Association of Plastoquinone-9 and Phylloquinone K1 with Photoconvertible Protochlorophyllide Holochrome

Protochlorophyllide holochrome was prepared from dark grown wheat seedlings in a saponin containing medium by precipitation with ammonium sulfale and differential centrifugaiion. During the different steps of purification the spectral properties and the photoconvertibility of prolochlorophyllide holochrome were measured concomitantly with its quinone and carotenoid content. Photoconvertible protochlorophyllide holochrome was enriched in quinones hut depleted of carolenoids compared with the whole etiolated leaf. The fractions containing long wavelength forms of photoconvcrtible protochlorophyllidc had a constant molar ratio of plastoquinonc. phylloquinone and protochlorophyllide of 1:1:2. The possibility of the prenylquinones to function as electron or hydrogen carriers between a hydrogen donor and protochlorophvliide is discussed.     

Pupal colour polymorphism in Papilio machaon L. and the survival in the field of cryptic versus non-cryptic pupae

• 1 A field experiment was carried out in a natural habitat of Papilio machaon L. in southern Sweden to assess the evolutionary significance of pupal colour polymorphism.
• 2 Cryptic and non-cryptic pupae were planted in pairs in the vegetation, and exposed to predators.
• 3 The protective coloration conferred a selective advantage approximating 1.5 on the cryptic pupae of the summer generation. In the overwintering generation no difference could be detected between the predation of cryptic and non-cryptic pupae.
• 4 The adaptive fitness of protective coloration, as determined by the different rates of elimination of the colour morphs, was greater for the green pupae than for the brown ones.
• 5 Natural selection favours the evolution of a seasonal difference in the proportion of green and brown pupae in the summer and hibernating generations of P.machaon.

     

The Pool Size of Protochlorophyllide during Different Stages of Greening of Dark Grown Wheat Leaves

The pool size of protochlorophyllide in wheat leaves irradiated for 5 minutes to 6 hours was studied. Protochlorophyllide then accumulated in the dark, but the pool size of regenerated protochlorophyllide was considerably smaller in leaves irradiated for six hours than in leaves irradiated for 5 minutes. The decrease in pool size of regenerated protochlorophyllide was found to take place at the time when the chlorophyll formation had accelerated and reached the linear phase. The protochlorophyllide accumulated is the form with absorption maximum at 650 nm, which is phototransformed to chlorophyllide with maximum absorption at 684 nm. This species goes through the Shibata shift when formed even after 6 hours of irradiation. If leaves, irradiated for 1 or 6 hours, were fed with δ-amino-levulinic acid the protochlorophyllide synthesis was only 1.2 times faster in the leaves irradiated for 6 hours than in those irradiated for 1 hour. In the case of leaves fed with δ-amino-levulinic acid the absorption maximum of protochlorophyllide is at 636 nm and the absorption maximum of the chlorophyllide formed is at 672 nm.     

Larval aestivation and direct development as alternative strategies in the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria, in Sweden

ABSTRACT.

• 1 Sweden has two disjunct populations of the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria L. The southern population has two generations per year but the central Swedish population is univoltine. When rearing larvae from central Sweden under normal photoperiodic conditions but at temperatures slightly above the ambient, 42% of the larvae developed directly and produced a second generation of adults the same summer. The egg—larval development time of the directly developing individuals was about 40 days, whereas that of the individuals developing along the univoltine pathway was about 100 days.
• 2 Larvae of the central Swedish population normally aestivate during part of the summer even though abundant food is available. In the closely related Lasiommata petropolitana F., which is the only Swedish satyrid that overwinters in the pupal stage besides P.aegeria, larvae do not aestivate, indicating that there does not seem to be any obligatory association between pupal hibernation and larval aestivation.
• 3 Development rates of aestivating and directly developing P.aegeria are equal up to the third larval instar. During the third and fourth instars, however, the development rate of aestivating individuals is retarded and females also have an additional fifth instar.
• 4 Since the central Swedish P.aegeria have the capacity to develop directly, and the southern Swedish ones have the capacity to aestivate, the evidence indicates that the outcome of the cost/benefit balance of univoltine versus bivoltine development differs between the two areas.

     

Crystalloid formation in protochlorophyll-accumulating plastids from the inner seed coat of Cyclanthera explodens

The development of fruit, seed and plastids in the inner seed coat of Cyclanthera explodens Naud. was studied. Large amounts of protochlorophyll, in at least three different in vivo-forms, accumulated during maturation and was 14 mg/g fresh weight of the inner seed coat in mature seeds. In earlier stages plastid-membrane-lipids increased simultaneously with the pigment. This could also be seen in electron micrographs as an increased amount of membranes. During later stages the amount of pigment continued to increase without an increase in the lipids. At this stage large crystalloids were found in the plastids. The data presented led to the conclusion that the protochlorophyll form fluorescing at 691 nm is crystalline.     

