Effects of omnivorous shrimp in a montane tropical stream: sediment removal,disturbance of sessile invertebrates and enhancement of understory algal biomass

Freshwater shrimp dominate the faunal biomass of many headwater tropical streams: however, their role in community organization is unclear. Enclosure/exclosure experiments in a montane Puerto Rican stream examined direct and indirect effects of two dominant taxa of atyid (Atyidae) shrimp, Atya lanipes Holthuis and Xiphocaris elongata Guerin-Meneville. Both shrimp taxa caused significant reductions in sediment cover on rock substrata, reducing sedimentation and enhancing algal biovolume on clay tiles in cages. When tiles incubated in shrimp exclosures for 2 wks were placed outside of cages, atyid shrimp removed 100% of the sediment cover within a 30 min observation period. Atyid shrimp appear to play an important role in stream recovery after high discharge events by rapidly removing sediments and detritus deposited on benthic substrata in pools. We evaluated the mechanism by which A. lanipes influences algae and benthic insects by comparing patterns of algal biomass, taxonomic composition, and insect abundance between shrimp-exclusion and shrimp-presence treatments both with and without manual sediment removal. The shrimp exclusion treatment without manual sediment removal bad significantly lower algal biomass and greater sedimentation than all other treatments. The treatment in which shrimp were excluded but sediment was manually removed, however, accrued almost the same algal biovolume as the shrimp enclosure treatment, supporting the hypothesis that sediment removal enhances the biovolume of understory algal taxa. Algal community composition was similar between stream bottom bedrock exposed to natural densities of shrimp and all experimental treatments for both Atya and Xiphocaris: a diatom community strongly dominated (78–95%) by the adnate taxon, Achnanthes lanceolata Breb ex. Kutz. Atyid shrimp are important in determining the distribution and abundance of benthic insects through both direct and indirect effects. Sessile, retreat-building chironomid larvae (Chironomidae: Diptera) are negatively affected by both A. lanipes and X. elongata, through direct removal by foraging activities and/or indirectly through depression of sediment resources available to larvae for the construction of retreats. In constrast, the mobile grazer, Cloeodes maculipes (Baetidae: Ephemeroptera) was not adversely affected and atyid shrimp have the potential to exert positive indirect effects on this taxon by facilitating its exploitation of algal resources and/or through enhancement of understory algal food resources through sediment removal.     

Effects of atmospheric SO2 on Azolla and Anabaena symbiosis

The water fern Azolla pinnata R. Br. was fumigated for 1 week with either 25, 50 or 100 nl 1⁻¹ SO₂. The symbiosis of Azolla with Anabaena azollae (spp.) was severely damaged by atmospheric SO₂ even at concentrations as low as 25 nl 1⁻¹, with significant reductions in growth, reduction of C₂H₂, NH₃ assimilation, protein synthesis, and heterocyst development. These disturbances appear to be mainly responsible for the extreme sensitivity of this fern to atmospheric SO₂. Changes in violaxanthin/antheraxanthin and epoxy-lutein/lutein ratios also indicate that free radical products are induced by atmospheric SO₂. These results suggest that the Azolla-Anabaena symbiotic system is a very responsive and reliable lower plant model to study the detailed effects of total sulphur deposition upon the balances between various important plant metabolic processes.     

Constitutive and inducible aspects of nitrate-nitrogen uptake by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Similarly to higher plant root systems, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Dangeard (UTEX 90) cells exhibited biphasic NO₃^? uptake kinetics. The uptake pattern was similar in cells cultured in 10 mM NO₃^? (NO₃^?-grown), 0.25 mM NO₃^? (N-limited) or 10 mM NO₃^? followed by an 18-h period of N-deprivation (N-starved). In all cell types there was an apparent phase transition in uptake at 1.1 mM NO₃^?, although there were variations in the uptake V_max of both isotherms. The rate of uptake via isotherm 0 ([NO₃^?]<1.1 mM) in N-limited cells was higher than that of either NO₃^?-grown or N-starved cells. In contrast, NO₃^?-grown and N-limited cells exhibited comparable V_max values when supplied with 1.1 to 1.8 mM NO₃^? (isotherm 1). When supplied with 1.6 mM NO₃^?, both N-limited and N-starved cells exhibited enhanced linear uptake after 60 min of incubation. We ascribed this to an induction phenomenon. This trend was not observed when NO₃^?-grown cells were supplied with 1.6 mM NO₃^?, or when N-limited and N-starved cells were supplied with 0.6 mM NO₃^?. The ‘inducible’ aspect of uptake by N-limited cells was blocked by cycloheximide (10 mg l^?1), but not by actinomycin D (5 mg l^?1), thus indicating the involvement of a translational or post-translational event. To investigate this phenomenon further, we analysed the cell proteins of N-limited cells supplied with either 0.6 or 1.6 mM NO₃^? for 90 min, using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Comparison of protein profiles enabled the identification of a single cell membrane-associated polypeptide (21 kDa, pI ca 5.5) and ten soluble fraction polypeptides (17–73 kDa, pI ca 5.0 to 7.1) unique to the high NO₃^? treatment. We propose that the ‘inducible’ portion of NO₃^? uptake may provide the means by which C. reinhardtii cells regulate uptake in accordance with assimilatory capacity.     

