The Seminole Indians of Florida: morphology and serology

The Seminole Indians of Florida were studied on their three reservations for blood types, red cell enzymes, serum proteins, physical measurements, and relationships. Both serologic and morphologic factors suggest their close similarity to other Indians and small amount of admixture. The Florida Seminoles are similar to Cherokee “full-bloods” in their absence of Rho and their incidence of O and M. In the presence of Di^a they are similar to other Indians, especially those of South America. While the presence of G-6-P-D A and the frequency of Hgb. S are indicative of Negro ancestry, the absence of Rho suggests that the Negro contribution must have been small. Physical traits give parallel results. Both serology and morphology further show that the Seminoles of the Dania and Big Cypress reservations are more similar to each other than to those of the Brighton reservation, in keeping with their history.     

The Seminole Indians of Oklahoma: Morphology and serology

Two hundred and sixty-three Indians aged six and above were studied in Oklahoma for blood types, hemoglobin types, and physical traits; 53% were Seminoles and the remainder were admixed with Creek or other populations. The results indicate that they resemble the Florida Seminoles in most of their serologic traits. In physical traits they are comparable to the group studied by Krogman two decades ago. Compared with the Florida Seminoles, the Oklahoma sample are slightly taller and heavier, significantly lighter in skin color, and have a lower incidence of sickle cell gene. By both serology and morphology the Oklahoma group are most similar to Florida Seminoles, slightly less similar to other Indian groups, and still less to White and Negro populations. The Oklahoma sample of women showed a non-significantly greater fertility than those of Florida. Some indication of positive assortative mating for skin color was found in both groups.     

"Taco" tongue fold in Seminole Indians

Two Florida Seminole Indians demonstrated the ability to fold the tongue longitudinally, with the open side either to the right or to the left.     

Finger and palmar dermatoglyphics in Seminole Indians of Florida

Hand prints of 146 Florida Seminoles were obtained at the Brighton, Big Cypress and Dania reservations and at the Indian Agency in Dania. Comparisons with other tribes of North American Indians (Comanche, Arapahoe, Navaho, Hopi and Pueblo) reveal similarities with respect to fingerprint indices, frequencies of patterns in all palmar areas, and transverseness of palmar ridges. Comparisons of Seminoles and other North American tribes with the Mayans of southern Mexico and Guatamala show striking differences in pattern frequencies in the thenar/first interdigital area of the palm. Among North American Indians, the frequency varies from 18.49% among Seminoles to 28.5% among Navahoes, whereas all Mayan tribes which have been studied range between 40 and 50%. Pattern frequencies are higher in the thenar/first interdigital area than in the hypothenar area among all Amerindians who have been tested. This trend is the reverse of that found in other racial groups. North, Central and South American Indians are similar with respect to relatively high finger pattern indices, low frequencies of patterns in the hypothenar area, low frequencies of accessory triradii in the interdigital areas and moderately transverse palmar ridges.     

Male Seminole Bat Winter Roost-Site Selection in a Managed Forest

Abstract: Understanding year-round roost-site selection is essential for managing forest bat populations. From January to March, 2004 to 2006, we used radiotelemetry to investigate winter roost-site selection by Seminole bats (Lasiurus seminolus) on an intensively managed landscape with forested corridors in southeastern South Carolina, USA. We modeled roost-site selection with logistic regression and used Akaike's Information Criterion for small samples (AIC_c) and Akaike weights to select models relating roost-site selection to plot- and landscape-level variables. We tracked 20 adult male bats to 71 individual roosts. Bats used a variety of roosting structures, including the canopy of overstory trees, understory vegetation, pine (Pinus spp.) needle clusters, and leaf litter. Roost height, structure type, and habitat type were influenced by changes in minimum nightly temperature. On warmer nights, bats selected taller trees in mature forest stands, but when minimum nightly temperatures were <4° C, bats typically were found roosting on or near the forest floor in mid-rotation stands. We recommend avoiding prescribed burning in mid-rotation stands on days when the previous night's temperature is <4 °C to minimize potential disturbance and direct mortality of bats roosting on or near the forest floor. We encourage forest managers to incorporate seasonal changes in roost-site selection to create year-round management strategies for forest bats in managed landscapes.     

Fungibility: Florida Seminole Casino Dividends and the Fiscal Politics of Indigeneity

ABSTRACT   In this article, I examine Florida Seminoles' governmental distributions of tribal-gaming revenues that take the form of per capita dividends. Dividends reveal the political and cultural stakes of money's fungibility—its ability to substitute for itself. From tribal policy debates over children's dividends to the legitimization of political leadership through monetary redistribution, Seminoles selectively exploit the fungibility of money to break or make ties with one another and with non-Seminoles. They do so in ways that reinforce indigenous political authority and autonomy, and they thereby challenge structural expectations in U.S. public culture and policy that would oppose indigenous distinctiveness to the embrace of money. [Keywords: money, tribal gaming, American Indians, Florida Seminoles]     

Cerumen types and PTC-tasting in the Seminole indians of Florida

Of 100 Seminole Indians of Florida examined for cerumen, 44 had the dry type, 37 were wet, 10 were beady, and nine were indeterminate or absent. All except one of 53 Indians tested for PTC-tasting was a taster.     

