On the adaptive pattern of "Ramapithecus".

A reconstruction of the adaptive pattern of the Miocene hominoid "Ramapithecus," supported by comparative data and morphological comparisons, is presented. It is based upon the completely known dentition, inferior portion of the face, and on the paleoecology and geographic distribution of "Ramapithecus" bearing deposits. The known adaptive and morphological patterns of the "Ramapithecus" species are almost indistinguishable from those of the contemporary species of Sivapithecus, which has taxonomic priority. The "Ramapithecus" species are therefore referred to Sivapithecus, a dryopithecine genus which apparently radiated throughout Eurasia and Africa during the Middle Miocene.     

The potential of a polyphasic PCR-dGGE approach in evaluating microbial diversity of natural whey cultures for water-buffalo Mozzarella cheese production: bias of culture-dependent and culture-independent analyses

A polyphasic PCR-DGGE approach was used to describe the microbial population occurring in natural whey cultures (NWCs) for water-buffalo Mozzarella cheese production. Total microbial community was assessed without cultivation by analyzing DNA directly extracted from the original samples of NWC. In addition, DNA extracted from bulks of cells formed by harvesting colonies from the serial dilution agar plates of a variety of culture media was used to profile the "cultivable" community. The 16S rDNA V3 region was amplified using DNA from NWC as well as DNA from bulks as templates and the amplicons were separated by DGGE. The microbial entities occurring in NWCs were identified by partial 16S rDNA sequencing of DGGE bands: four lactic acid bacteria (LAB) closest relative of Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus delbrueckii and Lactobacillus crispatus were revealed by the analysis of DNA directly extracted from NWC while two other LAB, Lactobacillus fermentum and Enterococcus faecalis, were identified by analyzing DNA from the cultivable community. The developed PCR-DGGE analysis of the "cultivable" community showed good potential in evaluating microbial diversity of a dairy environment: it usefully highlighted the bias introduced by selective amplification when compared to the analysis of the total community from NWC and allowed suitability of media and growth conditions to be evaluated. Moreover, it could be used to complete the culture independent study of microbial diversity to give information on concentration ratios among species occurring in a particular environment and can be proposed for rapid identification of dominant microorganisms in alternative to traditional tools.     

Dimensions of face in Asia in the perspective of geography and prehistory

Data from 24 craniofacial dimensions were compiled for samples representing all the human populations of the world. These were converted into C scores and used to construct Euclidean Distance dendrograms. The populations of the world are best depicted as 8 major regional clusters representing: Africa, Amerind, Asia-Mainland, Australo-Melanesia, Eskimo-Siberia, Europe, India, and Jomon-Pacific. The mainland Asian cluster divided into northern and southern components. The Neolithic in both areas is less clearly associated with the northern or southern components and may represent the form of their undifferentiated precursors. This needs to be tested by the addition of further specimens and an adequate sample from South China. Mongols are peripheral members of the Asia-Mainland cluster and should not be thought of as typifying the region as a whole. The use of the term "Mongoloid" is inappropriate in both theory and practice.     

The history of essentialism vs. Ernst Mayr's “Essentialism Story”: A case study of German idealistic morphology

Idealistic morphology as perhaps the most important historical manifestation of typology is very suitable for a historical analysis of Ernst Mayr's “Essentialism Story”, which postulates an antagonism between “typological thinking” and “population thinking”. We show that German-language idealistic-morphological theories consisted of two clearly distinguishable parts. The cornerstone of these theories was the concept of the type as an abstract pattern representing a certain class of phenomena and embodying the norm of this class. The primary objective of pure typology was to create a non-phylogenetic classification system for living organisms based on structurally explicable characters. Thus, typology, as a non-phylogenetic foundation of idealistic morphology, was conceptually neutral with respect to hypotheses of evolutionary mechanisms. Typology was often accompanied by concepts such as Lamarckism, orthogenesis, creationism, essentialism, etc. These peripheral (with respect to pure typology) concepts were autonomous constructions and did not represent a direct logical consequence of typology. In our view “population thinking”, as part of the Darwinian theory of evolutionary mechanism, could not be directly opposed to “typological thinking”. Rather, it was peripheral concepts such as essentialism or creationism that led to conflicts between the Modern Synthesis and idealistic morphology.     

