Does Mother Nature really prefer rare species or are log‐left‐skewed SADs a sampling artefact?

Intensively sampled species abundance distributions (SADs) show left‐skew on a log scale. That is, there are too many rare species to fit a lognormal distribution. I propose that this log‐left‐skew might be a sampling artefact. Monte Carlo simulations show that taking progressively larger samples from a log‐unskewed distribution (such as the lognormal) causes log‐skew to decrease asymptotically (move towards ?∞) until it reaches the level of the underlying distribution (zero in this case). In contrast, accumulating certain types of repeated small samples results in a log‐skew that becomes progressively more log‐left‐skewed to a level well beyond the underlying distribution. These repeated samples correspond to samples from the same site over many years or from many sites in 1 year. Data from empirical datasets show that log‐skew generally goes from positive (right‐skewed) to negative (left‐skewed) as the number of temporally or spatially replicated samples increases. This suggests caution when interpreting log‐left‐skew as a pattern that needs biological interpretation.     

Metabolism of larger high density lipoproteins accumulating in some families of baboons fed a high cholesterol and high saturated fat diet

Progeny of certain baboon sires accumulate lipoproteins in high density lipoprotein-1 (HDL1) when challenged with a high cholesterol, high saturated fat diet. These studies were conducted to determine the apoprotein composition and metabolic fate of HDL1 in the plasma. HDL1 particles containing apoA-I with and without apoE were detected. The majority of particles, however, contained apoA-I without any detectable apoE. To determine the metabolic fate of HDL1 in plasma, HDL1 labeled with iodinated apoA-I from animals with high levels of HDL1 and iodinated apoA-I-labeled autologous HDL were coinjected into both high and low HDL1 animals. The data for the decay of radioactivity in HDL1 and HDL were analyzed by multicompartment modelling. The radioactivity from HDL1 was cleared from the plasma either via direct removal (9.1 +/- 4.7% in low and 21.7 +/- 8.3% in high HDL1 animals) or via its conversion to HDL. A large proportion of radioactivity from HDL1 was rapidly transferred to HDL directly or metabolized via an intermediate compartment. Most of the radioactivity from apoE-poor HDL1, however, was transferred to HDL. Both high and low HDL1 animals catabolized HDL1 and HDL similarly. Low HDL1 animals transferred HDL1 radioactivity to HDL much faster. No detectable radioactivity from HDL was transferred to HDL1. Thus, HDL1 that accumulates in high HDL1 animals is mainly a precursor for HDL. Our hypothesis is that this accumulation of HDL1 is due to the slower cholesteryl ester transfer from HDL to lower density lipoproteins, thus affecting reverse cholesterol transport in high HDL1 baboons.     

Phosphorus concentration in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seed: Influence on seedling growth and dry matter production

The effect of phosphorus (P) concentration in barley seed on seedling growth has not been much investigated. Consequently, two experiments were conducted in the greenhouse to determine the effect of P concentration in barley seed (Hordeum vulgare L., cv. Empress) on the seedlings grown in sand-filled boxes receiving a culture solution without P. Seeds were selected with three P concentrations: high-P (113.0 mmol P kg⁻¹), medium-P (80.7 mmol P kg⁻¹) and low-P (54.9 mmol P kg⁻¹). At 21 days after sowing, the shoot and root yield or shoot height was the least with seedlings from low-P seed. In the other experiment, high-P and low-P seeds were wetted with distilled water or with a solution of 25.8 cmol L⁻¹ of NaH₂PO₄ for 24 h, and then grown for 31 days. Solution P had been imbibed by seeds whether low or high in native P, but only the imbibed P held by low native P seed benefited seedling dry matter accumulation and shoot elongation. The lack of benefit from seed-imbibed P on seedlings grown from high-P barley seed was associated with low recovery of the imbibed P in those seedlings.     

Artifacts arising from sampling interval in dive depth studies of marine endotherms

Most depth recorders used to study the diving behaviour of polar marine endotherms record depth data at specific time intervals. The length of recording interval can have potentially profound implications for the interpretation of the data. We used data acquired on the diving behaviour of king penguins, Aptenodytes patagonicus, to examine the validity of various analyses routinely conducted on depth data. In our experiments, increasing the sampling interval led to an underestimation of the number of dives performed, an overestimation in mean dive duration and substantial changes in the form of the dive profile. Our analysis indicates that depth data should be recorded at a minimum rate corresponding to 10% of the total dive duration and that conventional dive profile categorization may be inappropriate. Alternatives that are less subjective, and based on curve fits of dive depth versus time, are proposed.     

