Plant phylogeny drives arboreal caterpillar assemblages across the Holarctic

1. Assemblages of insect herbivores are structured by plant traits such as nutrient content, secondary metabolites, physical traits, and phenology. Many of these traits are phylogenetically conserved, implying a decrease in trait similarity with increasing phylogenetic distance of the host plant taxa. Thus, a metric of phylogenetic distances and relationships can be considered a proxy for phylogenetically conserved plant traits and used to predict variation in herbivorous insect assemblages among co‐occurring plant species.
2. Using a Holarctic dataset of exposed‐feeding and shelter‐building caterpillars, we aimed at showing how phylogenetic relationships among host plants explain compositional changes and characteristics of herbivore assemblages.
3. Our plant–caterpillar network data derived from plot‐based samplings at three different continents included >28,000 individual caterpillar–plant interactions. We tested whether increasing phylogenetic distance of the host plants leads to a decrease in caterpillar assemblage overlap. We further investigated to what degree phylogenetic isolation of a host tree species within the local community explains abundance, density, richness, and mean specialization of its associated caterpillar assemblage.
4. The overlap of caterpillar assemblages decreased with increasing phylogenetic distance among the host tree species. Phylogenetic isolation of a host plant within the local plant community was correlated with lower richness and mean specialization of the associated caterpillar assemblages. Phylogenetic isolation had no effect on caterpillar abundance or density. The effects of plant phylogeny were consistent across exposed‐feeding and shelter‐building caterpillars.
5. Our study reveals that distance metrics obtained from host plant phylogeny are useful predictors to explain compositional turnover among hosts and host‐specific variations in richness and mean specialization of associated insect herbivore assemblages in temperate broadleaf forests. As phylogenetic information of plant communities is becoming increasingly available, further large‐scale studies are needed to investigate to what degree plant phylogeny structures herbivore assemblages in other biomes and ecosystems.

     

Subcellular localization of tissue polypeptide antigen and cytokeratins in epithelial cells (salivary ad mammary glands). Combined use of the cryoultramicrotomy and the protein A-gold technique

Epithelial cells from various sites and at various stages of differentiation reveal distinct cytokeratin polypeptide patterns. WE have localized these heterogeneous elements at the subcellular level in human salivary glands and in a solid tumor of the breast using a monoclonal and a polyclonal antibody against cytokeratin, and an antibody against tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) which seems to be related to some cytokeratins. Labeling by the cytokeratin antibodies was more intense in squamous and duct cells than in acinar cells. The TPA:B1 antibody reacted predominantly with duct cells and to a lesser extent with acinar and squamous cells. A precise evaluation of the labeling pattern and a well-preserved cell structure appeared to be important factors in obtaining more detailed information about intermediate filament proteins. The cryoultramicrotomy and the protein A-gold technique are suitable for these studies.     

Differential modulation by N4, 2'-O-dibutyryl cytidine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate of neutrophil activation.

The cyclic pyrimidine nucleotide, cCMP, is an endogenous substance in mammalian cells but little is known on its functional role. We studied the effects of cCMP, its cell-permeant analogue, N4,2'-O-dibutyryl cytidine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (Bt2cCMP), and of butyrate on superoxide (O2-) formation and cytosolic Ca2+ [( Ca2+]i) in human neutrophils. Bt2cCMP inhibited O2- formation and the rise in [Ca2+]i induced by a chemotactic peptide at submaximally effective concentrations. O2- formation induced by platelet-activating factor was potentiated by Bt2cCMP, whereas the cyclic nucleotide had no effect on the rise in [Ca2+]i induced by this agonist. Bt2cCMP enhanced O2- formation induced by tau-hexachlorocyclohexane at a submaximally effective concentration. O2- formation stimulated by complement C5a, concanavalin A, NaF, A 23187, phorbol myristate acetate and arachidonic acid was not affected by Bt2cCMP. cCMP was less effective than Bt2cCMP to inhibit fMet-Leu-Phe-induced O2- formation, and butyrate was without effect on any of the functional parameters studied. Our data show that a cell-permeant analogue of cCMP differentially inhibits and potentiates activation of human neutrophils.     

