The metal soap does not have the interfacial activity and its toxicity is significantly low. It is desirable to use soap that has very low toxicity to aquatic organisms since the spreading fire extinguishing agents could have a large impact on the natural environment. The soap-based firefighting foam is diluted by 1 wt% with environmental water in use. The metal ions such as calcium ions in the environmental water ","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"54 1","pages":"75-78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81120981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Expression Profile of Genes Involved in Isoprenoid Biosynthesis in the Marine Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum","authors":"Nozomu Kira, T. Yoshimatsu, K. Fukunaga, S. Okada, Masao Adachi, T. Kadono","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.31","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.31","url":null,"abstract":"Marine diatoms are major groups of unicellular photosynthetic eukaryotes (Mann and Droop, 1996). Diatoms are of broad interest for basic studies of the ecosystem, evolution, and metabolism due to their enormous contribution to primary production on Earth (Nelson et al., 1995), complex evolutionary history as secondary endosymbionts (Falkowski et al., 2004), and their unique ability to produce silica-based cell walls (Martin-Jézéquel et al., 2000). In addition, diatoms represent a potential source of sustainable products such as hydrocarbon-based biofuel precursors that could serve as a solution to the energy crisis and environmental issues (Wijffels and Barbosa, 2010). Diatoms have also been considered a potential source of commercial applications because they produce bioactive compounds such as carotenoids that are beneficial to human health through their excellent antioxidant activity (Van Den Berg et al., 2000; Pulz and Gross, 2004). In land plants and diatoms, hydrocarbons (e.g., squalene) and carotenoids are synthesized via isoprenoid precursor biosynthesis pathways such as the mevalonate (MVA) and 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol phosphate (MEP) pathways, respectively (Lohr et al., 2012; Fabris et al., 2014). Potential MVA and MEP pathways in Pennales Phaeodactylum tricornutum are summarized in Fig. 1 (Lohr et al., 2012; Hemmerlin, 2013; Vranová et al., 2013; Fabris et al., 2014). To enhance the production of hydrocarbons and carotenoids, overexpression of the 3-hydroxy-3methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) gene in the MVA pathway and the 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase (DXS), 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR), and 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)butenyl 4-diphosphate reductase (HDR) genes in the MEP pathway has been reported, because these enzymes are thought to be the major rate-limiting enzymes in plants (Lohr et al., 2012). For example, the overexpression of the HMGR or DXS genes has resulted in increased phytosterols and carotenoids in tomato, respectively (Enfissi et al., 2005). In diatoms, introducing the endogenous DXS gene to P. tricornutum resulted in an increase in the amount of carotenoids such as fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin, and -carotene (Eilers et al., 2015). On the other hand, it was reported that control of the MVA and MEP pathways occurs mainly at the transcription level in plants (Vranová et al., 2013). This issue suggests that analyzing the expression profiles of genes in both pathways using quantitative RNA-seq is important for selecting target genes for overexpression. However, the expression profiles of the genes in both pathways of diatoms have not been fully investigated, although the expressed sequence","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"21 1","pages":"31-37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79967814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative Quality Changes of Fresh-cut Melon in Bio-based and Petroleum-based Plastic Containers during Storage","authors":"Huijuan Zhou, S. Kawamura, S. Koseki, Toshinori Kimura","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.93","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.93","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"9 1","pages":"93-99"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86605297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hydroponics Culture of Edible Opuntia ‘Maya’: Drought Stress Affects the Development of Spines on Daughter Cladodes","authors":"T. Horibe, K. Yamada","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.153","url":null,"abstract":"The stem of the cactus Opuntia (genus Opuntia, subfamily Opuntioideae, family Cactaceae) is widely consumed as a vegetable in Mexico and Mediterranean countries (Stintzing and Carle, 2005; Cruz-Hernández and Paredes-López, 2010). With respect to its growth behavior, daughter cladodes develop from the areole of the mother cladode and this process is repeated (Pimienta-Barrios et al., 2005). In Japan, edible Opuntia plants are also produced as vegetables, mainly in Kasugai city, Aichi Prefecture. However, cladodes have a characteristic that diminishes their acceptance by the consumer; the presence of spines on the areole. A number of beneficial functions have been ascribed to spines, including participation in zoochorous dispersal (Frego and Staniforth, 1985; Bobich and Nobel, 2001), mechanical protection from herbivores (Norman and Martin, 1986), shading of the stem (Nobel et al., 1986), reflection of light (Loik, 2008), and thus a reduction in water loss (Stintzing and Carle, 2005). In addition to the above, a further report shows that cactus spines also function as a fog collection system (Ju et al., 2012). Therefore, drought stress on cladodes might be related to the appearance and number of spines. Reducing the number of spines will lead to an improvement in the edible quality of Opuntia and thus increase consumer acceptance. Opuntia plants are commonly produced through soil