Practice and Politics in Japanese Science: Hitoshi Kihara and the Formation of a Genetics Discipline

This paper examines the history of Japanese genetics in the 1920s to 1950s as seen through the work of Hitoshi Kihara, a prominent wheat geneticist as well as a leader in the development of the discipline in Japan. As Kihara’s career illustrates, Japanese genetics developed quickly in the early twentieth century through interactions with biologists outside Japan. The interactions, however, ceased due to the war in the late 1930s, and Japanese geneticists were mostly isolated from outside information until the late 1940s. During the isolation in wartime and under the postwar U.S. Occupation, Kihara adapted to political changes. During wartime, he developed a research institute focusing on applied biology of various crops, which conformed to the national need to address food scarcity. After the war, he led the campaign for the establishment of a national institute of genetics and negotiated with American Occupation officers. The Americans viewed this Japanese effort with suspicion because of the rising popularity of the controversial theory of the Russian agronomist, Trofim Lysenko, in Japan. The institute was approved in 1949 partly because Kihara was able to bridge the gap between the American and Japanese sides. With Kihara’s flexible and generous leadership, Japanese genetics steadily developed, survived the wartime, and recovered quickly in the postwar period. The article discusses Kihara’s interest in cytoplasmic inheritance and his synthetic approach to genetics in this political context, and draws attention to the relation between Kihara’s genetics and agricultural practice in Japan.     

Edmund Vincent Cowdry and the Making of Gerontology as a Multidisciplinary Scientific Field in the United States

The Canadian–American biologist Edmund Vincent Cowdry played an important role in the birth and development of the science of aging, gerontology. In particular, he contributed to the growth of gerontology as a multidisciplinary scientific field in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. With the support of the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, he organized the first scientific conference on aging at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where scientists from various fields gathered to discuss aging as a scientific research topic. He also edited Problems of Ageing (1939), the first handbook on the current state of aging research, to which specialists from diverse disciplines contributed. The authors of this book eventually formed the Gerontological Society in 1945 as a multidisciplinary scientific organization, and some of its members, under Cowdry’s leadership, formed the International Association of Gerontology in 1950. This article historically traces this development by focusing on Cowdry’s ideas and activities. I argue that the social and economic turmoil during the Great Depression along with Cowdry’s training and experience as a biologist – cytologist in particular – and as a textbook editor became an important basis of his efforts to construct gerontology in this direction.     

Freud’s Lamarckism’ and the Politics of Racial Science

This article re-contextualizes Sigmund Freud’s interest in the idea of the inheritance of acquired characteristics in terms of the socio-political connotations of Lamarckism and Darwinism in the 1930s and 1950s. Many scholars have speculated as to why Freud continued to insist on a supposedly outmoded theory of evolution in the 1930s even as he was aware that it was no longer tenable. While Freud’s initial interest in the inheritance of phylogenetic memory was not necessarily politically motivated, his refusal to abandon this theory in the 1930s must be understood in terms of wider debates, especially regarding the position of the Jewish people in Germany and Austria. Freud became uneasy about the inheritance of memory not because it was scientifically disproven, but because it had become politically charged and suspiciously regarded by the Nazis as Bolshevik and Jewish. Where Freud seemed to use the idea of inherited memory as a way of universalizing his theory beyond the individual cultural milieu of his mostly Jewish patients, such a notion of universal science itself became politically charged and identified as particularly Jewish. The vexed and speculative interpretations of Freud’s Lamarckism are situated as part of a larger post-War cultural reaction against Communism on the one hand (particularly in the 1950s when Lamarckism was associated with the failures of Lysenko), and on the other hand, against any scientific concepts of race in the wake of World War II.     

Molecular biology in the Soviet Russia (An essay)

Stages of the evolvement and development of the major directions of molecular biology in the 1950–1980’s and its prehistory bracketing the 1920–1940’s are considered against the backgrounds of the history of the Soviet science. Short outlines of the lives and activities of the leading scientists who shaped the directions of and provided for success in studying supramolecular cell structures and molecular mechanisms of processes on a cellular level. This essay, which is far from exhaustive in describing the problems that the Soviet scientists have been dealing with, does not cover the studies of the last decade, nor does it evaluate the contributions of the living molecular biologists.     

