Rigenerazione e totipotenza

Abstract

Regeneration and totipotency.—Regeneration and totipotency of cells and nuclei in plants and animals are discussed. The paper consists of the following sections: regeneration in coelenterates and planarians; limb regeneration in amphibians; regeneration of mammalian liver; Wolffian lens regeneration in urodeles; nuclear transplantation in animal eggs; regeneration of plants from single cells (in vivo; in vitro; from somatic cell hybrids); general remarks.     

Insediamento e Diffusione di Buddleia Davidii Franch

Abstract

«Buddleya davidii» in «Valtellina» (North Italy), its settling and diffusion. — Vegetational areas where «Buddleya davidii» is naturalised in Valtellina are described and the subsequent phases are followed through 18 years.     

Struttura e biomassa dei popolamenti fitoplanctonici del Lago Omodeo (Sardegna centrale)

Abstract

Composition and biomass of phytoplanktonic communities of Lago Omodeo (Central Sardinia).—A qualitative and quantitative study has been made on the phytoplankton of Lago Omodeo. The algal associations are typical of eutrophic waters. The dominant blue-green algae in summer and autumn were: Chroococcus dispersus, Microcystis flos-aquae, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, Anabaena flos-aquae, Anabaena planctonica; dominant in winter and spring the diatom Melosira distans. The mean standing crop of algae for the trophogenic zone was 9.2 mm³/l; a maximum crop of 53 mm³/l was recorded in August during a Microcystis bloom.     

Osservazioni Anatomiche e Fenologiche Su Diotis Maritima Desf

Summary

The Author studies the anatomy and phenology of Diotis maritima Desf. which grows along the sea shores of Messina (Sicily) as a sand fixing psammophyte.     

Studio Comparato di Alcuni Effetti Fisiologici Prodotti Dai Neutroni Veloci su Triticum Durum Normale e Bianconato

Abstract

A comparative study of physiological effects induced by fast neutrons on normal and mealy-endosperm seeds of TRITICUM DURUM. — Normal and mealy-endosperm seeds of Triticum durum « Cappelli » were irradiated in the dry state with different doses (700, 1000, 1300 and 1600 rep) of fast neutrons for a study of their radio-sensitivity.

Analysis of growth in sand and field survival shown that the normal seeds are more sensitive than those with mealy-endosperm: this is shown by a greater growth reduction at 14 and 21 days after sowing and a lower survival, especially with the dose 700 rep.     

Azione esercitata da alcuni inibitori respiratori sulla crescita e sull'inverdimento di plantule di Picea abies e di Larix decidua

Abstract

Action of some respiratory inhibitors on growth and greening of seedlings of Picea and Larix.—The effects of sodium azide, arseniate, jodoacetate, fluoride and 2,4-dinitrophenol on growth and greening of dark germinated seedlings of Picea abies and Larix decidua were studied.

All the inhibitors showed a negative influence on growth (determined as fresh weight) of Picea seedlings and even more remarkably on Larix seedlings.

Greening was significantly inferior to that of control plants only for groups of Picea seedlings treated with sodium azide, at all the concentrations used, and for groups treated with fluoride and arseniate at the highest concentrations.

All the groups of Larix seedlings, instead, treated with inhibitors, with the exception of the ones treated with sodium fluoride at the lowest concentrations, presented a chlorophyll content inferior to that of control groups.

From the above results the different influence of inhibitors on Picea and on Larix seedlings might be due to the different metabolic pathways through which the pigment synthesis in the two species under study takes place.     

Ricerche Comparate Sulla Morfologia e Sulla Fisiologia di Larix e di Picea

Abstract

Comparative researches on morphology and physiology of PICEA and LARIX. The chlorophyll content of seeds and seedlings during germinations in darkness. — Very different are the chlorophyll contents of the seeds and the seedlings of Picea excelsa and Larix decidua grown in darkness.

In Picea chlorophyll is abundantly synthetized in cotyledons in the passage from seed to seedling stages. In Larix however this synthesis is very poor. These differences are more evident after the outgrowth of cotyledons from the primary endosperm and its exhaustion.

If seedlings of both species are exposed to 3.000 lux of light intensity for 24 hours, after development in darkness, one can observe much stronger chlorophyll synthesis in Larix cotyledons than icea.