Immune network behavior—II. From oscillations to chaos and stationary states

Two types of behavior have been previously reported in models of immune networks. The typical behavior of simple models, which involve B cells only, is stationary behavior involving several steady states. Finite amplitude perturbations may cause the model to switch between different equilibria. The typical behavior of more realistic models, which involve both B cells and antibody, consists of autonomous oscillations and/or chaos. While stationary behavior leads to easy interpretations in terms of idiotypic memory, oscillatory behavior seems to be in better agreement with experimental data obtained in unimmunized animals. Here we study a series of models of the idiotypic interaction between two B cell clones. The models differ with respect to the incorporation of antibodies, B cell maturation and compartmentalization. The most complicated model in the series has two realistic parameter regimes in which the behavior is respectively stationary and chaotic. The stability of the equilibrium states and the structure and interactions of the stable and unstable manifolds of the saddle-type equilibria turn out to be factors influencing the model's behavior. Whether or not the model is able to attain any form of sustained oscillatory behavior, i.e. limit cycles or chaos, seems to be determined by (global) bifurcations involving the stable and unstable manifolds of the equilibrium states. We attempt to determine whether such behavior should be expected to be attained from reasonable initial conditions by incorporating an immune response to an antigen in the model. A comparison of the behavior of the model with experimental data from the literature provides suggestions for the parameter regime in which the immune system is operating.     

Temperature-dependent sex determination in reptiles: Proximate mechanisms,ultimate outcomes,and practical applications

In many egg-laying reptiles, the incubation temperature of the egg determines the sex of the offspring, a process known as temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). In TSD sex determination is an “all or none” process and intersexes are rarely formed. How is the external signal of temperature transduced into a genetic signal that determines gonadal sex and channels sexual development? Studies with the red-eared slider turtle have focused on the physiological, biochemical, and molecular cascades initiated by the temperature signal. Both male and female development are active processes—rather than the crganized/default system characteristic of vertebrates with genotypic sex determination—that require simultaneous activation and suppression of testis- and ovary-determining cascades for normal sex determination. It appears that temperature accomplishes this end by acting on genes encoaing for steroidogenic enzymes and steroid hormone receptors and modifying the endocrine microenvironment in the embryo. The temperature experienced in development also has long-term functional outcomes in addition to sex determination. Research with the leopard gecko indicates that incubation temperature as well as steroid hormones serve as organizers in shaping the adult phenotype, with temperature modulating sex hormone action in sexual differentiation. Finally, practical applications of this research have emerged for the conservation and restoration of endangered egg-laying reptiles as well as the embryonic development of reptiles as biomarkers to monitor the estrogenic effects of common environmental contaminants. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The 3′ → 5′ exonucleases of both DNA polymerases δ and ε participate in correcting errors of DNA replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

DNA polymerases II (ε) and III(δ) are the only nuclear DNA polymerases known to possess an intrinsic 3′ → 5′ exonuclease in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have investigated the spontaneous mutator phenotypes of DNA polymerase δ and ε 3′ → 5′ exonuclease-deficient mutants, pol3-01 and pol2-4, respectively. pol3-01 and pol2-4 increased spontaneous mutation rates by factors of the order of 10² and 10¹, respectively, measured as URA3 forward mutation and his7-2 reversion. Surprisingly, a double mutant pol2-4 pol3-01 haploid was inviable. This was probably due to accumulation of unedited errors, since a pol2-4/pol2-4 pol3-01/pol3-01 diploid was viable, with the spontaneous his7-2 reversion rate increased by about 2 × 10³-fold. Analysis of mutation rates of double mutants indicated that the 3′ → 5′ exonucleases of DNA polymerases δ and ε can act competitively and that, like the 3′ → 5′ exonuclease of DNA polymerase δ the 3′ → 5′ exonuclease of DNA polymerase ε acts in series with the PMS1 mismatch correction system. Mutational spectra at a URA3 gene placed in both orientations near to a defined replication origin provided evidence that the 3′ → 5′ exonucleases of DNA polymerases δ and ε act on opposite DNA strands, but were in sufficient to distinguish conclusively between different models of DNA replication.     

Role of FGFs in skeletal muscle and limb development

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are a family of nine proteins that bind to three distinct types of cell surface molecules: (i) FGF receptor tyrosine kinases (FGFR-1 through FGFR-4); (ii) a cysteine-rich FGF receptor (CFR); and (iii) heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs). Signaling by FGFs requires participation of at least two of these receptors: the FGFRs and HSPGs form a signaling complex. The length and sulfation pattern of the heparan sulfate chain determines both the activity of the signaling complex and, in part, the ligand specificity for FGFR-1. Thus, the heparan sulfate proteoglycans are likely to play an essential role in signaling. We have recently identified a role for FGF in limb bud development in vivo. In the chick limb bud, ectopic expression of the 18 kDa form of FGF-2 or FGF-2 fused to an artificial signal peptide at its amino terminus causes skeletal duplications. These data, and the observations that FGF-2 is localized to the subjacent mesoderm and the apical ectodermal ridge in the early developing limb, suggest that FGF-2 plays an important role in limb outgrowth. We propose that FGF-2 is an apical ectodermal ridgederived factor that participates in limb outgrowth and patterning. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.