The genetic analysis of a large transposing element of Drosophila melanogaster

A member of Ising's family of large transposing elements (TEs) has inserted into, or very near, the crinkled (ck, 2–50) locus. This TE (TE36) carries functional alleles of both the white and roughest loci, and causes a hypomorphic mutation of ck. The TE is visible in polytene chromosomes as a two-banded insertion between 35B9 and 35C1. These bands show homology to foldback (FB) elements by in situ hybridization. All spontaneous losses of TE36 remain mutant for ck and retain sequences homologous to FB at the site of TE's insertion. TE36 carries only one functional copy of w ⁺, by the criterion that z w, TE36/ + flies are wild-type for eye color but z w; TE36/TE36 flies are zeste. This white⁺ gene is dosage compensated since w/Y; TE36/+ males have twice as much eye pigment as w/w; TE36/ + females. A form of the TE that has four polytene chromosome bands and expresses twice as much pigment as TE36 has been recovered. However, its white genes are not suppressed by zeste.     

Factors affecting the termination of cardiovascular actions of 10, 10-difluoro, 13-dehydroprostacyclin

Experiments were conducted to determine why 10,10-difluoro, 13-dehydroprostacyclin (DF₂-PGI₂) has a long vascular relexant activity but like PGI₂ hads a short duration of effect . DF₂-PGI₂ produced depressor responses in anesthetized dogs which were not affected by nephrectomy suggesting that the kidney was not responsible for the termination of action. DF₂-PGI₂ given intravenously or into the ascending oarta produced depressor responses of a similar magnitude but injection of the same doses into the hepatic portal circulation resulted in a large attenuation of responses. The data suggest hepatitic, but not pulmonary, metabolism of DF₂-PGI₂. Injection or infusion of PGI₂ and DF₂-PGI₂ into the hindlimb circulation caused vasodilation of a similar duration suggesting diffusion from tissue sites as another mechanims of termination of action.     

Comparative 16S rRNA oligonucleotide analyses and murein types of round-spore-forming bacilli and non-spore-forming relatives

The phylogenetic incoherency of the genus Bacillus as presently described is demonstrated by analysis of both published and new data from comparative 16S rRNA cataloguing of nine Bacillus species and a number of related non-Bacillus taxa, i.e. Caryophanon latum, Filibacter limicola and Planococcus citreus. While the ellipsoidal-spore-forming bacilli, e.g. B. subtilis and allied species, formed a coherent cluster, the round-spore-forming bacilli showed a higher degree of relationship to the non-spore-forming organisms than these bacilli show among each other. Thus B. sphaericus clustered with C. latum, B. globisporus grouped with F. limicola, B. pasteurii with Sporosarcina ureae, and 'B. aminovorans' with P. citreus, respectively. These organisms formed two related subclusters which, in their phylogenetic depth, are comparable to that of the B. subtilis subline. With the exception of 'B. aminovorans', the 16S rRNA phylogeny was entirely consistent with the distribution of murein types. Even more distantly related to and grouping outside the main Bacillus cluster was B. stearothermophilus, which displayed a moderate relationship to Thermoactinomyces vulgaris. Taxonomic problems arising from the new insights into the intrageneric relationships of Bacillus are discussed.     

Quantifying apoprotein synthesis in rodents: coupling LC-MS/MS analyses with the administration of labeled water

Stable isotope tracer studies of apoprotein flux in rodent models present difficulties as they require working with small volumes of plasma. We demonstrate the ability to measure apoprotein flux by administering either (2)H- or (18)O-labeled water to mice and then subjecting samples to LC-MS/MS analyses; we were able to simultaneously determine the labeling of several proteolytic peptides representing multiple apoproteins. Consistent with relative differences reported in the literature regarding apoprotein flux in humans, we found that the fractional synthetic rate of apoB is greater than apoA1 in mice. In addition, the method is suitable for quantifying acute changes in protein flux: we observed a stimulation of apoB production in mice following an intravenous injection of Intralipid and a decrease in apoB production in mice treated with an inhibitor of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein. In summary, we demonstrate a high-throughput method for studying apoprotein kinetics in rodent models. Although notable differences exist between lipoprotein profiles that are observed in rodents and humans, we expect that the method reported here has merit in studies of dyslipidemia as i) rodent models can be used to probe target engagement in cases where one aims to modulate apoprotein production and ii) the approach should be adaptable to studies in humans.