Comparative Membrane Microviscosity of Fish and Mammalian Rhabdoviruses Studied by Fluorescence Depolarization

The microviscosity of the hydrophobic region of the membrane of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus was determined using fluorescence depolarization analysis of the probe 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene and was found to be much lower at 37 C than that of another rhabdovirus, vesicular stomatitis virus. However, the microviscosity of this fish virus at 18 C, the temperature at which it was grown, corresponded to the microviscosity of vesicular stomatitis virus at 37 C. Data obtained with the fish virus host cell (chinook salmon embryo cells) grown at 18 C suggest that its membranes have a lower microviscosity than either L-929 or BHK-21 cells (the vesicular stomatitis virus host cells) grown at 37 C.     

Comparative studies on the structural phosphoproteins of mammalian type C viruses.

The major phosphoprotein common to woolly monkey sarcoma virus, gibbon ape lymphosarcoma virus, and type C viruses of the lower mammalian species (mouse, rat, cat), with the exception of the endogenous cat virus (RD-114), is the polypeptide of about 12,000 molecular weight. The protein-phosphate bond in this polypeptide of several viruses is of the phosphoserine variety excepting gibbon ape virus, which contains both phosphoserine and phosphothreonine. The primary phosphoprotein of RD-114 virus and the endogenous baboon type C virus, on the other hand, is the polypeptide of about 15,000 molecular weight which contains phosphothreonine as its phosphoamino acid. A second major phosphoprotein of molecular weight of 10,000 is detected only in viruses genetically related to rat species including those derived from the RPL cell line, from Sprague-Dawley rat embryo cells, and the Kirsten mouse sarcoma virus which was recovered from a mouse erythroblastosis virus after in vivo propagation through rat. These phosphorylated polypeptides of molecular weight 15,000, 12,000, or 10,000 are present in the virion structure in several different but nonrandom phosphorylated states.     

924. BETULA CHICHIBUENSIS

The very rare Japanese birch, Betula chichibuensis Hara, is described and illustrated. It has become widely available since its 1986 introduction from seed, from a breeding population derived from the then single known wild stand. In 2015 it was reintroduced from further, recently discovered, wild populations.     

Defective Mitochondrial Function In Vivo in Skeletal Muscle in Adults with Down’s Syndrome: A 31P-MRS Study

Down’s syndrome (DS) is a developmental disorder associated with intellectual disability (ID). We have previously shown that people with DS engage in very low levels of exercise compared to people with ID not due to DS. Many aspects of the DS phenotype, such as dementia, low activity levels and poor muscle tone, are shared with disorders of mitochondrial origin, and mitochondrial dysfunction has been demonstrated in cultured DS tissue. We undertook a phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (³¹P-MRS) study in the quadriceps muscle of 14 people with DS and 11 non-DS ID controls to investigate the post-exercise resynthesis kinetics of phosphocreatine (PCr), which relies on mitochondrial respiratory function and yields a measure of muscle mitochondrial function in vivo. We found that the PCr recovery rate constant was significantly decreased in adults with DS compared to non-DS ID controls (1.7±0.1 min⁻¹ vs 2.1±0.1 min⁻¹ respectively) who were matched for physical activity levels, indicating that muscle mitochondrial function in vivo is impaired in DS. This is the first study to investigate mitochondrial function in vivo in DS using ³¹P-MRS. Our study is consistent with previous in vitro studies, supporting a theory of a global mitochondrial defect in DS.     

The mobilization of the ethnic vote: A thesis with some Scottish and Welsh evidence*

This article provides a historical and comparative analysis of post‐imperial migrations of ethnic unmixing. It examines the post‐Soviet migration of ethnic Russians to Russia in the light of the migrations of other once‐dominant ‘new minorities’ engendered by transitions from multinational empire to incipient nation‐states: Balkan Muslims during and after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Hungarians after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, and Germans after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the German Kaiserreich.     

Plants recently discovered in Scotland

Summary

Saxifraga rosacea is recorded and Poa scotica described new to Scotland. The position of segregate taxa or breeding units within several species complexes is clarified within Scotland: (a) the hexaploid cytotype within the mostly tetraploid Campanula rotundifolia; (b) diploid Hedera helix and tetraploid H. hibernica;, (c) diploid and tetraploid Deschampsia cespitosa, D. alpina and D. parviflora; (d) octoploid sub-species scotica within usually hexaploid Festuca rubra; (e) an octoploid mountain Agrostis; (f) fertile hexaploid Potentilla anserina; (g) an approximately triploid aneuploid Vaccinium uliginosum ssp. microphyllum.