Rapid Techniques for the Examination of Bacterial Citrate Synthases

A method has been devised for evaluating easily and rapidly the effect of inhibitors on the activity of citrate synthase in situ in bacteria grown on agar plates. Additionally, considerable reduction in the size of the gel filtration column employed to estimate the molecular weight of citrate synthase enables such a determination to be made in a much shorter time. These two techniques make it much easier to exploit the properties of different bacterial citrate synthases as an additional taxonomic tool in bacteriological laboratories.     

The Stimulation of Spore Germination in Agaricus bisporus by Living Mycelium

The stimulation of the germination of Agaricus bisporus sporesby mycelium of the same species has been shown to be due toa volatile metabolite, diffusing into the culture medium andinto the atmosphere. A wide range of other fungi has been foundto affect A. bisporus spores in a similar manner. There wasno evidence . that the stimulant was carbon dioxide. A seven-carbonolefin, isolated from air, which had been passed through culturesof A. bisporus mycelium and dried with phosphorus pentoxide,showed germination-stimulating activity but may have been producedby the action of this drying agent on some other metabolitefrom the mycelium. Volatile materials reported by other workersfrom A. bisporus mycelium and from Saccharomyces cereviseaewere tested and, of these, iso-valeric acid and iso-amyl alcoholwere found to stimulate spore germination of A. bisporus     

Infection of Hydra by Microsporidia

A microsporidian infection in a laboratory clone of Hydra littoralis has been observed, and the parasite has been tentatively identified as a species of Plistophora . Infected hydra continue to bud and regenerate normally and show no significant physiological or morphological changes. Sexual crossing of infected and non-infected animals shows that the infection is transmitted by the ovum but not by the sperm. Continuous exposure of infected hydra to Fumidil B in solution resulted in the disappearance of all Plistophora spores after a five week period of treatment, and the clones of the treated animals have remained parasite-free for more than a year.     

Transfer of resistance to clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) to swedes {Brassica napus L. var. napobrassica Peterm) from B. rapa

In 1975, tests with UK populations of Plasmodiophora brassicae not only revealed a lack of effective clubroot resistance in swedes (Brassica napus), but also the outstanding resistance of the European Clubroot Differential (ECD)04 (B. rapa). It was, therefore, decided to transfer the resistance genes from ECD04 to swedes, using the most pathogenic UK population of clubroot (C56) available for screening purposes. An autotetraploid form of ECD04 was crossed with tetraploid kale (B. oleracea) using the latter as female parent. One of the euploid, 2n = 38, hybrids secured by embryo rescue in 1976 was crossed to the swede cultivars Marian and Ruta Øtofte. Three further backcrosses of clubroot resistant plants to lines derived from modern swede cultivars were made over the period 1980 to 1982. Selfing commenced in 1983 to produce F₂ populations. From F₃ to F₅ there was family selection for yield and agronomic characters, as well as single plant selection for clubroot resistance. In 1991, the six most promising F₅ families were multiplied for subsequent evaluation in replicated yield trials in Dundee. The most promising family entered official trials at the beginning of 1993 and, 2 years later, was added to the National List as cv. Invitation and granted Plant Breeders' Rights. The first certified seed was sold in 1996, 20 years after the original synthetic B. napus was produced. The breeding programme provided evidence for only one of the three postulated dominant genes in ECD04 being required for resistance to C56 and also good evidence of differential resistance from tests with other clubroot populations. Hence, whilst the differential resistance in cv. Invitation should prove useful in the UK in the immediate future, it may not be durable in the longer term. It is, therefore, argued that the next and more difficult goal to achieve should be to introduce high levels of non-differential resistance from B. oleracea.     

