Immunocytochemical characterisation of endophytic bacteriaAzospirillum brasilense, Herbaspirillum seropedicae, Burkholderia ambifaria andGluconacetobacter diazotrophicus

In the present work an immunocytochemical characterisation of four endophytic bacterial species has been made by using polyclonal antiserum produced against each of the four bacterial strains previously heated at 60 °C. The aim of this researchsito identify common elements among bacteria associated with their endophytic behaviour. Analysis of extracts of each strain by immunoblotting and ELISA confirmed the presence of proteins from different bacterial strains made up of common epitopes. However, antisaproduced againstHerbaspirillum seropedicae andBurkholderia ambifaria show a high number of bands recognised on each extracts, while antisera againstAzospirillum brasilense andGluconacetobacter diazotrophicus show a low number of bands recognised on each extract. Immunogold labelling showed that epitopes are located both on the cell wall and in the cytoplasm; most likely they could be preursor cell wall proteins synthesized inside the cytoplasm and subsequently transported onto cell wall. Finally, the common bands amog bacterial strains revealed by immunoblotting could play a role as active hydrolases involved in host tissue penetration.     

Characterization of a monoclonal antibody to human proacrosin and its use in acrosomal status evaluation.

Among the monoclonal antibodies (MAb) selected after immunization of mice with a detergent-insoluble fraction from human spermatozoa, MAb 4D4 was found to stain in immunofluorescence the principal part of the acrosome of human spermatozoa. Acrosome reaction induced decreased and spotty 4D4 immunofluorescence staining. Immunoelectron microscopy before or after embedding revealed that the epitope defined by MAb 4D4 was sequestered in the anterior acrosomal matrix and, after the acrosome reaction, remained partly bound on matrix elements attached to the inner acrosomal membrane. Western blot analysis of sperm extracts showed that the epitope defined by MAb 4D4 was located on a 55 KD polypeptide in whole cells and on 55 and 50 KD polypeptides in non-ionic detergent fractions. Human proacrosin-enriched fraction obtained by FPLC purification exhibited several proteolytic activities against gelatin in gel enzymography: a 50 KD major band and two minor bands in the 20-30 KD area; the 50 KD polypeptide reacted with MAb 4D4 in Western blots. Furthermore, the 4D4-immunoprecipitated polypeptide from sperm extract showed that the 50 KD band exhibited proteolytic activity with an optimal pH at 8.0 that was strongly inhibited by soybean trypsin inhibitor and ZnCl2. MAb 4D4 also reacted with the acrosome of the monkey Macaca fascicularis but not with the acrosome of any of the other non-primate mammalian species examined so far. Various shape defects of the acrosomal principal region were revealed by 4D4 labeling of spermatozoa with head anomalies from infertile patients. MAb 4D4 also recognized proacrosin in paraffin-embedded human testis sections. These data make the monoclonal antiproacrosin antibody 4D4 an efficient tool for evaluation of the acrosomal status of human spermatozoa and spermatids.     

Homologies between paraflagellar rod proteins from trypanosomes and euglenoids revealed by a monoclonal antibody

A Nonidet P 40 insoluble fraction was isolated from Trypanosoma brucei and was used to raise a monoclonal antibody (5E9). The antigen was localized by indirect immunofluorescence in the flagellum of T. brucei and of two species of euglenoids, Euglena gracilis and Distigma proteus. In immunoblot analysis, 5E9 appeared to bind to paraflagellar rod proteins PFR1 and PFR2 of T. brucei (72000 and 75000 mol. wt.) and of E. gracilis (67000 and 76000 mol. wt.). The presence of a common epitope in paraflagellar rod proteins from species of trypanosomes and euglenoids shows that despite distinct structures of the rods some identical domain exists in the proteins that could be involved in their supramolecular assembly into a similar organelle. The antigenic determinant defined by 5E9 was also shown to be present in a 87000 molecular weight polypeptide located in the proximal part of the flagellum of Crithidia oncopelti in which a paraflagellar rod is not detectable at the ultrastructural level.     

Vicariance patterns in the Mediterranean Sea: east–west cleavage and low dispersal in the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica

Aim The seagrass, Posidonia oceanica is a clonal angiosperm endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Previous studies have suggested that clonal growth is far greater than sexual recruitment and thus leads to low clonal diversity within meadows. However, recently developed microsatellite markers indicate that there are many different genotypes, and therefore many distinct clones present. The low resolution of markers used in the past limited our ability to estimate clonality and assess the individual level. New high‐resolution dinucleotide microsatellites now allow genetically distinct individuals to be identified, enabling more reliable estimation of population genetic parameters across the Mediterranean Basin. We investigated the biogeography and dispersal of P. oceanica at various spatial scales in order to assess the influence of different evolutionary factors shaping the distribution of genetic diversity in this species. Location The Mediterranean. Methods We used seven hypervariable microsatellite markers, in addition to the five previously existing markers, to describe the spatial distribution of genetic variability in 34 meadows spread throughout the Mediterranean, on the basis of an average of 35.6 (± 6.3) ramets sampled. Results At the scale of the Mediterranean Sea as a whole, a strong east–west cleavage was detected (amova) . These results are in line with those obtained using previous markers. The new results showed the presence of a putative secondary contact zone at the Siculo‐Tunisian Strait, which exhibited high allelic richness and shared alleles absent from the eastern and western basins. F statistics (pairwise θ ranges between 0.09 and 0.71) revealed high genetic structure between meadows, both at a small scale (about 2 to 200 km) and at a medium scale within the eastern and western basins, independent of geographical distance. At the intrameadow scale, significant spatial autocorrelation in six out of 15 locations revealed that dispersal can be restricted to the scale of a few metres. Main conclusions A stochastic pattern of effective migration due to low population size, turnover and seed survival is the most likely explanation for this pattern of highly restricted gene flow, despite the importance of an a priori seed dispersal potential. The east–west cleavage probably represents the outline of vicariance caused by the last Pleistocene ice age and maintained to this day by low gene flow. These results emphasize the diversity of evolutionary processes shaping the genetic structure at different spatial scales.     

