An integumentary pheromone-secreting gland in Atta sp: Territorial marking with a colonyspecific pheromone in Atta cephalotes

Workers of Atta cephalotes mark the area around their nest with a pheromone that has at least two components, one of which is colony-specific. Another, which was isolated and tested for its activity, is genus- or species-specific in its action; it appears to be similar in A. sexdens and A. cephalotes, but differs in Acromyrmex octospinosus. The pheromone is produced in a newly described gland, located near the sting. A synthetic trail pheromone component in very low concentrations stimulates some behavioural effects similar to those of the territorial pheromone.     

Allatectomy and food selection in males of Locusta

Removing the corpora allata from young males of Locusta does not alter the overall amount of food they consume or the quantity of faeces they produce. However, allatectomized males eat less fresh grass and more dry bran than the control males. This observation is discussed in relation to the maturation process and other events in the adult male.     

Ecdysteroids in adult males and females of Drosophila melanogaster

Ecdysteroid titres in whole flies and different tissues of adult male and female Drosophila were determined at various times after eclosion using a radioimmunoassay. The ecdysteroid titre decreased as the flies matured after eclosion. The differences in titre between males and females can be accounted for by their difference in body weight. The ecdysteroids were found to be distributed throughout several tissues. At eclosion not all of the ecdysteroid complement present could be accounted for by that found localised in tissues. After maturation of the flies the ecdysteroids in various tissues can account for the majority of that detected in whole-fly extracts. Ecdysteroids were produced during in vitro culture of various tissues, but the quantities detected were low by comparison with ring glands of wandering 3rd-instar larvae. Neither the ovaries nor the abdominal body walls (fat body) seem to be a major source of hormone, and they are only able to convert minute quantities of ecdysone to the biologically active form, 20-hydroxyecdysone, in vitro. The amounts of 20-hydroxyecdysone present were measured using high performance liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay. We tentatively suggest that the differential experession of the yolk-protein-genes in the fat bodies of males and females does not result from differences in hormone titres between them.     

Faecal proteinases of the fungus-growing ant, Atta texana: Their fungal origin and ecological significance

The fluid contained within the mycelium of the fungus cultured by the attine ant, Atta texana, contains three proteolytic enzymes. One enzyme is a DFP-sensitive alkaline proteinase; the other two are metal-chelator-sensitive neutral proteinases. These three enzymes are indentical by all criteria examined to the three proteinases previously isolated from the faecal fluid of A. texana. It is concluded that the faecal enzymes of the fungus-growing ants are derived from the mycelial fluid upon which they feed. The basis for the symbiosis between the attine ants and the fungi which they cultivate in their nests is reinterpreted in the context of this finding.     

Regulation of hydrogen utilisation in Rhizobium japonicum by cyclic AMP

Utilisation (uptake) of hydrogen gas by whole cells of Rhizobium japonicum was found to be influenced by the carbon source(s) present in the growth medium, with activity being highest in a medium containing sugars. Tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, such as malate, significantly reduced H₂ utilisation. No reduction in the hydrogenase activity is observed when the enzyme is assayed directly by the tritium exchange method, indicating that the decrease in hydrogen uptake activity is not due to repression of hydrogenase biosynthesis. Cyclic AMP was found to alleviate the inhibition of H₂ uptake by malate, and this requires new protein synthesis. Addition of chloramphenicol or rifampicin simultaneously with cyclic AMP eliminated the stimulation of H₂ uptake in the malate medium. These results show that in R. japonicum cyclic AMP plays a major role in the regulation of H₂ metabolism.     

Flight fuels in the brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens

The flight fuels of Nilaparvata are a combination of carbohydrate and lipid. In insects of constant age, lipid deposits are proportional to body weight, as is the rate of utilisation of lipid in flight. Reserves of glycogen are more variable and show no correlation with body weight. They are also always extremely low, approximately 0.2% of the live weight, in flight-willing insects. During flight there is evidence that, unlike other migrant insects, carbohydrate metabolism may continue for some hours and some lipid utilisation may begin almost immediately flight is initiated.     

