Stomatal morphology and physiology explain varied sensitivity to abscisic acid across vascular plant lineages.

Abscisic acid (ABA) can induce rapid stomatal closure in seed plants, but the action of this hormone on the stomata of fern and lycophyte species remains equivocal. Here, ABA-induced stomatal closure, signaling components, guard cell K+ and Ca2+ fluxes, vacuolar and actin cytoskeleton dynamics, and the permeability coefficient of guard cell protoplasts (Pf) were analyzed in species spanning the diversity of vascular land plants including 11 seed plants, 6 ferns, and 1 lycophyte. We found that all 11 seed plants exhibited ABA-induced stomatal closure, but the fern and lycophyte species did not.

[Polymorphic and linkage analysis of microsatellite BMS2508 and FecB gene in sheep].

Genetic polymorphisms of microsatellite locus BMS2508, which was closely linked to the ovine fecundity gene FecB, were detected in prolific (Small Tail Han sheep) and non-prolific breeds of sheep (Texel, Dorset and Chinese Merino). The linkage disequilibrium between microsatellite locus BMS2508 and FecB gene of Small Tail Han sheep was also analyzed. There was the same mutation (A746G) of BMPR-IB gene in Small Tail Han sheep as that of FecB in Booroola Merino ewes, but the FecB mutation was absent in Texel, Dorset and Chinese Merino sheep.