Keimung verschieden alter Konidien von Aspergillus niger und Wachstum aus ihnen gezogener Mycelien.

Zusammenfassung 12–13 Jahre alte Konidien von 5 Aspergillus niger-Rassen keimten später als 12 Monate alte und junge, etwa 4 Tage alte, wobei die Versuchstemperatur grundsätzlich ohne Bedeutung war, falls sie Keimung gestattete.Verzögert war nach mikroskopischen Beobachtungen sowohl die der eigentlichen Keimung vorausgehende Quellung der Sporen, als auch die Keimung selbst.Die spätere Keimung der älteren Konidien beruhte zu einem geringen Teil auf stärkerer Austrocknung, die eine mechanische Wasseraufnahme erschwerte, in der Hauptsache jedoch war sie eine Folge des Alters, eine Alterserscheinung.Hatte Keimung stattgefundeu, so war kein Unterschied festzustellen in der Waschstumsstärke und der Konidienfruktifikation zwischen den Mycelien, die auf ungleichalterige Konidien zurückgingen; sie breiteten sich auf Nähragarplatten gleich schnell aus, bildeten auf Nährlösungen Decken von gleichem Gewicht und entwickelten Konidien von nor maler Form und Farbe.Die Untersuchungen wurden 1943/44 in der pharmakognostischen Abteilung der Botanischen Anstalten Breslau durchgeführt.     

Intraspezifische Gliederung polymorpher Arten vonPittosporam aus Madagaskar und Beschreibung einer neuen Art aus Rodriguez

Zusammenfassung Als zweite Vorarbeit für die Monographie derPittosporum-Arten von Madagaskar wurdenP. senacia Pütt.,P. verticillatum Boj. undP. ochrosiaefolium Boj. hinsichtlich ihrer Variabilität und Verbreitung genauer untersucht und wie folgt neu gegliedert:P. senacia ssp.senacia (Mauritius und Réunion), ssp.coursii (N.-Madagaskar), ssp.pervillei (N.-Madagaskar und Réunion), ssp.wrightii (Seychellen);P. verticillatum ssp.verticillatum (O.- und C.-Madagaskar) mit der Varietäten *intermedium, *microphyllum und *tsaratananae, sowie die nicht weiter gegliederte ssp.pangalanense (O.-Madagaskar);P. ochrosiaefolium (O.- und C.-Madagaskar) mit den Varietätenochrosiaefoliwm, madagascariense undamygdaloides. Außer den mit Sternchen bezeichneten Untersippen wurdeP. balfourii aus der Insel Rodriguez neu beschrieben. Den Abschluß bildet eine Übersicht aller madagassischenPittosporum-Sippen und ein Literaturnachtrag.     

Untersuchungen zur Ermittlung der gesundheitsschädlichen Grenze des Alkaloidgehaltes von Süßlupinen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The influence of cholesterol on head group mobility in phospholipid membranes

The dielectric dispersion in the MHz range of the zwitterionic dipolar phosphocholine head groups has been measured from 0–70°C for various mixtures of $\text{1,2-}\text{dipalmitoyl}\text{-sn-}\text{glycero-3-phosphocholine}$ (DPPC) and cholesterol. The abrupt change in the derived relaxation frequency $\text{f}{}_2$ observed for pure DPPC at the gel-to-liquid crystalline phase transition at 42°C reduces to a more gradual increase of frequency with temperature as the cholesterol content is increased. In general the presence of cholesterol increases the DPPC head group mobility due to its spacing effect. Below 42°C no sudden changes in $\text{f}{}_2$ are found at 20 or 33 mol% cholesterol, where phase boundaries have been suggested from other methods. Above 42°C, however, a decrease in $\text{f}{}_2$ at cholesterol contents up to 20–30 mol% is found. This is thought to be partly due to an additional restricting effect of the cholesterol on the number of hydrocarbon chain conformations and consequently on the area occupied by the DPPC molecules.     

Carrageenan is a potent inhibitor of papillomavirus infection

Certain sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) types are causally associated with the development of cervical cancer. Our recent development of high-titer HPV pseudoviruses has made it possible to perform high-throughput in vitro screens to identify HPV infection inhibitors. Comparison of a variety of compounds revealed that carrageenan, a type of sulfated polysaccharide extracted from red algae, is an extremely potent infection inhibitor for a broad range of sexually transmitted HPVs. Although carrageenan can inhibit herpes simplex viruses and some strains of HIV in vitro, genital HPVs are about a thousand-fold more susceptible, with 50% inhibitory doses in the low ng/ml range. Carrageenan acts primarily by preventing the binding of HPV virions to cells. This finding is consistent with the fact that carrageenan resembles heparan sulfate, an HPV cell-attachment factor. However, carrageenan is three orders of magnitude more potent than heparin, a form of cell-free heparan sulfate that has been regarded as a highly effective model HPV inhibitor. Carrageenan can also block HPV infection through a second, postattachment heparan sulfate-independent effect. Carrageenan is in widespread commercial use as a thickener in a variety of cosmetic and food products, ranging from sexual lubricants to infant feeding formulas. Some of these products block HPV infectivity in vitro, even when diluted a million-fold. Clinical trials are needed to determine whether carrageenan-based products are effective as topical microbicides against genital HPVs.     

Laser light scattering measurement of dextran-induced Streptococcus mutans aggregation.

Intensity fluctuation spectroscopy was used to study dextran-induced aggregation of Streptococcus mutans bacteria. Smoluchowski's theory of colloidal flocculation provided a consistent model of the agglutination process. Our experiments indicated that aggregation was inhibited by the negatively charged surfaces of the cells, while dextran polymers effectively bound organisms together. Our experimental data were consistent with the quantitative predictions of a polymer bridge model of agglutination.     

The Hemagglutinin of Bat-Associated Influenza Viruses Is Activated by TMPRSS2 for pH-Dependent Entry into Bat but Not Human Cells

New World bats have recently been discovered to harbor influenza A virus (FLUAV)-related viruses, termed bat-associated influenza A-like viruses (batFLUAV). The internal proteins of batFLUAV are functional in mammalian cells. In contrast, no biological functionality could be demonstrated for the surface proteins, hemagglutinin (HA)-like (HAL) and neuraminidase (NA)-like (NAL), and these proteins need to be replaced by their human counterparts to allow spread of batFLUAV in human cells. Here, we employed rhabdoviral vectors to study the role of HAL and NAL in viral entry. Vectors pseudotyped with batFLUAV-HAL and -NAL were able to enter bat cells but not cells from other mammalian species. Host cell entry was mediated by HAL and was dependent on prior proteolytic activation of HAL and endosomal low pH. In contrast, sialic acids were dispensable for HAL-driven entry. Finally, the type II transmembrane serine protease TMPRSS2 was able to activate HAL for cell entry indicating that batFLUAV can utilize human proteases for HAL activation. Collectively, these results identify viral and cellular factors governing host cell entry driven by batFLUAV surface proteins. They suggest that the absence of a functional receptor precludes entry of batFLUAV into human cells while other prerequisites for entry, HAL activation and protonation, are met in target cells of human origin.