Defensive strategies of soft corals (Coelenterata: Octocorallia) of the Great Barrier Reef

Summary The relationship between ichthyotoxicity and predation-related defensive functional morphology was examined in alcyonacean soft corals of the central and northern regions of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. Approximately 170 specimens were assessed encompassing a number of genera within three families: 1) the Alcyoniidae (Lobophytum, Sarcophytum, Sinularia, Cladiella, Parerythropodium, and Alcyonium); 2) Neptheidae (Lemnalia, Paralemnalia, Capnella, Lithophyton, Nephthea, Dendronephthya, Scleronephthya, and Stereonephthya), and 3) Xeniidae (Anthelia, Efflatounaria, Cespitularia, Heteroxenia, and Xenia). Ichthyotoxicity data were derived from earlier studies which used Gambusia affinis Baird and Girard (Vertebrata, Pisces) as a test organism. These data were compared to morphological data collected from specimens in the field and laboratory. Three sets of statistical analyses were performed, each considering a progressively narrower group of taxa. The first included 68 specimens and considered 16 morphological characters in each, falling into the general categories of gross colony form, colony texture, presence of mucus, colony color, polyp retractility, and sclerite morphology and distribution. These were tested for independence against ichthyotoxicity data. The second set of analyses involved a more restricted morphological data set derived from 28 species of Sinularia in combination with 28 species within the Nephtheidae, comparing them to their respective toxicity ranks. The third analysis considered the previous two taxonomic groups separately in relation to their toxicity levels.The attempt to consider many morphological characters in a taxonomically diverse collection did not reveal any general association in the Alcyonacea between defensive morphology and toxicity, and those associations which did emerge were clearly erroneous. The second analysis, considering only Sinularia spp. and nephtheids, demonstrated a negative association between ichthyotoxicity and the morphological characters of a) polypary armament, b) microarmament of the individual polyp, and c) strong mineralization of the coenenchyme. The third analysis revealed that the negative association found between toxicity and the first two characters was derived entirely from the nephtheids while the association detected between toxicity and the third character was restricted to Sinularia. It is concluded that a relationship between toxicity and morphology can be demonstrated, but it is heavily dependent upon which specific morphological characters are being considered and at what level of taxonomic resolution the analysis is being performed. An approach utilizing many characters over many taxa is unlikely to yield significant, reliable, or meaningful results.Australian Institute of Marine Science Contribution Number 383     

Biphasic fluence-response curves for phytochrome-mediated kalanchoë seed germination : sensitization by gibberellic Acid

The fluence-response curves for the effect of two red pulses separated by 24 hours on the germination of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Poelln. cv Vesuv seeds, incubated on gibberellic acid (GA₃) are biphasic for suboptimal concentrations. The response in the low fluence range corresponds with a classical red/far-red reversible phytochrome mediated reaction. GA₃ induces an additional response in the very low fluence range, which is also phytochrome mediated. The sensitivity to phytochrome-far-red absorbing form (Pfr), however, is increased about 20,000-fold, so that even far-red fluences become saturating. Both in the very low and low fluence response range, the maximal responses induced by saturating fluences are modulated by the GA₃ concentration. GA₃ having no direct influence on the phytochrome phototransformations, alters the Pfr requirement and determines the responding seed population fraction in the very low and low fluence range. The effet of GA₃ appears to be on the transduction chain of the phytochrome signal.     

Relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of neutrons produced by 50 MeV deuterons and by 34, 45, 65 and 75 MeV protons

RBE of p(34) + Be, p(45) + Be, p(65), + Be, p(75) + Be and d(50) + Be neutron beams produced at the cyclotron "Cyclone" of Louvain-la-Neuve were measured. The biological criterion was the regeneration of the crypts of the intestinal mucosa (50 regenerated crypts per circumference) after abdominal irradiation in mice. Taking the p(65) + Be neutrons as reference, RBE values were found equal to 1.12, 1.07, 1.00 (Ref.), 0.96 and 1.02 respectively. These results are consistent with those published for cell lethality in vitro. However, the RBE variation is smaller than this previously obtained in the laboratory for growth inhibition in Vicia faba.     

Dynamics of long-leaved sundew Drosera intermedia populations at two extremes of a hydrological gradient

Densities of Drosera intermedia were low in two studied habitats (10–25 ramets m⁻¹), a path through a wet heath (short inundation in spring, low soil moisture in summer) and a pool edge (longlasting inundation, high soil moisture in summer). The low densities could be explained by the observed low recruitment and high adult mortality.
The low recruitment resulted from: (1) a high first year mortality of the large number of seedlings that emerged each year in the path population, caused by summer drought and cover with algae after heavy rainfall; (2) the absence in two years out of three of seedling emergence at the pool edge, due to the longlasting inundation. In neither population any seedlings survived to flower; (3) low vegetative reproduction rate.
Adult mortality during the growing season was caused by drought, which did not occur at the pool edge. Rapid senescence in autumn, caused by summer drought on the path and by a rapid submersion after heavy rainfall at the pool edge, was associated with a high winter mortality.     