Muriel Wheldale Onslow and Early Biochemical Genetics

Muriel Wheldale, a distinguished graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, was a member of William Bateson’s school of genetics at Cambridge University from 1903. Her investigation of flower color inheritance in snapdragons (Antirrhinum), a topic of particular interest to botanists, contributed to establishing Mendelism as a powerful new tool in studying heredity. Her understanding of the genetics of pigment formation led her to do cutting-edge work in biochemistry, culminating in the publication of her landmark work, The Anthocyanin Pigments of Plants (1916). In 1915, she joined Frederick Gowland Hopkin’s Department of Biochemistry as assistant and in 1926 became one of the first women to be appointed university lecturer. In 1919 she married the biochemist Huia Onslow, with whom she collaborated until his death in 1922. This paper examines Wheldale’s work in genetics and especially focuses on the early linkage of Mendelian methodology with new techniques in biochemistry that eventually led to the founding of biochemical genetics. It highlights significant issues in the early history of women in genetics, including the critical role of mentors, funding opportunities, and career strategies.     

Decline in zoobenthos densities in the profundal sediments of Lake Mendota (Wisconsin,USA)

High densities of zoobenthos inhabited Lake Mendota's profundal zone in the early 1900s through the mid-1940s. Chaoborus punctipennis was the most abundant organism during the winter, along with moderate densities of Chironomus spp., Pisidium sp., oligochaetes, and Procladius sp. By the early 1950s, Chaoborus punctipennis densities had declined to 10% of former levels, while Chironomus increased significantly. However, by the mid-1960s, Chaoborus, Chironomus, and Pisidium densities had decreased to very low population levels. By 1987–89, Pisidium was no longer found. Zoobenthos that had not decreased from earlier surveys were oligochaetes and Procladius, although further sampling of oligochaetes is needed to confirm current densities. These organisms are the most tolerant of severe anoxia.Four possible reasons for this decline were evaluated: (a) decline in food availability, (b) increase in fish predation, (c) use of toxic insecticides in the drainage basin, and (d) changes in the profundal sediment environment. Based on literature information and long-term data for Lake Mendota, a change in the profundal sediment environment is the most likely explanation for the decline in the less-tolerant zoobenthos species. Although the duration and extent of anoxia in the hypolimnion have not changed since the early 1900s, hypolimnetic ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations apparently have increased as Mendota became more eutrophic after the mid-1940s. However, further study is needed to determine if these higher concentrations or other factors were responsible for the dramatic decline in lake Mendota's profundal zoobenthos.     

Sources for Imanishi Kinji’s views of sociality and evolutionary outcomes

Prior to the contribution of genetics or the modern evolutionary synthesis (MES) to natural selection theory, social ecologists searched for factors in addition to natural selection that could influence species change. The idea that sociality, not just biology, was important in determining evolutionary outcomes was prevalent in research in social ecology in the 1920s and 1930s. The influence of ‘tradition’ (or the transmission of learned behaviours between generations) and the view that animals are active in selecting their own environments, rather than passive organisms acted upon by chance, were given as much attention as natural selection theory in European ecology, while animal aggregation and cooperation studies were pursued in America. Imanishi Kinji’s personal library and his scientific notes and papers reveal that he was well aware of this literature and had been profoundly influenced by these earlier viewpoints prior to writing his view of nature in his first book, Seibutsu no Sekai (The World of Living Things, 1941). Evidence is presented to show that he developed his theories based partly on early western debates in social ecology while finding inspiration and a way to express his views in the writings of philosopher Nishida Kitarō and, perhaps, General J C Smuts. One of Imanishi’s lasting contributions is in the demonstrated results of over 40 years of subsequent ecological and ethological research by Imanishi and those trained by him that maintained the broader viewpoints on evolution that had been dropped from the western corpus of research by the 1950s. The current attempt to again get beyond natural selection theory is reflected in debates surrounding genetic and cultural evolution of cooperation, the biology of ‘traditions’ and the idea of ‘culture’ in animal societies. Imanishi Kinji is the Japanese name order, with family name first. Other Japanese names in the text are also written with family name first. A modified version of this paper appeared in Japanese in Seibutsu Kagaku, Vol. 57 No. 3, April 2006, pp 142–149.     

