Irish moss—from an art to an industry

This red alga, harvested commercially along the shores of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New England, is today processed by five American companies into an extractive that finds a major market as a stabilizer in dairy products and enters also into the manufacture of a variety of other products ranging from beer to toothpaste.     

Can an individual bee ommatidium detect an image?

Summary Even if the dioptric apparatus of the worker bee provided a crisp image at the entrance to the rhabdom, the detection of this image is theoretically impossible due to a phenomenon of mode propagation analogous to acoustic beating or interference.Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow.We thank Professor G. A. Horridge and Simon Laughlin for their assistance with this study.     

Bolboforma — an overview

A summary of the present knowledge ofBolboforma is presented in this paper. The genusBolboforma contains a diverse group of marine, mostly single-chambered enigmatic microfossils (phytoplankton, possibly Chrysophyta) which produced calcitic monocrystalline spheroidal tests with or without inner cysts and with various types of ornamentation. The genusBolboforma occurs in the time interval between late Early Eocene to Late Pliocene, at middle and higher latitudes, and thus, has not been recorded in Quaternary to Recent Sediments. The genus is represented globally, but the first and the last occurrence of the genus appear to be spatially diachronous in both hemispheres.Bolboforma started in the southern hemisphere at the Campbell Plateau (SW Pazific) during the Early Eocene approximately 53 Ma ago, and the genus lived there until latest Miocene times (5.3 Ma at the Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean). The first occurrence ofBolboforma in the northern hemisphere is observed in Upper Eocene Sediments (ca. 36.5 Ma) in the Labrador Sea (North Atlantic), and its youngest occurrence is observed in the Hatton-Rockall Basin (North Atlantic) in the Late Pliocene at 2.84 Ma. Well established and common species permit the definition of nineteenBolboforma zones/subzones. Not all of these are observed in both hemispheres. In the southern hemisphere all four Paleogene zones, but only eight Neogene zones are present, in the northern hemisphere only one Paleogene zone, but fourteen Neogene zones have been determined. Bolboforma distribution, which appears to be broadly bipolar in temperate to cool regions at middle to higher latitudes, aso seems to be linked to the evolution of surface watermasses and their boundaries.      

Non-canonical autophagy: an exception or an underestimated form of autophagy?

Macroautophagy (hereafter called autophagy) is a dynamic and evolutionarily conserved process used to sequester and degrade cytoplasm and entire organelles in a sequestering vesicle with a double membrane, known as the autophagosome, which ultimately fuses with a lysosome to degrade its autophagic cargo. Recently, we have unraveled two distinct forms of autophagy in cancer cells, which we term canonical and non-canonical autophagy. In contrast to classical or canonical autophagy, non-canonical autophagy is a process that does not require the entire set of autophagy-related (Atg) proteins in particular Beclin 1, to form the autophagosome. Non-canonical autophagy is therefore not blocked by the knockdown of Beclin 1 or of its binding partner hVps34. Moreover overexpression of Bcl-2, which is known to block canonical starvation-induced autophagy by binding to Beclin 1, is unable to reverse the non-canonical autophagy triggered by the polyphenol resveratrol in the breast cancer MCF-7 cell line. In MCF-7 cells, at least, non-canonical autophagy is involved in the caspase-independent cell death induced by resveratrol.     

Can an Engineer Fix an Immune System?–Rethinking theoretical biology

In an instant classic paper (Lazebnik, in Cancer Cell 2(3); 2002: 179–182) biologist Yuri Lazebnik deplores the poor effectiveness of the approach adopted by biologists to understand and “fix” biological systems. Lazebnik suggests that to remedy this state of things biologist should take inspiration from the approach used by engineers to design, understand, and troubleshoot technological systems. In the present paper I substantiate Lazebnik’s analysis by concretely showing how to apply the engineering approach to biological problems. I use an actual example of electronic circuit troubleshooting to ground the thesis that, in engineering, the crucial phases of any non-trivial troubleshooting process are aimed at generating a mechanistic explanation of the functioning of the system, which makes extensive recourse to problem-driven qualitative reasoning possibly based on cognitive artifacts applied to systems that are known to have been designed for function. To show how to translate these findings into biological practice I consider a concrete example of biological model building and “troubleshooting”, aimed at the identification of a “fix” for the human immune system in presence of progressing cancer, autoimmune disease, and transplant rejection. The result is a novel immune system model—the danger model with regulatory cells— and new, original hypotheses concerning the development, prophylaxis, and therapy of these unwanted biological processes. Based on the manifest efficacy of the proposed approach, I suggest a refocusing of the activity of theoretical biologists along the engineering-inspired lines illustrated in the paper.     

The mast cell: an active participant or an innocent bystander?

Mast cells (MC) are phylogenetically old cells which are distributed throughout the human organism and, on the whole, occupy roughly the volume of the spleen. MC have long been recognized as key cells of type I hypersensitivity reactions. Several lines of evidence, however, indicate that they not only express critical effector functions in classic IgE-associated allergic disorders, but also play important roles in host defence against parasites, bacteria and perhaps even viruses. Indeed, it is now clear that MC can contribute to host defence in the context of either acquired or innate immune responses through the release of a myriad of pro-inflammatory and immunoregulatory molecules and the expression of a wide spectrum of surface receptors for cytokines and chemokines. Moreover, there is growing evidence that MC exert distinct non-immunological functions, playing a relevant role in tissue homeostasis, remodeling and fibrosis as well as in the processes of tissue angiogenesis. In this review, we provide a small insight into the biology of human MC and their potential implications in clinical pathology.     

