Banning Fisheries Discards Abruptly Has a Negative Impact on the Population Dynamics of Charismatic Marine Megafauna

Food subsidies have the potential to modify ecosystems and affect the provision of goods and services. Predictable Anthropogenic Food Subsidies (PAFS) modify ecosystems by altering ecological processes and food webs. The global concern over the effects of PAFS in ecosystems has led to development of environmental policies aimed at curbing the production or ultimately banning of PAFS. However, the effects of reducing or banning PAFS are not known. We explore the consequences of PAFS removal in a marine ecosystem under two scenarios: 1) gradual reduction, or 2) an abrupt ban, using a mass balance model to test these hypotheses–The reduction or loss of PAFS will: i) modify trophic levels and food webs through effects on foraging by opportunistic species, ii) increase the resilience of opportunistic species to food shortages, and iii) modify predator–prey interactions through shifts in prey consumption. We found that PAFS lower the trophic levels of opportunistic scavengers and increase their food pathways. Scavengers are able to switch prey when PAFS are reduced gradually but they decline when PAFS are abruptly banned. PAFS reduction to a certain minimal level causes a drop in the ecosystem’s stability. We recommend gradual reduction of PAFS to a minimal level that would maintain the ecosystem’s stability and allow species exploiting PAFS to habituate to the food subsidy reduction.     

The primary structure of a procaryotic glycoprotein. Cloning and sequencing of the cell surface glycoprotein gene of halobacteria

The hexagonally patterned surface layer of halobacteria consists of a true glycoprotein. This procaryotic glycoprotein has recently been shown to exhibit novel features with respect to saccharide structure and saccharide biosynthesis. The primary structure and the location of glycosylation sites were determined by cloning and sequencing of the glycoprotein gene of Halobacterium halobium. According to the predicted amino acid sequence, the glycoprotein is synthesized with a N-terminal leader sequence of 34 amino acid residues reminiscent of eucaryotic and procaryotic signal peptides. A hydrophobic stretch of 21 amino acid residues at the C terminus probably serves as a transmembrane domain. 14 threonine residues are clustered adjacent to this membrane anchor and linked to these threonines are all the disaccharides of the cell surface glycoprotein. 12 N-glycosylation sites are distributed over the polypeptide chain.     

Proteolytic processing of Blattella germanica vitellin during early embryo development

In the eggs of the cockroach Blattella germanica, vitellin (Vt) utilization is initiated 4 days postovulation by the proteolytic processing of its three subunits. These reactions yield a specific set of peptides that are consumed by the developing embryo. A yolk proteinase activity, believed central to this processing event, has been investigated. First expressed at day 3 postovulation, just prior to Vt's processing, its specific activity with synthetic substrates increased four-fold to 18-fold through day 6. In addition, a mixing experiment showed that these proteinases(s) can also process Vt's large subunits in vitro. A relationship between Vt processing and proteinase specific activity was also noted with two B. germanica translocation heterozygotes, which displayed differences in the extent of Vt processing. One group of eggs (group A) failed to process any Vt subunit. A second group (B) processed the M_r 102,000 subunit but not the M_r 95,000. A third group (C) processed their Vt normally. Proteinase specific activities in the yolk of translocant's eggs at day 6 mirrored the extent of processing, being highest in group C eggs and effectively absent from the yolk of group A eggs. Eggs defective in Vt processing also contained arrested embryos. It is concluded that the yolk proteinase activity described here participates in Vt processing at day 4 postovulation. Microscopic examination of yolk obtained from eggs of wild type females showed that, as processing began in vivo (day 4), the yolk granules also underwent an abrupt decrease in size from diameters of 15–30 μm to 3–10 μm. Yolk granules of those translocant's eggs that were defective in Vt processing did not undergo this size decrease, suggesting that granule reorganization and Vt proteolysis may be linked functionally.     

Lipase production of Staphylococcus carnosus in a dialysis fermentor

Summary In a newly constructed one-vessel dialysis fermentor, a strain of Staphylococcus carnosus TM300 carrying the lipase secretion plasmid pLipPS1 was used to investigate exoenzyme and biomass production. The bacterial culture grows in an inner compartment of 21 volume, separated from a 101 nutrient broth compartment by a conventional dialysis membrane. In order to avoid substrate depletion and to prolong the growth phase, a highly concentrated nutrient broth was used. The biomass production reached 60 g cell dry weight/l. The increase in extracellular lipase concentration was directly coupled with the increase of cell mass and reached a value of 230 mg/l culture supernatant. Harvesting the cells in the late growth phase, the lipase content was about 30% of the total exoproteins in the supernatant.     