The solubilization and degradation of pumpkin seed globulin during germination

Pumpkin seed globulin decreased 88% during the first 4 daysof germination. This decrease was concomitant with a 2.5 foldincrease in water soluble protein which arose directly fromthe water insoluble globulin. The sequence of solubilizationand breakdown of the globulin was followed through 12 days ofgermination. Pumpkin seed globulin was determined to have subunitsof 56,000 daltons, while the new water soluble protein consistedof two proteins, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamideelectrophoresis; one having a molecular weight of 42,000 daltonsand the other 28,000 daltons. Trypsin mimicked the first stepof the breakdown by solubilizing pumpkin seed globulin to yieldidentical digestion products as were obtained in vitro. Maximumproteolytic acitvity, as measured by the release of ninhydrinpositive, materials occurred at 6 days of germination, at whichtime both the concentration of free amino acids and the incorporationof ¹⁴C into amino acids increased rapidly. A second proteolyticenzyme system which solubilized the pumpkin seed globulin butdid not act on hemoglobin, casein, or bovine serum albumin reachedits maximum activity at two days of germination. (Received April 17, 1978; )     

南瓜对镉的吸收积累特性研究

对南瓜进行盆栽试验,通过加入不同含量的镉、CaCO₃和草炭土,研究南瓜对镉的吸收积累特性,利用火焰原子吸收法测定。结果表明,南瓜植株对镉的富集量主要集中在茎、根中;当土壤镉含量小于5mg·kg^-1时,对南瓜根的生长有促进作用,当土壤镉含量大于5mg·kg^-1时,开始对根的生长产生抑制作用,抑制作用随镉含量的增大而加强;在土壤中施CaCO₃,能降低南瓜对镉的吸收;在土壤中加入草炭土,在一定范围内,它能促进南瓜对镉的吸收。     

Cytokinins in seeds of pumpkin

Extracts of seeds of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo Linn.) contain three chromatographically distinguishable cytokinins which are held on Dowex 50-W and are extractable by ethanol and n-butanol. Two of the active factors are precipitable by silver nitrate at acidic pH. The chromatographic behavior and the spectral characteristics of one of these cytokinins are similar to those of zeatin. However, the R_F values of the other two active compounds do not match with those of any of the known natural cytokinins.     

Heterogeneity of pumpkin ribosomal DNA

The ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of Cucurbita pepo L. has been found to consist of tandemly arrayed repeat units, most of which are 10 kilobases in length. Thirty-six repeat units, cloned into the HindIII site of pACYC 177, fall into seven classes which differ from each other in length and/or nucleotide sequence. Most of the heterogeneity occurs in noncoding portions of the repeat unit although there is some nucleotide sequence variation in the coding portion as well. Heterogeneity of base modification was observed in genomic rDNA of which two examples are: (a) all of the repeat units have three BamHI sites, one of which is unavailable for restriction in about half of the units and (b) all of the CCGG sites except one are methylated at the internal cytidine in many of the units; a second site is unmethylated in some of the units and in a very few units a third site remains unmethylated.     

Arhodomonas sp. Strain Seminole and Its Genetic Potential To Degrade Aromatic Compounds under High-Salinity Conditions

Arhodomonas sp. strain Seminole was isolated from a crude oil-impacted brine soil and shown to degrade benzene, toluene, phenol, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA), protocatechuic acid (PCA), and phenylacetic acid (PAA) as the sole sources of carbon at high salinity. Seminole is a member of the genus Arhodomonas in the class Gammaproteobacteria, sharing 96% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Arhodomonas aquaeolei HA-1. Analysis of the genome predicted a number of catabolic genes for the metabolism of benzene, toluene, 4-HBA, and PAA. The predicted pathways were corroborated by identification of enzymes present in the cytosolic proteomes of cells grown on aromatic compounds using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Genome analysis predicted a cluster of 19 genes necessary for the breakdown of benzene or toluene to acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) and pyruvate. Of these, 12 enzymes were identified in the proteome of toluene-grown cells compared to lactate-grown cells. Genomic analysis predicted 11 genes required for 4-HBA degradation to form the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates. Of these, proteomic analysis of 4-HBA-grown cells identified 6 key enzymes involved in the 4-HBA degradation pathway. Similarly, 15 genes needed for the degradation of PAA to the TCA cycle intermediates were predicted. Of these, 9 enzymes of the PAA degradation pathway were identified only in PAA-grown cells and not in lactate-grown cells. Overall, we were able to reconstruct catabolic steps for the breakdown of a variety of aromatic compounds in an extreme halophile, strain Seminole. Such knowledge is important for understanding the role of Arhodomonas spp. in the natural attenuation of hydrocarbon-impacted hypersaline environments.     

Effect of esculetin on activities of pumpkin glutathione S-transferases and growth of pumpkin seedlings

The effect of esculetin and some related coumarins (coumarin, 7-hydroxycoumarin and scopoletin) on growth of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima Duch.) seedlings and the activities of pumpkin glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) were investigated. Coumarin and esculetin affected the growth of seedlings. The hypocotyls of affected seedlings became weak and bent at the mid region, roots became very soft with brownish discoloration, and finally seedlings died. Among the compounds tested, only esculetin inhibited CmGSTU3 and CmGSTU2 activities measured with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) and at a concentration of 22 μM, it inhibited the activity of CmGSTU3 by 50 %.