The structure of immunoglobulin variable regions in the horned shark,Heterodontus francisci

The heavy and light chains of pooled antibodies of the hybodont shark,Heterodontus francisci (horned shark), were subjected to amino acid sequence analysis. Yield determinations showed that more than 90% of the available polypeptides in the respective pools were sequenced. The heavy chains were homogeneous in the initial framework segment and showed a sequence homology of approximately 70% with the corresponding region of the more recently evolved nurse shark and a 45% homology with a human myeloma heavy chain. The light chains were less homogeneous and not identifiable as either kappa or lambda chains as known in higher species. The first half-cystine characteristics of the variable domain intrachain disulfide bridge of immunoglobulins was present in the same position (22 for heavy chains; 23 for light chains) in the horned shark as in mammalian species. The sequence analysis also suggested the presence of a hypervariable region in the horned shark light chains. The combined data imply that the antigen-binding function of immunoglobulins is mediated in much the same manner in this primitive shark as in more recently evolved species, including mammals.     

Non-Linear Patterns of Complex Ramification Schemes in Higher Plants (Proposition for an Insight)

Die Seitenzweige von Cupressus sempervirens L. sind auf vier Orthostichen in scheinbar mehr oder weniger zufälligen, voneinander unabhängigen Mustern angeordnet. Eine auf L-Systeme sich berufende mathematische Konstruktion gestattet die Definition eines Morphismus. Acht Parameter, Periodizität der absoluten Wachstumsrate der zugrundeliegenden theoretischen Serien, die Väriation dieser Raten in komplementaren Unterserien und eine Schwellenreaktion sind die Hauptargumente.     

Aquatic ecology in The Netherlands: What is being done by whom?

Summary About one third of the Dutch environmental research is concentrated on aquatic problems. The largest number of these projects is physicochemical (65%) and 47% of the aquatic projects contains an ecological component. The aquatic research projects are executed in a large number of different research institutes. Many institutes just formulated one project (43.2%) and about 10% of the institutes formulated 10 projects. The institutes with 10 or more projects account for almost 50% of the total number of projects. However, the size of the research projects with respect to the average total personnel per year may differ considerably. The largest number of aquatic research projects is carried out in governmental institutes. This relative high share of governmental institutes has proportionally increased during the period of 1975–1982. During this period the relative shares of all the aquatic research projects with an ecological component, of the strictly ecological projects and of the ecological/physicochemical projects have also proportionally inclined. However, in absolute numbers there seems to be a decline of both ecological and non-ecological projects on aquatic problems.     

Amino acids are general growth inhibitors of Nicotiana silvestris in tissue culture

The growth of Nicotiana silvestris in suspension culture is inhibited by all of the common protein amino acids at the millimolar level, except for L-glutamine. A defined experimental system for growth/inhibition studies has been established, and growth studies were carried out with cells that had been maintained in the exponential growth phase for at least 10 generations (EE cells). The following results were obtained after particularly detailed studies with aromatic amino acids. The onset of inhibition was preceded by a duration of normal growth rate which varied within a range of 12 to 48 h. The degree of inhibition was directly proportional to amino acid concentration and inversely related to the initial cell density of the inoculum. A slowed, but still exponential rate of growth persisted during an early phase of inhibition. Under sufficiently severe conditions, this was followed by progressive diminution of growth rate and eventual lysis. The most drastic inhibitory effects caused by aromatic amino acids were in the order: phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine. When EE cells cultivated under conditions of growth inhibition were diluted into fresh medium, immediate resumption of growth at the uninhibited rate occurred and persisted. On the other hand, when growth-inhibited EE cells were diluted into medium containing the same concentration of amino acid used in the first round of growth, an initial burst of uninhibited growth lasting about 24 h was followed by a drastic, progressively declining growth rate which deteriorated to cell death and lysis. When cells in stationary phase were used as an inoculum, as is done in typical growth characterizations with suspension cultures, the sensitivity to inhibition during the subsequent exponential growth phase was several-fold greater than was the case with EE cells. Hypotheses that growth inhibition might be caused by ammonia toxicity, keto-acid toxicity, or by inhibition of nitrate utilization were ruled out. Observations that provide new insight are: (i)growth-inhibited cells undergo drastic plasmolysis, (ii) L-glutamine is an effective antagonist of amino-acid inhibitors, and (iii) growth-inhibited cells exhibit a transient restoration of normal growth rate upon dilution into fresh growth medium. These results implicate a linkage of amino acids with osmotic regulation and nitrogen metabolism.     

