Predation at a snail's pace: what's time to a gastropod?

Summary Predation by naticid gastropods shows evidence of adaptation to maximize the rate of energy intake. The predation rate of Polinices duplicatus feeding on artificially altered, thin-shelled Mercenaria mercenaria was faster than the predation rate on normal Mercenaria. The rate of energy intake was limited by handling time. The time saved by predation on thin-shelled prey was used to forage. Thus time was shown to be valuable to P. duplicatus, and cost-benefit functions using time and energy as currencies are appropriate for estimating dietary efficiency and predicting prey choice.Despite the clear superiority of thin-shelled prey, P. duplicatus did not learn to prefer this novel prey type, suggesting that predator choices are sterotyped, reflecting optima selected over evolutionary time.     

Organization of the ribosomal ribonucleic acid genes in various wild-type strains and wild-collected strains of Neurospora

Summary The organization of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repcat unit in the standard wild-type strain of Neurospora crassa, 74-OR23-1A, and in 30 other wild-type strains and wild-collected strains of N. crassa, N. tetrasperma, N. sitophila, N. intermedia, and N. discreta isolated from nature, was investigated by restriction enzyme digestion of genomic DNA, and probing of the Southern-blotted DNA fragments with specific cloned pieces of the rDNA unit from 74-OR23-1A. The size of the rDNA unit in 74-OR23-1A was shown to be 9.20 kilobase pairs (kb) from blotting data, and the average for all strains was 9.11+0.21 kb; standard error=0.038; coefficient of variation (C.V.)=2.34%. These data indicate that the rDNA repeat unit size has been highly conserved among the Neurospora strains investigated. However, while all strains have a conserved HindIII site near the 5 end of the 25 S rDNA coding sequence, a polymorphism in the number and/or position of HindIII sites in the nontranscribed spacer region was found between strains. The 74-OR23-1A strain has two HindIII sites in the spacer, while others have from 0 to at least 3. This restriction site polymorphism is strain-specific and not species-specific. It was confirmed for some strains by restriction analysis of clones containing most of the rDNA repeat unit. The current restriction map of the 74-OR23-1A rDNA repeat unit is presented.     

The phytate and mineral content of some cereals,cereal products,legumes, legume products,snack bars,and nuts available in New Zealand

Analyses for phytate by an indirect precipitation method and for the minerals calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) by atomic absorption spectrophotometry were carried out on 100 foods available in New Zealand. Foods with 1% phytate (dry weight basis) included untoasted muesli, rolled oats, wheat germ, wheat bran, soybean, and some soy products. Most breads contained between 0.35 and 0.60% phytate; legumes on average had 0.62% phytate, as did snack bars. There was a wide variation in Ca and Zn contents: There was a tenfold variation in Ca content among the legume products, whereas there was a seventyfold variation in Zn content among the cereals. The phytate: Zn molar ratio, which is presumed to indicate the biovailability of Zn, was above 20∶1 for two-thirds of the cereals and almost all of the snack bars; it was above 15∶1 for one-third of the breads, almost all of the legumes, and half of the legume products. These high phytate: Zn molar ratios, as well as some Ca: phytate molar ratios above 6∶1, indicate that there might be a reduced biovailability of Zn in many of the foods analyzed in this study.     

Purine phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.7 and 2.4.2.8) and purine de novo synthesis activity in rat testicular tissue at different stages of development, and their correlation with the circulating levels of gonadotrophins and testosterone, and with structural changes

The overall activity of the purine de novo synthesis pathway and the activities of purine phosphoribosyltransferase in the rat testis were measured at different ages and were correlated with histological observations. Similar studies of the concentration of circulating gonadotrophins and testosterone were performed. The purine phosphoribosyltransferase activities were between two and three orders of magnitude greater than purine de novo synthesis. The peak activity of the purine de novo synthesis pathway coincided with the first appearance of meiosis in the spermatocytes immediately before the luteinising hormone (LH) level rose to its peak. The highest activity of the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT; EC 2.4.2.8) - catalysed purine salvage pathway coincided with the first appearance of mature spermatozoa in the tubules just after the occurrence of peak levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). These findings are linked to the development of testicular atrophy in cases of severe HPRT deficiency in man.     