Changes in yeast amino acid pool with respiratory versus fermentative metabolism

The precursors of the amino acid yeast pool are intermediates of either the glycolytic or the tricarboxilic acid pathway (TCA). Accordingly, the influence of the metabolism (fermentative or respiratory) on the internal amino acid pool of the yeast Saccharmyces cerevisiae was established by measuring the intracellular amino acid concentration of the "grande" strain IF1256 and its "petite" mutant either in steady-state or when shifting from fermentative to respiratory conditions. Under steady-state conditions, when the cells only respire, there is a decrease in nearly all the amino acids whose precursors are intermediates of the glycolytic pathway. When the metabolism is exclusively fermentative, the opposite change takes place. This effect is not observed in those amino acids whose precursors come from the TCA cycle. However, in continuous culture and at dilution rates lower than 0.06 h(-1), there is an enormous increase in the concentration of all the amino acids in both strains, whatever their precursor, whereas, in batch cultures, both strains undergo variations in the concentration of most amino acids, when entering stationary growth phase. Results therefore indicate that, the fact that the cells ferment or respire effectively affect their amino acid pool according to their precursors coming from the glycolytic or the TCA pathway, but other parameters, such as growth rate or exponential versus stationary phase, have a much stronger effect on yeast amino acid concentration.     

Circadian Pattern of Cercarial Emergence in Schistosoma Mansoni(Platyhelminthes: Digenea) from Isolated Biomphalaria Glabrata

The present work aimed to compare the acrophases (peak hours) of emergence of Schistosoma mansoni cercariae among isolated individuals of the snail Biomphalaria glabrata. Laboratory stocks of melanic B. glabrata from the same biotope as the S. mansoni strain (Belo Horizonte, Minas Ger-ais) were used. Twenty-two snails individually exposed to five miracidia were tested. Chronobiological trials were performed outdoors after an acclimation period of at least a week. Three groups of snails were tested between November 1989 and April 1991. Cercarial emergence from individual isolated snails was quantified every 3 h for 3 consecutive days. In all trials, most cercariae were found to emerge during daytime (94.9%). Time series and chronograms showed recurrent peaks during the daytime. The periodogram suggested that 24 h was the period that best fitted cercarial emergence data in 90.9% of the snails. The single cosinor analysis confirmed 24-h rhythms in 95.5% of the snails. Acrophases of cercarial emergence among individual snails occurred between 14:15 and 17:02. They did not differ significantly. The population cosinor analysis indicated greater homogeneity in the 24-h rhythms of cercarial emergence than in the snail groups of each chronobiological trial. Acrophases of cercarial emergence occurred between 14:53 and 15:27 and did not differ significantly among all trials. Data from the three trials were pooled and analyzed using the population cosinor. This statistical method indicated a homogeneity in the 24-h rhythms of cercarial emergence from all snails, with acrophase occurring around 15:00. Results showed that the acrophases of cercarial emergence of S. mansoni are similar among isolated B. glubrura specimens. Data support the hypothesis of a “gate” rhythm in the dynamics of cercarial production and emergence. It is suggested that the adaptive importance of the “gate” mechanism is associated with the concentration of cercariae in the water at times when the vertebrate is present, optimizing the contact between the parasite and the host. The emergence of some cercariae at night (5.1% of the total number of emerged cercariae) suggests a flexible “gate” that could be associated with a residual light effect or with experimental procedures in the laboratory.     

Several pseudomonads,associated with the cultivated mushrooms Agaricus bisporus or Pleurotus sp., are hemolytic

Pseudomonas tolaasii, causing brown blotch disease on cultivated mushrooms, and yielding a white line precipitate towards P. “reactans”, has been shown to induce lysis of erythrocytes. Some Finnish strains isolated from diseased mushroom fruit bodies, although harboring the typical features of P. tolaasii, proved to be distinct, and have been allocated to a nov. sp. P. costantinii. We examined in these study whether all brown blotch causing agents were hemolytic. The induction of erythrocytes lysis seemed to be a rather common feature of mushroom associated-pseudomonads, especially for strains involved in the production of a white-line-in agar.     

