Effects of social conditions on Juvenile Hormone mediated reproductive development in Bombus terrestris workers

Abstract. During the annual life cycle of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris (L.) colony, there is a stage characterized by worker reproduction in the presence of the queen. It has been proposed that this is a result of a decrease in queen inhibition. This hypothesis was examined by studying the effects of queens taken from colonies at different stages of development on several aspects of worker physiology and behaviour: rates of Juvenile Hormone (JH) release in vitro , ovary development, and behaviour associated with reproduction. After optimizing and validating the radiochemical assay for JH release for bumble bee workers, we found that queenless workers had significantly more developed ovaries and higher rates of release of JH than did queenright workers, confirming and extending previous findings that suggest that bumblebee ovarian development is under JH control. Mated queens, separated from their colony and brood, can have the same inhibitory effect on the reproductive development of callow workers. In contrast, workers confined with virgin queens or in queenless groups demonstrated a significantly higher rate of release of JH, overt aggression and threatening behaviours. However, there were no differences in rates of release of JH between workers confined in groups in the laboratory with queens taken from colonies either before or after the onset of worker reproduction. Furthermore, overt aggression and threatening behaviours were similar and low in both types of groups. These results gave no support to the hypothesis that a decrease in queen inhibition is associated with the onset of worker reproduction. We also show that young workers reared in colonies either before or after worker reproduction occurs, or in queenless colonies, all demonstrated similar, low rates of release of JH. These results suggest that older workers may inhibit the corpora allata of younger workers in queenless colonies.     

电刺激大鼠外侧缰核对延髓甩尾相关细胞的活动和甩尾反射的影响

在浅麻醉大鼠上,在延髓腹内侧结构内观察到三种具有不同放电类型的细胞,即乃尾前放电骤停的撤反应细胞,甩尾前放电骤增的给反应细胞和甩尾无关的中性细胞。电刺激外侧缰核可抑制撤反应细胞的自发放电,加强给反应细胞自发放电,从而易化两类细胞的甩尾相关反应,同时易化伤害刺激引起的甩尾反射。实验结果说明,外侧缰核对节段性防御反射有易化作用,这种易化作用可能是通过延髓内撤反应和反应细胞的协同活动而实现的。     

Identification of overlapping DNA-binding and centromere-targeting domains in the human kinetochore protein CENP-C.

The kinetochore in eukaryotes serves as the chromosomal site of attachment for microtubules of the mitotic spindle and directs the movements necessary for proper chromosome segregation. In mammalian cells, the kinetochore is a highly differentiated trilaminar structure situated at the surface of the centromeric heterochromatin. CENP-C is a basic, DNA-binding protein that localizes to the inner kinetochore plate, the region that abuts the heterochromatin. Microinjection experiments using antibodies specific for CENP-C have demonstrated that this protein is required for the assembly and/or stability of the kinetochore as well as for a timely transition through mitosis. From these observations, it has been suggested that CENP-C is a structural protein that is involved in the organization or the kinetochore. In this report, we wished to identify and map the functional domains of CENP-C. Analysis of CENP-C truncation mutants expressed in vivo demonstrated that CENP-C possesses an autonomous centromere-targeting domain situated at the central region of the CENP-C polypeptide. Similarly, in vitro assays revealed that a region of CENP-C with the ability to bind DNA is also located at the center of the CENP-C molecule, where it overlaps the centromere-targeting domain.     

Molecular diffusion into horse spleen ferritin: a nitroxide radical spin probe study.

Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography were employed to study the molecular diffusion of a number of small nitroxide spin probes (approximately 7-9 A diameter) into the central cavity of the iron-storage protein ferritin. Charge and polarity of these radicals play a critical role in the diffusion process. The negatively charged radical 4-carboxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (4-carboxy-TEMPO) does not penetrate the cavity whereas the positively charged 4-amino-TEMPO and 3-(aminomethyl)-proxyl radical and polar 4-hydroxy-TEMPO radical do. Unlike the others, the apolar TEMPO radical does not enter the cavity but instead binds to ferritin, presumably at a hydrophobic region of the protein. The kinetic data indicate that diffusion is not purely passive, the driving force coming not only from the concentration gradient between the inside and outside of the protein but also from charge interactions between the diffusant and the protein. A model for diffusion is derived that describes the observed kinetics. First-order half-lives for diffusion into the protein of 21-26 min are observed, suggesting that reductant molecules with diameters considerably larger than approximately 9 A would probably enter the protein cavity too slowly to mobilize iron efficiently by direct interaction with the mineral core.     

Approximate methods for estimating the pattern of nucleotide substitution and the variation of substitution rates among sites

We propose two approximate methods (one based on parsimony and one on pairwise sequence comparison) for estimating the pattern of nucleotide substitution and a parsimony-based method for estimating the gamma parameter for variable substitution rates among sites. The matrix of substitution rates that represents the substitution pattern can be recovered through its relationship with the observable matrix of site pattern frequences in pairwise sequence comparisons. In the parsimony approach, the ancestral sequences reconstructed by the parsimony algorithm were used, and the two sequences compared are those at the ends of a branch in the phylogenetic tree. The method for estimating the gamma parameter was based on a reinterpretation of the numbers of changes at sites inferred by parsimony. Three data sets were analyzed to examine the utility of the approximate methods compared with the more reliable likelihood methods. The new methods for estimating the substitution pattern were found to produce estimates quite similar to those obtained from the likelihood analyses. The new method for estimating the gamma parameter was effective in reducing the bias in conventional parsimony estimates, although it also overestimated the parameter. The approximate methods are computationally very fast and appear useful for analyzing large data sets, for which use of the likelihood method requires excessive computation.      

Influence of Early Season Moxidectin Treatments on Acquisition of Immunity to Ostertagia ostertagi in Calves

Moxidectin, a newly developed endectocide, has previously been demonstrated to have a high efficacy against gastrointestinal nematodes in cattle (Ranjan et al. 1992, Scholl et al. 1992). In a field trial (Yang, Satrija and Nansen, unpublished data) matched groups of 8 first-season Black Pied Friesian heifer calves, 6-8 months of age, were turned out in early May 1992 on a permanent pasture contaminated with trichostrongyles. The groups were grazed separately on comparable plots until they were housed in mid October 1992. Group Β was treated with moxidectin at turnout, and group C was treated at turnout and again 8 weeks after turnout. A third group served as non-treated controls (group A). The results showed that the 2 early season prophylactic treatments (group C) reduced the late season herbage trichostrongyle larval infectivity with 80 to 90%, whereas the reduction accomplished by only 1 treatment at turnout (group B) was much less. Group C excreted significantly lower numbers of strongyle eggs than groups A and B. The non-treated controls showed clinical signs of trichostrongylosis in late September, which coincided with a steep rise in serum pepsinogen levels reaching an average peak level of 3.5 IU tyrosine litre-1. A few animals in group Β showed softening of faeces particularly in the very late season. In contrast, animals receiving 2 moxidectin treatments remained in a clinically good condition throughout the season.     

东方法老蛛雌蛛的描述（蜘蛛目：跳蛛科）

报道采自甘肃文县的东方法老蛛雌蛛,为该种雌蛛的首次记述。     

黑节草双受精过程及胚胎发育的研究

黑节草从传粉到受精约需１３０ｄ,精子在花粉管中形成,胚囊发育属蓼型胚囊,因反足细胞较早退化,故受精前胚囊多只由卵器和中央细胞组成。精卵核融合时,精核染色质进入卵核后凝集成颗粒状,并在原位与卵核的染色质融合,雌、雄性核仁一直维持至合子的第一次分裂期前。双受精作用正常,属于有丝分裂前配子融合类型,初生胚乳核发生２－３次分裂后逐渐退化消失,胚的发育局限于球形胚阶段。