Immunotargeting of daunomycin to localized and metastatic human colon adenocarcinoma in athymic mice

Summary A monoclonal antibody (designated SF25), which recognizes a protein antigen expressed on a large number of human colon carcinomas, was used for drug targeting. Daunomycin-antibody conjugates were prepared by two previously described procedures. In one, the drug was bound to the antibody through a spacer of small molecular mass (cis-aconitic acid), while in the other a dextran bridge served as the link between drug and antibody. High substitution rates of drug to antibody were obtained using the latter binding procedure. Both conjugates were tested in vitro against two human colon carcinoma cell lines, LS180 and KM-12. The efficacy of a daunomycin-dextran-SF25 antibody conjugate was tested against colon carcinoma LS180 tumors transplanted at different sites into athymic mice. The specific conjugate was significantly more inhibitory to a subcutaneous tumor growth than its components or their mixture. SF25 antibody alone showed antitumoral effects against all three forms of transplanted tumor tested, namely, local, metastatic or intrahepatic, whereas daunomycin, on its own, was effective only against the subcutaneous tumor. Binding of daunomycin to dextran partially improved its inhibitory activity against the metastatic tumor. The conjugate, daunomycin-dextran-SF25 antibody reduced the number of metastatic foci, increased the survival rate and delayed death. Yet against lymph node metastases it was not significantly better than a mixture of both constituents. However, results obtained with an intrahepatic tumor, a model that mimics the natural progression of the disease, resembled those described with the subcutaneous tumor. Daunomycin-dextran-SF25 antibody was significantly more effective than all components separately and than a mixture of drug and antibody, provided a highly drug-substituted conjugate was used.     

The Sequence of Change within the Photosynthetic Apparatus of Wheat following Short-Term Exposure to Ozone

The basis of inhibition of photosynthesis by single acute O₃ exposures was investigated in vivo using analyses based on leaf gas exchange measurements. The fully expanded second leaves of wheat plants (Triticum aestivum L. cv Avalon) were fumigated with either 200 or 400 nanomoles per mole O₃ for between 4 and 16 hours. This reduced significantly the light-saturated rate of CO₂ uptake and was accompanied by a parallel decrease in stomatal conductance. However, the stomatal limitation, estimated from the relationship between CO₂ uptake and the internal CO₂ concentration, only increased significantly during the first 8 hours of exposure to 400 nanomoles per mole O₃; no significant increase occurred for any of the other treatments. Analysis of the response of CO₂ uptake to the internal CO₂ concentration implied that the predominant factor responsible for the reduction in light-saturated CO₂ uptake was a decrease in the efficiency of carboxylation. This was 58 and 21% of the control value after 16 hours at 200 and 400 nanomoles per mole O₃, respectively. At saturating concentrations of CO₂, photosynthesis was inhibited by no more than 22% after 16 hours, indicating that the capacity for regeneration of ribulose bisphosphate was less susceptible to O₃. Ozone fumigations also had a less pronounced effect on light-limited photosynthesis. The maximum quantum yield of CO₂ uptake and the quantum yield of oxygen evolution showed no significant decline after 16 hours with 200 nanomoles per mole O₃, requiring 8 hours at 400 nanomoles per mole O₃ before a significant reduction occurred. The photochemical efficiency of photosystem II estimated from the ratio of variable to maximum chlorophyll fluorescence and the atrazine-binding capacity of isolated thylakoids demonstrated that photochemical reactions were not responsible for the initial inhibition of CO₂ uptake. The results suggest that the apparent carboxylation efficiency appears to be the initial cause of decline in photosynthesis in vivo following acute O₃ fumigation.     

Optimization of Banana Juice Fermentation for the Production of Microbial Oil

Apiotrichum curvatum ATCC 20509 (formerly Candida curvata D), a lipid-accumulating yeast, was grown in banana juice. The optimum conditions for biomass production in shake flasks were 30°C growth temperature, efficient aeration, a juice concentration of 25%, and preliminary heat treatment at less than sterilization conditions. Under controlled conditions in a fermentor, 20% banana juice was optimum. High concentrations of yeast extract (0.3%) increased biomass production by 40% but decreased oil production by 30%. A lower yeast extract concentration (0.05%) increased biomass production by 2% and oil production by 25%. The best growth and oil production were observed when asparagine (1.4 g/liter) and mineral salts were added to the banana juice. The addition of minerals seemed to improve the utilization of carbon. Growth inhibition was observed when the fermentor was aerated with pure oxygen, even when additional nutrients were present. A fed-batch process permitted the juice concentration to be increased from 15 to 82%; biomass accumulation was three times higher than in batch fermentations. However, the cellular lipid content was only 30% of dry weight, and chemical oxygen demand reduction was slow and inefficient.