Elevated CO22 and Leaf Longevity in the C44 Grassland-Dominant Andropogon gerardii

In central U.S. grasslands, plant and ecosystem responses to elevated CO2 are most pronounced when water availability is limited. In a northeast Kansas grassland, responses to elevated CO2 in leaf area, number, development, and longevity were quantified for the tallgrass prairie dominant, Andropogon gerardii. Plants were grown in open-top chambers (OTCs) modified to limit water availability and to maximize responses to elevated CO2. In OTCs with elevated (x2 ambient) levels of CO2, aboveground biomass production and leaf water potentials were increased significantly compared with those of plants in OTCs with ambient CO2. There were no differences in leaf area or leaf number per tiller in A. gerardii in elevated compared with ambient OTCs. However, leaf area in adjacent unchambered plots with greater water availability was significantly higher than in the OTCs. The time required for developing leaves to achieve maximum leaf area was reduced by 29%, and the period of time until leaves senesced was increased by 20% for plants exposed to elevated compared with ambient CO2. Thus, leaves of this C4 grass species expanded more rapidly (6 d) and remained green longer (9 d) when exposed to elevated CO2. Such CO2-mediated increases in leaf longevity in the dominant species may allow this grassland to respond more opportunistically to temporally variable rainfall patterns in high-CO2 environments. These responses should be included in leaf-based simulation models that attempt to mechanistically link physiological alterations to predicted canopy responses to increased CO2.     

Apoptotic cells are cleared by directional migration and elmo1- dependent macrophage engulfment

Apoptotic cell death is essential for development and tissue homeostasis. Failure to clear apoptotic cells can ultimately cause inflammation and autoimmunity. Apoptosis has primarily been studied by staining of fixed tissue sections, and a clear understanding of the behavior of apoptotic cells in living tissue has been elusive. Here, we use a newly developed technique to track apoptotic cells in real time as they emerge and are cleared from the zebrafish brain. We find that apoptotic cells are remarkably motile, frequently migrating several cell diameters to the periphery of living tissues. F-actin remodeling occurs in surrounding cells, but also within the apoptotic cells themselves, suggesting a cell-autonomous component of motility. During the first 2 days of development, engulfment is rare, and most apoptotic cells lyse at the brain periphery. By 3 days postfertilization, most cell corpses are rapidly engulfed by macrophages. This engulfment requires the guanine nucleotide exchange factor elmo1. In elmo1-deficient macrophages, engulfment is rare and may occur through macropinocytosis rather than directed engulfment. These findings suggest that clearance of apoptotic cells in living vertebrates is accomplished by the combined actions of apoptotic cell migration and elmo1-dependent macrophage engulfment.     

Diminished transmission of drug resistant HIV-1 variants with reduced replication capacity in a human transmission model

Background

Different patterns of drug resistance are observed in treated and therapy naïve HIV-1 infected populations. Especially the NRTI-related M184I/V variants, which are among the most frequently encountered mutations in treated patients, are underrepresented in the antiretroviral naïve population. M184I/V mutations are known to have a profound effect on viral replication and tend to revert over time in the new host. However it is debated whether a diminished transmission efficacy of HIV variants with a reduced replication capacity can also contribute to the observed discrepancy in genotypic patterns.As dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in HIV-1 transmission, we used a model containing primary human Langerhans cells (LCs) and DCs to compare the transmission efficacy M184 variants (HIV-M184V/I/T) to HIV wild type (HIV-WT). As control, we used HIV harboring the NNRTI mutation K103N (HIV-K103N) which has a minor effect on replication and is found at a similar prevalence in treated and untreated individuals.

Results

In comparison to HIV-WT, the HIV-M184 variants were less efficiently transmitted to CCR5⁺ Jurkat T cells by both LCs and DCs. The transmission rate of HIV-K103N was slightly reduced to HIV-WT in LCs and even higher than HIV-WT in DCs. Replication experiments in CCR5⁺ Jurkat T cells revealed no apparent differences in replication capacity between the mutant viruses and HIV-WT. However, viral replication in LCs and DCs was in concordance with the transmission results; replication by the HIV-M184 variants was lower than replication by HIV-WT, and the level of replication of HIV-K103N was intermediate for LCs and higher than HIV-WT for DCs.

Conclusions

Our data demonstrate that drug resistant M184-variants display a reduced replication capacity in LCs and DCs which directly impairs their transmission efficacy. As such, diminished transmission efficacy may contribute to the lower prevalence of drug resistant variants in therapy naive individuals.

