How Sphagnum bogs down other plants

Recent research on the organo-chemical composition of Sphagnum and on the fate of its litter has further clarified how this plant builds acidic, nutrient-poor, cold and anoxic peat bogs. The bog environment helps Sphagnum to outcompete other plants for light. Its morphology, anatomy, physiology and composition make it an effective ecosystem engineer and at the same time benefit the plant in the short term. This may have facilitated the evolution of the genus.     

The UDP-Galactose:Ceramide Galactosyltransferase: Expression Pattern in Oligodendrocytes and Schwann Cells During Myelination and Substrate Preference for Hydroxyceramide

Abstract: Galactosylceramide ("galactocerebroside"; GalC) is a major glycolipid in the myelin sheath of the CNS and the PNS. The enzyme UDP-galactose:ceramide galactosyltransferase (CGalT) catalyzes the final step of the synthesis of GalC: the transfer of galactose to ceramide. By a differential screening approach, we have isolated a cDNA, the sequence of which is identical to the recently isolated cDNA clones for CGalT. By northern analysis and in situ hybridization we demonstrated that CGalT mRNA is expressed at birth in oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells, an expression pattern corresponding to the onset of myelination. In addition to the high expression levels of CGalT in oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells, in situ hybridization also showed expression in subtypes of neurons in spinal cord, cerebellum, and brainstem in the adult CNS, but at a much lower level than in oligodendrocytes. Expression of CGalT in COS cells demonstrated that CGalT has a preference for hydroxyceramide as a substrate. CGalT-expressing COS cells synthesize and transport GalC to their cell surface as shown by immunofluorescence and by lipid analysis of living cells. Our results suggested that the CGalT specifically uses hydroxyceramide for the synthesis of GalC and that separate (co)enzymes are not needed.     

Detachment of biomass from suspended nongrowing spherical biofilms in airlift reactors

In three-phase internal loop airlift reactors, the detachment of biomass from suspended biofilm pellets in the presence of bare carrier particles was investigated under nongrowth conditions. The detachment rate was dominated by collisions between bare carrier particles and biofilm pellets. The concentration of bare carrier particles and the carrier roughness strongly influenced the detachment rate. A change in flow regime from bubbling to slug flow considerably increased the detachment rate. Otherwise, the superficial gas velocity did not directly affect the detachment rate. The influence of particle size was not clear. The bottom clearance did not affect the detachment rate within the tested range. Other aspects of reactor geometry might be important. The main detachment processes were abrasion and breakage of biofilm pellets. During the detachment process, two phases could be distinguished. In the first phase the detachment was relatively high, and both breakage and abrasion of biofilm pellets occurred. During the second phase, breakage dominated and the detachment rate was lower. The two-phase behavior is explained by differences in strength between the inner and outer biofilm layers, possibly caused by variations in local growth rates during biofilm formation. Differences in growth history might also explain the various detachment rates observed with different biofilm batches. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Two new species of Lauraceae from central French Guiana

Aiouea opaca andBeilschmiedia hexanthera, recently collected in central French Guiana, are described and illustrated.     

Interaction of force transmission and sarcomere assembly at the muscle-tendon junctions of carp (Cyprinus carpio): ultrastructure and distribution of titin (connectin) and α-actinin

At muscle-tendon junctions of red and of white axial muscle fibres of carp, new sarcomeres are found adjacent to existing sarcomeres along the bundles of actin filaments that connect the myofibrils with the junctional sarcolemma. As the filament bundles that transmit force to the junction originate proximal to new sarcomeres, they probably relieve these new sarcomeres from premature loading. In red fibres, these filament bundles are long (up to 20 m) and dense, permitting light-microscopical immunohistochemistry (double reactions: anti-titin or anti--actinin and phalloidin). New sarcomeres have clear I bands; their A band lengths are similar to those of older sarcomeres and the thick filaments lie in register. T tubules are found at the distal side of new sarcomeres but terminal Z lines are absent. The late addition of -actinin suggests that -actinin mainly has a stabilizing role in sarcomere formation. The presence of titin in the terminal fibre protrusions is in agreement with its supposed role in sarcomere formation, viz. the integration of thin and thick filaments. The absence of a terminal Z line from sarcomeres with well-registered A bands suggests that this structure is not essential for the anchorage of connective (titin) filaments.     

Removal of enteric viruses from surface water at eight waterworks in The Netherlands.

Eight waterworks in The Netherlands, which use surface water as their raw water source, were sampled repeatedly between November 1978 and June 1981. At five waterworks , 30 of 45 samples of raw water contained viruses. Of 55 samples of partially purified water, 11 were virus positive, including 8 after coagulation, sedimentation, and rapid sand filtration, 2 after storage, coagulation, sedimentation, transport chlorination, and rapid sand filtration, and 1 after storage in open reservoirs for 5 months. No viruses were detected in 100 samples of drinking water of 500 liters each from six waterworks . Most isolated viruses were typed, and a great variety of human enteroviruses were found, reflecting both pollution of raw water sources with sewage and vaccination with oral polio vaccine in neighboring countries.     

The structure of sialyl-glycopeptides of the O-glycosidic type, isolated from sialidosis (mucolipidosis I) urine

Plants performing crassulacean acid metabolism show a large nocturnal accumulation of malic acid in the vacuole of the photosynthetic cells. It has been postulated that an H+-translocating ATPase energizes the transport of malic acid across the tonoplast into the vacuole. In the present work we have characterized the ATPase activity associated with vacuoles of the crassulacean-acid-metabolism plant Kalancho? daigremontiana and compare it with other phosphohydrolases. Vacuoles were isolated by polybase-induced lysis of mesophyll-cell protoplasts. The vacuoles had a high activity of unspecific acid phosphatase (pH optimum 5.3). The acid phosphatase was strongly inhibited by ammonium molybdate (with 50% inhibition at about 0.5 mmol m-3), but was not completely inhibited even at much higher ammonium-molybdate concentrations. In contrast, the vacuolar ATPase activity, assayed in the presence of 100 mmol m-3 ammonium molybdate, had a pH optimum of 8.0. ATP was the preferred substrate, but GTP, ITP and ADP were hydrolyzed at appreciable rates. The mean ATPase activity at pH 8.0 was 14.5 nmol h-1 (10(3) vacuoles)-1, an average 13% of which was attributable to residual acid-phosphatase activity. Inorganic-pyrophosphatase activity could not be demonstrated unambiguously. The vacuolar ATPase activity was Mg2+-dependent, had an apparent Km for MgATP2- of 0.31 mol m-3, and was 32% stimulated by 50 mol m-3 KCl. Of the inhibitors tested, oligomycin slightly inhibited the vacuolar ATPase activity and diethylstilbestrol and NO-3 were both markedly inhibitory. Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and tributyltin were also strongly inhibitory. Tributyltin caused a 50% inhibition at about 0.3 mmol m-3. This is taken as evidence that the vacuolar ATPase might function as an H+-translocating ATPase. It is shown that the measured activity of the vacuolar ATPase would be of the right order to account for the observed rates of nocturnal malic-acid accumulation in K. daigremontiana.