不同林龄马尾松凋落物基质质量与土壤养分的关系

凋落物的质量、数量及分解速率在一定程度上代表了土壤的营养状况。为了精确估算凋落物分解对土壤碳库的年净归还量及凋落物-土壤生物化学连续体的深层理解,从凋落物基质质量的角度分析了三峡库区不同林龄马尾松凋落物基质质量与土壤养分的作用关系,结果表明:中龄林、近熟林、成熟林马尾松凋落物基质质量中的C、C/N比、C/P比、木质素/N比、木质素/P比差异显著,其中近熟林凋落物叶木质素/N分别比中龄林和成熟林的高33.65%、39.24%,N、P、K、木质素含量差异不显著;但各组织器官的N、P、K含量差异显著,均是皮<枝<叶<杂物,C/N比、C/P比的变化则相反。不同林龄马尾松0-20 cm(0-5 cm、5-10 cm、10-20 cm)土壤有机质、总氮、有效磷含量均表现出近熟林<中龄林<成熟林,0-5 cm最大,10-20 cm最小,且随着土壤深度的增加而明显降低,总磷则是中林龄最低,成熟林最大,pH值则各土层均表现为中龄林<成熟林<近熟林,平均pH值为4.55-5.51。凋落物基质质量指标与土壤养分之间冗余分析(RDA)表明:马尾松凋落物基质质量和土壤养分之间关系紧密,N、P、纤维素、半纤维素、木质素、木质素/N比、C/N比对土壤养分影响比较大;凋落物中木质素/N比、C/N比与土壤有机质呈显著负相关,其含量越高越不利于土壤有机质的形成,土壤养分积累的越慢;凋落物基质质量氮含量与土壤氮含量呈显著正相关;土壤pH值、容重与N含量呈显著负相关,与凋落物C/N比、木质素/N比呈显著正相关。马尾松土壤表面有机质、N、P养分含量与凋落物基质质量对应养分含量变化规律一致,土壤养分高,凋落物基质质量相对较高,土壤贫瘠,凋落物基质质量相对较低。     

Agonistic behaviour in males of five species of voles Microtus

Agonistic behaviour of Microtus pennsylvanicus, M. montanus, M. californicus, M. longicaudus, and M. ochrogaster was observed in 160 staged encounters; a natural observation of sympatric species is included. No difference in the character and movements of agonistic behaviour was apparent when arena size was reduced; only a difference in the frequency of postures and movements was observed. In the smaller arena, M. montanus and M. ochrogaster exhibited a significant increase in frequency of agonistic components. The other three species did not show a significant increase. In interspecific pairings, M. montanus won over M. pennsylvanicus, M. californicus and M. longicaudus; M. ochrogaster won over M. montanus and M. pennsylvanicus. Three species used mutual avoidance in maintaining individual distance.     

Morphology and ultrastructure of definitive males of Arcticotantulus pertzovi and Microdajus tchesunovi (Crustacea: Tantulocarida)

Free-swimming definitive males of two species of Tantulocarida (Crustacea), Arcticotantulus pertzovi (Basipodellidae) and Microdajus tchesunovi (Microdajidae), were reared for the first time. Their morphology and ultrastructure were studied using scanning electron and light microscopy. A detailed analysis of the morphological characters of all currently described species revealed several features typical for most known male tantulocaridans, such as the presence of eight aesthetascs, seven pairs of multifid sensilla on the carapace, paired brush setae on the protopods of the thoracopods, and three furcal setae. The monophyly of the families Microdajidae and Doryphallophoridae is corroborated, while the families Deoterthridae and Basipodellidae are more likely paraphyletic.     

Expression pattern and substrate specificity of Clonorchis sinensis tyrosinases

Tyrosinase (TYR) is a copper-containing glycoenzyme that mediates hydroxylation of tyrosine into dihydroxyphenylalanine and oxidation of dihydroxyphenylalanine into dihydroxyphenylalanine quinone. TYRs play pivotal roles in eggshell sclerotisation of trematode parasites, while their comprehensive biochemical properties remain elusive. We characterised genes encoding four TYRs (CsTYR1–4) of Clonorchis sinensis, a causative agent of human hepatobiliary disease. These genes shared tightly conserved amino acid residues, two copper binding catalytic motifs and a cysteine-rich epidermal growth factor-like domain. The native and recombinant CsTYRs showed high reactivity against diphenol compounds, especially those with hydroxyl groups in ortho-positions (catechol and l-dihydroxyphenylalanine), but showed minimal activity toward monophenol compounds. Diphenolase activity was enhanced by increased pH of the reaction buffer from 5.0 to 7.0. The temporal induction of CsTYR expression coordinated with the sexual maturation of the worm; enzyme activity was mainly in the vitelline glands and intrauterine immature eggs proximal to the ovary. The primary structures and functional domains of CsTYRs showed significant similarities to those of the vertebrate orthologs, whereas the amino acids shared with the nematode and insect proteins were largely restricted in the bicopper active center. Unlike highly diverged TYR homologs in vertebrates, multiple paralogs have not yet evolved into the separate lineages in trematode genomes, suggesting that duplication of TYR genes might relate to increased genic dosage/redundancy in trematodes. In vitro treatment of copper chelator, diethyldithiocarbamic acid, inhibited generation of phenotypically normal egg. TYR proteins are essential for C. sinensis reproduction, thus might be targeted for therapeutic and vaccine strategies against clonorchiasis, which is prevalent in several Asian countries and is one of the most important predisposing factors for human cholangiocarcinoma. The close phylogenetic relationships between trematode and vertebrate homologs also provide a molecular clue to understand the multifaceted evolutionary pathway of TYR homologs across animal taxa.     