Adenosyltransferase: an enzyme and an escort for coenzyme B12?

Many organic cofactors are both rare and reactive. They are usually in low abundance, which poses problems for efficient collision-based targeting to dependent enzymes, whereas their reactivity is problematic for side reactions. Sequestration and escorted delivery presents one solution to this conundrum, but such porters, if they exist, are mostly unknown. In humans, the mitochondrial enzyme methylmalonyl-coenzyme A mutase uses coenzyme B(12) (adenosylcobalamin) but would be inactive if bound to the cofactor precursor that is delivered to the mitochondrion. Adenosyltransferase converts cob(II)alamin to coenzyme B(12). Based on kinetic evidence for interaction between the two enzymes, the 40-fold greater affinity for coenzyme B(12) and the higher coordination number for cobalt in the mutase, we propose that the adenosyltransferase is a dual-function protein: an enzyme that synthesizes coenzyme B(12) and a chaperone that delivers it.     

What is an autotroph?

The concept of autotrophy depends on the growth media for pure cultures supplying a single one carbon source for anabolism. Secondary carbon compounds added to the medium as chelators and/or vitamins confuse the meaning. This note suggests a clarification of definition suitable for contemporary biochemical studies of true autotrophs.     

Extrusionen an Hühner-Eischalen

Zusammenfassung Es wind über 2 Fälle von Extrusionen bei Hühner-Eischalen berichtet. Unter Extrusion versteht man eine Gruppe von Schalenbausteinen (Calcit-Testisphäriten), die sich nach außen bin vorgewölbt hat. Betrifft diese Störung nur eine kleine Zahl von Sphäriten, so gleicht sich die Wölbung im weiteren Dickenwachstum der Schale allmählich aus, so daß die Extrusion äußerlich gar nicht oder nur als schwache Erhebung hervortritt. Wenn aber eine größere Anzahl von Schalenbausteinen in solcher Art verlagert wird, entsteht eine auf der Außenfläche der Schale vorragende Hohlkuppel, die sich von der Umgebung durch einen Ringspalt absetzt. Der Spalt kommt durch die Divergenz der Achsen der Calcitsphäriten — einerseits der Kuppel, andererseits der anstoßenden normalen Schale — zustande : Sie treffen im Spalt unter Bildung eines Winkels zusammen und beschränken sich hier gegenseitig im Wachstum. Die Höhle der Kuppel, die unten von der Schalenmembran abgeschlossen wird, kann von einem einzigen kugeligen Kalkgebilde ausgefüllt werden, das in seinem Aufbau an Ovoide erinnert (Subter-Ovoid). Es kann aber auch die Füllung der Extrusion aus verbackenen winzigen Calcitsphiten von negativem optischen Vorzeichen bestehen. Bei kleinen Extrusionen bleibt die Höhle manchmal leer. Extrusionen bilden sich auf einem frühen Stadium der Schalenentwicklung, zu einer Zeit, da die Testisphäriten sich auf der Membran noch nicht durch Auswachsen derEisosphäriten verankert haben. Daher verläuft die Schalenmembran unter einer Extrusion ungestört oder nur geringfügig nach innen ausgebuchtet. Auch in der Kuppelwand bewahren die Schalenelemente ihren sphäritischen Charakter; indem she sick nach außen hin kegelartig erweitern, werden sie dem Flächenzuwachs gerecht, den die Vorwölbung nach sich zieht. Jedoch kommt es im Bereich der Kuppel naturgemäß nicht zur Ausbildung von Eisosphäriten.

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Summary Two cases of extrusions in hen egg shells are described. An extrusion is a group of calcite testispherites projected outwards in early developmental stades. If this disturbance only concerns a little number of spherites, so the arching will be equalized gradually in the farther thickening of shell, so that the extrusion produces not at all or only a weak elevation at the shell surface. But if a greater number of testispherites in such manner will be protruded, on the outside of the egg shell an hollow cupola arises, set off from the neighbourhood by a ring cleft. The cleft is caused by the divergence of the calcospherite axes —on the one hand of the cupola, on the other hand of the adjacing normal shell: the calcitic elements meet together in the cleft forming an angle and here they confine oppositely their growth. The hollow of the cupola below confined by the shell membrane, can be filled up by a single globular calcite ovoid (subter-ovoid). But also the extrusion filling can consist of petty optical negative calcite spherites. In little extrusions the hollow sometimes remains empty. Extrusions arise where the testispherites are still not fastened on the shell membrane. Therefore under the extrusion the shell membrane runs off undisturbed or only a little curved inwards. Also in the wall of the cupola the shell elements preserve spheritical character; enlarging outwards cone like, they satisfy the surface increase which is caused by the cupola formation. However in the reach of the cupola under the described circumstances eisospherites cannot are builded.

     

Microscopy: an art?

There can be no doubt that the finest creator of beauty is Mother Nature. And in many ways, science is the exploration of this beauty and of the mechanisms that have created it. Microscopy, as a technique in scientific investigation, has had a key role in uncovering nature's beauty, which has led some to propose that microscopy could be described as an art or even an art form. But is this claim justified?