Incorporation of the carbocyclic analogue of (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate into a synthetic DNA

The carbocyclic analogue of (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine, C-BVDU, is a very potent and selective anti-herpes-virus compound. In order to synthesize and study the properties of a DNA that contains C-BVDU, the 5'-triphosphate, C-BVDUTP was prepared and evaluated as a potential substrate of the E. coli Klenow DNA polymerase enzyme. Although C-BVDUTP proved to be a very poor substrate also of this enzyme, it could be incorporated up to 3.6% into the synthetic DNA, poly(dA-dT, C-BVDU). This level of substitution decreased significantly the template activity for DNA and RNA polymerases, as compared to that of poly(dA-dT).     

Effect of a broad-host range plasmid on growth dynamics of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas putida

Host-plasmid interactions were studied for the broad-host range plasmid, pTJS26, a derivative of RK2. To isolate host and plasmid contributions to the growth dynamics and plasmid stability, separate experiments were performed with host and recombinant cells for two different gram-negative hosts, Pseudomonas putida and Escherichia coli, at two different temperatures, 30 and 37 degrees C. At the lower temperature (30 degrees C) the growth kinetics were not affected by the plasmid, but plasmid instability was observed. At the higher temperature (37 degrees C) growth rates and yields were lower than that for the hosts, but the plasmid was stable. This behavior can be explained by a combination of two phenomena. First, the copy number control mechanism may be temperature sensitive and, second, plasmid segregation may be inefficient. For both E. coli and P. putida the growth dynamics of the recombinant system was dictated by the presence of the plasmid.     

Tissue-specific expression of porphobilinogen deaminase. Two isoenzymes from a single gene

Porphobilinogen deaminase (hydroxymethylbilane synthase; EC 4.3.1.8), the third enzyme of the heme biosynthetic pathway, catalyzes the stepwise condensation of four porphobilinogen units to yield hydroxymethylbilane, which is in turn converted to uroporphyrinogen III by cosynthetase. We compared the apparent molecular mass of porphobilinogen deaminase from erythropoietic and from non-erythropoietic cells by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immune-blotting. The results indicate that two isoforms of porphobilinogen deaminase can be distinguished and differ by 2000 Da. Analysis of cell-free translation products directed by mRNAs from human erythropoietic spleen and from human liver demonstrates that the two isoforms of porphobilinogen deaminase are encoded by distinct messenger RNAs. We cloned and sequenced cDNAs complementary to the non-erythropoietic form of porphobilinogen deaminase encoding RNA. Comparison of these sequences to that of human erythropoietic mRNA [Raich et al. (1986) Nucleic Acids Res. 14, 5955-5968] revealed that the two mRNA species differ by their 5' extremity. From the mRNA sequences we could deduce that an additional peptide of 17 amino acid residues at the NH2 terminus of the non-erythropoietic isoform of porphobilinogen deaminase accounts for its higher molecular mass. RNase mapping experiments demonstrate that the two porphobilinogen deaminase mRNAs are distributed according to a strict tissue-specificity, the erythropoietic form being restricted to erythropoietic cells. We propose that a single porphobilinogen deaminase gene is transcribed from two different promoters, yielding the two forms of porphobilinogen deaminase mRNAs. Our present finding may have some relevance for further understanding the porphobilinogen deaminase deficiency in certain cases of acute intermittent porphyria with an enzymatic defect restricted in non-erythropoietic cells.     

Characterization of the biomass of the stems of sweet sorghum

In this study the amount of glucose, sucrose and fructose was determined in the water soluble fraction while cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and lignin contents were determined in the alcohol insoluble fraction after hydrolysis. Stalks of sweet sorghum (Sorghum vulgare L., var. saccharatum) cv. Vespa, Soave, Roce and MN 1500 at the physiological ripeness stage were used. The results of the analysis of variance with the least significant difference method (LSD, = 0.05) show that cv. Vespa and Roce have a significantly higher total amount of glucose, fructose and sucrose and at the same time, a lower cellulose, pectin, hemicellulose and lignin content then cv. Soave and cv. MN 1500.     

Ascorbic acid as a factor controlling "in vivo" its biosynthetic pathway

The capacity of ascorbic acid biosynthesis in potato tuber tissue is closely correlated with the ascorbic acid content of the cells: the lower the endogenous content of ascorbic acid, the greater its biosynthesis. At the highest level of ascorbic acid found in the cells, the biosynthetic capacity is virtually zero. In these conditions, adding glucose (the first precursor of ascorbic acid) has no effect whatsoever, whereas adding galactono-gamma-lactone (the last precursor) induces a high rate of ascorbic acid synthesis. It is suggested that AA biosynthesis is subject to a regulatory mechanism "in vivo" which controls an initial step in the biosynthetic pathway. The last step in this pathway, catalyzed by galactone oxidase, is never blocked and, moreover, its activity is greater than that of the preceding steps.     

Reaction of Woodward''s reagent K with D-xylose isomerases. Modification of an active site carboxylate residue.

D-Xylose isomerases from Streptomyces violaceoruber, Streptomyces sp., Lactobacillus xylosus, Lactobacillus brevis and Bacillus coagulans were rapidly inactivated by Woodward's reagent K. Second-order rate constants in the absence of ligands, at pH 6.0 and 25 degrees C, were 41, 36, 22, 95 and 26 M-1.min-1 respectively. Spectral analysis at 340 nm revealed that inactivation was correlated with modification of five, six, two, three and six carboxylate residues per monomer respectively. In the presence of protecting ligands, modification of one carboxylate group was prevented. The results support the idea of an active site glutamate or aspartate group that may contribute to the catalytic activity of all these D-xylose isomerases.