Evolutionary Genetics of Drosophila Mediopunctata

Drosophila mediopunctata belongs to the tripunctata group, which is the second largest Neotropical group of Drosophila with 64 species described. Here I review the work done with this forest dwelling species, and some applications of the methods developed using it as a model organism, to other species. Specifically I look at: the phylogenetic status of the tripunctata group and its relation with other groups in the Hirtodrosophila-immigrans radiation; D. mediopunctata’s chromosome inversion polymorphism (altitudinal cline of frequencies and evidences of selection); the morphological variation of the wing and the development and applications of the ellipse method to describe the morphology of the wing; the variation on the number of aristal branches; the genetic basis of the polychromatism present in D. mediopunctata and its association with chromosome inversions; the sex-ratio trait and its use in the demonstration of Fisher’s principle; and, finally, the finding of the transposable P-element in this species. This paper is respectfully dedicated to Prof. Sergio Olavo Pinto da Costa whose help was decisive in the initial stages of our work.     

Defending Scientific Freedom and Democracy: The Genetics Society of America’s Response to Lysenko

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the leaders of the Genetics Society of America (GSA) struggled to find an appropriate group response to Trofim Lysenko’s scientific claims and the Soviet treatment of geneticists. Although some of the leaders of the GSA favored a swift, critical response, procedural and ideological obstacles prevented them from following this path. Concerned about establishing scientific orthodoxy on one hand and politicizing the content of their science on the other, these American geneticists drew on democratic language and concepts as they engaged in this political issue. The relatively weak statements that did emerge from the GSA attracted little attention in the scientific or popular press. The intensely politicized atmosphere of American science complicated the GSA’s task, as domestic concerns about protecting democracy were beginning to constrain academic freedom. In the context of American Cold War culture, Lysenko became just one example of the dangers the Cold War world presented to scientific freedom.     

Mudflat biota since the 1930s: change beyond return?

Where, since the 1980s, patchy and variable green algal mats are prevailing, distinct belts of an amphipod (Corophium volutator) and seagrass (Zostera spp.) had dominated in the 1930s. The zonation between tide marks has been mapped in a sheltered sedimentary bay in the Wadden Sea near the island of Sylt (coastal eastern North Sea). Maps on vegetation from 1924 and on selected macrobenthos from 1932 and 1934 are compared with biannual surveys conducted from 1988 to 2006. Rising high water levels and eutrophication are suggested to be major causes of the observed long-term changes. In front of a saltmarsh, a sandy beach developed and partly displaced former cyanobacterial mats. Advancing sandiness may have inhibited C. volutator and facilitated lugworms, Arenicola marina, in the upper tidal zone. A variable occurrence of green algal mats arising in the 1980s affected infauna and seagrass by smothering the biota underneath. This dissolved a coherent belt of Zostera noltii. In the lower tidal zone, natural disturbances had lasting effects on the occurrence of mussels with attached fucoid algae. The spectrum of species became enriched by alien species (13% of macrobenthic taxa). A reversal to habitat structure and biotic zonation of the 1920–1930s does not seem possible. Aliens, in combination with climate change, are expected to further divert the ecological pattern to new configurations.     

The Friesner Herbarium (BUT) of Butler University

The Friesner Herbarium (BUT) of Butler University is a collection of over 100,000 specimens built from the personal herbarium of Ray C. Friesner. He and other botanists at Butler amassed one of the largest and most complete collections of Indiana plants. Active exchange from the 1920’s through the 1940’s increased the holdings of plants from other states. Although the collection does not contain many type specimens, it is rich in vouchers from floristic and ecological studies conducted in the first half of the 20th century and published in the scientific journal,Butler University Botanical Studies.     

