One-Sided Barrier Impact of an International Railroad on Mongolian Gazelles

Abstract: We conducted a carcass census of Mongolian gazelles (Procapra gutturosa) along the Trans-Mongolian railroad in June 2005. We counted 241 gazelles that had died within the previous 12 months. Carcass numbers were greater on the southwestern side in the northern 3 zones, but we found carcasses only on the northeastern side in the southernmost zone. It suggests that impact of the railroad was stronger on one side and that the strength of this impact varied among regions.     

Activation of Heat-Shock Genes by Digitonin is Selectively Repressed in Preheated Drosophila Salivary Glands

Treatment of Drosophila salivary glands with a mild detergent, digitonin, activates puffing at 35 chromosome loci. These digitonin-activated puffs include all of the nine heat-shock puffs known in D. melanogaster . Here we show that the activation of heat-shock genes, but not of other digitoninstimulated puffs, is repressed in salivary glands which have been subjected to and have recovered from heat shock before being treated with digitonin. The findings indicate that, (a) the activation of heat-shock genes by digitonin, as that by temperature elevation, is self-regulated by the heat-shock proteins (HSPs). (b) the gene repressive activity of HSPs is heat-shock-gene specific, and (c) the repression mechanism of heat-shock genes by HSPs is resistant to digitonin, in contrast to that the suppression of heat-shock genes is prevented by the detergent in non-heat-shocked salivary glands. The selective repression of heat-shock genes in preheated salivary glands suggests that the heat-shock genes and other digitonin-activated genes may be controlled by a different mechanism(s).     

THE DIFFERENTIATION OF PIGMENT CELLS IN CULTURES OF CHICK EMBRYONIC NEURAL RETINAE

Neural retinal cells of 8–9 day-old chick embryos were differentiated into pigment cells in the conditions of cell culture for about 25 days. The increase of pigment cells in vitro was semi-quantitatively shown, by counting the number of black foci of pigmented cells per plate throughout the culture period. The increase paralleled the increase in the activity of tyrosinase. The addition of a small number of pigment cells freshly dissociated from tapeta to the cultures of neural retinae did not increase the number of black foci in vitro . Electron microscopic observations revealed the morphological differences of melanin granules between those in pigment cells of the neural retinal cultures and those in cultured tapetum cells. It was discussed that pigment cells appearing in the neural retinal cultures were derived from neural retinal cells, but not from contaminated cells of the tapetum.     

Accumulation and Spatial Distribution of Poly(A)+RNA in Oocytes and Early Embryos of Drosophila melanogaster

We describe the accumulation and distribution of poly (A)⁺RNA during oogenesis and early embryogenesis as revealed by in situ hybridization with a radio-labeled poly (U) probe. The amount of poly (A)⁺RNA in nurse cell cytoplasm continuously increased untill mid-vitellogenic stage (st. 10), then decreased with the rapid increase of poly (A)⁺RNA in the oocyte (st. 11). The localization of poly (A)⁺RNA at stage 10 was in the anterior region of the oocyte, where it is connected by cytoplasmic bridge to the nurse cells. These observations indicate that most of the poly (A)⁺RNA synthesized in the nurse cells is transferred to the oocyte through the cytoplasmic bridges at stage 10–11. During the remainder of oogenesis (st. 11–14) and during preblastodermal embryogenesis, poly (A)⁺RNA was evenly distributed over the cytoplasm of oocytes and embryos. At blastoderm stage, poly(A)⁺RNA became concentrated in the peripheral region of embryos. Though the somatic nuclei of the blastoderm contained a detectable amount of poly (A)⁺ RNA, the pole cell nuclei did not. The cytoplasmic RNA visualised by acridine orange staining and the poly (A)⁺RNA detected by hybridization with [³H]poly (U) exhibited identical distributions during oogenesis and early embryogenesis. These observations provide a basis to assess the unique distributions of specific RNA sequences involved in early development.     

A Brief Contact with Early Embryonic Cells Induces the Differentiation of Embryonal Carcinoma Cells

An assay system was developed to detect a switch of mouse embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells to the pathway for normal cell differentiation after a brief contact with normal embryonic cells. The system consisted of (1) the mixed aggregation of AT805 EC cells with 8-cell stage mouse embryos, (2) the stationary culture of the mixed aggregates into blastocysts and (3) the cell culture of inner cell masses isolated from chimeric blastocysts containing EC cells at 2, 3 and 4 days after the initiaion of chimeric aggregation. The number of foci of EC cells which appeared in the cultures of inner cell masses was decreased with a length of contact of EC cells with normal embryos as the mixed aggregates. After 4 days' contact, only fibroblastic and epithelial cells appeared in most cultures of inner cell masses. Examination of isozyme markers of GPI revealed that such cell cultures consisting of nonmalignant cells contained cells of tumor origin. Thus, it was concluded that a brief exposure to the environment of normal embryos can regulate the tumor cells to differentiate into non-malignant cells. This conclusion was substantiated by comparing the pattern of protein spots of the tumor cells with that of non-malignant cells of the tumor origin by two dimensional gel electrophoresis.     

Maternal Messenger RNA as a Determinant of Pole Cell Formation in Drosophila Embryos

Some polar plasm components are UV-sensitive. Messenger RNA extracted from oocytes or cleavage embryos can to induce pole cells in embryos that have been deprived of ability to form pole cells by UV-irradiation. This article reviews studies on the role of this mRNA in the developmental pathway leading to germ cell formation.     

Effects of UV-irradiation at Various Wavelengths on Sterilizing Drosophila Embryos

Embryos of Drosophila melanogaster at the early intravitelline nuclear multiplication stage were irradiated with UV light at the posterior pole. The sterility and mortality of these embryos were examined in relation to the dose and wavelength of the UV light.
Sterility, expressed either as the frequency of pole-cell-deficient embryos, or as the frequency of agametic adults, was found to be dependent on the wavelength of UV light. UV-irradiation at 280 nm was found moot effective in causing sterility on Drosophila embryos. The minimum dose of radiation to give a 100% sterility was 200 J/m² at 280 nm, and 400 J/m² at 254 nm. In contrast, mortality showed no dependency on the wavelength.
The possibility that nucleic acids in the posterior region is a target of 280 nm radiation is discussed.     

Histological Detection of Chicken δ-Crystallin DNA Sequences Introduced into Mouse Teratocarcinoma Cell Lines

In situ hybridization techniques to detect specific DNA sequences in histological sections were developed for the purpose of analyzing experimental chimeras produced by combination of mouse teratocarcinoma (TCC) cells stably carrying chicken δ-crystallin DNA sequences and normal mouse embryos. Various hybridization conditions for detection of exogenous DNA sequences were compared in samples of solid tumors of TCC lines. Of the conditions examined, denaturation of DNA in alkali and hybridization at 68°C in 6x SSC in the presence of dextran sulphate was the best for detecting δ-crystallin DNA sequences. With ³H-labelled probe under these conditions, virtually all nuclei containing more than 100 copies of chicken δ-crystallin sequences were labelled sufficiently to be distinguishable from nuclei without chicken sequences. This technique could be applied to other experimental chimeras in which specific DNA sequences can be used as markers of certain cell lineages.