Systematics and Biogeography of Burrowing Bryozoans

Current investigations of the three principal families of ectoproctbryozoan burrowers has shown that while two of the families,the Terebriporidae and the Immergentiidae, belong to the minorOrder Ctenostomata, the third family, Penetrantiidae, previouslyconsidered a ctenostome, actually belongs to the major OrderCheilostomata. The implications of this are important; we haveconsidered the burrowing bryozoans to be a small obscure group,specialized for the burrowing mode of existence. We must nowconsider the possibility that there may be many more speciesof burrowing bryozoans as yet undiscovered, that they occurin at least two of the three bryozoan orders, and that burrowingconstitutes an important ecological niche or mode of adaptationfor the bryozoans. While such a change may seem to be merelya taxonomic maneuver, itmay also serve to emphasize the diversityof the ectoproct bryozoan groups which do burrow, and perhapsencourage research on them. At present we are making progressdescribing the living species, their anatomy and histology.We still know almost nothing about how they penetrate the substrate,nothing about possible effects upon the host organism, and nothingabout their means of geographical distribution, although theyseem to occur worldwide, burrowing primarily in molluscan shells.     

Lipids in the Classification and Identification of Coryneform Bacteria Containing Peptidoglycans Based on 2, 4-diaminobutyric Acid

Strains of 2, 4-diaminobutyric acid-containing coryneform bacteria were degraded by acid methanolysis and the non-hydroxylated fatty acid esters released examined by thin-layer and gas chromatography. The major fatty acid structural types were straight-chain, anteiso - and iso -methyl branched-chain acids. Polar lipids of the test strains were examined by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography. All strains possessed very characteristic polar lipid patterns consisting of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and a number of uncharacterized glycolipids. Menaquinones (vitamin K) were the sole isoprenoid quinones detected in the test strains. Corynebacterium insidiosum, Cor. michiganense, Cor. nebraskense and Cor. sepedonicum contained unsaturated menaquinones with nine isoprene units, whereas unsaturated menaquinones with 10 isoprene units predominated in strains of Cor. iranicum and Cor. tritici and a strain labelled Arthrobacter sp. The single strain of Cor. aquaticum examined contained comparable amounts of menaquinones with 10 and 11 isoprene units whereas strains of Cor. mediolanum and Flavobacterium dehydrogenans contained major amounts of menaquinones with 11 and 12 isoprene units. The results of the present study indicate that lipid markers may be of considerable value in the classification and identification of 2, 4-diaminobutyric acid-containing phytopathogenic and saprophytic coryneform bacteria.     

Dynamics of nitrous oxide in groundwater at the aquatic–terrestrial interface

Few data are available to validate the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) emission factors for indirect emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O). In particular the N₂O emissions resulting from nitrogen leaching and the associated groundwater and surface drainage (EF5-g) are particularly poorly characterized. In situ push–pull methods have been used to identify the fate of NO₃⁻ in the groundwater. In this study, we adapted a previously published in situ denitrification push–pull method to examine the fate of ¹⁵N₂O introduced into the subsoil–groundwater matrix. Enriched ¹⁵N₂O was manufactured, added to groundwater via a closed system in the laboratory, and then introduced into the groundwater–subsoil matrix in an upland-marsh transition zone of a salt marsh and a forested alluvial riparian zone. Conservative tracers (SF₆ and Br⁻) and ¹⁵N₂O were injected into the groundwater and left for 1–4 h after which the groundwater was sampled. Added ¹⁵N₂O behaved in a conservative manner at one site while the other site showed variability with some injections showing significant consumption (3–8 μg N₂O-¹⁵N kg⁻¹ soil day⁻¹) of ¹⁵N₂O. Our results show that the fate and dynamics of N₂O in groundwater are complex and variable and that these dynamics should be considered in the development of improved IPCC inventory calculations.     

Gymnodinium chukwanii n. sp. and Other Marine Dinoflagellates Collected in the Vicinity of Zanzibar

Thirty-five species of marine dinoflagellates are described and figured, including one new species, Gymnodinium chukwanii . These were collected by the author during the period February - March 1956. G. chukwanii has affinities to G. splendens and G. nelsoni and their group. The remainder of the paper is concerned with described species.