Increased Activity of a Cationic Peroxidase Associated with an Incompatible Interaction Between Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae and Rice (Oryza sativa)

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivar Cas 209 carries the gene Xa-10 for resistance to race 2 of Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae, the bacterial blight pathogen. When seedling leaves of Cas 209 plants were infiltrated with bacterial cell suspensions of strain PXO86^Rif (race 2, incompatible), total peroxidase activity in extracts from extracellular spaces increased almost threefold between 16 and 24 hours after inoculation. The increase in total peroxidase activity in extracellular extracts was correlated with the appearance of a 43-kilodalton peroxidase isoenzyme with an isoelectric point of 8.6. Increases in the activities of two anionic peroxidase isoenzymes also were associated with the incompatible interaction. Later during the interactions, total peroxidase activities increased in both compatible (cv Cas 209 infiltrated with race 1, PXO61^Sm) and control (Cas 209 infiltrated with water) treatments, but final activity levels were less than that observed in the incompatible combination. Similarly, the cationic peroxidase was detected in all three treatments by 48 hours after infiltration, but at reduced levels in compatible and water-infiltrated control treatments relative to the incompatible combination. Accumulation of this peroxidase in extracellular spaces thus may play a role in the defense response in cultivar Cas 209.     

The silk-producing system ofLinyphia triangularis (Araneae,Linyphiidae) and some comparisons with Araneidae

Summary The spinning apparatus ofLinyphia triangularis, adult females and males, was studied with the scanning electron microscope and the main anatomical and histochemical characteristics of the silk glands, including the epigastric apparatus of males, are presented. The epigastric glands seem to be important for the construction of sperm webs. A detailed account of the use of the different kinds of silk in web building is given.The spinning apparatus ofLinyphia closely corresponds to the araneid pattern. Characteristic of linyphiid spiders is the poor development of the aciniform glands. Corresponding to the minor importance of capture threads forLinyphia, the triads (aggregate and flagelliform glands) are less developed than in Araneidae.Linyphia make much less use of the secretions of the piriform glands for connecting threads than Araneidae. Capture threads adhere to other threads by their own glue; other threads seem mostly to be bound to one another by the secretion of the minor ampullate glands whose chemical properties, inLinyphia, appear especially adapted to this function. Neither the anatomical and histochemical data concerning the spinning apparatus nor the structure of the webs provide any indication of close relationships between Linyphiidae and Agelenidae, as was recently claimed.     

Effects of diphenyl ether herbicides on porphyrin accumulation by cultured hepatocytes

Several diphenyl ether herbicides, such as acifluorfen methyl, have been previously shown to cause large accumulations of the heme and chlorophyll precursor, protoporphyrin, in plants. Lightinduced herbicidal damage is mediated by the photoactive porphyrin. Here we investigate whether diphenyl ether herbicides can affect porphyrin synthesis in rat and chick hepatocytes. In rat hepatocyte cultures, protoporphyrin, as well as coproporphyrin, accumulated after treatment with acifluorfen or acifluorfen methyl. Combination of acifluorfen methyl with an esterase inhibitor to prevent the conversion of acifluorfen methyl to acifluorfen resulted in a greater accumulation of porphyrins than caused by acifluorfen methyl or acifluorfen alone. In vitro enzyme studies of hepatic mitochondria isolated from rat and chick embryos demonstrated that protopor-phyrinogen oxidase, the penultimate enzyme of heme biosynthesis, was inhibited by low concentrations of acifluorfen, nitrofen, or acifluorfen methyl with the latter being the most potent inhibitor. These findings indicate that diphenyl ether treatment can cause protoporphyrin accumulation in rat hepatocyte cultures and suggest that this accumulation was associated with the inhibition of protoporphyrinogen oxidase. In cultured chick embryo hepatocytes, treatment with acifluorfen methyl plus an esterase inhibitor caused massive accumulation of uroporphyrin rather than protoporphyrin or coproporphyrin. Specific isozymes of cytochrome P450 were also induced in chick embryo hepatocytes. These effects were not observed in the absence of an esterase inhibitor. These results suggest that diphenyl ether herbicides can cause uroporphyrin accumulation similar to that induced by other cytochrome P450-inducing chemicals such as polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons in the chick hepatocyte system.     

Ischemic reperfusion injury in rabbit spinal cord: protective effect of superoxide dismutase on neurological recovery and spinal infarction

The potential role of superoxide dismutase (SOD), a specific superoxide anion radical scavenger, in treating spinal cord ischemia was investigated in rabbits subjected to aortic occlusion for 20 min. SOD treatment, targeted to the early reperfusion period, reduced both motor dysfunction and incidence of spinal infarcts at 7 days after ischemia. Present results suggest that oxygen-derived free radicals play a role in the pathogenesis of infarcts developing in the spinal cord after ischemia and reperfusion injuries.