Plant transformation by particle bombardment of embryogenic pollen

Summary Direct delivery of DNA into embryogenic pollen was used to produce transgenic plants in tobacco. A plasmid bearing the ß-glucuronidase (GUS) marker gene in fusion with the 35S-promoter was introduced by microprojectile bombardment into mid-binucleate pollen of Nicotiana tabacum that had been induced to form embryos by a starvation treatment. In cytochemical expression assays, 5 out of 10⁴ pollen grains were GUS⁺. Visual selection by staining with a non-lethal substrate for GUS was used to manually isolate transformed embryos. From the initial population of embryogenic GUS⁺ pollen, 1–5% developed into multicellular structures and 0.02% formed regenerable embryos. Two haploid transformants were regenerated. GUS expression was detected in different parts of the plants, and Southern analysis confirmed stable integration of the foreign DNA. Diploidisation was induced by injection of colchicine into the stem near adventitious buds. Offspring from selfings and backcrosses of one transformant were tested for GUS expression and by Southern blots. All F1-plants were transgenic, in accordance with Mendelian inheritance.Abbreviations GUS ß-glucuronidase - CaMV Cauliflower Mosaic Virus - MCS multicellular structure - NPTII neomycin phosphotransferase - PEG polyethylene glycol - X-gluc 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl glucuronide - DAPI 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole - Tris Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane hydrochloride - EDTA ethylenedinitrilo tetraacetic acid, disodium salt dihydrate     

Salivary epidermal growth factor and intestinal adaptation in male and female mice

Salivary epidermal growth factor (sEGF) levels are increased in male mice after small bowel resection (SBR) and may be important during intestinal adaptation. Since males have greater sEGF than females, the influence of sex on postresection adaptation was tested. Females had lower sEGF; however, sEGF substantially increased in both sexes after a massive (50%) SBR. Adaptive increases in DNA and protein content, villus height, and crypt depth, as well as crypt cell proliferation rates in the remnant ileum, were not different between males and females. Although significant postresection increases in sEGF were identified, EGF mRNA and protein did not change within the submandibular gland. Glandular kallikrein-13 and ileal EGF receptor expression were greater after SBR in female mice. Intestinal adaptation is equivalent in female and male mice after SBR. Despite lower sEGF, females demonstrated increased expression of a kallikrein responsible for sEGF precursor cleavage as well as amplified ileal EGF receptor expression. These results endorse an important differential response between sexes regarding sEGF mobilization and intestinal receptor availability during adaptation.     

Gap junction remodeling and altered connexin43 expression in the failing human heart

Gap junctions (GJ) are important determinants of cardiac conduction and the evidence has recently emerged that altered distribution of these junctions and changes in the expression of their constituent connexins (Cx) may lead to abnormal coupling between cardiomyocytes and likely contribute to arrhythmogenesis. However, it is largely unknown whether changes in the expression and distribution of the major cardiac GJ protein, Cx43, is a general feature of diverse chronic myocardial diseases or is confined to some particular pathophysiological settings. In the present study, we therefore set out to investigate qualitatively and quantitatively the distribution and expression of Cx43 in normal human myocardium and in patients with dilated (DCM), ischemic (ICM), and inflammatory cardiomyopathies (MYO). Left ventricular tissue samples were obtained at the time of cardiac transplantation and investigated with immunoconfocal and electron microscopy. As compared with the control group, Cx43 labeling in myocytes bordering regions of healed myocardial infarction (ICM), small areas of replacement fibrosis (DCM) and myocardial inflammation (MYO) was found to be highly disrupted instead of being confined to the intercalated discs. In all groups, myocardium distant from these regions showed an apparently normal Cx43 distribution at the intercalated discs. Quantitative immunoconfocal analyis of Cx43 in the latter myocytes revealed that the Cx43 area per myocyte area or per myocyte volume is significantly decreased by respectively 30 and 55% in DCM, 23 and 48% in ICM, and by 21 and 40% in MYO as compared with normal human myocardium. In conclusion, focal disorganization of GJ distribution and down-regulation of Cx43 are typical features of myocardial remodeling that may play an important role in the development of an arrhythmogenic substrate in human cardiomyopathies.     

Zeitraum und Verlauf der Handschwingen-Mauser palaearktischer M?wen, Seeschwalben und Limicolen

Ohne ZusammenfassungVortrag, gehalten auf der 76. Jahresversammlung der DO-G in Tübingen am 30. Juli 1963.     

Temperaturregulation bei Flughunden der Gattung Rousettus Gray

Summary The ability to regulate body temperature was studied in the fruitbat Rousettus aegyptiacus. The daily range of body temperature (37,0–41,1°C) is much smaller than that of several Microchiroptera of the temperate zones. Considerable variations of ambient temperature within 24 hours (0–41°C) has no noticible influence on the body temperature of the fruitbat. During periods of low temperature the fruitbat becomes inactive but not torpid or lethargic. Only prolonged exposure to low temperature leads to hypothermia, especially in young animals. Sufficient nutrition delays entry into the hypothermic state. Deep hypothermia is reversible only by artificial rewarming. The fruitbats are unable to rewarm themselves neither spontanously nor after mechanical stimulation. In hypothermia temperature regulation breaks down. Body temperatures of 15°C are already lethal. The fruitbat can endure the hypothermic state only for a short time. The animals respond to low temperature with shivering and increased respiration like other homoiothermic animals. Hypothermia was induced artificially in the fruitbat; it is not a torpid or lethargic state as in the Microchiroptera of the temperate zones. Fruitbats of the genus Rousettus are homeothermic animals; they regulate their body temperatures against both heat and cold. From this study and other data we may conclude that thermoregulation in Megachiroptera differs considerably from many species of Microchiroptera, which become heterothermic when exposed to cold.

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Die Arbeit wurde gefördert durch Mittel der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, die mir durch Herrn Prof. Dr. Möhres zur Verfügung standen. Für viele Anregungen danke ich herzlich Herrn Prof. Möhres, für unersetzliche Hilfe in Afrika Dr. H. Hoogstraal vom U.S. NAMRU 3 in Kairo.     

Hemprich und Ehrenberg zum Gedenken

Ohne Zusammenfassung