Spectral properties of a long-wavelength absorbing form of protochlorophyll in seeds of Cyclanthera explodens

The in vivo absorbance spectrum of the inner seed coat of Cyclanthera explodens Naud. showed a main peak in the red region at 671 nm and a weak shoulder at about 640 nm. The pigments were extracted with acetone. separated by paper chromatography and analysed spectrophotometrically. The only detectable pigment was protochlorophyll. The in vivo fluorsecence emission spectra had two main peaks, one at 632 and one at 691 nm. The relation between the two peaks was changed when the exvcitation wavelength was altered from 440 to 460 nm. Excitation at 420 nm gave an additional fluorescence emission peak at 595 nm. These data indicate the presence of at least three forms of protochlorophyll in the Cyclantera seed coat. The spectrum of circular dichroism had a very intence and characteristic signal in the red region with a negative asymmetrical Cotton effect (664 (+), 669 (0) and 687 (?) nm). This indicates that at least one of the protochlorophyll forms is present in a more or less crystalline form.     

Redescriptions of Phallodrilus parthenopaeus Pierantoni and P. obscurus Cook (Oligochaeta, Tubificidae)

The type species of Phallodrilus Pierantoni, 1902, P. parthenopaeus Pierantoni, 1902; is redescribed on the basis of new material from W Scotland. The species is characterized by its specific spermathecal and penial setae, its very slender atria, and its long spermathecal ducts. Sexually fully mature specimens of P. obscurus Cook, 1969 are described for the first time, on the basis of material from New Jersey (E USA). The new material shows that this species possesses 5 to 9 penial setae in each ventral bundle of segment XI, and that its atria are coated with a relatively thick musculature.     

Marine Tubificidae (Oligochaeta) of Antarctica, with descriptions of three new species of Phallodrilinae

Five species of Tubificidae are recorded from Antarctic waters: Torodrilus lowryi Cook, 1970, Torodrilus sp. (subfamily Rhyacodrilinae), Marionidrilus antarcticus sp. n., M. weddellensis sp. n., and Thalassodrilus bicki sp. n. (subfamily Phallodrilinae); only T. lowryi was known from Antarctica before. The status of the two Southern Hemisphere genera Torodrilus Cook, 1970, and Marionidrilus Erséus, 1992, are discussed; although the taxonomic position of the two new species of Marionidrilus is somewhat uncertain. Thalassodrilus bicki , however, appears closely related to Northern Hemisphere taxa.     

The marine Tubificidae (Oligochaeta) of the barrier reef ecosystems at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, and other parts of the Caribbean Sea, with descriptions of twenty-seven new species and revision of Heterodrilus, Thalassodrilides and Smithsonidrilus

Fifty-nine species of Tubifieidae are recorded from Belize on the Caribbean side of Central America. Twenty-five are new to science: Ainudrilus geminus sp.n., Heronidrilus gravidus sp.n., Heterodrilus flexuosus sp.n., H. ranus sp.n., H. modestus sp.n., Coralliodrilus rugosus sp.n., C. randyi sp.n., Phallodrilus compactus sp. n., P. singularis sp.n., P. vicinus sp.n., P. nasutus sp.n., P. bipartitus sp.n., Inanidrilus reginae sp.n., Olavius finitimus sp.n., O. vacuus sp.n., O. (Olavius) pravus sp.n., Bathydrilus vetustus sp.n., B. egenus sp.n., Thalassodrilides bruneti sp.n., Limnodriloides anxius sp.n., L. major sp.n., L. sacculus sp.n., L. adversus sp.n., Smithsonidrilus appositus sp.n., S. involutus sp.n. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that Heterodrilus Pierantoni, 1902, Thalassodrilides Brinkhurst & Baker, 1979, and Marcusaedrilus Righi & Kanner, 1979, are paraphyletic taxa as previously defined. They are therefore revised to include also apomorphic species earlier attributed to separate genera; in so doing, Marcusaedrilus becomes a junior synonym of Smithsonidrilus Brinkhurst, 1966. Smithsonidrilus pauper sp.n. (Peru), and S. multiglandularis sp.n. (Florida and Puerto Rico) are also described, and Limnodriloides claviger Erséus, 1982 is regarded as a synonym of L. pierantonii (Hrabě, 1971).