These figures quanti atively express the different light-dipendence of chlorophyll synthesis in these two plants and offer a more adherent interpretation of the different ecological behaviours that are caracteristic of these two plants.     

Confronto Morfometrico e Fotometrico del DNA per Nucleo in Individui Masehili e Femminili in Melandrium Album (Miller) Garcke

Abstract

Morphometric and photometric comparison of the dna per noyan on male and female individuals in MELANDRIUM ALBUM (Miller) Garcke. — Inside the noyans of the cells of the palisade tisue in Melandrium album (Miller) Garcke, the Author, by means of the histophometric method, has determined the DNA quantity in arbitrary units and the nuclear areas in μ², in connection with the sex. Both the DNA quantity and the nuclear surfaces are remarkably greater in male subjects. By this result it is possible to extend also to vegetals the observations that up to the present had been reserved to animals.     

Fotolisi Dell'Acqua e Riduzione Fotosintetica dei Coenzimi Piridinici in Cuscuta Epithymum

Abstract

Photolysis of water and photosynthetic reduction of pyridine nucleotides in CUSCUTA EPITHYMUM. — The reactions for the photolysis of water appear to be present in extracts prepared from seedlings of C. epithymum but not in the extracts prepared from filaments detached from the host (Trifolium repens). Extracts from both seedlings and filaments fail to catalyze the photosynthetic reduction of pyridine nucleotides. Together with the results previously obtained on the mechanism for the fixation of carbon dioxide, the present data suggest that a complete photosynthetic cycle is absent in this species of dodder.     

Osservazioni Sulla Germinazione Asimbiotica e Simbiotica di Alcune Orchidee

Abstract

Anthocyanins are secondary metabolites, which play important roles in the physiology of plants. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), anthocyanins are normally synthesized only in vegetative tissues. M375 is a mutant unable to produce anthocyanins in leaves and stems. In this study, we investigated the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway in M375 and in its genetic background, Alice, in order to find out where the anthocyanin biosynthesis is blocked, along the pathway, in the mutant. Anthocyanins accumulation was enhanced by sucrose only in the wild type, even though the expression of several genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis was normal in both the genotypes. Genes coding for the final steps along the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway were, however, less expressed in the M375 when compared to the wild type.     

Frammenti di Quereeto a Roverella e di Macchia Mediterranea a Vivara (Isole Flegree)

Abstract

Fragments of oak-crop with QUERCUS PUBESCENS willd. and of mediterranean maquis in the isle of vivara (Flegrean isles). — In these note the types of arboreous and shrubby vegetation pointed out in the islet of Vivara are passed in rapid review. Particular references to the types of vegetation arranged in the Quercion ilicis are given.

A short account is reserved to the presence of Quercus pubescens Willd. and to the importance of these species concerning the construction of the fragments of oak-crop and of mediterranean high maquis that are present to the edges of tableland and on the sides of the smallest Flegrean isles.

It is a question of unusual aspects of vegetation for a microinsular environment. Therefore they are worthy of study before they are destroyed or still more altered.     

Osservazioni sulla polistelia in Primula glaucescens Moretti e Primula longobarda Porta

Abstract

Notes on the polystelic structure in Primula glaucescens Moretti and Primula longobarda Porta. — The rhizome anatomy of Primula glaucescens Moretti and Primula longobarda Porta (two species endemic to Lombardy) have been studied. It has been found that the polystelic structure is present in the rhizome of both species, but with some differences. The taxa show a difference in the number and size of steles and amount of sclerenchymatic tissue within the single stele.

Our investigations confirm the necessity to separate in a specific rank Primula glaucescens Moretti from Primula longobarda Porta, as already proposed by Arietti and Crescini (1976).     

Conseguenze e Significato del Prolungamento Nella Durata della Dormienza in Triticum Durum Desf

Abstract

Consequences and significance of dormancy Prolongation in «Triticum durum» Desf. — Different environment conditions have effect on the dormancy duration: this has been ascertained also for durum wheat Cappelli. Starting from this acquisition, the author does the embryo exchange between seeds of Cappelli different for dormancy degree. It is demonstrated that there is a direct relation between dormancy degree and inhibition power of endosperm.     

