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Background and Aims: Endoreduplication, the duplication of the nuclear genome without mitosis, is a common process in plants, especially in angiosperms and mosses. Accumulating evidence supports the relationship between endoreduplication and plastic responses to stress factors. Here, we investigated the level of endoreduplication in Ceratodon (Bryophyta), which includes the model organism Ceratodon purpureus., Methods: We used flow cytometry to estimate the DNA content of 294 samples from 67 localities and found three well-defined cytotypes, two haploids and one diploid, the haploids corresponding to C. purpureus and Ceratodon amazonum, and the diploid to Ceratodon conicus, recombination occurring between the former two., Key Results: The endoreduplication index (EI) was significantly different for each cytotype, being higher in the two haploids. In addition, the EI of the haploids was higher during the hot and dry periods typical of the Mediterranean summer than during spring, whereas the EI of the diploid cytotype did not differ between seasons., Conclusions: Endopolyploidy may be essential in haploid mosses to buffer periods of drought and to respond rapidly to desiccation events. Our results also suggest that the EI is closely related to the basic ploidy level, but less so to the nuclear DNA content as previously suggested., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.)

A partially purified lipase produced by the thermophile Geobacillus thermoleovorans CCR11 was immobilized by adsorption on porous polypropylene (Accurel EP-100) in the presence and absence of 0.1% Triton X-100. Lipase production was induced in a 2.5% high oleic safflower oil medium and the enzyme was partially purified by diafiltration (co. 500,000 Da). Immobilization conditions were established at 25 degrees C, pH 6, and a protein concentration of 0.9 mg/mL in the presence and absence of 0.1% Triton X-100. Immobilization increased enzyme thermostability but there was no change in neither the optimum pH nor in pH resistance irrelevant to the presence of the detergent during immobilization. Immobilization with or without Triton X-100 allowed the reuse of the lipase preparation for 11 and 8 cycles, respectively. There was a significant difference between residual activity of immobilized and soluble enzyme after 36 days of storage at 4 degrees C (P < 0.05). With respect to chain length specificity, the immobilized lipase showed less activity over short chain esters than the soluble lipase. The immobilized lipase showed good resistance to desorption with phosphate buffer and NaCl; minor loses with detergents were observed (less than 50% with Triton X-100 and Tween-80), but activity was completely lost with SDS. Immobilization of G. thermoleovorans CCR11 lipase in porous polypropylene is a simple and easy method to obtain a biocatalyst with increased stability, improved performance, with the possibility for re-use, and therefore an interesting potential use in commercial conditions.

Background and Aims: The recent assembly of the complete sequence of the plastid genome of the model taxon Physcomitrella patens (Funariaceae, Bryophyta) revealed that a 71-kb fragment, encompassing much of the large single copy region, is inverted. This inversion of 57% of the genome is the largest rearrangement detected in the plastid genomes of plants to date. Although initially considered diagnostic of Physcomitrella patens, the inversion was recently shown to characterize the plastid genome of two species from related genera within Funariaceae, but was lacking in another member of Funariidae. The phylogenetic significance of the inversion has remained ambiguous., Methods: Exemplars of all families included in Funariidae were surveyed. DNA sequences spanning the inversion break ends were amplified, using primers that anneal to genes on either side of the putative end points of the inversion. Primer combinations were designed to yield a product for either the inverted or the non-inverted architecture., Key Results: The survey reveals that exemplars of eight genera of Funariaceae, the sole species of Disceliaceae and three generic representatives of Encalyptales all share the 71-kb inversion in the large single copy of the plastid genome. By contrast, the plastid genome of Gigaspermaceae (Funariales) is characterized by a gene order congruent with that described for other mosses, liverworts and hornworts, and hence it does not possess this inversion., Conclusions: The phylogenetic distribution of the inversion in the gene order supports a hypothesis only weakly supported by inferences from sequence data whereby Funariales are paraphyletic, with Funariaceae and Disceliaceae sharing a common ancestor with Encalyptales, and Gigaspermaceae sister to this combined clade. To reflect these relationships, Gigaspermaceae are excluded from Funariales and accommodated in their own order, Gigaspermales order nov., within Funariideae.