Host plant resistance for insect control in some important crop plants

Insect pests of cereal crop plants are among the most destructive and devastating factors limiting world food production. Insects often inflict losses of 15 to 50% of the yield of some crops in various parts of the world. Insects also provide infection courts for various pathogens that inflict even greater damage. The nature of these losses is especially tragic for poor farmers in the tropics since the insects consume dry matter already produced using limited resources. Reduction of these losses would enhance the world food supply available to man, even if actual production remains the same, by allotting to man and animals that proportion of production now consumed by insects. Control of insect‐inflicted damage on a world‐wide basis is a very difficult task. Chemical control is effective and readily available in some, but not all, countries. However, chemical control is often unavailable, ineffective, too expensive, and likely to create environmental and safety hazards that make it unsuitable for many parts of the world. Several excellent examples of biological control of insects also attest to the potential usefulness of this method of reducing insect‐inflicted losses, but this method also has been ineffective for certain major insect pests due to lack of effective identification, distribution, and maintenance of biological control agents. On the whole, host plant resistance (HPR) to insects has been the most successful and widely used method of control. HPR has been used successfully in a number of major crop species to help control damage inflicted by major insect pests. However, problems with identifying sources of resistance and transferring it to usable varieties have often been difficult to overcome. Also, once resistance is deployed, changes in insect populations which allow them to overcome the resistance sometimes eliminate the potential advantages of resistant varieties. However, methods to quantify host‐insect interactions have improved significantly over the past few years, and the prospects for developing and maintaining usable levels of resistance to several major insect pests of most major crops are good. Studies of the biochemical and biophysical mechanisms of insect resistance have added a new dimension to HPR work. Knowledge of specific factors that contribute to insect resistance can be extremely useful to plant breeders and entomologists. The ability to identify and select for one specific plant component or group of components can speed the development of resistant varieties. Studies of the effect of such resistance components on insect development and behavior can help determine the likelihood of insects being able to overcome the resistance factors. Studies of the effect of the resistance factors on host plant yield, performance, or quality may help plant breeders overcome the problems often associated with the development of high yielding and high quality resistant varieties. Identification of several different mechanisms of resistance could provide breeders the opportunity to adjust levels of several resistance components in order to arrive at a proper blend of resistance, quality, and yield. Furthermore, development of varieties with multiple mechanisms of resistance should slow the development of new biotypes of insects that could overcome the HPR since the insects would have to simultaneously or sequentially develop the ability to overcome several resistance factors. Therefore, knowledge of mechanisms of insect resistance could facilitate the development of more stable and long‐lasting types of resistance.     

Broad-Host-Range Agrocin of Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Eighteen strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens isolated from crown galls were tested for agrocin production. Of six agrocin-producing strains, one (D286) produced a broad-host-range agrocin active against strains carrying nopaline, octopine, and agropine type Ti plasmids. Sensitivity to agrocin D286 was found to map in the 11- to 18-megadalton region of the nopaline Ti plasmid pTiC58. The agrocin was partially purified, and its physical characteristics were consistent with its being a nucleotide, as is agrocin 84. Agrocin D286 was shown to inhibit DNA, RNA, and protein syntheses. Strain D286 spontaneously lost its pathogenicity, and its potential for use in the biological control of crown gall is discussed.     

The inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis by mycophenolic acid

1. Mycophenolic acid, an antibiotic of some antiquity that more recently has been found to have marked activity against a range of tumours in mice and rats, strongly inhibits DNA synthesis in the L strain of fibroblasts in vitro. 2. The extent of the inhibition of DNA synthesis is markedly increased by preincubation of the cells with mycophenolic acid before the addition of [(14)C]thymidine. 3. The inhibition of DNA synthesis by mycophenolic acid in L cells in vitro is reversed by guanine in a non-competitive manner, but not by hypoxanthine, xanthine or adenine. 4. The reversal of inhibition by guanine can be suppressed by hypoxanthine, 6-mercaptopurine and adenine. 5. Mycophenolic acid does not inhibit the incorporation of [(14)C]thymidine into DNA in suspensions of Landschütz and Yoshida ascites cells in vitro. 6. Mycophenolic acid inhibits the conversion of [(14)C]hypoxanthine into cold-acid-soluble and -insoluble guanine nucleotides in Landschütz and Yoshida ascites cells and also in L cells in vitro. There is some increase in the radioactivity of the adenine fraction in the presence of the antibiotic. 7. Mycophenolic acid inhibits the conversion of [(14)C]hypoxanthine into xanthine and guanine fractions in a cell-free system from Landschütz cells capable of converting hypoxanthine into IMP, XMP and GMP. 8. Preparations of IMP dehydrogenase from Landschütz ascites cells, calf thymus and LS cells are strongly inhibited by mycophenolic acid. The inhibition showed mixed type kinetics with K(i) values of between 3.03x10(-8) and 4.5x10(-8)m. 9. Evidence was also obtained for a partial, possibly indirect, inhibition by mycophenolic acid of an early stage of biosynthesis of purine nucleotides as indicated by a decrease in the accumulation of formylglycine amide ribonucleotide induced by the antibiotic azaserine in suspensions of Landschütz and Yoshida ascites cells and L cells in vitro.     

Cytological aspects of haemoglobin and chlorocruorin synthesis in polychaete annelids

Summary The ultrastructure of the haematopoietic cells in the polychaetes Neoamphitrite figulus Dalyell, Lanice conchilega (Pallas), Arenicola marina (L.), Myxicola infundibulum Renier, Megalomma vesiculusom (Montagu), Sabella penicillus L., are compared: all show similarities in having well developed Golgi, granular endoplasmic reticulum and haemoglobin or chlorocruorin in vesicles, and numerous mitochondria. The porphyrin byproducts of synthesis are combined with iron as haematins within electrondense granules built up from multi-lamellar organelles. The structure of the basal lamina which alone separates the cells from the lumen of the vessels is described and evidence is presented for the method of release of the haem into the plasma by reverse pinocytosis. The cycle of synthesis within the cell is discussed and the process of haem synthesis in annelids is reviewed. The structure of the haemoglobin-containing coelomocytes of Neoamphitrite figulus is briefly described.This work was made possible by an award from the Science Research Council. We would also like to thank the Director and Staff of the Plymouth Laboratory, where some of the work was done, for their hospitality and facilities.