Indian herb ‘Sanjeevani’ (Selaginella bryopteris) can promote growth and protect against heat shock and apoptotic activities of ultra violet and oxidative stress

Selaginella bryopteris is a lithophyte with remarkable ressurection capabilities. It is full of medicinal properties, hence also known as ‘Sanjeevani’ (one that infuses life). For lack of credible scientific evidence the plant is not in active use as a medicinal herb. We provide scientific evidence for whyS. bryopteris is known as ‘Sanjeevani’. The aqueous extract ofS. bryopteris possesses growth-promoting activity as well as protective action against stress-induced cell death in a number of experimental cell systems including mammalian cells. Treatment of the cells in culture with 10% aqueous extract enhanced cell growth by about 41% in Sf9 cells and 78% in mammalian cells. Pre-treatment of cells with the Selaginella extract (SE) (1-2x5%) protected against oxidative stress (H2O2)-induced cell death. The killing potential of ultra violet (UV) was also significantly reduced when the cells were pre-treated with SE for 1 h. Thermal radiation suppressed cell growth by about 50%. Pre-treatment of cells with SE for 1 h afforded complete protection against heat-induced growth suppression. SE may possess anti-stress and antioxidant activities that could be responsible for the observed effects. Chemical analysis shows that SE contains hexoses and proteins. Taken together,S. bryopteris extract may help in stress-induced complications including those due to heat shock.     

Genetics of sexual isolation based on courtship song between two sympatric species: Drosophila ananassae and D. pallidosa

Sexual isolation has been considered one of the primary causes of speciation and its genetic study has the potential to reveal the genetics of speciation. In Drosophila, the importance of courtship songs in sexual isolation between closely related species has been well investigated, but studies analysing the genetic basis of the difference in the courtship songs associated with sexual isolation are less well documented. Drosophila ananassae and Drosophila pallidosa are useful for studies of sexual isolation, because of their sympatric distribution and absence of postmating isolation. Courtship songs are known to play a crucial role in sexual isolation between these two species, and the female discrimination behaviour against the courting male has been revealed to be controlled by a very narrow region on the second chromosome. In this study we investigated the genetic basis controlling the song differences associated with their sexual isolation, using intact and wingless males with chromosomes substituted between species. The results obtained from F₁ hybrid males between these species indicate the dominance of the song characters favoured by D. pallidosa females. In addition, the results obtained from backcross F₂ males indicate that chromosome 2 had a major effect on the control of the song characters associated with sexual isolation.     

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in Pratt’s Leaf-nosed Bat (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hipposideros pratti</Emphasis>) and cross-species amplification in closely related taxa

We developed nine microsatellite loci using an enriched library method from the genomic DNA of Pratt’s leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros pratti). These loci were tested on 96 individuals sampled from Sichuan Province, China. The number of alleles per locus varied from 4 to 14. The expected and observed heterozygosity values ranged from 0.513 to 0.886 and from 0.375 to 0.966, respectively. Three microsatellite loci departed significantly from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). No linkage disequilibrium was found. These microsatellite loci will be used in studies of conservation genetics in this species.     

The nomenclatural status, ontogeny and morphology of Pholidoteuthis massyae (Pfeffer, 1912) new comb (Cephalopoda: Pholidoteuthidae)

Pholidoteuthis is unusual amongst genera of squid in that the mantle is beset with close-packed dermal cushions (scales). Despite frequent reference to species in this genus, considerable systematic confusion surrounds usage of the generic name, erected prematurely given that the same systematic characters apply for the earlier Tetronychoteuthis Pfeffer, 1900, and species attributed to it. The synonymy and ontogenetic morphology of Pholidoteuthis massyae (Pfeffer 1912) new comb., the senior synonym of P. boschmai Adam, 1950, is reported. The relationship between this species and others referred to Tetronychoteuthis, Lepidoteuthis, the Pholidoteuthidae Adam, 1950, Lepidoteuthidae Pfeffer, 1912 and Octopoteuthidae Berry, 1912, is discussed. A conjectural account of the mechanics of mating in P. massyae is provided based on the nature of spermatophore insertion in the female mantle, and modification to the terminal region of the male’s genital apparatus.     

