Growth and Invasiveness of Candida albicans in the Germ-Free and Conventional Mouse After Oral Challenge

Candida albicans was established in large numbers throughout the gut after one oral challenge in the germ-free and in the conventional mouse. Of the strains tested, only the germ-free ND 1 mouse appeared to be susceptible to infection, and this was confined to the stomach mucosa; lesions contained large numbers of hyphal and mycelial forms with blastospores. These forms were also seen in the gut of resistant germ-free ND 4 mice after challenge. Only budding yeast forms were seen in the gut contents from conventional animals. The concentration of sulfhydryl-containing compounds was decreased in the stomach contents from germ-free mice. The stomach tissue of conventional animals seemed to be more acidic than that of germ-free animals, and association of C. albicans with conventional mice neutralized some of this acidity. E(h) values of contents from the gut of unchallenged mice were usually higher in conventional than in germ-free animals; after challenge, the E(h) in both groups decreased. Some reciprocal effects of intestinal microorganisms and host are discussed in relation to intestinal candidiasis.     

Distribution and breeding biology of offshore cichlids in Lake Malawi/ Niassa

Synopsis Lake Malawi/Niassa is the second largest rift valley lake in Africa, with an area of 28 800 km², and an average and maximum depth of 292 m and>700 m, respectively. The lake is well known for the great diversity of fish occurring in the inshore zone. However, the offshore fish community is poorly documented. To rectify this, regular sampling was undertaken over two years, using trawl and gillnets at six offshore locations. This paper reports on the species composition, spatial distribution and breeding biology of the dominant cichlids species from the offshore pelagic zone. Cichlids formed approximately 88% of the offshore fish biomass. Most abundant were two species of zooplanktivores in the genus Diplotaxodon that made up 71% of the offshore fish biomass. An undescribed species, given the cheironym D. bigeye, was mainly found at a depth of 220 m during the day, but moved into near surface waters at night when the moon was full. This species was absent from the shallow regions of the lake. The most abundant offshore species was D. limnothrissa, which was distributed evenly throughout the lake to depths of 220 m. A less common offshore zooplanktivore was Copadichromis quadrimaculatus that formed 5% of the biomass and was confined to the upper 100 m of the water column. The main piscivores were in the genus Rhamphochromis and formed approximately 10% of the offshore fish biomass. The two dominant taxa were R. longiceps and the large Rhamphochromis group, and both were more common in the southern half of the lake. The former occurred mainly in the upper 100 m of the water column and the latter mainly at depths of 100–150 m. The length at maturity and fecundity for the dominant offshore species were estimated and seasonal breeding cycles determined from gonad activity and gonado-somatic indices.     

PATTERNS OF PLANT ONTOGENY THAT MAY INFLUENCE GENOMIC STASIS

It is an axiom in biology that genes control the ontogeny and ultimately the final form of an organism. In plants a given morphological form can often arise through more than one ontogenetic pattern of cell divisions. Different ontogenetic patterns have different properties with regard to the final age in cell divisions of the initials in the meristems for a given morphological form. If mutation per genome per cell division is an important biological metric, then since the age of a cell in cell divisions is a function of ontogeny, the cellular ontogeny will influence the degree of mutation-loading in meristematic initials. Thus, ontogeny and form may affect the genes (by promoting or lessening genomic stasis) as well as, of course, being determined by the genes. This paper explores mathematically the relationship between different patterns of cell division and mutation-loading.     

EMBRYOLOGY OF CALYPSO BULBOSA. I. OVULE DEVELOPMENT

Calypso bulbosa is a terrestrial orchid that grows in north temperate regions. Like many orchids, the Calypso has ovules that are not fully developed at anthesis. After pollination, the ovule primordia divide several times to produce a nucellar filament which consists of five to six cells. The subterminal cell of the nucellar filament enlarges to become the archesporial cell. Through further enlargement and elongation, the archesporial cell becomes the megasporocyte. An unequal dyad results from the first meiotic division. A triad of one active chalazal megaspore and two inactive micropylar megaspores are the end products of meiotic division. Callose is present in the cell wall of the megaspore destined to degenerate. In the mature embryo sac the number of nuclei is reduced to six when the chalazal nuclei fail to divide after the first mitotic division. The chalazal nuclei join the polar nucleus and the male nucleus near the center of the embryo sac subsequent to fertilization.     

Primate terminal complement inhibitor homologues of human CD59

The nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank nucleotide sequence database and have been assigned the accession numbers L22862 (African green monkey CD59) and L22863 (baboon CD59)     

Growth and bioluminescence of Noctiluca scintillans on varying algal diets

The effects of food concentration and food quality on the growthrate and bioluminescence potential of the heterotrophic dinoflagellateNoctiluca scintillans were examined. The growth rate of N. scinullansvaried greatly with the phytoplankton food it was provided,and those foods yielding higher growth rates also produced cellsthat were smaller in diameter, but with a greater bioluminescencepotential per unit volume. Small phytoplankton species, includingIsochrysis galbana and an unidentified chrysophyte responsiblefor the Texas brown tide, supported the lowest growth rates.Other small flagellates (Dunaliella tertiolecta) and dinoflagellates(Gyrodinium dorsum, Prorocentrum minimum) supported moderategrowth rates. The highest growth rates were supported by diatomsand prasinophytes. Maximum growth rates (0.5 day^-1) were obtainedwith the diatom Thalassiosira sp. at concentrations     

Estimation of the Number of Sex Alleles and Queen Matings from Diploid Male Frequencies in a Population of APIS MELLIFERA

The distribution of diploid males in a population of Apis mellifera was obtained by direct examination of the sexual phenotypes of the larvae. Using these data, estimates are derived for the number of sex alleles and the number of matings undergone by the queen. The number of sex alleles is estimated to be 18.9. The estimate is larger than previous ones, which have ranged between 10 and 12. However, the increase in the number of sex alleles can be explained by the large effective population number for our data. The best estimator of the number of matings by a queen is a maximum likelihood type that assumes a prior distribution on the number of matings. For the data presented here, this estimate is 17.3. This estimate is compared to others in the literature obtained by different approaches.