Flight behaviour of Cadra cautella males in rapidly pulsed pheromone plumes

Abstract Airborne pheromone plumes in wind comprise filaments of odour interspersed with gaps of clean air. When flying moths intercept a filament, they have a tendency to surge upwind momentarily, and then fly crosswind until another filament is intercepted. Thus, the moment-to-moment contact with pheromone mediates the shape of a flight track along the plume. Within some range of favourable interception rates, flight tracks become straighter and are headed more due upwind. However, as the rate of interception increases, there comes a point at which the moth should not be able to discern discreet filaments but, rather, should perceive a 'fused signal'. At the extreme, homogeneous clouds of pheromone inhibit upwind progress by representative tortricids. In a wind tunnel, Cadra cautella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) were presented with 10 ms pulses of pheromone at a repetition rate of 5, 10, 17 and 25/s and a continuous, internally turbulent plume. Pulse size and concentrations were verified with a miniature photoionization detector sampling surrogate odour, propylene, at 100 Hz. Male moths maintain upwind progress even at plumes of 25 filaments/s. Furthermore, moths exhibited greater velocities and headings more due upwind at 17 and 25 Hz than at the lower frequencies or with the continuous plume. It is hypothesized that either C. cautella possesses a versatile sensory system that allows the resolution of these rapidly pulsed pheromone plumes, or that this species does not require a 'flickering' signal to fly upwind.     

An easy-to-use FRET protein substrate to detect calpain cleavage in vitro and in vivo

Calpain-1 and -2 are Ca^2 +-activated intracellular cysteine proteases that regulate a wide range of cellular functions through the cleavage of their protein substrates. Unlike degradative proteases, calpains make limited, transformative cleavages, typically in accessible sequences linking discrete subdomains, to irreversibly alter substrate functions. The biological roles of calpain and their interplay with calcium signaling are of significant biomedical interest as biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in a growing number of diseases including Alzheimer's, cancer and fibrosis. Unfortunately, many of the colorimetric and fluorimetric assays that have been developed to study calpain activity suffer from low sensitivity and/or poor calpain specificity. To address the need for a highly sensitive and calpain-specific substrate suitable for in vitro and in vivo calpain activity analysis, we have developed a protein FRET probe. We inserted the optimized calpain cleavage sequence PLFAAR between cyan fluorescent protein (CFP) and yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) and modulated its flanking sequences for optimal calpain cleavage. We demonstrate greater sensitivity and calpain-specificity of an optimal 16-residue PLFAAR-based FRET substrate compared to a standard α-spectrin-based probe. The 16-residue PLFAAR protein FRET substrate is not significantly cleaved by trypsin, chymotrypsin, cathepsin-L or caspase-3, and is highly sensitive to both calpain-1 and -2. After transfection of the substrate gene into breast cancer cells the PLFAAR protein FRET product was cut in lysed wild-type cells but not in those with a calpain knock-out phenotype. Blockage of substrate cleavage in the lysates by endogenous and exogenous calpastatin was observed, and was overcome by adding extra calpain.     

The biosynthesis of the hydrocarbons in males and females of the millipede Graphidostreptus tumuliporus

The in vivo hydrocarbon biosynthesis in the millipede Graphidostreptus tumuliporus was studied after the injection of 1-¹⁴C-acetate, 16-¹⁴C-, and 1-¹⁴C-palmitic acid.From all precursors used an active incorporation into the unsaturated hyrocarbons (alk-1-enes, alkadienes, and alkatrienes) was observed, whereas no radioactivity was incorporated into the saturated alkanes at all, in accordance with their supposed exogenous origin (food). From the distribution of the radiolabel over both the various hydrocarbon classes and the individual hydrocarbon components it was concluded that in this millipede hydrocarbons are synthesized from fatty acids (irrespective of their chain structure) by an elongation-decarboxylation mechanism in which an α-oxidation step is involved, whilst during the decarboxylation process a terminal double bond is introduced. Thus, saturated fatty acids give rise to alk-1-enes (as is evidenced by an overwhelming incorporation of palmitic acid into the alk-1-enes), monoenoic fatty acids to alkadienes, and dienoic fatty acids to alkatrienes.The proposed mechanism for hydrocarbon biosynthesis in G. tumuliporus has not yet been described in other organisms.     

