The abundance of an invasive freshwater snail Tarebia granifera (Lamarck, 1822) in the Nseleni River,South Africa

The invasive freshwater snail Tarebia granifera (Lamarck, 1822) was first reported in South Africa in 1999 and it has become widespread across the country, with some evidence to suggest that it reduces benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity. The current study aimed to identify the primary abiotic drivers behind abundance patterns of T. granifera, by comparing the current abundance of the snail in three different regions, and at three depths, of the highly modified Nseleni River in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Tarebia granifera was well established throughout the Nseleni River system, with an overall preference for shallow waters and seasonal temporal patterns of abundance. Although it is uncertain what the ecological impacts of the snail in this system are, its high abundances suggest that it should be controlled where possible and prevented from invading other systems in the region.     

Partial purification and properties of a cyclic 3',5'-AMP-independent protein kinase from rat liver.

1. A cyclic 3',5'-AMP-independent protein kinase (ATP : protein phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.37) from rat liver cytosol was partially purified and characterized. Purification by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, DEAE-cellulose, Bio Gel A-0.5 m and cellulose phosphate chromatography increased the specific activity about 700-fold. 2. An endogenous protein substrate was closely associated with the protein kinase and was not separable from this enzyme up to the cellulose phosphate stage. After phosphorylation, chromatography with Bio Gel A-0.5 m partially separated this endogenous phosphoprotein from the enzyme activity; this dissociation had no apparent effect on kinase activity with casein or phosvitin as substrates, or on the apparent molecular weight of the enzyme (approx. 158,000). 3. This protein kinase with casein, phosvitin, or the endogenous substrate was totally insensitive to the thiol reagents, p-hydroxymercuribenzoate, 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid), iodoacetamide, and N-ethylmaleimide. The enzyme was also unaffected by cyclic 3',5'-AMP, heat-stable protein kinase inhibitor, and the regulatory subunit of a cyclic 3',5'-AMP-dependent protein kinase.     

Behavioural and physiological consequences of acute social defeat in growing gilts: effects of the social environment

Endocrine, behavioural and immunologic processes, together with body growth, were evaluated in gilts that were defeated at 10 weeks of age in resident-intruder tests. Immediately after defeat, gilts were either separated from or reunited with a familiar conspecific (litter-mate; always a barrow). Gilts were assigned to one of four treatments: (a) DI: defeat, followed by isolation (separation from original litter-mate; n=8); (b) I: no defeat, isolation (control group; n=9); (c) DP; defeat, followed by pair-housing (reunion with original litter-mate; n=8); and (d) P: no defeat, pair-housing (control group; n=8). The following general conclusions were derived: (1) social defeat caused pronounced short-term elevations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic-adrenal medullary activities, and of prolactin levels. Moreover, as soon as 1h after defeat, percentages of blood lymphocytes and neutrophilic granulocytes were, respectively, decreased and increased; (2) social defeat had some long-lasting influence on behaviour and physiology, but isolation predominantly determined responses in the longer term. Defeat, as well as isolation, resulted in increased cardiovascular activities compared to P controls, as observed in a novel object test (NOT: +7 days) and an aversion test (AVT: +14 days). Moreover, defeated as well as isolated gilts did not habituate to a repeated novel environment test (NET: -7, +2 and +7 days) in terms of frequencies of vocalising, whereas P controls did. Isolation, through the separation from any other pig, was responsible for the other observed long-term characteristics, which developed progressively. Isolated gilts showed high mobilities and high cortisol responses in the repeated NET (+7 days), not being habituated. This contrasted the reactions of pair-housed gilts, which were much reduced. In addition to their high cardiovascular activities in the NOT and the AVT, isolated gilts also displayed higher heart rates in the repeated NET and during human presence following the NOT, compared to pair-housed gilts. Finally, isolated gilts were more inhibited to approach a novel object (in the NOT) than pair-housed pigs; and (3) stress responses of defeated gilts were modulated by the subsequent social environment. Stimulation of the HPA-axis (plasma- and salivary cortisol) was prolonged in those defeated gilts which were isolated (observed in the first hour). Changes in leucocyte subsets were still observed after 3 days in DI, but were 'normalised' within 1 day in DP gilts. Two days after defeat, habituation to the repeated NET in terms of mobility and salivary cortisol responses occurred in control and DP gilts, but not in DI gilts. We argue that these effects of the social environment shortly after defeat were related to a stress-reducing effect of a stable social relationship, i.e. social support.     