The Difference Between Activity When in Bed and Out of Bed. II. Subjects on 27-Hour “Days”

Nine healthy subjects have been studied while exposed to the normal alternation of light and dark, but with their sleep and activity pattern adjusted to a 27-h “day” for 17 imposed “days.” Rectal temperature showed clearly the competing influences of 27-h and 24-h components, and these were separated by the method of “purification.” The method indicated that the endogenous component had a constant amplitude throughout the experiment and remained entrained to solar (24-h) time; by contrast, the exogenous component followed the imposed 27-h “day” and increased rectal temperature in proportion to the amount of subjects' activity. Wrist movement was used to assess activity while in bed (attempting sleep) and out of bed (when naps were forbidden). While these results confirmed adherence of the subjects to the imposed 27-h “days,” they also showed that the dichotomy between “out of bed” activity and “in bed” inactivity depended on the phase relationship between endogenous (24h) and exogenous (27h) components. Thus, the dichotomy was highest and was equal to that during control days (with a conventional 24-h life-style) when the two components were in phase and lowest when the solar and imposed day were in antiphase. This was due to changes in activity, both during time spent in bed and out of bed.

We confirm that this protocol can produce valuable information about the properties of the circadian system in humans and the value of the process of purification of temperature data. We have established also that the very simple and noninvasive measurement of wrist movement, coupled with its use to calculate dichotomy indices, provides valuable information that both confirms and extends the results obtained from the more conventional (butalso more invasive) measurement of rectal temperature.     

Relationships between lengths of long bones among recent Americans and Early Medieval Alamannic Germans

Relationships between lengths of long bones in early medieval Alamanns and in recent white Americans do not differ significantly. Lacking evidence of any differences between the contribution of trunk length to stature in the two samples, formulas for estimating stature based on relationships of bone lengths to stature in an American sample thus appear applicable to the Alamannic material.     

Detection of 16S rDNA sequences representing the novel phylum "Nanoarchaeota": indication for a wide distribution in high temperature biotopes

We screened samples from high temperature biotopes for 16S rRNA genes of the novel archaeal phylum "Nanoarchaeota". Positive PCR amplifications were obtained from Yellowstone National Park, Uzon Caldera, and an abyssal vent system. These sequences form a cluster with the sequence of "Nanoarchaeum equitans", indicating a wide distribution of this phylum.     

Akt phosphorylates Connexin43 on Ser373, a "mode-1" binding site for 14-3-3

Connexin43 (Cx43) is a membrane-spanning protein that forms channels that bridge the gap between adjacent cells and this allows for the intercellular exchange of information. Cx43 is regulated by phosphorylation and by interacting proteins. “Mode-1” interaction with 14-3-3 requires phosphorylation of Ser373 on Cx43 (Park et al. 2006). Akt phosphorylates and targets a number of proteins to interactions with 14-3-3. Here we demonstrate that Akt phosphorylates Cx43 on Ser373 and Ser369; antibodies recognizing Akt-phosphorylated sites or phospho-Ser “mode-1” 14-3-3-binding sites recognize a protein from EGF-treated cells that migrates as Cx43, and GST-14-3-3 binds to Cx43 phosphorylated endogenously in EGF-treated cells. Confocal microscopy supports the co-localization of Cx43 with Akt and with 14-3-3 at the outer edges of gap junctional plaques. These data suggest that Akt could target Cx43 to an interaction with 14-3-3 that may play a role in the forward trafficking of Cx43 multimers and/or their incorporation into existing gap junctional plaques.     

Effects of Illumination on the Rabbits Eeg During the two Phases of its Circadian Rhythm

After exposure to a LD 12:12 regimen for several weeks, rabbits exhibit a programmed circadian rhythm in the RMS values of their occipital and frontal EEC's during 54-hr recordings in constant darkness. Illumination at levels of 80,160 and 230 Lx raises these RMS values in both phases of the rhythm. The induced rise is large in the phase with low RMS values and small in the other, whereas light-induced changes in spectral composition of the EEG's are slight in either phase. Bilateral optic nerve sectioning results in similar changes in properties of the EEG and in the amplitude of its rhythm. The results are discussed with reference to the influence exerted by steady illumination on the overall-level of retinal maintained “dark” discharge.