Das Wachstum infiltrierter Keimlinge

Zusammenfassung Werden Keimlinge vonHelianthus annuus undVicia faba mittels einer Wasserstrahlpumpe mit Wasser infiltriert, so führt dies sofort in allen Organen der Pflanze zu einer sehr starken und mitunter völligen Hemmung des Wachstums. Wirkt der Unterdruck in Luft ein, so daß es hernach zu keiner Wasserfüllung der Interzellularen kommt, so unterbleibt jede Wachstumshemmung.Die Frage nach der Kausalbeziehung zwischen Infiltration und Wachstumshemmung konnte nicht geklärt werden, da die nächstiliegende Annahme, Infiltration führe zu einer Atmungshemmung, durch das Experiment nicht bestätigt werden konnte.Es wird darauf hingewiesen, daß die Zufuhr von Wirk- oder Nährstoffen durch Infiltration eine Methode ist, die in wachsenden Organen nur mit großem Vorbehalt angewendet werden darf, da eine im Wachstum weitgehend gehemmte Pflanze sich in einem anomalen Zustand befindet.Mit 8 Textabbildungen.     

Untersuchungen über das osmotische Verhalten der GrünalgeValonia ventricosa

Zusammenfassung 1.Valonia ventricosa ist eine pantropisch verbreitete marine Grünalge (einziger Fundort im Mittelmeer: Insel Ibiza). Die hier dargestellten Untersuchungen wurden an der Ostküste Venezuelas durchgeführt.2. Die osmotischen Werte (kryoskopisch bestimmt) liegen 1 bis 3 atm über dem Wert des Meerwassers.3. Wachstum und Alter der Zellen ändern den osmotischen Wert nicht.4. Aus Meerwasser in destilliertes Wasser überführt, tritt sehr rasche Abnahme des osmotischen Wertes des Zellsaftes ein (innerhalb von 160 Minuten von 26 auf 2 atm).5. Infolge der größeren relativen Oberfläche nimmt der osmotische Wert kleinerer Zellen viel schneller als der größerer.6. In konzentriertem Meerwasser (31 atm) ändern sich die Zellsaftwerte innerhalb von 3 Stunden nicht.7. In stärker konzentriertem Meerwasser sterben die Zellen rasch ab. Ihr Zellsaft wird damit zum Spielball der Außenbedingungen.8.Valonia ventricosa ist somit ein stenohaliner Organismus ohne erkennbare Fähigkeit zur Osmoregulation.9. Zugabe von CaCl₂ zum destillierten Wasser verlangsamt zunächst die Abnahme des osmotischen Wertes.10. Die chemische Untersuchung des Zellsaftes zeigt auch bei dieser Art das Vorherrschen des Kaliums, das gegenüber dem Meerwasser 66fach konzentriert ist.11. Die Zellwand färbt sich mit Methylenblau stark an, ist jedoch für diesen Farbstoff in keiner Richtung permeable. Angefärbte Zellwände scheinen eine geringe Ionenpermeabilität zu besitzen.12. Elektronenoptische Untersuchnugen der Zellwände zeigen, daß diese aus 40 bis 50 Lamellen bestehen, wobei benachbarte Lamellen eine überkreuzte Paralleltextur (Fischgrätenmuster) besitzen. Da die Zellen — im Gegensatz zu anderenValonia-Arten — nicht in destilliertem Wasser platzen, muß die Zellwand entweder hohe Drucke auszuhalten vermögen oder eine relativ geringe Wasserpermeabilität besitzen.

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Investigations on the osmotic behaviour of the green algaValonia ventricosa

Among the marine Chlorophyta,Valonia ventricosa represents a pantropic species; one of its few extratropical localities is the island Ibiza in the Mediterranean. Our physiological investigations were carried out during several months between 1960 and 1963 in the coastal waters of Venezuela (Mochima Bay near Cumana). The following results were obtained: 1. The osmotic values (measured with the kryoskopic method) are 1 to 3 atm higher than those of the seawater (salinity 36–37 ). 2. Neither size nor age of the cells influence the osmotic characteristics of the cell sap. 3. A transfer from marine to distilled water causes a rapid decrease of the osmotic values (within 160 minutes from 26 to 2 atm). Due to the bigger relative surface, this decrease is more rapid in small cells than in the bigger ones. 4. In concentrated seawater with 31 atm the osmotic values of the cells did not change within 3 hours. 5. In more concentrated or in diluted seawater, the cells are irreversibly damaged within a short time.Valonia ventricosa can therefore be considered as a stenohaline aliga without any recognizable osmoregulation. 6. Addition of CaCl₂ delays the decrease of the osmotic value. 7. Chemical analysis of the cell sap demonstrates the well-known prevalence of potassium, which is 66 times more concentrated than in seawater. 8. The cell wall can be easily stained with methyleneblue and in this case the permeability for anorganic ions is probably reduced. 9. Photographs taken with the electron-microscope show in cross section the multilammellate nature of the cell wall and the change of the fibrillar-direction from one lamella to the other, giving the picture of a cross-fibrillar structure. Since the cells — in contradiction to those of otherValonia species — do not burst in distilled water, it must be assumed that the cell wall structure is able to resist high pressures (about 26 atm) or is characterized by a relatively low water-permeability.