Alkaline cooking and tortilla quality in maize grains from the humid,tropical lands of Mexico

Maize (Zea mays L.) tortilla is the major staple food for the Mexican population. Nine tropical maize genotypes were evaluated. All samples had white grains, a common characteristic in tropical maize, and therefore they were appropriate for nixtamalized flour industry. Grain, flour, masa and tortilla characteristics of each maize genotype were evaluated. Length, width, thickness, weight of 1000 grains and hardness of grain were determined. Moisture content, proteins, fat, ash, mean particle size, water absorption index, enthalpy, and flour temperature were also evaluated. Adhesiveness and cohesiveness were evaluated in masa. Moisture content, protein, capacity to puff up, roll making, tension and cutting strength were determined in tortillas. There were significant differences (p≤0.05) in most of the evaluated characteristics. Grain length values varied between 9.26 and 11.02 mm for populations 23 and 22, respectively. Grain hardness oscillated between 11.17 (population 32) and 14.75 (landrace Mejen). According to the weight of 1000 grains most genotypes had small grains. The minimum and maximum moisture values of flour and tortillas were 8.33-9.99% and 46.20-50.36%, respectively. The texture of tortillas elaborated from population 32 and landrace Mejen had the lowest tension and cutting strength, resulting the best genotypes for making tortilla.     

Thesaurus-based disambiguation of gene symbols

Background  

Massive text mining of the biological literature holds great promise of relating disparate information and discovering new knowledge. However, disambiguation of gene symbols is a major bottleneck.     

Cues intrinsic to the retina induce nAchR gene expression during development

Recent studies of optic nerve regeneration in goldfish have indicated that the optic tectum plays an important role in modulating the induction of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) gene expression in regenerating retinal ganglion cells (Hieber, Agranoff, and Goldman, 1992, J. Neurochem. 58:1009–1015). These observations suggest that induction of these genes is regulated by brain target regions. The appearance of nAChR mRNA in the developing rat retina coincides with a time when ganglion cells are sending axons to their brain targets (Hoover and Goldman, 1992, Exp. Eye Res. 54:561–571). Might a mechanism similar to that seen during goldfish optic nerve regenerationalso mediate induction of nAChR gene expression during development of the mammalian retina? This possibility was tested by either transplanting embryonic rat retina to different brain regions, or explanting it to organ culture and assaying for nAChR gene expression. These studies showed that induction of the nAChR genes in developing rat retina is independent of the environment in which the retina develops. These results indicate that either the retinal microenvironment or a signal intrinsic to the retinal ganglion cell is responsible for this induction. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

DNA divergence in and around the alcohol dehydrogenase locus in five closely related species of Hawaiian Drosophila

The alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) region from five planitibia subgroup species of Hawaiian picture-wing Drosophila has been cloned. A total of 15 kb of DNA in and around the Adh gene has been compared among the five species. Genetic distances were calculated to determine evolutionary relationships. These distances agree with previous distances determined by protein polymorphism and DNA hybridization techniques and can be interpreted in terms of specific island colonization and speciation (founder) events over the past 5 Myr. Examination of the restriction maps of the cloned Adh region from the five species shows many instances of small deletions, insertion of a transposable element in D. heteroneura, and the existence of a highly variable region on the 3' side of the Adh gene. Clustering relationships and rates of DNA change are calculated and compared with the relationship found for other species of Drosophila.