MAJOR CLADES OF THE ANGIOSPERMS

Abstract— Our knowledge of fundamental angiosperm interrelationships is still very incomplete. The absence of a narrowly circumscribed gymnosperm outgroup, ideally the sister group, makes character evaluation, necessary for a cladistic analysis, difficult. According to current views the superorder Magnoliiflorae with a number of other groups, for example the monocotyledons, may represent a complex of families near the base of the angiosperms. Interrelationships of groups within the monocotyledons are much better understood than those between groups within the dicotyledons. A cladogram of monocotyledon orders based on earlier work by R. Dahlgren, H. T. Clifford, and F. N. Rasmussen is presented. A data matrix for a sample of the angiosperms with 61 characters for 49 taxa, mostly magnoliifloran and related families, is presented. The characters are polarized mainly according to the current view that the primitive angiosperm morphotype is a woody dicotyledon with strobiloid flowers. As an alternative the matrix is adjusted following W. C. Burger's conjecture that the primitive angiosperm was a herbaceous monocotyledon with trimerous flowers. Both matrices were run in a computerized parsimony analysis, resulting in numerous equally parsimonious solutions. This result is illustrative of the great homoplasy in the available character information, and also of how little actually is known about fundamental angiosperm interrelationships or phylogeny.     

Assignment of orthologous relationships among mammalian alpha-globin genes by examining flanking regions reveals a rapid rate of evolution

In order to study the relationships among mammalian alpha-globin genes, we have determined the sequence of the 3' flanking region of the human alpha 1 globin gene and have made pairwise comparisons between sequenced alpha-globin genes. The flanking regions were examined in detail because sequence matches in these regions could be interpreted with the least complication from the gene duplications and conversions that have occurred frequently in mammalian alpha-like globin gene clusters. We found good matches between the flanking regions of human alpha 1 and rabbit alpha 1, human psi alpha 1 and goat I alpha, human alpha 2 and goat II alpha, and horse alpha 1 and goat II alpha. These matches were used to align the alpha-globin genes in gene clusters from different mammals. This alignment shows that genes at equivalent positions in the gene clusters of different mammals can be functional or nonfunctional, depending on whether they corrected against a functional alpha-globin gene in recent evolutionary history. The number of alpha-globin genes (including pseudogenes) appears to differ among species, although highly divergent pseudogenes may not have been detected in all species examined. Although matching sequences could be found in interspecies comparisons of the flanking regions of alpha- globin genes, these matches are not as extensive as those found in the flanking regions of mammalian beta-like globin genes. This observation suggests that the noncoding sequences in the mammalian alpha-globin gene clusters are evolving at a faster rate than those in the beta-like globin gene clusters. The proposed faster rate of evolution fits with the poor conservation of the genetic linkage map around alpha-globin gene clusters when compared to that of the beta-like globin gene clusters. Analysis of the 3' flanking regions of alpha-globin genes has revealed a conserved sequence approximately 100-150 bp 3' to the polyadenylation site; this sequence may be involved in the expression or regulation of alpha-globin genes.      

P48-Triggered transmembrane signaling transduction of human monocytes:mobilization of calcium ion and activation of protein kinase C(PKC)

INTRODUCTI0NThedifferentiati0nofcelIsalongthemonocyte-macr0phagepathwayandthesig-nalsinvo1vedinthesecel1sacquiringtheabilitytokilltum0rcellsarenotfllllyundersto0d.Wehavebeenstudingamoleculewhichappearst0beanimportantmemberofthecytokinenetworkinvo1vedintheregulati0nmonocyteactivation.ThiscytokinetermedP48wasisolatedfr0mthehllmannullcellleukemiacell1ineReh.IthasbeenpurifiedtohomogeneityandfOundtobedistinctfrominterferongamma,col0nystimulatingfactors(CSFs)andTNFalphaalldbeta[1,2].Func-ti…     

A small tandem duplication is responsible for the unstable white-ivory mutation in Drosophila

The white-ivory (wi) mutation, an unstable allele of the white locus in Drosophila, reverts to wild-type at frequencies of 5 X 10(-5) in homozygous females, and 5 X 10(-6) in males and deletion heterozygous females. We show by molecular cloning and Southern blot analysis of DNA from wi flies that a 2.9 kilobase tandem duplication within the white locus is responsible for the mutation. Phenotypic reversion appears, in most cases, to be due to an exact excision of the extra copy of the sequence. Two derivative alleles of wi, one phenotypically wild-type, the other a partial revertant, carry insertions of moderately repetitive DNA from outside the locus, in addition to suffering deletions of some white locus DNA. Earlier genetic data preclude unequal crossing-over between homologs as an explanation for the precise reversions. Rather, an intrachromosomal meiotic event seems to be responsible. Our results suggest that intrachromosomal recombination may be responsible in other systems for a larger number of rearrangements than has been suspected, and that interallelic recombination frequencies in Drosophila do not always correlate in a simple way with DNA length or extent of homology.     