     

Properties and cellular localization of a luciferin binding protein in the bioluminescence reaction of Gonyaulax polyedra

A luciferin binding protein LBP involved in the bioluminescence reaction of Gonyaulax polyedra was purified and used for antibody production. Luciferin bound to LBP is fluorescent and can be used as a marker in living cells, allowing the localization of LBP in cortical organelles to be visualized. In cell sections, the same peripheral localization was observed using anti-LBP and immunofluorescence microscopy. The amount of LBP is ten-fold greater from cells from in night phase compared to those from in day phase, as determined both by immunoblots of cell extracts, and in vivo fluorescence. These changes correlate with the circadian changes in bioluminescence of living cells.     

Interspecific incompatibility due to stylar barriers in tuber-bearing and closely related non-tuber-bearing Solanums

Summary The phenomenon of interspecific incompatibility between various wild tuber-bearing and closely related non-tuber-bearing Solanum species was studied. One area of investigation included an examination of possible protein interactions in the incompatibility reaction using SDS electrophoresis. Pollen tube inhibition and morphology were examined in conjunction with biochemical analysis. Two sets of crosses were examined: interspecific tuber-bearing species crosses and interspecific tuber-bearing × non-tuber-bearing species crosses. These crosses had consistent pollen tube inhibition in the upper one-third of the style. The upper third of the styles of incompatibly pollinated, compatibly pollinated, and unpollinated styles was studied under fluorescence microscopy to observe pollen tube growth and morphology. Interspecific tuber-bearing × non-tuber-bearing species crosses demonstrated consistent pollen tube inhibition just below the stigma with frequent pollen tube swelling and bursting and extensive callose deposition along the pollen tube wall. Interspecific tuber-bearing species crosses had pollen tube inhibition further down the style with pollen tube tip tapering and extensive callose deposition. Stylar proteins of the lower two-thirds of the styles were analyzed with SDS electrophoresis. No unique protein differences were found to be specifically associated with the interspecific incompatibility reaction in this portion of the style.Cooperative investigation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, and the Wisconsin Experiment Station. Supported in part by the USDA, Cooperative States Research Service Competitive grant no. 83-CRCR-1-1253     

Failure of (SJL/J x PL/J)F1 hybrid mice to develop immunologic tolerance to V beta 17a+ T cells results in F1 anti-SJL mixed lymphocyte reaction.

It has been reported previously that spleen cells from (SJL x PL) F1 hybrid mice are not tolerant to SJL parental cells as assessed by a one-way MLR. The possibility that the F1 anti-SJL reaction was due to the effect of lymphokines produced by the irradiated SJL T cells in response to I-Eu expressed on the F1 hybrid cells was eliminated since inclusion of anti-I-E mAb was without effect. Cell separations showed the responder cells to be plastic and nylon wool nonadherent Ia- T cells. Separation of the SJL spleen cells showed that the stimulator cells were nonadherent, passed through a nylon wool column, and were Ia-. the F1-anti-SJL MLR was blocked 70 to 90% by inclusion of mAb KJ23a in the culture medium that indicated that the stimulatory cell population was V beta 17a+ T cells. This was confirmed by the use of V beta 17a+ and V beta 17a-T cell clones as stimulators. To determine whether failure to develop tolerance to this T cell subset in F1 hybrid mice might be responsible for the F1-anti-parent MLR, (SJL x PL)F1 mice were treated at birth and 48 h thereafter with anti-I-E mAb for 7 wk. Spleen cells from antibody-treated F1 mice were nonreactive with irradiated SJL parental cells in contrast to spleen cells from control mice which indicated that V beta 17a+ T cells were eliminated by negative selection before the development of tolerance.     

