Proteins of the human erythrocyte membrane as modified by pronase

Pronase degrades proteins on the outer surface of the human erythrocyte membrane which run in polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate at a molecular weight of approximately 125,000. Carbohydrate and sialic acid are removed, but fragments of molecular weight 50,000 to 100,000 remain attached to the membrane. The most prominent fragment, one of molecular weight about 73,000, can be labeled with a membrane-impermeable reagent (sulfanilic acid diazonium salt), so it is still accessible from the outside of the cell. Pronase rapidly inactivates membrane-bound acetylcholinesterase, but it has relatively little effect on the facilitated diffusion of glucose; both are inhibited by the diazonium salt. Extensive digestion leads to potassium loss and osmotic lysis. Ghosts prepared in 15 mosm-Tris (pH 7.6) are extensively degraded by pronase: essentially all the protein shifts to low molecular weight. Pronase is even more potent in 3% sodium dodecyl sulfate. Ghosts prepared from intact cells which have been treated with the enzyme hydrolyze when dissolved in the detergent unless steps are taken to inhibit proteolysis.     

Interactions between different predator–prey states: a method for the derivation of the functional and numerical response

Journal of Mathematical Biology - In this paper we introduce a formal method for the derivation of a predator’s functional response from a system of fast state transitions of the prey or...     

Habitat Deterioration, Habitat Destruction, and Metapopulation Persistence in a Heterogenous Landscape

Levins's unstructured metapopulation model predicts that the equilibrium fraction of empty habitat patches is a constant function of the fractionhof suitable patches in the landscape and that this constant equals the threshold value for metapopulation persistence. Levins's model thus suggests that the minimum amount of suitable habitat necessary for metapopulation persistence can be estimated from the fraction of empty patches at steady state. In this paper we construct several more realistic structured metapopulation models that include variation in patch quality and the rescue effect. These models predict both positive and negative correlations between the fractions of suitable patches and empty patches. The type of correlation depends in an intricate manner on the strength of the rescue effect and on the quality distribution of the patches to be destroyed. Empty patches can be considered as the resource limiting metapopulation growth. Our results demonstrate that the correlation between the fractions of suitable patches and empty patches is positive if and only if the average value of the resource decreases as the number of patches increases.     

Evolution of specialization in resource utilization in structured metapopulations

We study the evolution of resource utilization in a structured discrete-time metapopulation model with an infinite number of patches, prone to local catastrophes. The consumer faces a trade-off in the abilities to consume two resources available in different amounts in each patch. We analyse how the evolution of specialization in the utilization of the resources is affected by different ecological factors: migration, local growth, local catastrophes, forms of the trade-off and distribution of the resources in the patches. Our modelling approach offers a natural way to include more than two patch types into the models. This has not been usually possible in the previous spatially heterogeneous models focusing on the evolution of specialization.     

A model of a snorer's upper airway

In snorers, the physiologic decrease of postural muscle tone during sleep results in increased collapsibility of the upper airway. Measurement of nasal pressure changes with prongs is increasingly used to monitor flow kinetics through a collapsing upper airway. This report presents a mathematical model to predict nasal flow profile from three critical components that control upper airway patency during sleep. The model includes the respiratory pump drive, the stiffness of the pharyngeal soft tissues, and the dynamic support of the muscles surrounding the upper airway. Depending on these three components, the proposed model is able to reproduce the characteristic changes in flow profile that are clinically observed in snorers and non-snorers during sleep.     

On the Evolution of the Timing of Reproduction with Non-equilibrium Resident Dynamics

We study the evolution of an individual’s reproductive strategy in a mechanistic modeling framework. We assume that the total number of juveniles one adult individual can produce is a finite constant, and we study how this number should be distributed during the season, given the types of inter-individual interactions and mortality processes included in the model. The evolution of the timing of reproduction in this modeling framework has already been studied earlier in the case of equilibrium resident dynamics, but we generalize the situation to also fluctuating population dynamics. We find that, as in the equilibrium case, the presence or absence of inter-juvenile aggression affects the functional form of the evolutionarily stable reproductive strategy. If an ESS exists, it can have an absolutely continuous part only if inter-juvenile aggression is included in the model. If inter-juvenile aggression is not included in the model, an ESS can have no continuous parts, and only Dirac measures are possible.     

A Bacteriophage-lysing Strain of Staphylococcus Employed in the Manufacture of Dry Sausage

A bacteriophage of a certain Staphylococcus (a strain of Staphylococcus lactis) employed in the manufacture of dry sausage has been characterized. The host range of this bacteriophage is wide. In addition to the original host, 15 other strains (out of 40 strains tested) were found to support reproduction of the phage. The sensitive strains represented Staphylococcus saprophyticus and different types of S. lactis.

The growth rate of the bacterial host did not influence the rates of phage adsorption, nor the maximal reproduction rate of new particles. With increasing bacterial growth rate, the “lag” observed before phage reproduction started was distinctly decreased. This phase was shorter with the original host strain than with other sensitive strains.

Resistant cultures of the original host strain were easily obtained. These cultures grew as rapidly and gave as good yields of cell mass as the original phage-sensitive host. However, phage resistance was frequently lost.

     

Random Partition Models and Exchangeability for Bayesian Identification of Population Structure

We introduce a Bayesian theoretical formulation of the statistical learning problem concerning the genetic structure of populations. The two key concepts in our derivation are exchangeability in its various forms and random allocation models. Implications of our results to empirical investigation of the population structure are discussed.