Elementary pattern discrimination (behavioural experiments with the fly Musca domestica)

This paper investigates the problem of spontaneous pattern discrimination by the visual system of the fly. The indicator for discrimination and attractivity of a pattern is the yaw torque of a test fly. It is shown that the pattern discrimination process may be treated as a special (degenerate) case of figureground discrimination which has been described in detail in earlier publications. Decisive for the discrimination process is the fact that pattern discrimination by the fly is mediated by motion detectors which respond not only a pattern velocity but also to structural properties of pattern contrast. This is demonstrated by the transition from the existing twodimensional array of motion detectors to a continuous detector field which enabled us to calculate instantaneous detector responses to instationary pattern motion. The new approach, together with the special theory for figure-ground discrimination, is then applied to predict spontaneous discriminations of onedimensional periodic patterns. It is shown that predictions and experimental results are in good agreement. The second set of discrimination experiments deals with two dimensional dot patterns for which a quantitative theory is not yet available. However, it is shown that the attractivity of a dot pattern crucially depends on both the orientation and the direction of motion relative to the fly's eyes. If the contrast of a moving dot elicits an event in a motion detector which through the detector's time constant leads to an interference with an event received by a preceeding dot, the attractivity of the dot pattern is diminished. In the discussion relations are drawn between the concepts of pattern discrimination in honey bees and the theoretical aspects of discrimination put forward in this paper. It is briefly discussed why a two-dimensional motion detector theory might become the key for an understanding of pattern categories like figural intensity and figural quality.     

Rearrangement of tubulin, actin, and myosin in cultured ventricular cardiomyocytes of the adult rat

Antitubulin, phalloidin, and antimyosin were used to study the distribution of microtubules, microfilaments, and myofibrils in cultured adult cardiomyocytes. These cells undergo a stereotypic sequence of morphological change in which myotypic features are lost and then reconstructed during a period of polymorphic growth. Microtubules, though rearranged during these events in culture, are always present in an organized network. Myosin and actin structures, on the other hand, initially degenerate. This initial degeneration is reversed when a cell attaches to the culture substratum. Upon attachment, new microtubules are laid down as a cortical network adjacent to the sarcolemma and, subsequently, as a network in the basal part of the cell. Actin and then myosin filament bundles appear next, in a pattern corresponding to the pattern of the microtubules. Finally, striated myofibrils are formed, first in the central part of the cell, and subsequently in the outgrowing processes of the cell. A mechanism is suggested by which the eventual polymorphic shape of a cell is related to the shape of its initial area of contact with the culture substratum. Finally, a model of myofibrillogenesis is proposed in which microtubules participate in the insertion of myosin among previously formed actin filament bundles to produce myofibrils.     

Pseudo-inhibitors of neutrophil superoxide production: evidence that soybean-derived polypeptides are superoxide dismutases

We have previously reported the purification of polypeptides from soybean which are potent inhibitors of superoxide production by human neutrophils. We now report that neither oxygen uptake nor hydrogen peroxide production by stimulated neutrophils is affected by these inhibitors. Furthermore, the E-1 and E-3 polypeptides inhibit ferricytochrome c reduction by a xanthine oxidase superoxide generation system. The inhibitory activity of E-3 in the model system is blocked by 1 mM KCN while E-1 is only slightly cyanide sensitive. Atomic absorption analysis of E-1 and E-3 polypeptides reveal copper in the latter and manganese in the former. Thus, E-3 is a copper-containing superoxide dismutase while E-1 appears to be a manganese-containing superoxide dismutase.     

Physicochemical characterization of large unilamellar phospholipid vesicles prepared by reverse-phase evaporation

