Mating Types in Stentor coeruleus

SYNOPSIS. Conjugation in Stentor coeruleus was investigated, using a standardized culture technic which yielded large numbers of mating pairs within a single culture. Spontaneous bursts of selfing occurred during a definite interval in the development of a culture. Structurally distinct preconjugator cells appeared immediately before as well as during the initial stages of a burst of conjugation. Mating pairs were formed by the union of 2 preconjugators.
Mixing 8 stocks in all possible combinations of pairs and observing their subsequent response revealed they were separable into 2 complementary mating types. The majority of mating pairs formed in mixtures of stocks consisted of individuals of different mating types.
It is suggested that control of mating types in the ciliate order Heterotrichida may be of a somewhat different nature from that found in other ciliates.     

Acriflavin Inhibition of Morphogenesis in Naegleria gruberi*

SYNOPSIS. When amoeboid organisms of Naegleria gruberi are treated with acriflavin at concentrations under 70 μg/ml, they still can form flagellates. Acriflavin between 70 μg/ml and 110 μg/ml increasingly inhibits morphogenesis. The effect of acriflavin is specific for the morphogenetic system since amoeboid organisms treated with acriflavin between 110 and 200 μg/ml are not otherwise inhibited and behave like the controls.     

True Divergent Differentiation in a Cellular Slime Mold, Polysphondylium pallidum

Three abstract models of divergent cell differentiation to multiple cell types are presented. These differ primarily in the proportion of developmental events common to the pathways leading to each cell type. Two experimental approaches are outlined to determine which type best describes divergent differentiation occurring in a particular organism. The first technique is to describe and compare changes in labeling of specific polypeptides which characterize development to the several cell types. The second is to observe the ability of mutants which are blocked in one pathway to develop along alternate pathways. These approaches are applied to the case of Polysphondylium pallidum , where amebae develop into stalk cells, spores, or microcysts. It is concluded that cell differentiation in P. pallidum is of the truly divergent type, in which developing cells show identical sequences of events until a branch point, and thereafter very different sequences of events.     

Paléobiogéographie des faunes d'Ostracodes au Dévonien supérieur

About one hundred papers and studies have been utilized for a synthesis of ostracode palaeobiogeography during the Frasnian and Famennian. The pelagic entomozoid species have worldwide distributions: they are not used for distinguishing the palaeobiogeographic areas. Five provinces probably existed during the Frasnian and five during the Famennian. The palaeobiogeographic area of the Palaeotethys is constant during this time. There are important faunistic relations between the Western Canadian Platform and the Russian Platform, that is to say, along the Northern margin of the North-Atlantic Continent, during Late Devonian time. The province of Southeastern Asia remains isolated. The number and limits of the palaeobiogeographic areas have been controlled by climate and some geographical barriers.     

The linkage between riparian predators and aquatic insects across a stream-resource spectrum

1. Spatial subsidies, defined as the flow of energy, nutrients, organisms or pollutants from one habitat to another, have been shown to affect the food–web dynamics in a wide range of ecosystems. An important subsidy to riparian communities is the contribution of adult stream insects to terrestrial predators such as birds, bats and lizards, but also invertebrates including ground and web‐building spiders. 2. We surveyed 37 first‐ and second‐order forest streams across differing environmental gradients in the Central South Island, New Zealand, to investigate the relationship between potential aquatic prey subsidies and predatory riparian arachnids. We anticipated that stream‐insect biomass would be positively associated with riparian arachnids, as a result of emergent adult aquatic insect subsidies to the adjacent habitat. 3. We confirmed positive associations between stream‐insect biomass as a predictor variable and riparian arachnid biomass (R² = 0.42, F_1,34 = 25.2, P < 0.001) and web densities (R² = 0.45, F_1,14 = 11.5, P < 0.01) respectively as dependent variables after adjusting for the confounding effects of environmental variables. Hierarchical partitioning confirmed the importance of stream insect biomass as a statistically significant contributor to the total explained variance in analyses calculated for arachnid biomass, abundance and web density. 4. A concurrent survey of spider‐web density along 20‐m transects from the stream edge into the forest indicated a strong decline in web‐building spider density moving away from the stream (R² = 0.41, F_1,158 = 109, P < 0.001), with stream‐insect biomass as a significant covariate (F_1,149 = 17.7, P < 0.001). 5. Our results suggest that productivity gradients present in the donor system affect the magnitude of the interaction between adjacent habitats. Productivity gradients may lead to increased reciprocal subsidies through a positive feedback loop involving the predation of spiders and other predatory terrestrial invertebrates by aquatic predators. However, terrestrial insectivores such as birds, bats and lizards that are not readily used as prey by aquatic predators may circumvent the feedback cycle by consuming a large proportion of emergent aquatic‐insect biomass. This may lead to asymmetry in the strength of food–web linkages between aquatic and terrestrial habitats.     

Biochemical characterisation of Pythium spp. involved in cavity spot of carrots in France

The pathogenicity and growth rate in vivo were assessed on 27 isolates of Pythium spp. recovered from cavity spot lesions on carrots grown in various parts of northwest France. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of isoesterases was used to identify the Pythium spp. involved. Slow-growing isolates were more aggressive than fast-growing ones when inoculated on carrot tap roots. Isoesterase patterns identified the slow-growing isolates as P. violae and P. sulcatum; P. ultimum and P. intermedium were identified among the less aggressive fast-growing isolate group, in which some isolates were also classed as P. sylvaticum or P. irregulare, which have similar electrophoretic profiles. The incidence of Pythium spp. associated with the disease in France is discussed in regard to cavity spot in other countries.     

Cell Cycle Changes in the Shoot Apex of Silene coeli-rosa During the Second and Third Days of Floral Induction

The cell cycle in Silene coeli-rosa shoot apices was measuredto test whether or not early components of the floral stimulus,produced during the 2nd and 3rd long days (LD) of an inductiveLD treatment, resulted in an increase in the duration of G₂phase in constant 20–24 h cell cycles. Plants were grownat 20°C in short days (SD) of 8 h light and 16 h darknessfor 28 d (day 0). Starting on day 0, plants were given SD or3 LD each comprising an identical 8 h day and 16 h photo-extension,or 3 dark-interrupted (d.i.) non-inductive LD, interrupted at1700 h of each day with 1 h of darkness. The cell cycle (percentagelabelled mitoses method) and changes in cell number were determinedin the shoot apical meristem. During days 1–2 of the SDtreatment, the cell cycle and mean cell generation time (MCGT)was 18 and 32 h, respectively, giving a growth fraction of 56%.During days 2–3, the cell cycle and MCGT shortened to15 and 23 h, respectively (growth fraction = 65%). During days1–2 of the LD and d.i. LD treatments, cell cycles andMCGTs were 9–10 and 27–29 h, respectively, resultingin smaller growth fractions (about 33%). Thus, shortened cellcycles and altered growth fractions occurred regardless of whetheror not the treatment was inductive. The LD treatment resultedin a marked shortening of G₁ and, to a lesser extent, S-phase,whilst G₂ remained constant. These changes were consistent withincreases in the proportion of cells in G₂ during the photoextensionof each LD which were suppressed during the comparable periodsof the d.i. LD treatment. The latter treatment resulted in eachphase occupying virtually identical proportions of the cellcycle as in the SD treatment. Thus, the unique cell cycle responsesto the initial part of the inductive LD treatment were increasesin the proportion of cells in G₂ coupled with G₁ and G₂ beingof similar duration. Cell cycle, mean cell generation time, shoot apex, Silene coeli-rosa