Role of p60src kinase activity in the induction of neuroretinal cell proliferation by rous sarcoma virus.

Expression of the src gene of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) in chicken embryo neuroretinal (NR) cells results in morphological transformation and sustained proliferation of a normally resting cell population. We have previously reported the isolation of mutants of RSV which retain full growth-promoting activity while displaying reduced transforming properties. Two such mutants, PA101 and PA104, were used to investigate whether the p60src-associated kinase activity is required for the mitogenic function of src. A comparison of the patterns of phosphorylation of wild-type and mutant p60src revealed that the phosphorylation of tyrosine residues of p60src of PA104 was markedly reduced, whereas the relative amount of phosphotyrosine in p60src of PA101 was comparable to that of the wild-type protein. In vitro kinase activity of p60src immunoprecipitated from NR cells infected with PA101 or PA104 as measured by phosphorylation of the heavy chains of specific immunoglobulin G molecules was 1/10 that of the wild-type molecule. Moreover, when NR cells infected with mutants temperature sensitive for mitogenic capacity were maintained at a temperature either permissive or restrictive for cell growth, quantitation of kinase activity indicated that proliferation of NR cells could not be linked to the absolute level of in vitro kinase activity of p60src. Transformation of NR cells by wild-type RSV resulted in a 10-fold increase in total cellular phosphotyrosine and in the phosphorylation of tyrosine residues of a 34K protein, a possible in vivo substrate for p60src. In contrast, phosphorylation of tyrosine residues of cellular targets was markedly reduced in NR cells infected with PA101 or PA104. These results indicate that the mitogenic capacity of RSV in NR cells does not require elevated levels of p60src kinase activity.     

Performance of a new dynamic model for predicting diurnal time courses of stomatal conductance at the leaf level

Under natural conditions, plants are subjected to continuous changes of irradiance that drive variations of stomatal conductance to water vapour (g_s). We propose a dynamic model to predict the temporal response of g_s at the leaf level using an asymmetric sigmoid function with a unique parameter describing time constants for increasing and decreasing g_s. The model parameters were adjusted to observed data using Approximate Bayesian Computation. We tested the model performance for (1) instant changes of irradiance; or (2) continuous and controlled variations of irradiance simulating diurnal time courses. Compared with the two mostly used steady‐state models, our dynamic model described daily time courses of g_s with a higher accuracy. In particular, it was able to describe the hysteresis of g_s responses to increasing/decreasing irradiance and the resulting rapid variations of intrinsic water‐use efficiency. Compared to the mechanistic model of temporal responses of g_s by Kirschbaum, Gross & Pearcy, for which time constants were estimated with a large variance, our model estimated time constants with a higher precision. It is expected to improve predictions of water loss and water‐use efficiency in higher scale models by using a small number of parameters.     

In vivo dynamics of the rough deal checkpoint protein during Drosophila mitosis

Rough Deal (Rod) and Zw10 are components of a complex required for the metazoan metaphase checkpoint and for recruitment of dynein/dynactin to the kinetochore. The Rod complex, like most classical metaphase checkpoint components, forms part of the outer domain of unattached kinetochores. Here we analyze the dynamics of a GFP-Rod chimera in living syncytial Drosophila embryos. Uniquely among checkpoint proteins, GFP-Rod robustly streams from kinetochores along microtubules, from the time of chromosome attachment until anaphase onset. Prometaphase and metaphase kinetochores continuously recruit new Rod, thus feeding the current. Rod flux from kinetochores appears to require biorientation but not tension because it continues in the presence of taxol. As with Mad2, kinetochore- and spindle-associated Rod rapidly turns over with free cytosolic Rod, both during normal mitosis and after colchicine treatment, with a t1/2 of 25-45 s. GFP-Rod coimmunoprecipitates with dynein/dynactin, and in the absence of microtubules both Rod and dynactin accumulate on kinetochores. Nevertheless, Rod and dynein/dynactin behavior are distinguishable. We propose that the Rod complex is a major component of the fibrous corona and that the recruitment of Rod during metaphase is required to replenish kinetochore dynein after checkpoint conditions have been satisfied but before anaphase onset.     

Ecological mechanisms of population change during outbreaks of the spruce budworm

Abstract.  1. Stage-specific survival and recruitment of spruce budworm were measured by frequent sampling of foliage in four outbreak populations over a 15-year period in Ontario and Quebec, Canada.
2. Patterns of change in population density during the outbreak collapse phase were closely linked to changes in survival of the late immature stages, and were determined largely by the impact of natural enemies.
3. Host-plant feedback also contributed significantly to survival patterns throughout the outbreak: annual defoliation influenced survival of fourth and fifth instars and fecundity while cumulative defoliation influenced survival of the very early larval stages (first and second) via impacts on stand condition.
4. Inclusion of this host-plant feedback reveals spruce budworm population dynamics as a function of density-related trophic interactions that vary in their order and strength of influence over time. This view re-introduces the importance of forest interactions as a component of dynamics of the spruce budworm.