AN AUTORADIOGRAPHIC AND HISTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF SULFATED POLYSACCHARIDES IN EUCHEUMA NUDUM (RHODOPHYTA)1

The predominant sulfated polysaccharide, ?-carrageenan, was localized in the middle lamella of epidermal, cortical and medullary cells of Eucheumanudum J. Agardh. Autoradiographic studies with ³⁵SO₄= indicated that the label was first incorporated in the inner wall and ultimately deposited in the middle lamella of all cells, and in an outer wall layer of the epidermal cells. There was no evidence for cytoplasmic incorporation of the label. The middle lamella stained with alcian blue, was γ-metachromatic with toluidina blue O and bound diaminobenzidine-osmium tetroxide. This region was also positive with periodic acid-Schiff's (PAS) ragent, possibly demonstrating cellulose and/or a nonsulfated precursor of ?-carrageenan. A proposed model for extracellular sulfation includes production and secretion of a nonsulfated polygalactan and sulfotransferase enzyme(s) by the golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum, respectively. Free sulfate in the wall would be bound to the precursor polysaccharide, with much of the resulting carrageenan migrating to the middle lamella facilitating mutual cell growth.     

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF CAULERPA (CHLOROPHYTA) BASED ON COMPARATIVE CHLOROPLAST ULTRASTRUCTURE1,2

The ultrastructure of chloroplasts from 28 of the 73 species of Caulerpa Lamouroux (Chlorophyta, Caulerpales) has been studied to aid in interpreting phylogenetic relationships among the 12 recognized sections. Variations of systematic value include pyrenoid occurrence and fine structure, thylakoid architecture and amount of photosynthate storage. Comparisons of field and culture specimens indicate these characters are consistent. Chloroplast thylakoids are grouped into bands, with the distribution of bands differing among species. In the most common arrangement, bands are evenly distributed throughout the chloroplast. A few species show lateral displacement of bands whereas others have a majority of bands arranged at one end of the chloroplast. Starch is stored cither as one or two large grains (> 1 μm diam.) or numerous small grains (< 0.5 μm diam.). Electron-transparent regions are common in other species in which chloroplasts rarely store starch. Simple, embedded pyrenoids are present in several species of section Sedoideae. An opaque region occurs in chloroplasts of C. elongata which may represent an intermediate stage in the evolutionary loss of the pyrenoid. It is suggested that the chloroplast of Caulerpa evolved, from a large, complex, pyrenoid-containing organelle housing both photosynthetic and amylogenic functions, to a small, structurally simpler one, specialized for photosynthesis alone. A phylogeny of the 12 sections of Caulerpa is constructed, based on chloroplast evolution which agrees with an earlier morphology-based hypothesis on the origin and evolution of Caulerpa.     

Thermal ecology and baseline energetic requirements of a large‐bodied ectotherm suggest resilience to climate change

1. Most studies on how rising temperatures will impact terrestrial ectotherms have focused on single populations or multiple sympatric species. Addressing the thermal and energetic implications of climatic variation on multiple allopatric populations of a species will help us better understand how a species may be impacted by altered climates.
2. We used eight years of thermal and behavioral data collected from four populations of Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus) living in climatically distinct habitat types (inland and coastal) to determine the field‐active and laboratory‐preferred body temperatures, thermoregulatory metrics, and maintenance energetic requirements of snakes from each population.
3. Physical models showed that thermal quality was best at coastal sites, but inland snakes thermoregulated more accurately despite being in more thermally constrained environments. Projected increases of 1 and 2°C in ambient temperature result in an increase in overall thermal quality at both coastal and inland sites.
4. Population differences in modeled standard metabolic rate estimates were driven by body size and not field‐active body temperature, with inland snakes requiring 1.6× more food annually than coastal snakes.
5. All snakes thermoregulated with high accuracy, suggesting that small increases in ambient temperature are unlikely to impact the maintenance energetic requirements of individual snakes and that some species of large‐bodied reptiles may be robust to modest thermal perturbations under conservative climate change predictions.

​     

The effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control,pollination services and crop yield: a quantitative synthesis

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control (18 studies) and pollination services (17 studies) in adjacent crops in North America, Europe and New Zealand. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimise floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.     

Melanocortin‐1 receptor (MC1R) genotypes do not correlate with size in two cohorts of medium‐to‐giant congenital melanocytic nevi

Congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN) are cutaneous malformations whose prevalence is inversely correlated with projected adult size. CMN are caused by somatic mutations, but epidemiological studies suggest that germline genetic factors may influence CMN development. In CMN patients from the U.K., genetic variants in MC1R, such as p.V92M and loss‐of‐function variants, have been previously associated with larger CMN. We analyzed the association of MC1R variants with CMN characteristics in two distinct cohorts of medium‐to‐giant CMN patients from Spain (N = 113) and from France, Norway, Canada, and the United States (N = 53), similar at the clinical and phenotypical level except for the number of nevi per patient. We found that the p.V92M or loss‐of‐function MC1R variants either alone or in combination did not correlate with CMN size, in contrast to the U.K. CMN patients. An additional case–control analysis with 259 unaffected Spanish individuals showed a higher frequency of MC1R compound heterozygous or homozygous variant genotypes in Spanish CMN patients compared to the control population (15.9% vs. 9.3%; p = .075). Altogether, this study suggests that MC1R variants are not associated with CMN size in these non‐UK cohorts. Additional studies are required to define the potential role of MC1R as a risk factor in CMN development.