Presence of Megalorhipida leucodactyla (Lepidoptera Pterophoridae) in Sicily: new report for the Italian fauna and notes on the diffusion of its host plant Boerhavia repens L. ssp. viscosa (Choisy) Maire (Nyctaginaceae)

Despite its circum-tropical distribution, we report, for the first time in Italy and Sicily, the presence of Megalorhipida leucodactyla (Fabricius 1974), a species recorded only once before in Europe. Several adults, pupae and larvae of different instars were found on Boerhavia repens L. ssp. viscosa (Choisy) Maire (Nyctaginaceae), recorded for the first time in Italy (Sicily) in 1967. We provide both an update of Boerhavia repens ssp. viscosa’s distribution in Sicily and the results of our vegetational survey, based upon the phytosociological method by Braun-Blanquet Sigmatist School, on Boerhavia repens ssp. viscosa in Palermo city’s urban areas. This plant, naturalised especially in Palermo city, appears to have become an invasive plant, increasingly spreading in larger areas, by even replacing the native flora in urban ecosystems. This study also provides the results of laboratory bioethological observations on some specimen of both adults and larvae (the latter while feeding on Boerhavia repens ssp. viscosa’s fruits). Finally, using bibliographic data, we drew a map of the distribution of both Megalorhipida leucodactyla and Boerhavia repens ssp. viscosa in the Mediterranean basin.     

The Last of the Great (Foot-Slogging) Explorers: Lewis Cotlow and the Ethnographic Imaginary in Popular Travel Film

This essay focuses on the popular travel films and books of Lewis Cotlow (1898-1987), an American explorer, author, filmmaker, insurance broker and amateur ethnographer who made photographic expeditions to Africa, South America, New Guinea, and the Arctic from the 1930s to the 1950s. This essay aims to uncover the shared historical practices and narratives in travel film and ethnographic film, examining scientific films in light of popular forms of anthropological cinema. In particular, the author examines the construction of an ethnographic imaginary and modes of ethnographic realism in the feature-length color film Jungle Headhunters [1950], shot during Cotlow's various expeditions to the Amazon during the 1940s.     

Beyond the Boss and the Boys: Women and the Division of Labor in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila</Emphasis> Genetics in the United States, 1934–1970

The vast network of Drosophila geneticists spawned by Thomas Hunt Morgan’s fly room in the early 20th century has justifiably received a significant amount of scholarly attention. However, most accounts of the history of Drosophila genetics focus heavily on the “boss and the boys,” rather than the many other laboratory groups which also included large numbers of women. Using demographic information extracted from the Drosophila Information Service directories from 1934 to 1970, we offer a profile of the gendered division of labor within Drosophila genetics in the United States during the middle decades of the 20th century. Our analysis of the gendered division of labor supports a reconsideration of laboratory practices as different forms of work.     

Micropropagation of ornamental <Emphasis Type="Italic">Prunus</Emphasis> spp. and GF305 peach,a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Prunus</Emphasis> viral indicator

A micropropagation approach was developed for nine ornamental Prunus species, P. americana, P. cistena, P. glandulosa, P. serrulata ‘Kwanzan’, P. laurocerasus, P. sargentii, P. tomentosa, P. triloba, P. virginiana ‘Schubert’, commercially important in North America, and GF305 peach, commonly used for Prunus virus indexing. The micropropagation cycle based on proliferation of vegetative tissues includes establishment of tissue culture through introduction of shoot meristems in vitro, shoot proliferation, root induction and plant acclimatization steps and can be completed in 5 months. A meristem sterilization protocol minimized bacterial and fungal contamination. Multiple shoot formation in ornamental Prunus was obtained through the use of 1 mg l⁻¹ 6-benzyladenine. For GF305 peach, alteration in the sugar composition, fructose instead of sucrose, and addition of 1 mg l⁻¹ ferulic acid had a significant impact on the shoot proliferation rate and maintenance of long-term in vitro culture. Rooting and plant acclimatization conditions were improved using a two-step protocol with a 4-day root induction in indole-3-butiric acid (IBA)-containing media with consequent 3-week root elongation in IBA-free media. One-month incubation of rooted shoots in a vermiculite-based medium resulted in additional shoot and root growth and provided better acclimatization and plant recovery. The micropropagation approach can be used for maintenance of the clonal properties for Prunus spp. as well as a protocol to support meristem therapy against viral infection.