Intra- and interspecies analyses of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) gene family reveal independent evolution in primates and rodents

Summary Various rodent and primate DNAs exhibit a stronger intra- than interspecies cross-hybridization with probes derived from the N-terminal domain exons of human and rat carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-like genes. Southern analyses also reveal that the human and rat CEA gene families are of similar complexity. We counted at least 10 different genes per human haploid genome. In the rat, approximately seven to nine different N-terminal domain exons that presumably represent different genes appear to be present. We were able to assign the corresponding genomic restriction endonuclease fragments to already isolated CEA gene family members of both human and rat. Highly similar subgroups, as found within the human CEA gene family, seem to be absent from the rat genome. Hybridization with an intron probe from the human nonspecific cross-reacting antigen (NCA) gene and analysis of DNA sequence data indicate the conservation of noncoding regions among CEA-like genes within primates, implicating that whole gene units may have been duplicated. With the help of a computer program and by calculating the rate of synonymous substitutions, evolutionary trees have been derived. From this, we propose that an independent parallel evolution, leading to different CEA gene families, must have taken place in, at least, the primate and rodent orders.     

Mapping of the entomocidal fragment of Spodoptera -specific Bacillus thuringiensis toxin CryIC

 Insecticidal CryI protoxins of Bacillus thuringiensis are activated by proteolysis in the midgut of insects. A conservation of proteolytic cleavage sites in the CryI proteins facilitates the expression of active toxins in transgenic plants to obtain protection from various insects. However, the engineering of CryIC toxins has, thus far, failed to yield applicable resistance to armyworms of Spodoptera species representing common insect pests worldwide. To improve the production of recombinant CryIC toxins, we established a CryIC consensus sequence by comparative analysis of three cryIC genes and tested the stability and protease sensitivity of truncated CryIC toxins in Escherichia coli and in vitro. In contrast to previous data, the boundaries of trypsin-resistant CryIC core toxin were mapped to amino acid residues I28 and R627. Proteolysis of the truncated CryIC proteins showed that Spodoptera midgut proteases may further shorten the C-terminus of CryIC toxin to residue A615. However, C-terminal truncation of CryIC to residue L614, and a mutation causing amino acid replacement I610T, abolished the insecticidal activity of CryIC toxin to S. littoralis larvae, as well as its resistance to trypsin and Spodoptera midgut proteases. Because no CryIC toxin carrying a proteolytically processed N-terminus could be stably expressed in bacteria, our data indicate that, in contrast to other CryI poteins, an entomocidal fragment located between amino acid positions 1 and 627 is required for stable production of recombinant CryIC toxins. Received: 15 April 1996/Accepted: 10 July 1996     

Altered drug translocation mediated by the MDR protein: Direct,indirect, or both?

Overexpression of the MDR protein, or p-glycoprotein (p-GP), in cells leads to decreased initial rates of accumulation and altered intracellular retention of chemotherapeutic drugs and a variety of other compounds. Thus, increased expression of the protein is related to increased drug resistance. Since several homologues of the MDR protein (CRP, ltpGPA, PDR5, sapABCDF) are also involved in conferring drug resistance phenomena in microorganisms, elucidating the function of the MDR protein at a molecular level will have important general applications. Although MDR protein function has been studied for nearly 20 years, interpretation of most data is complicated by the drug-selection conditions used to create model MDR cell lines. Precisely what level of resistance to particular drugs is conferred by a given amount of MDR protein, as well as a variety of other critical issues, are not yet resolved. Data from a number of laboratories has been gathered in support of at least four different models for the MDR protein. One model is that the protein uses the energy released from ATP hydrolysis to directly translocate drugs out of cells in some fashion. Another is that MDR protein overexpression perturbs electrical membrane potential () and/or intracellular pH (pH_i) and therebyindirectly alters translocation and intracellular retention of hydrophobic drugs that are cationic, weakly basic, and/or that react with intracellular targets in a pH_i, or -dependent manner. A third model proposes that the protein alternates between drug pump and Cl^– channel (or channel regulator) conformations, implying that both direct and indirect mechanisms of altered drug translocation may be catalyzed by MDR protein. A fourth is that the protein acts as an ATP channel. Our recent work has tested predictions of these models via kinetic analysis of drug transport and single-cell photometry analysis of pH_i, , and volume regulation in novel MDR and CFTR transfectants that have not been exposed to chemotherapeutic drugs prior to analysis. This paper reviews these data and previous work from other laboratories, as well as relevant transport physiology concepts, and summarizes how they either support or contradict the different models for MDR protein function.