Generation of specific antibodies against the rap1A, rap1B and rap2 small GTP-binding proteins. Analysis of rap and ras proteins in membranes from mammalian cells.

Specific antibodies against rap1A and rap1B small GTP-binding proteins were generated by immunization of rabbits with peptides derived from the C-terminus of the processed proteins. Immunoblot analysis of membranes from several mammalian cell lines and human thrombocytes with affinity-purified antibodies against rap1A or rap1B demonstrated the presence of multiple immunoreactive proteins in the 22-23 kDa range, although at strongly varying levels. Whereas both proteins were present in substantial amounts in membranes from myelocytic HL-60, K-562 and HEL cells, they were hardly detectable in membranes from lymphoma U-937 and S49.1 cyc- cells. Membranes from human thrombocytes and 3T3-Swiss Albino fibroblasts showed strong rap1B immunoreactivity, whereas rap1A protein was present in much lower amounts. In the cytosol of HL-60 cells, only small amounts of rap1A and rap1B proteins were detected, unless the cells were treated with lovastatin, an inhibitor of hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, suggesting that both proteins are isoprenylated. By comparison with recombinant proteins, the ratio of rap1A/ras proteins in membranes from HL-60 cells was estimated to be about 4:1. An antiserum directed against the C-terminus of rap2 reacted strongly with recombinant rap2, but not with membranes from tested mammalian cells. In conclusion, rap1A and rap1B proteins are distributed differentially among membranes from various mammalian cell types and are isoprenylated in HL-60 cells.     

Effects of cultivation techniques and media on yields and morphology of the basidiomycete Armillaria mellea

Summary The yield of cell mass and the morphology of Armillaria mellea, strain ATCC 11114, was studied using a variety of cultivation methods: solid media, standing liquid culture, shake flasks, tower reactors and impeller-stirred reactors. Two different media, malt extract broth and a glucose/asparagine/peptone-medium, and the corresponding agar media, were used. Yields were higher in the malt extract media than in the glucose media. Generally the highest yields were obtained on solid media while agitated cultures gave the lowest yields. Morphological characteristics such as pellet formation, adhesion to surfaces and pigment production were significantly affected by culture conditions.     

Fatty-acid-induced activation of NADPH oxidase in plasma membranes of human neutrophils depends on neutrophil cytosol and is potentiated by stable guanine nucleotides

Both cis and trans unsaturated fatty acids and sodium dodecyl sulfate activated NADPH oxidase in plasma membranes of human neutrophils in the presence of neutrophil cytosol. In contrast, 5,8,11,14-icosatetraynoic acid, saturated fatty acids, esters, peroxides and 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, a potent activator of protein kinase C, were inactive. 5,8,11,14-icosatetraynoic acid inhibited superoxide formation elicited by fatty acids. Guanosine 5'[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP[gamma S]), a potent activator of guanine-nucleotide-binding proteins (N-proteins) enhanced superoxide formation elicited by fatty acids up to fourfold, supporting our previous suggestion that NADPH oxidase is regulated by an N-protein [Seifert, R. et al. (1986) FEBS Lett. 205, 161-165]. Cytosols from various tissues, soybean lipoxygenase and protein kinase C, purified from chicken stomach, did not substitute neutrophil cytosol. The activity of neutrophil cytosol was destroyed by heating at 95 degrees C. Superoxide formation was not affected by the inhibitor of protein kinase C 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine (H-7). Removal of cytosolic ATP by preincubation with hexokinase and glucose, dialysis of neutrophil cytosol or chelation of calcium with EGTA did not abolish the stimulatory effect of arachidonic acid and GTP[gamma S]. Thus, the cytosolic cofactor appears to be a neutrophil-specific and heat-labile protein, which is neither a lipoxygenase nor protein kinase C.