Foreword: from the TRANSCRIPTOME conferences to the SYSTEMOSCOPE international consortium

This thematic issue issue of the Comptes rendus Biologies contains review articles, original papers and conference reports presented at the first two TRANSCRIPTOME conferences From Functional Genomics to Systems Biology and IMAGE Consortium Invitational workshops (Paris, November 2000 and Seattle, March 2002), and discussed during the inaugural meetings of the SYSTEMOSCOPE International Consortium (Paris, June 2003). We describe the founding principles, missions, working plan and policy for partnership and industrial development of SYSTEMOSCOPE to promote the study of the complexity of biological systems by integrating scientific, medical, ethical and economic issues in implementation of interdisciplinary projects for human health.     

Sixth international deer biology congress

Announcement

Sixth international deer biology congress     

Ernst Mayr's influence on the history and philosophy of biology: A personal memoir

Mayr has made both conceptual and professional contributions to the establishment of the history and philosophy of biology. His conceptual contributions include, among many others, the notion of population thinking. He has also played an important role in the establishment of history and philosophy of biology as viable professional disciplines.     

A (selective) history of Australian involvement in cytokine biology

This review focuses on contributions to cytokine biology made by Australians in Australia. It is clearly biased by my own experiences and selective recollections especially related to the colony-stimulating factors in which Australian involvement has been pre-eminent from discovery to clinical use. Nevertheless Australian scientists have also made profound contributions to other areas of cytokine and growth factor biology (including interferons, inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and epidermal, insulin-like and vascular endothelial growth factors) that are briefly described in this review as well as other chapters in this volume.     

Mechanical loading history and skeletal biology

A comprehensive theory which relates tissue mechanical stresses to many features of skeletal morphogenesis, growth, regeneration, maintenance and degeneration is reviewed. The theory considers the repeated or intermittent mechanical forces which constitute the loading history on the chondro-osseous skeleton. The results of numerous mechanical stress analyses indicate that the local tissue stress history plays a major role in controlling connective tissue biology. The strong influence of mechanical energy in ontogenesis implies a comparably strong influence in phylogenesis. The fact that the mechanical stress histories in skeletal tissues are directly related to the force of gravity suggests that the life forms that have evolved on Earth are closely tied to our gravitational field.     

Biogeography of the octocorallian coelenterate fauna of southern Africa

The geographical and bathymetric distribution of southern African octocorals is analysed. Of the over 200 estimated species of regional octocorals, 81 confirmed and adequately described species are studied using a radial sector method. Two primary faunal components are recognized–endemic (53.3% of the fauna by numbers of species) and Indo-Pacific (39.4%). An Atlantic component contributes only minimally (about 1.7%), while the remaining fauna is made up of cosmopolites (2.8%) and scattered species (2.8%). A subantarctic component is not evident for the present-day, although evidence for previous contact is presented. A sister-group analysis using genera as a guide to sister species, shows the biogeographic affinities for the present-day fauna as a whole to be 45% Indo-Pacific, 31% cosmopolitan, 10% endemic, 10% Atlantic and 4% southern oceans (subantarctic). Applying the same method to only those genera with endemic species shows the affinities of the present-day endemic fauna to be 27.5% Indo-Pacific, 27.5% endemic, 24% cosmopolitan, 14% Atlantic and 7% subantarctic. Clearly defined boundaries for west, south, and east coast faunas (as recognized by previous authors in describing various intertidal faunas) are found not be present with regard to the octocoral fauna (largely due to its overwhelmingly subtidal nature). Instead two primary zoogeographic provinces are recognized–the Cape Endemic Province (extending from Liideritz to Inhaca Island) and the south-western fringe of the Indo-Pacific Province from East London north-eastwards. An overlap zone between these two is recognized between East London and Inhaca Island, with the region in the vicinity of Richards Bay having an essentially evenly mixed fauna (roughly 50% Cape Endemic Province and 50% Indo-Pacific). Of the 84 octocoral genera recorded for the region, seven (or 8.3%) are endemic, and of these, five are monotypic while two are ditypic. The fauna is shown to be predominantly sublittoral (about 95% by numbers of species), the shallow sublittoral (< 100 m in depth) being the region with highest species richness. Pennatulaceans are eurybathic (intertidal to 4756 m) and clearly show a high proportion of cosmopolites (20% of presently identified species). Soft corals are stenobathic and restricted to the intertidal, continental shelf and uppermost portion of the continental slope (<500m), while gorgonians are intermediate in depth distributon (intertidal to 1200 m). No cosmopolitan alcyonaceans are presently recorded. The centre of the Cape Endemic Province is the Agulhas Bank–an extensive region of shallow continential shelf (< 200 m in depth) between Cape Town and East London. Two regions of octocoral radiation for southern Africa are postulated–the Agulhas Bank and the western Indian Ocean.     

Biology and war--American biology and international science

The German-born American scientist Jacques Loeb (1859-1924) was one of the most important promoters of experimental biology around 1900. He was best known for his physico-chemical explanations of psychological processes and his biotechnological approach to artificial parthenogenesis. At the start of the First World War, Loeb was deeply troubled by the deterioration of the international scientific community and the growing alienation of his German and American colleagues. The aim of this paper is to examine Jacques Loeb's activities aimed at advancing scientific internationalism before, during, and after the war. Loeb, for example, tried to negotiate the publication of German authors in American journals during the war, at a time when this was categorically rejected by publishers. Immediately after the war, he tried to create a specific system aimed at disseminating scientific literature and funding selected European colleagues, in order to overcome what he considered reactionary and hegemonic forces within German scientific institutions. His correspondence with eminent scientists from all over the world (amongst them Albert Einstein, Richard Goldschmidt, Otto Meyerhof, Otto Warburg, Paul Ehrlich, Wolfgang Ostwald, Wilhelm Roux, and Ross Harrison) will serve as a source for the analysis. Special emphasis will be placed on the question how Jacques Loeb integrated epistemology, his particular world view, and his social commitment into the workings of his own life and how he tried to extend his scientific goal of controlling biological systems to the sphere of international science.