or pot culture. Major problems in growing vegetables, including edible Opuntia, using soil are soil-borne disease, salt accumulation, and difficulty in fertilizer management (Lakkireddy et al., 2012). Hydroponics culture is a method of growing plants using nutrient solution (water and fertilizer) with or without the use of an artificial medium. No soil means absence of weeds or soil-borne disease, and precise fertilizer management is possible (Lakkireddy et al., 2012). Thus, hydroponics culture conveys many advantages for edible Opuntia production, although there is no report investigating the effects of hydroponics culture on edible cactus growth as far as we searched. In this study, we attempted to investigate the effects of hydroponics culture with a deep flow technique (DFT) on the growth of edible cacti and to assess the effect of drought stress on the spine frequency of daughter cladodes.","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"102 1","pages":"153-156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85828351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multiple Effects of CO 2 Concentration and Humidity on Leaf Gas Exchanges of Sweet Pepper in the Morning and Afternoon","authors":"D. Yasutake, K. Miyauchi, M. Mori, M. Kitano, Aya Ino, Akihiko Takahashi","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.177","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.177","url":null,"abstract":"Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and humidity of the air are two extremely important environmental elements that influence photosynthesis in crops (i.e., growth). The difference in CO2 concentration between air and leaf plays a significant role in the photosynthetic rate (Wall et al., 2011), whereas humidity affects photosynthesis through stomatal conductance (Yabuki and Miyagawa, 1970; Nonami et al., 1990). These elements could become serious limiting factors for crop production in greenhouses. This occurs when the CO2 concentration frequently drops below 400 mol mol , mainly because of continuous uptake by crops (photosynthesis) and insufficient inflow of CO2 from outside to the greenhouse with ventilation (Yabuki and Imazu, 1965; Yasutake et al., 2014a), and when greenhouse air dries during daytime because of high air temperature inside the greenhouse (Yasutake et al., 2014b). Therefore, increasing not only CO2 concentration but also humidity (i.e. CO2 enrichment and humidification) are desired for increasing crop production with improved photosynthetic rate and water use efficiency. In particular, recent researches in relation to high-tech greenhouses and/or plant factories have focused on such environmental control technology with reference to multiple environmental elements (e.g., Suzuki et al., 2015; Hidaka et al., 2016). However, crop responses to controlled multiple environmental elements and their mechanisms could be more complicated. For example, in the case of CO2 enrichment and humidification, opposite effects on stomatal movement occurs, where the former induces stomatal closing and the latter induces stomatal opening (Kramer and Boyer, 1995). Furthermore, stomatal movement generally depends on the time of day (e.g., morning and afternoon) (Yoshimoto et al., 2005; Morandi et al., 2014), and therefore, the multiple effects of CO2 enrichment and humidification would also change with the time. However, detailed information on these phenomena is not fully understood yet. In this study, we conducted a fundamental experiment to measure steady-state leaf gas exchanges (photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and water use efficiency, etc.) in sweet pepper under different conditions of CO2 concentration and relative humidity by using a leaf chamber system in the morning and afternoon in a greenhouse. The goals of this study were 1) to analyze the multiple effects of CO2 concentration and humidity on leaf gas exchanges, 2) to analyze the difference in the multiple effects in the morning and afternoon, and 3) to show a strategy to control CO2 concentration and humidity in greenhouses on the basis of the results.","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"1 1","pages":"177-181"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89408885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synthesis Optimization and Characterization of Visible-light Responsive Ce-doped Titanate Nanotubes for Enhanced Degradation of Polluting Dyes in Aqueous Environment","authors":"Shunta Sakai, S. Kuroki, Takashi Oba, Takuya Suzuki","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.71","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.71","url":null,"abstract":"For the decomposition organic substrates in the reaction container, we developed Ce-doped titanate nanotubes as visible light responsive photo catalyst. Anatase titania and titanate nanotubes were prepared using the sol-gel method and hydrothermal method. The photoactivity of Ce-doped titanate nanotubes under visible light were dramatically improved than anatase titania and titanate nanotubes. All titania and titanate nanotubes were characterized using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. Their’s photocatalytic activities were investigated by the degradation rate of methylene blue solution under UV and visible light condition. The crystalinity of the titanate nanotubes were increased by Ce-doping compared with that of pure titania nanotube. In addition, the UV-Vis absorption ranges of Ce-doped anatase titania and Ce-doped titania nanotube were red shifted by Ce-doping. These morphology changes to nanotubes with Ce-doping will be very useful for practical application for decomposing color dyes included amino group in the wasted water.","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"94 6 Pt 2 1","pages":"71-74"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89491092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Role of Ion Transporters in Salinity Resistance in Plants","authors":"M. Redwan, F. Spinelli, S. Mancuso","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"5 