Aspetti Citologici e Genetici Dell' Invecchiamento dei Semi

Abstract

Cytological and genetic aspects of aging in seeds. — Our present knowledge on the occurrence and accumulation in seeds of chromosome structural changes and of mutations with increasing age is reviewed. It is shown that mutations are the result, rather than the cause, of seed aging and that they are due to metabolites accumulating in seeds during aging. The mechanisms of this « automutagenic effect » of metabolites are discussed.     

Ulteriori indagini sul rapporto tra nichel e acidi malico e malonico in Alyssum

Abstract

Further contribution on the relationship between nickel and malic and malonic acids in Alyssum.—Further research has been carried out on extracts of leaves and seeds of A. bertolonii Desv., grown on serpentine and normal garden soil, in order to investigate the nature of the nickel compounds present in this plant. On the purified extracts, obtained with water and formic acid, malic and malonic acids have been determined through gas-chromatography of the trimethyl-sililderivatives; Ni, Ca, Mg and K have been analysed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

Both malic and malonic acids are present in the leaves of the plants collected on serpentine and therefore rich in nickel, whilst they are present only in small amounts in the plants grown in garden soil. Seeds contain mainly high levels of malic acid. Remarkable amounts of malic acid, related to a high nickel content, have been observed also in the leaves of another nickel accumulator in the genus Alyssum, i.e. A. serpyllifolium Desf. ssp. lusitanicum Dudley et P. Silva, endemic of Portugal serpentines.     

Ricerche Sugli Stami dei Fiori Sani e Parassitati del Melandrium Album (Miller) Garcke

Abstract

Researchs on the stamens of the healty and parasited flovers of Melandrium album. — The author has examined the structure of the stamens filaments in the healthy and parasited flowers of Melandrium album. The structural modifications induced by the mycelial hyphae of Ustilago violacea expecially in such filaments are pointed out.     

Le Piante e la Musica. Riassunto

Abstract

The Plants and the Music. — The valuable contribute that the Biology may offer to the scientific study of the « essence » of the Music is pointed out. The plants as Animals and as remotest ancestors of the humanity, contribute to form what the A. calls the « Promusic », that is the natural and necessary starting-point of the evolution of the Music, which is exclusive work of the man. The Plants particularly, although indirectly, showing wonderful instances of transformations and associations of simple in complex forms, as well of colours and scents, have certainly inspired to the Man the Harmony, which is just in Music the Art, unknown to the Ancients, in associating aesthetically sounds and timbres.     

Azione esercitata dal cianuro sulla crescita e sull'inverdimento di plantule di Picea abies (L.) Karsten e di Larix decidua Miller

Abstract

Action of cyanide on growth and greening of seedlings of Picea abies and Larix decidua.—The effects of cyanide on growth and greening of dark germinated seedlings of Picea abies and Larix decidua are studied. While growth of Picea seedlings is scarcely inhibited, the effect of the inhibitor on Larix seedlings is very drastic. Greening of Picea seedlings is never inhibited while, at stronger concentrations, cyanide weakly inhibits greening of Larix seedlings. When seedlings are treated with cyanide and salicylhydrossamic acid, an inhibitor of mithocondrial respiration cyanide non-sensible, growth is inhibited more strongly than when cyanide only is used and greening too is inhibited. Cyanide is shown to be able to reach megagametophyte and embryo and to be incorporated steadily.     

Ulteriori ricerche sulla germinazione di Cercis siliquastrum L. Azione dell'acido gibberellico e ruolo dell'endosperma nel fenomeno della dormienza

Abstract

Further research on the germination of Cercis siliquastrum L. Effect of gibberellic acid (GA₃) and role of endosperm in dormancy.—In order to locate the causes of the dormancy in Cercis siliquastrum L., researches have been carried out also on non-scarified seeds without integument, as well as on isolated embryos.

We have noted that gibberellic acid can substitute the cold treatment to interrupt the dormancy and we have also investigated the optimal concentrations.

The results we have obtained do not show the inhibition to be located in the integument and point out a determinant role of the endosperm.

Histological investigations are being carried out to study better the possible occurrence of a mechanical restraint imposed by the albumen on the non-dormant embryo.