Expression of 9E3 mRNA is associated with mitogenicity, phosphorylation, and morphological alteration in chicken embryo fibroblasts.

Transformation of chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) with viruses encoding src, ros, yes, and fps as well as ras, mos, middle T, erbA and erbB, myc, and crk stimulated 9E3 mRNA expression. Treatment of CEF with agents that modulate cell shape or attachment to the substratum caused an increase in 9E3 mRNA without an increase in tyrosine phosphorylation. 9E3 mRNA was also increased in CEF in response to several agents which modulate phosphorylation, including phorbol myristic acetate, vanadate, and okadaic acid, which suggests that the rapid induction of 9E3 mRNA expression in CEF by the src protein occurs downstream of morphological or phosphorylation events.     

Linking aboveground and belowground communities: the indirect influence of aphid species identity and diversity on a three trophic level soil food web

There has been a growing recent interest in how foliar herbivory may indirectly affect the belowground sub-system, but little is known about the belowground consequences of the identity, species composition or diversity of foliar herbivores. We performed an experiment, utilising model grassland communities containing three plant species, in which treatments consisted of addition of each of eight aphid species in single and in two- four- and eight-species combinations, as well as an aphid-free treatment. While aphid species treatments did not affect total plant biomass or productivity, aphid species identity had important effects on the relative abundance of the three plant species. This in turn affected the abundances of each of three groups of secondary consumers in the soil food web (bacterial- and fungal-feeding nematodes, and enchytraeids) but not primary consumers (microbes, herbivorous nematodes) or tertiary consumers (predatory nematodes). The fact that some trophic levels responded to treatments while others did not is consistent with trophic dynamic theory. Aphid species treatments also affected the community composition within each of the herbivorous, microbe-feeding and top predatory nematode groups, as well as diversity within the first two of these groups. However, aphid species diversity per se had few effects. There were specific instances in which specific aboveground and belowground response variables in two aphid species combinations differed significantly from those in both of the corresponding single aphid species treatments (apparently as a consequence of resource use complementarity between coexisting aphid species), but no instance in which increasing aphid diversity beyond two species had any effect. Our results provide evidence that the identity of aboveground consumers can have effects that propagate through multiple trophic levels in soil food webs in terms of consumer abundance, and composition and diversity within trophic levels.     

Damage and Reproductive Potentials of Pratylenchus brachyurus and P. penetrans on soybean

Damage and reproductive potentials of Pratylenchus brachyurus and P. penetrans on soybean, Glycine max, cvs. Essex, Forrest, and Lee 68, were determined in microplot tests. Cultivar Essex was generally tolerant to P. brachyurus. Yield of Forrest was suppressed linearly with increasing P_i''s in the sandy soil (r = -0.92) and loamy sand soil (r = -0.99). Low to moderate P_i''s in the sandy clay loam gave an increase in yields as compared to plants without nematodes. Yield was not affected by this nematode in muck. Lee 68 was very sensitive to P. penetrans in microplots. Yield vs. P_i was fitted by a quadratic model (r = 0.82) with yield decreasing sharply as P_i''s were increased. The reproduction of both species decreased with increases in P_i. Lee 68 was a good host for P. penetrans, whereas Essex and Forrest were fair to poor hosts for P. brachyurus.     

A REAPPRAISAL OF PORPHYRA AND BANGIA (BANGIOPHYCIDAE, RHODOPHYTA) IN THE NORTHEAST ATLANTIC BASED ON THE rbcL–rbcS INTERGENIC SPACER

Sequence data of the rbc L –rbc S noncoding intergenic spacer of the plastid genome for 47 specimens of Porphyra and Bangia from the northeast Atlantic reveal that they fall into 11 distinct sequences: P. purpurea, P. dioica (includes a sample of P. "ochotensis" from Helgoland), P. amplissima (includes P. thulaea and British records of P. "miniata" ), P. linearis, P. umbilicalis, P. "miniata", B. atropurpurea s.l. from Denmark and B. atropurpurea s.l. from Wales, P. drachii, P. leucosticta (includes a British record of P. "miniata var. abyssicola" ), and P. "insolita" (includes P. "yezoensis" from Helgoland). Of these, data obtained for P. purpurea , P. dioica, P. amplissima, P. linearis, P. umbilicalis, P. drachii, and P. leucosticta were based on type specimens or material compared with types. Comparison of sequence data for Porphyra spp. and Bangia atropurpurea s.l. (including B. fuscopurpurea, the type species of Bangia ) confirms that the species are congeneric. The data also confirm that the number of layers that make up the Porphyra thallus are not taxonomically significant. Comparison of sequence data for species from the northeast Atlantic with those for material of two species from the Pacific reveals that the species fall into two distinct groupings: an Atlantic group, containing P. purpurea, P. dioica, P. amplissima, P. linearis, P. umbilicalis, P. "miniata", and B. atropurpurea, and a Pacific group, containing P. "pseudolinearis", P. drachii, P. leucosticta, P. "yezoensis" (including a sample of P. "tenera" ), and P. "insolita" (including P. "yezoensis" from Helgoland). The possibility of alien species in the northeast Atlantic is discussed.     

The achondroplasia gene is not linked to the locus for neurofibromatosis 1 on chromosome 17

Summary We have investigated genetic linkage of von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis (NF1) and achondroplasia (ACH) using chromosome-17 markers that are known to be linked to NF1. Physical proximity of the two loci was suggested by the report of a patient with mental retardation and the de novo occurrence of both NF1 and ACH. Since the chance of de novo occurrence of these two disorders in one individual is 1 in 600 million, this suggested a chromosomal deletion as a single unifying molecular event and also that the ACH and NF1 loci might be physically close. To test this, we performed linkage analysis on a three-generation family with ACH. We used seven DNA probes that are tightly linked to the NF1 locus, including DNA sequences that are known to flank the NF1 locus on the centromeric and telomeric side. We detected two recombinants between the ACH trait and markers flanking the NF1 locus. In one recombinant, the flanking markers themselves were nonrecombinant. Multi-point linkage analysis excluded the ACH locus from a region surrounding the NF1 locus that spans more than 15cM (lod score < -2). Therefore, analysis of this ACH pedigree suggests that the ACH locus is not linked to the NF1 locus on chromosome 17.     

Competition over Personal Resources Favors Contribution to Shared Resources in Human Groups

Members of social groups face a trade-off between investing selfish effort for themselves and investing cooperative effort to produce a shared group resource. Many group resources are shared equitably: they may be intrinsically non-excludable public goods, such as vigilance against predators, or so large that there is little cost to sharing, such as cooperatively hunted big game. However, group members'' personal resources, such as food hunted individually, may be monopolizable. In such cases, an individual may benefit by investing effort in taking others'' personal resources, and in defending one''s own resources against others. We use a game theoretic “tug-of-war” model to predict that when such competition over personal resources is possible, players will contribute more towards a group resource, and also obtain higher payoffs from doing so. We test and find support for these predictions in two laboratory economic games with humans, comparing people''s investment decisions in games with and without the options to compete over personal resources or invest in a group resource. Our results help explain why people cooperatively contribute to group resources, suggest how a tragedy of the commons may be avoided, and highlight unifying features in the evolution of cooperation and competition in human and non-human societies.