Flight of Heliothis virescens males in the field in response to sex pheromone

Abstract. The behaviour of Heliothis virescens males flying upwind in the field in a sex pheromone plume was videorecorded and analysed. Males flew faster and straighter, with less counterturning, and heading more directly into the wind when they were 9-11m away from the odour source than when they were 1–3 m away. Regardless of their distance from the source or the windspeed, they maintained an average groundspeed of c. 200 cm s^_1, except when they arrived within 1 m of the source, when their groundspeed slowed significantly. Two or more males flying in the plume at the same instant often exhibited either extremely straight and directly upwind tracks or else zigzagging tracks with significant counterturning (as did males flying through the field of view of the cameras at slighdy different times). The males' position, either in the centre of the plume's axis or along one side, might explain these differences in track straightness, which previous studies with H.virescens have shown to be caused by higher frequencies of contact with plume filaments. When a significant shift in wind direction occurred, males tended to make an initial movement in the direction of the shift, perhaps due to latencies of response in both the olfactory and visual systems associated with flying into clean air. The males' behaviour in the field overall was similar to that observed in the wind tunnel, except that their airspeeds and groundspeeds were significantly higher than those observed in the laboratory. The fact that they flew faster in the field can be explained both by the significandy higher windspeeds that males need to compensate for in the field to attain a preferred velocity of image motion, as well as by a higher height of flight over the ground in die field causing a slower apparent motion of images at a given groundspeed compared with the laboratory.     

Schistosoma mansoni: Tyrosine,a putative in vivo substrate of phenol oxidase

l-Tyrosine, l-[3,4]dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA), and dopamine are known to be in vitro substrates for Schistosoma mansoni phenol oxidase. Since all three compounds are present in the female schistosome, it is not clear which one serves as the substrate for phenol oxidase in intact S. mansoni. However, the concentration of l-tyrosine in the female schistosome (252 ng/mg worm) is 4-fold higher than the K_m of phenol oxidase for this amino acid while the concentrations of l-DOPA and dopamine (0.954 and 0.790 ng/mg worm, respectively) are 100- and 500-fold lower than the K_m of these substrates. Tri-l-tyrosine methyl ester is oxidized at less than 3% of the rate of l-tyrosine methyl ester. A tyrosine:lysine peptide and chymotrypsinogen are not oxidized. Female S. mansoni do not incorporate l-tyrosine into proteins to a significantly greater extent than l-leucine. The results suggest that free l-tyrosine is the substrate for S. mansoni phenol oxidase in vivo.     

Neural substrate and allatostatin-like innervation of the gut of Locusta migratoria

Allatostatin-like immunoreactivity (ALI) is widely distributed in processes and varicosities on the fore-, mid-, and hindgut of the locust, and within midgut open-type endocrine-like cells. ALI is also observed in cells and processes in all ganglia of the central nervous system (CNS) and the stomatogastric nervous system (SNS). Ventral unpaired median neurons (VUMs) contained ALI within abdominal ganglia IV-VII. Neurobiotin retrograde fills of the branches of the 11th sternal nerve that innervate the hindgut revealed 2-4 VUMs in abdominal ganglia IV-VIIth, which also contain ALI. The VIIIth abdominal ganglion contained three ventral medial groups of neurons that filled with neurobiotin and contained ALI. The co-localization of ALI in the identified neurons suggests that these cells are the source of ALI on the hindgut. A retrograde fill of the nerves of the ingluvial ganglia that innervate the foregut revealed numerous neurons within the frontal ganglion and an extensive neuropile in the hypocerebral ganglion, but there seems to be no apparent co-localization of neurobiotin and ALI in these neurons, indicating the source of ALI on the foregut comes via the brain, through the SNS.     

四川裂腹鱼耳石碳、氧稳定同位素特征

为探讨耳石碳(δ¹³C)、氧(δ¹⁸O)稳定同位素在淡水鱼类群体识别中的作用,本研究以养殖条件下不同年龄组四川裂腹鱼为对象,采用稳定同位素质谱仪进行碳、氧同位素测定,揭示耳石中碳、氧稳定同位素特征,探讨其与环境间的关系. 结果表明:1⁺龄四川裂腹鱼δ¹³C和δ¹⁸O值均与耳石质量无显著相关关系,但在微耳石和星耳石之间存在显著差异;不同年龄四川裂腹鱼微耳石δ¹³C和δ¹⁸O平均值分别为(-9.58±0.06)‰、(-8.33±0.17)‰,其在雌雄个体之间均无显著性差异,但在不同年龄组间存在显著差异. 耳石δ¹⁸O和δ¹³C的关联分析能有效区分四川裂腹鱼不同养殖年龄群体,可作为一种识别淡水鱼类养殖群体的手段.