Effects of testosterone on the behaviour of the domestic chick. II. Effects present in both sexes.

In female chicks, testosterone increases both binocular fixation of the thrusting hand and avoidance of direct gaze. The hand is thus treated as though it had become more conspicuous. Males show signs of such changes, which are obscured by a progressive locking of attention on the hand, along with which develop head shaking and pecking. These latter three effects, together with later full attacks, may be a consequence of increased persistence in males due to testosterone. In both sexes testosterone facilitates waltzing and three characteristic calls, probably by specific effects. Latencies and dosage dependency are similar in both sexes. Ten changes in behaviour due to testosterone can be explained by as few as five basic effects, both general and specific.     

Fitness Effects of Ems-Induced Mutations on the X Chromosome of DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER. I. Viability Effects and Heterozygous Fitness Effects

Drosophila melanogaster X chromosomes were mutagenized by feeding males sucrose solutions containing ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS); the concentrations of EMS in the food were 2.5 mM, 5.0 mM, and 10.0 mM. Chromosomes were exposed to the mutagen up to three times by treating males in succeeding generations. After treatment, the effective exposures were 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0, 15.0, and 30.0 mM EMS. X chromosomes treated in this manner were tested for effects on fitness in both hemizygous and heterozygous conditions, and for effects on viability in hemizygous and homozygous conditions. In addition, untreated X chromosomes were available for study. The viability and heterozygous fitness effects are presented in this paper, and the hemizygous fitness effects are discussed in the accompanying one (MITCHELL and SIMMONS 1977). Hemizygous and homozygous viability effects were measured by segregation tests in vial cultures. For hemizygous males, viability was reduced 0.5 percent per mM EMS treatment; for homozygous females, it was reduced 0.7% per mM treatment. The decline in viability appeared to be a linear function of EMS dose. The viabilities of males and females were strongly correlated. Heterozygous fitness effects were measured by monitoring changes in the frequencies of treated and untreated X chromosomes in discrete generation populations which, through the use of an X-Y translocation, maintained them only in heterozygous condition. Flies that were heterozygous for a treated chromosome were found to be 0.4% less fit per mM EMS than flies heterozygous for an untreated one.     

Effects of steroids on Tetrahymena.

Phagocytosis of Tetrahymena is inhibited by prednisolone-sodium-succinate and deoxy-corticosterone-glucoside, and stimulated by dexamethasone and prednisolone. Dexamethasone and estradiol enter the cells and are localized first in food vacuoles, and later on in the cytosol. They were never found in the nucleus. The demonstration by biochemical methods of a specific glucocorticoid binding protein failed in all three subcellular fractions examined.     

Effects of thermoradiation on bacteria.

A 60Co source was used to determine the effects of thermoradiation on Achromobacter aquamarinus, Staphylococcus aureus, and vegetative and spore cells of Bacillus subtilis var. globigii. The rate of inactivation of these cultures, except vegetative-cell populations of B. subtilis, was exponential and in direct proportion to temperature. The D10 (dose that inactivates 90% of the microbial population) value for A. aquamarinus was 8.0 Krad at 25 degrees C and 4.9 Krad at 35 degrees C. For S. aureus, D10 was 9.8 and 5.3 Krad at 35 and 45 degrees C, respectively. Vegetative cells of B. subtilis demonstrated a rapid initial inactivation followed by a steady but decreased exponential rate. The D10 at 25 degrees C was 10.3 Krad, but at 35 and 45 degrees C this value was 6.2 and 3.8 Krad, respectively. Between 0 and 95 Krad, survival curves for B. subtilis spores at 75 degrees C showed slight inactivation, increasing in rat at and above 85 degrees C. The D10 values for spores at 85 and 90 degrees C were 129 and 92 Krad, respectively. Significant synergism between heat and irradiation was noted at 35 degrees C for A. aquamarinus and 45 degrees C for S. aureus. The presence of 0.1 mM cysteine in suspending media afforded protection to both cultures at these critical temperatures. On the other hand, cysteine sensitized B. subtilis spores at radiation doses greater than 100 Krad. The combined effect of heat and irradiation was more destructive to bacteria than either method alone.