1","pages":"1-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89013048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of Polyamines in Plant Disease Resistance","authors":"Yoshihiro Takahashi","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.17","url":null,"abstract":"Polyamines (PAs) are small, aliphatic amines that are found in all living cells. In plants, putrescine, spermidine, spermine, and thermospermine are known as ubiquitous PAs. They are involved in various physiological processes and environmental stress responses, including pathogen infections. Several studies have demonstrated that PAs and their catabolic products, such as H 2 O 2 produced by diamine oxidases and polyamine oxidases, are closely involved in the activation of host defense mechanisms. This minireview briefly summarizes recent advances regarding the function of PAs during disease resistance in plants.","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"35 1","pages":"17-21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78030928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Control of Flowering by Phloem Exudate from Cotyledons of Ipomoea tricolor II. Low Molecular Weight Flower-inhibiting Substance(s)","authors":"H. Watanabe, S. Tanimoto, S. Isshiki","doi":"10.2525/ECB.54.117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.54.117","url":null,"abstract":"The phloem exudate prepared from the cotyledons of Ipomoea tricolor strain Heavenly Blue seedlings that have been exposed to a single 16 h dark period induced flowering in cultured apices excised from non-induced seedlings. When the phloem exudate was dialyzed and separated to 3 fractions such as low ( (cid:6) 1,000), middle (1,000 (cid:1) 10,000), and high ( (cid:7) 10,000) molecular weight, both low and high molecular weight fractions had flower-inducing activities, but not middle fraction. The low molecular weight fraction was further separated and examined the nature of flower-inducing substance(s). The substance(s) was heat-stable and the highest rate of floral bud induction was obtained with 3 (cid:1) g freeze dry weight mL (cid:8) 1 . From the results of solvent participation and ion exchange chromatography, the substance(s) was high polar, seemed to be acidic, and the flower-inducing activity only increased from 3- to 10-fold.","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"8 1","pages":"123-128"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78303662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of High-Temperature Treatments on the Breaking of Dormancy in One-Year-Old Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.)","authors":"Takayuki Yamaguchi, T. Maeda","doi":"10.2525/ECB.53.23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2525/ECB.53.23","url":null,"abstract":"In Japan, asparagus is produced throughout the year, except in November (Benson, 2008), using three cultivation methods: open field, semi-forced mother fern culture, and “Fusekomi” forced culture. “Fusekomi” forced culture is conducted during the winter and the production area for this method is increasing in the northern part of Japan (Jishi et al., 2012). This method was developed during the 1960s in Gunma Prefecture (Gunma Prefecture Vegetable Technology Workshop, 1992). Asparagus seeds are sown from January to February, and seedlings are raised in the nursery until March or April. Seedlings are then planted in open fields. The seedlings are subsequently removed by digging from open fields and planting densely in the greenhouses with a heating system. Spears can be harvested in the winter for two to three months (Koizumi et al., 2002). “Fusekomi” forced culture is different from other methods in that plants are removed in the autumn. Asparagus is a perennial plant that enters a dormant period in the autumn (Hayashi and Hiraoka, 1978; Hayashi and Hiraoka, 1983; Haruyama et al., 1985; Kobayashi and Shinsu, 1990; Yamaguchi, 2012; Koizumi et al., 2013). Thus, it is necessary to break dormancy to begin spear germination in “Fusekomi” forced cultures. To break dormancy, a suitable severity and period of chilling are necessary (Hayashi and Hiraoka, 1983). In Japanese markets, the price of asparagus is relatively higher in December than in January. Therefore, the earlier breaking of dormancy enables earlier digging up and planting, which leads to an earlier harvest and increased income. Therefore, it is very important to maintain chilling temperatures for breaking dormancy in “Fusekomi” forced cultures because this method requires chilling temperatures. Therefore, it is suitable for cold northern areas of Japan such as Tohoku and Hokkaido. However, recent climatic instability, particularly warm autumn temperatures, has reduced yields by delaying the chilling temperature period. Conversely, Hayashi and Hiraoka (1978) have indicated that, even if asparagus is in dormancy, bud breaking occurs at temperatures over 23.0°C (‘California 500W’). Matsubara (1980) also reported that the dormancy of asparagus is broken by high-temperatures. When breaking dormancy by chilling temperature, asparagus germination continues at the assigned temperature following the chilling treatment period. Furthermore, experimental results suggest that germination continues under high-temperature treatments. If the dormancy of asparagus can be broken by high-temperature treatments, then the germination of spears should continue after high-temperature treatments. However, reports did not clarify whether high temperatures actually break dormancy. If the autumn dormancy of asparagus can be broken early using, this breakthrough technique may allow the harvest of asparagus in November with “Fusekomi” forced cultures. Thus, the objective of this study was to clarify the effects of high t","PeriodicalId":11762,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Control in Biology","volume":"174 1","pages":"23-26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76923031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}