Production of insect juvenile hormone III and its precursors in cell suspension cultures of the sedge, Cyperus iria L.

 Juvenile hormones (JHs) are sesquiterpenoids that regulate metamorphosis and reproduction in most insect species. There has been one report of an insect JH in plants: JH III, methyl-10R,11-epoxy-3,7,11-trimethyl 2E, 6E-dodecadienoate, has been identified in two sedge species, Cyperus iria L. and C. aromaticus (Ridley) Mattf and Kük. This is the first report of callus and cell suspension cultures derived from C. iria. Farnesol and methyl farnesoate, two biosynthetic intermediates of JH III in insects, as well as JH III have been identified in suspension culture cell extracts by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. These cultures thus provide a useful in vitro model to investigate the biosynthesis of JH III in the sedge, C. iria. Received: 30 October 1998 / Revision received: 11 February 1999 / Accepted: 3 March 1999     

Molecular evolution of mitochondrial 12S RNA and cytochrome b sequences in the pantherine lineage of Felidae

DNA sequence comparisons of two mitochondrial DNA genes were used to infer phylogenetic relationships among 17 Felidae species, notably 15 in the previously described pantherine lineage. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to generate sequences of 358 base pairs of the mitochondrial 12S RNA gene and 289 base pairs of the cytochrome b protein coding gene. DNA sequences were compared within and between 17 felid and five nonfelid carnivore species. Evolutionary trees were constructed using phenetic, cladistic, and maximum likelihood algorithms. The combined results suggested several phylogenetic relationships including (1) the recognition of a recently evolved monophyletic genus Panthera consisting of Panthera leo, P. pardus, P. onca, P. uncia, P. tigris, and Neofelis nebulosa; (2) the recent common ancestry of Acinonyx jubatus, the African cheetah, and Puma concolor, the American puma; and (3) two golden cat species, Profelis temmincki and Profelis aurata, are not sister species, and the latter is strongly associated with Caracal caracal. These data add to the growing database of vertebrate mtDNA sequences and, given the relatively recent divergence among the felids represented here (1-10 Myr), allow 12S and cytochrome b sequence evolution to be addressed over a time scale different from those addressed in most work on vertebrate mtDNA.      

Sea urchin Hox genes: insights into the ancestral Hox cluster

We describe the Hox cluster in the radially symmetric sea urchin and compare our findings to what is known from clusters in bilaterally symmetric animals. Several Hox genes from the direct-developing sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma are described. CHEF gel analysis shows that the Hox genes are clustered on a < or = 300 kilobase (kb) fragment of DNA, and only a single cluster is present, as in lower chordates and other nonvertebrate metazoans. Phylogenetic analyses of sea urchin, amphioxus, Drosophila, and selected vertebrate Hox genes confirm that the H. erythrogramma genes, and others previously cloned from other sea urchins, belong to anterior, central, and posterior groups. Despite their radial body plan and lack of cephalization, echinoderms retain at least one of the anterior group Hox genes, an orthologue of Hox3. The structure of the echinoderm Hox cluster suggests that the ancestral deuterostome had a Hox cluster more similar to the current chordate cluster than was expected Sea urchins have at least three Abd-B type genes, suggesting that Abd-B expansion began before the radiation of deuterostomes.      

Deletion of 60 kilobase pairs of DNA from the terC region of the chromosome of Escherichia coli

Summary The terminus of replication (terC) of the chromosome of Escherichia coli is located between the rac (min 30.0) and manA (min 35.7) loci, presumably close to the trg (min 31.4) locus. We have used a strain containing reverse (min 30.0) and trg-2:: Tn10 (min 31.4) to obtain deletions of the entire 60 kilobase pair region that separates these elements. Strains harboring these deletions possessed fusion fragments that contained DNA homologous to both reverse and trg region DNA. In addition, chromosomal DNA normally present between min 30.0 and min 31.4 was absent in these strains. The strains had no readily apparent mutant phenotype, which demonstrates that this large region of DNA is not essential for normal growth.