Trypanosoma cruzi: cell type dependent distribution of a tubulin domain in mammalian stages

The distribution of tubulin domains in the mammalian stages of Trypanosoma cruzi was investigated by using monoclonal antibodies elicited against bovine brain tubulin. Western blotting performed on T. brucei trypomastigotes and T. cruzi epimastigotes showed that the monoclonal antibodies 16D3 and 24E3 reacted only with tubulin in these cell types. Indirect immunofluorescence revealed that, whereas 16D3 stained all microtubules, including subpellicular microtubules, the epitope defined by 24E3 was found in only a part of the tubulin pool of amastigotes and intermediate stages infecting murine fibroblasts and of broad trypomastigotes; the staining was limited to the basal bodies and the distal region of the flagellar adhesion zone in these developmental forms. By contrast, slender trypomastigotes did not exhibit any reaction with 24E3. These results are consistent with a transformation of broad trypomastigotes into slender trypomastigotes during which the tubulin domain recognized by 24E3 would undergo modifications leading to its complete masking in slender forms. The morphogenesis of the mammalian stages of T. cruzi would involve modifications of the tubulin molecule.     

Low temperature delays development of photosystem II activity in winter rye leaves

The ability of leaves to acclimate photosynthetically to low temperature was examined during leaf development in winter rye plants ( Secale cereale L. cv. Puma) grown at 20°C or at 6°C. All leaves grown at 6°C exhibit increased chlorophyll (Chl) levels per leaf area, higher rates of uncoupled, light-saturated photosystem I (PSI) electron transport, and slower increases in photosystem II (PSII) electron transport capacity, when compared with 20°C leaves. The stoiehiometry of PSI and PSII was estimated for each leaf age class by quantifying Chl in elcctrophorctic separations of Chl-protein complexes. The ratio of PSII/PSI electron transport in 20°C leaves is highly correlated with the ratio of core Chl a -proteins associated with PSII (CPa) to those associated with PSI (CP1). In contrast, PSII/PSI electron transport in 6°C leaves is not as well correlated with CPa/CP1 and is related, in part, to the amount and organization of light-harvesting Chl a/b -proteins associated with PSII. CPa/CP1 increases slowly in 6°C leaves, although the ratio of CPa/CP1 in mature 20°C and 6°C leaves is not different. The results suggest that increased PSI activity at low temperature is not related to an increase in the relative proportion of PSI and may reflect, instead, a regulatory change. Photosynthetic acclimation to low environmental temperature involves increased PSI activity in mature leaves shifted to 6°C. In leaves grown entirely at 6°C, however, acclimation includes both increased PSI activity and modifications in the rate of accumlation of PSII and in the organization of LHCII.     

Tubulin expression in trypanosomes

Microtubules in trypanosomes are the main component of the flagellar axoneme and of the subpellicular microtubule corset, whose relative positions determine the morphology of each cell stage of the life cycle of these parasites. Microtubules are polymers of tubulin, a protein dimer of two 55-kDa subunits, alpha- and beta-tubulin; in Trypanosoma brucei, the tubulin-coding sequences are clustered in a 40-kb fragment of tandemly repeated alpha- and beta-tubulin genes separated by a 170-bp intergenic zone. This cluster is transcribed in a unique RNA which is rapidly processed into mature mRNAs carrying the 5' 35-nucleotide leader sequence found in all trypanosome mRNAs. Although no heterogeneity has been found at the gene level, tubulin can be post-translationally modified in 2 ways: the C-terminal tyrosine of alpha-tubulin can be selectively cleaved and added again with 2 enzymes, tubulin carboxypeptidase and tubulin-tyrosine ligase; alpha-tubulin can also be acetylated on a lysine residue. Some molecular domains of tubulin are restricted to subpopulations of microtubules; for instance, the beta-tubulin form defined by the monoclonal antibody 1B41 is sequestered into a part of the subpellicular cytoskeleton limited to the flagellar adhesion zone, which might correspond to the group of 4 microtubules associated with a cisterna of the endoplasmic reticulum, forming the so-called "subpellicular microtubule quartet" (SFMQ). The early assembly of this zone in each daughter cell during the cell division of T. brucei, together with the alterations undergone by the domain defined by the monoclonal antitubulin 24E3 during the differentiation of Trypanosoma cruzi, suggest that specific tubulin forms are responsible for dynamic properties of SFMQ possibly involved in trypanosome morphogenesis.     

Sterol carrier protein2-like activity in rat intestine

A sterol carrier protein2 (SCP2)-like activity has been demonstrated in rat intestinal mucosal homogenates and in isolated intestinal cells from both crypt and villus zones. The results indicate the presence of a protein with similar molecular weight and antigenicity to that of authentic SCP2 purified from rat liver cytosol. Like liver SCP2, mucosal cytosol stimulates pregnenolone production in rat adrenal mitochondria and acyl coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase activity of liver and mucosal microsomes. The distribution of SCP2-like activity as determined by radioimmunoassay indicates high levels in mitochondria and cytosol and relatively lower levels in microsomes and in brush-border membranes. The widespread distribution of SCP2-like protein in the intestine is consistent with potential transfer functions in all phases of cholesterol processing.