     

Nephrotoxic Lesions from 5-Aminosalicylic Acid

5-Aminosalicylic acid given to rats as a single intravenous injection led to necrosis of the proximal convoluted tubules and of the renal papilla. These two lesions developed at the same time and the cortical lesions did not appear to be a consequence of the renal papillary necrosis. Since the compound possesses the molecular structure both of a phenacetin derivative and of a salicylate these observations may be relevant to the problem of renal damage incident to abuse of analgesic compounds and suggest the possibility that in this syndrome cortical lesions may develop independently of renal papillary necrosis.     

Pollen morphology of Trichosanthes (Cucurbitaceae)

The pollen morphology of 37 species of Trichosanthes was examined, using light microscopy, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. On the basis of the diverse exine ornamentation it is possible to distinguish five pollen types. With aperture characters, two of them can be subdivided into subtypes. Two types can be characterised with ultrastructural features as well. It appeared that several of the types (alt. subtypes) correspond very well to existing macromorphological groupings. The most deviating type, including only the monotypic section Trichosanthes (T. cucumerina), shows verrucate ornamentation, a thick granular infratectum and a thin, indistinctly delimited nexine. It is similar to that of the Madagascan genus Tricyclandra.     

Notes on the genus Amorphophallus (Araceae) – 13. Evolution of pollen ornamentation and ultrastructure in Amorphophallus and Pseudodracontium

A strict consensus tree based on chloroplast and nuclear sequences (rbcL, matK, trnL, FLint2) from 46 Amorphophallus species, two Pseudodracontium species and six outgroups is used to develop a hypothesis for the evolution of ornamentation and ectexine ultrastructure in the pollen of Amorphophallus. There are four main clades: an exclusively African, largely psilate clade (‘African clade’), an Asian, largely psilate clade (‘Asian psilate clade’) and an Asian, largely striate clade consisting of a mainly continental SE Asian clade (‘continental SE Asian striate clade’) and one centred in Malesia (‘Malesian striate clade’). Ultrastructure provides a valuable contribution towards understanding pollen ornamentation in Amorphophallus. Pollen with a thin psilate ectexine without dark granules might be plesiomorphic in Amorphophallus. Then the diverse striate type would be derived. Within both striate clades, reversals to the psilate type occur. Striate pollen with psilate caps, which is nested in the continental SE Asian striate clade, is a synapomorphy of Pseudodracontium. The fossulate type is also diverse, and its distribution in the tree indicates a polyphyletic origin. Areolate, echinate and verrucate ornamentation, occur in single species in the tree, but are found also in species not included in the molecular analysis. All three are heterogeneous and probably polyphyletic too. Reticulate, scabrate and striate/scabrate ornamentation are autapomorphies, of which the reticulate type and the striate/scabrate type may derive from psilate and striate ornamentation, respectively. Of the four main clades, the Asian psilate and African clade seem to be basal, while both striate clades might have evolved from the Asian psilate clade via a species like A. rhizomatosus. Dark granules evolved more than once, which might explain their diverse size, shape and distribution.     

SEK1-dependent JNK1 activation prolongs cell survival during G-Rh2-induced apoptosis

We provide here evidence that c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase 1 (JNK1) activity is differentially up-regulated during apoptosis of SK-HEP-1 cells after treatment with ginsenoside Rh2 (G-Rh2). The G-Rh2-mediated JNK1 activation that occurred for the first 10-30min was associated with SEK1 activity, but thereafter, the sustained activation was associated not with SEK1 activity, but with proteolytic cleavage of JNK1-associated p21(WAF1/CIP1). Supporting this is that the expression of the dominant negative SEK1 mutant effectively blocked the early JNK1 activation phase but did not alter the sustained activation phase or apoptosis. Furthermore, expression of p21D112N, an uncleavable mutant of p21(WAF1/CIP1), suppressed the later JNK1 activation. Moreover, the stable overexpression of ectopic JNK1 suppressed apoptosis while expression of the dominant negative JNK1 mutant promoted it. We propose that the early SEK1-associated JNK1 activation phase acts to prolong cell survival in response to apoptosis-inducing agents, thereby serving as an intervening checkpoint prior to the commitment to apoptosis.     

The mobility of curium-244 dioxide in the bronchially intubated rat.

The mobility of curium dioxide in the rat after pulmonary intubation has been investigated by administering suspensions containing different particle size ranges of the oxide. A major factor influencing the movement of curium from lungs to blood is the formation of hydroxide or hydrous oxide particles about 0.001 micrometer in diameter. This process is sufficiently rapid for the lung clearance kinetics of the dioxide to resemble those of a soluble compound more closely than those of an insoluble one. Filtration of 0.001 micrometer particles through the kidneys results in considerably enhanced excretion of curium relative to administered curium citrate. It is concluded that current metabolic models, which assume that solubility in the lung is a prerequisite for transport in body fluids, do not adequately describe the behaviour of curium fromthe standpoint of radiological protection.