Long-term memory modules

One particular kind of structure offers possible explanations, for long-term memory, efficient consolidation of stored information from the environment, clustering of data strings and multimodal functioning. It is a possible model for pieces of neural structure and its use offers a uniform method for both studying and constructing an extensive class of mechanisms.     

Evolutionary conservation of the chromosomal configuration and regulation of amylase genes among eight species of the Drosophila melanogaster species subgroup

Nuclear DNA was extracted from each of the eight species comprising the Drosophila melanogaster species subgroup. Southern hybridization of this DNA by using a molecular probe specific for the alpha-amylase coding region showed that the duplicated structure of the amylase locus, first found in D. melanogaster, is conserved among all species of the melanogaster subgroup. Evidence is also presented for the concerted evolution of the duplicated genes within each species. In addition, it is shown that the glucose repression of amylase gene expression, which has been extensively studied in D. melanogaster, is not confined to this species but occurs in all eight members of the species subgroup. Thus, both the duplicated gene structure and the glucose repression of Drosophila amylase gene activity are stable over extended periods of evolutionary time.      

Plasmodium falciparum: gene structure and hydropathy profile of the major merozoite surface antigen (gp195) of the Uganda-Palo Alto isolate

The gene encoding the 195,000-Da major merozoite surface antigen (gp195) of the FUP (Uganda-Palo Alto) isolate of Plasmodium falciparum, a strain widely used for monkey vaccination experiments, has been cloned and sequenced. The translated amino acid sequence of the FUP gp195 protein is closely related to the sequences of corresponding proteins of the CAMP (Malaysia) and MAD-20 (Papua New Guinea) isolates and more distantly related to those of the Wellcome (West Africa) and K1 (Thailand) isolates, supporting the proposed allelic dimorphism of gp195 within the parasite population. The prevalence of dimorphic sequences within the gp195 protein suggests that many gp195 epitopes would be group-specific. Despite the extensive differences in amino acid sequence between gp195 proteins of these two groups, the hydropathy profiles of proteins representative of both groups are very similar. The conservation of overall secondary structure shown by the hydropathy profile comparison indicates that gp195 proteins of the various P. falciparum isolates are functionally equivalent. This information on the primary structure of the FUP gp195 protein will enable us to evaluate the possible roles of conserved, group-specific and variable epitopes in immunity to the blood stage of the malaria parasite.     

ON THE COEXISTENCE AND COEVOLUTION OF ASEXUAL AND SEXUAL COMPETITORS

The coexistence and coevolution of sexual and asexual species under resource competition are explored with three models: a nongenetic ecological model, a model including single locus genetics, and a quantitative-genetic model. The basic assumption underlying all three models is that genetic differences are translated into ecological differences. Hence if sexual species are genetically more variable, they will be ecologically more variable. Under classical competition theory, this increased ecological variability can, in many cases, be an advantage to individual sexual genotypes and to the sexual species as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to determine the conditions when this advantage will outway three disadvantages of sexuality: the costs of males, of segregation, and of the additive component of recombination. All three models reach similar conclusions. Although asexuality confers an advantage, it is much less than a two-fold advantage because minor increases in the overall species niche width of the sexual species will offset the reproductive advantage of the asexual species. This occurs for two reasons. First, an increase in species niche width increases the resource base of the sexual species. Second, to the extent that the increase in niche width is due to increased differences between individuals, a reduction in intraspecific competition will result. This is not to imply that the sexual species will always win. The prime conditions that enable sexual species to stably coexist with or even supplant an asexual sister species are:

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Activity of the natural algicide, cyanobacterin, on angiosperms

Cyanobacterin is a secondary metabolite produced by the cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) Scytonema hofmanni. The compound had previously been isolated and chemically characterized. It was shown to inhibit the growth of algae at a concentration of approximately 5 micromolar. Cyanobacterin also inhibited the growth of angiosperms, including the aquatic, Lemna, and terrestrial species such as corn and peas. In isolated pea chloroplasts, cyanobacterin inhibited the Hill reaction when p-benzoquinone, K₃Fe(CN)₆, dichlorophenolindophenol, or silicomolybdate were used as electron acceptors. The concentration needed to inhibit the Hill reaction in photosystem II was generally lower than the concentration of the known photosystem II inhibitor 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea. Cyanobacterin had no effect on electron transport in photosystem I. The data indicate that cyanobacterin inhibits O₂ evolving photosynthetic electron transport in all plants and that the most probable site of action is in photosystem II.     

Transepithelial transport of nonelectrolytes in the rabbit mandibular salivary gland

Summary The characteristics of nonelectrolyte secretion by the rabbit mandibular salivary gland have been investigated in anin vitro perfused preparation. The concentrations of¹⁴C-labeled nonelectrolytes were measured in saliva samples collected over a range of flow rates during the secretory response of the gland to continuous acetylcholine infusion. Of the nine nonelectrolytes studied, the two particularly lipid-soluble molecules, ethanol and antipyrine, appeared in the saliva at approximately the same concentration as in the perfusate, regardless of the secretory flow rate. The more polar molecules (urea, ethanediol, thiourea, glycerol, erythritol, mannitol and sucrose) appeared at saliva/perfusate concentration ratios () which showed a strong dependence on flow. With the exception of thiourea, this could be attributed to the combined contributions of diffusion and solvent drag.For the polar nonelectrolytes, estimates have been obtained of both the permeability coefficients of the gland (P) and the solvent-drag filtration coefficients (1–). The relation between 1– and molecular radius suggests that small polar nonelectrolytes and the bulk of the secreted water cross the epithelium via aqueous channels that are approximately 0.8 nm in width. The location of the channels remains uncertain because tissue space measurements indicate that the nonelectrolytes most affected by solvent drag have access to both transcellular and paracellular pathways.     

A second gene in a Balbiani ring. Chironomus salivary glands contain a 6.5-kb poly(A)+ RNA that is transcribed from a hierarchy of tandem repeated sequences in Balbiani ring 1

A second gene has been discovered at a previously studied Balbiani ring in Chironomus. Northern hybridizations demonstrated that cDNA clone pCt35 originated from a salivary gland specific 6.5-kilobase (kb) RNA that was abundant, nonribosomal, and apparently poly(A)+. pCt35 had a 120-base pair (bp) insert with 1.6 copies of a 75-bp sequence that contained two open reading frames. Southern hybridizations indicated that pCt35 was homologous to at least a 4-kb block of genomic DNA organized as a hierarchy of 150- and 300-bp tandem repeats. In situ hybridization localized these sequences to Balbiani ring 1. From these results we postulated that a 6.5-kb RNA gene may have evolved by stepwise duplication and amplification of a 75-bp ancestral sequence.