Properties of large unilamellar vesicles (LUV), composed of phosphatidylcholine and prepared by reverse-phase evaporation and subsequent extrusion through Unipore polycarbonate membranes, have been investigated and compared with those of small unilamellar vesicles (SUV) and of multilamellar vesicles (MLV). The unilamellar nature of the LUV is shown by 1H-NMR using Pr3+ as a shift reagent. The gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition of LUV composed of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) monitored by differential scanning calorimetry, fluorescence polarization of diphenylhexatriene and 90 degrees light scattering, occurs at a slight lower temperature (40.8 degrees C) than that of MLV (42 degrees C) and is broadened by about 50%. The phase transition of SUV is shifted to considerably lower temperatures (mid-point, 38 degrees C) and extends over a wide temperature range. In LUV a well-defined pretransition is not observed. The permeability of LUV (DPPC) monitored by leakage of carboxyfluorescein, increases sharply at the phase transition temperature, and the extent of release is greater than that from MLV. Leakage from SUV occurs in a wide temperature range. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy of LUV (DPPC) reveals vesicles of 0.1-0.2 micron diameter with mostly smooth fracture faces. At temperatures below the phase transition, the larger vesicles in the population have angled faces, as do extruded MLV. A banded pattern, seen in MLV at temperatures between the pretransition and the main transition, is not observed in the smaller LUV, although the larger vesicles reveal a dimpled appearance.     

Involvement of histidine and tryptophan residues of glutamine binding protein in the interaction with membrane-bound components of the glutamine transport system of Escherichia coli

We treated the glutamine binding protein with diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC) and N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) to modify respectively the sole histidine and tryptophan residues and examined the effect of these modifications on the ability of the binding protein to bind glutamine as well as the ability to restore glutamine transport in membrane vesicles of Escherichia coli. Under the conditions used, both DEPC and NBS markedly inhibited the ability to restore glutamine transport in vesicles without any significant effect on glutamine binding. Moreover, saturating quantities of glutamine had no protective effect on the inactivation of the binding protein by DEPC or NBS. Fluorometric measurement and amino acid analysis indicate that the inactivation of the binding protein in restoring vesicle transport by NBS can be attributed to the oxidation of a single tryptophan residue. Similar analysis and the inability of hydroxylamine to reverse the effect of DEPC indicate that the effects of DEPC can probably be attributed to alterations of the sole histidine and/or one or more lysine residues of the binding protein. We conclude that the glutamine binding protein possesses at least two largely nonoverlapping functional domains, one responsible for glutamine binding and the other for the interaction with the other components of the glutamine transport system.     

Tubular Transport Maxima of PAH and Diodrast Measured Individually in the Aglomerular Kidney of Lophius, and Simultaneously as Competitors Under Conditions of Equimolar Loading

The maximal tubular transfer rates (Tm) of both p-aminohippurate (PAH) and diodrast (3,5-diiodo-4-pyridone-N-acetic acid or iodopyracet) were found to be fixed and reproducible when measured separately in Lophius (goosefish) under standard laboratory conditions. Expressed on a molar basis Tm_PAH was four times Tm_D. However, when these transport competitors were presented simultaneously in equimolar concentrations with the plasma levels of each sufficiently high enough to saturate the carrier system, the relative rates of excretion were reversed with the diodrast transfer rate then four times that of PAH. The combined rate of excretion was far below Tm_PAH alone, and roughly equal to Tm_D. Interaction with a common carrier was indicated by the gradations in degree of inhibition which resulted when plasma concentration ratios of diodrast to PAH were extended from 0.1 to 3.2, and PAH transfer rates expressed as percentage of Tm_PAH were correspondingly depressed from 17 to 1.0 per cent respectively. These observations again point up the inverse relationship between transfer rate and competitive effectiveness which exists for members of a series of substances actively transported by a common mechanism. It appears that carrier affinity and dissociation characteristics may be quite different for various compounds in a series, and also that these parameters may vary significantly from species to species.     

青霉素G酰化酶α亚基Ser177的突变对酶活性的影响

用盒式突变和定点突变对大肠杆菌青霉素G酰化酶α亚基177位ser进行了突变研究,结果发现所挑选的突变体均无酶的活力,这一结果可能可以用来解释Ser 177附近肽段和一些青霉素结合蛋白青霉素结合区在一级结构上保持同源性的原因。     

生态系统与耗散结构

1977年,比利时著名科学家伊·普里高津成功地提出耗散结构理论,荣获了诺贝尔奖。普里高津的理论告诉我们:“一个远离平衡态的复杂系统,各元素的作用具有非线性特点,正是这种非线性的相关机制,导致了大量离子的协同动作,突变而产生有序结构。”普里高津的耗散结构理论,研究系统怎样从混沌无序的动态向稳定有序的结构组织演化及其规律,故也称为非平衡系统自组织理论。这一系统理论的奇葩,对于生态系统的深入研究将起到不可估量的作用。同时,这一理论使我们对生态