Behavioral characteristics of old female Japanese monkeys in a free-ranging group

Fourteen female Japanese monkeys of the Arashiyama-B group ranging in age from 11 to 29 years were observed to elucidate the behavioral characteristics of aging monkeys. A positive significant correlation was found between the occurrences of rest and age, and a negative significant correlation between the occurrences of auto-grooming and age. Younger female monkeys tended to be in contact with or in proximity to group members, while older female monkeys tended to spend much more time alone. As for the grooming interactions, younger female monkeys more often groomed others than did older female monkeys. Also, the former engaged in grooming more frequently than in being groomed, while the latter spent more time in being groomed than in grooming. The old female monkeys showed no marked decline in rank, but some of them were surpassed by their adult daughters.     

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe cdc6 gene encodes the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase δ

The cdc6 mutants of Schizosaccharomyces pombe have been classified as being defective in progression through the G2 phase of the cell cycle. We cloned an S. pombe gene that could complement the temperature-sensitive growth of the cdc6-23 mutant. Unexpectedly, the cloned gene was allelic to pol3, which encodes the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase δ. Integration mapping confirmed that cdc6 and pol3 are identical. The cdc6-23 mutant carries one amino acid substitution in the conserved N3 region of Pol3. Received: 17 October 1996 / Accepted: 19 November 1996     

Development of social grooming between mother and offspring in wild chimpanzees

Grooming between female chimpanzees and their offspring was studied in the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. Infants under 2 years of age rarely groomed their mothers, and mostly groomed accessible parts of their mother's bodies, if they did so. Most older adolescents reciprocated grooming with their mothers almost equally. Daughters appeared to mature socially earlier than sons, judging from the earlier ages at which a female infant began to groom her mother, groom mutually with her, and groom others. Weaning infants groomed their mothers more when they were in oestrus than when they were not. Development of the use of grooming as a means of social manoeuvring is discussed.     

Distribution of Clostridium botulinum type C in Ishikawa prefecture, and applicability of agglutination to identification of nontoxigenic isolates of C. botulinum type C.

Since deaths of waterfowls have frequently been observed in Lake Kahoku near Kanazawa city, Japan, we attempted an ecological study on Clostridium botulinum type C in four other lakes as well as Lake Kahoku. One hundred and twenty-nine (56%) of 230 soil samples collected gave rise to lethal toxicity in mice with the characteristic “wasp-waist” symptom. All of the 51 samples arbitrarily selected were neutralized by C. botulinum type C antitoxic serum. A further seasonal study throughout the year at a given shore area of Lake Kahoku disclosed that nearly all samples gave rise to toxicity due to C. botulinum type C during the autumn season when the most waterfowls congregate. Toxigenic strains of C. botulinum type C were isolated together with nontoxigenic strains that were culturally and biochemically similar to the toxigenic strains. Both the toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains were equally agglutinable by an antiserum prepared against one of the nontoxigenic strains. Further extensive studies on the specificity of the agglutination method for identification were performed with 112 strains of 46 clostridial species. None of the strains used except some strains of C. novyi type A and a strain of C. botulinum type D was agglutinable. Based on the findings for cultural, biochemical, and agglutinable properties, the nontoxigenic strains were identified as C. botulinum type C. Also, C. novyi type A isolates showing colonies covered with a small pearly layer zone but surrounded by an aberrantly wide lecithinase zone are discussed.     

Studies on the Glucanase of Sclerotinia Libertiana

Glucanase-treatment of yeast cells was shown to increase the glucose fermenting activity, and decrease the sucrose and maltose fermenting activity. Also, lipase–and phospholipase–treatment decreased the fermenting activity on these sugars. However, the effects on the disaccharide fermenting activity could be reversed under various growth conditions of the yeast cells.

From these results, structural factors envolved in the transport of fermentable sugars into yeast cells are discussed.