Bird communities of natural and modified habitats in Panama

Only a small proportion of land can realistically be protected as nature reserves and thus conservation efforts also must focus on the ecological value of agroecosystems and developed areas surrounding nature reserves. In this study, avian communities were surveyed in 11 habitat types in central Panama, across a gradient from extensive forest to intensive agricultural land uses, to examine patterns of species richness and abundance and community composition. Wooded habitats, including extensive and fragmented forests, shade coffee plantations, and residential areas supported the most species and individuals. Nearctic-Neotropical migratory species were most numerous in lowland forest fragments, shade coffee, and residential areas. Introduced Pinus caribbea and sugar cane plantations supported the fewest species compared to all other habitats. Cattle pastures left fallow for less than two years supported more than twice as many total species as actively grazed pastures, such that species richness in fallow pastures was similar to that found in wooded habitats. Community similarities were relatively low among all habitat types (none exceeding the observed 65% similarity between extensive and fragmented lowland forests), but communities in shade coffee and residential areas were 43% and 54′% similar to lowland forest fragments, respectively. Fallow pastures and residential areas shared 60% of their species. Bird communities in shade coffee and residential areas were characterized by higher proportions of frugivorous and nectarivorous species than in native forests. These same guilds also were better represented in fallow than in grazed pastures. Raptors and piscivorous species were most prevalent in cattle pastures and rice fields. These results, though based upon only species richness and abundance, demonstrate that many human-altered habitats have potential ecological value for birds, and conservation efforts in tropical areas should focus greater attention on enhancement of agricultural and developed lands as wildlife habitat. To understand the true conservation value of these modified lands will require examination not only of numbers but also of the types of species supported by these habitats, their reproductive output and survival rates.     

Nonrandom Distribution of Hepatitis C Virus Quasispecies in Plasma and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell Subsets

The existence of an extrahepatic reservoir of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is suggested by differences in quasispecies composition between the liver, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and serum. We studied HCV RNA compartmentalization in the plasma of nine patients, in CD19(+), CD8(+), and CD4(+) positively selected cells, and also in the negatively selected cell fraction (NF). HCV RNA was detected in all plasma samples, in seven of nine CD19(+), three of eight CD8(+), and one of nine CD4(+) cell samples, and in seven of eight NF cells. Cloning and sequencing of HVR1 in two patients showed a sequence grouping: quasispecies from a given compartment (all studied compartments for one patient and CD8(+) and NF for the other) were statistically more genetically like each other than like quasispecies from any other compartment. The characteristics of amino acid and nucleotide substitutions suggested the same structural constraints on HVR1, even in very divergent strains from the cellular compartments, and homogeneous selection pressure on the different compartments. These findings demonstrate the compartmental distribution of HCV quasispecies within peripheral blood cell subsets and have important implications for the study of extrahepatic HCV replication and interaction with the immune system.     

Strict paternal inheritance of chloroplast DNA and maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA in intraspecific crosses of kiwifruit

 Previous studies have established that chloroplasts are inherited paternally in Actinidia interspecific crosses. However, fertilisation problems in interspecific crosses may affect the transmission of organelles. Six female clones, i.e. ‘Abbott’, ‘Bruno’, ‘Greensill’, ‘Hayward’, ‘Jones’, ‘Monty’, and four male clones were used to identify cpDNA polymorphisms within the cultivated kiwifruit species A. deliciosa. The restriction patterns by HpaII of a chloroplast fragment amplified by PCR with a pair of universal primers revealed a polymorphism at the intraspecific level. The inheritance of cpDNA in 143 seedlings from three intraspecific crosses in kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) was studied. All offspring displayed the restriction pattern of the paternal parent, indicating that maternal inheritance of cpDNA in kiwifruit is rare at best. Strict maternal inheritance of mtDNA was confirmed in the same crosses used to investigate cpDNA transmission. Studies of cytoplasmic inheritance in the Actinidia genus represent to date the best documented report of differential organelle inheritance of cpDNA and mtDNA in angiosperms. Received: 10 November 1998 / Accepted: 14 December 1998     

Arginine catabolism in Agrobacterium strains: role of the Ti plasmid.

We present a study of the enzymatic activities involved in the pathway for arginine catabolism by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Nitrogen from arginine is recovered through the arginase-urease pathway; the genes for these two activities are probably chromosomally born. Arginase was found to be inducible during growth in the presence of arginine or ornithine. Urease was constitutively expressed. Ornithine, resulting from the action of arginase on arginine, could be used as a nitrogen source via transamination to delta 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate and reduction of the latter compound to proline by a reductase (both enzymatic activities are probably chromosomally encoded). Ornithine could also be used as a carbon source. Thus, we identified an ornithine cyclase activity that was responsible for direct conversion of ornithine to proline. This activity was found to be Ti plasmid encoded and inducible by growth in medium containing octopine or nopaline. The same activity was also chromosomally encoded in some Agrobacterium strains. In such strains, this activity was inducible during growth in arginine-containing medium.     

A monoclonal antibody reactive with an activated ras protein expressing valine at position 12

Activated ras transforming genes have been described in a variety of neoplasms and encode 21,000-Dalton (p21) proteins with amino acid substitutions at positions 12, 13, and 61. In this report we describe a monoclonal antibody designated DWP that reacts specifically with synthetic dodecapeptides containing valine at position 12, to a lesser extent with peptides containing cysteine at position 12 and not with peptides containing glycine, arginine, serine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid or alanine at the same position. Western blot and immunoperoxidase studies showed that DWP specifically reacts with activated rasH or rasK proteins in NIH cells transformed by DNA from the human carcinoma cells that encode valine at position 12. DWP did not react with normal p21s encoding glycine at position 12, nor with activated p21s encoding aspartic acid, glutamic acid, arginine, serine, or cysteine at position 12. A survey of human tumor cell lines demonstrated that DWP reacted with the human bladder carcinoma cell line T24 but not with human tumor cell lines previously shown to contain other activating mutations at positions 12 or 61. DWP and perhaps additional antibodies that specifically react with alterations at positions 12 or 61 of the ras protein may be valuable in determining the presence and frequency of activated ras proteins in human malignancy.     

Importance, localization and functional properties of the cell-associated form of plasminogen activator in mouse peritoneal macrophages

In inflammatory macrophages, plasminogen activator exists in two active forms, a soluble form released into the extracellular medium and a cell-associated form. This communication describes some properties of the cellular form of plasminogen activator, in intact macrophages and in cell lysates. Cellular plasminogen activator is a membrane protein, associated with the outer face of the plasma membrane; in intact macrophages, it participates in the activation of exogenous plasminogen and, thus, has to be considered as an ectoenzyme. A plasminogen activator activity can be detected in cell lysates (macrophage monolayers lysed in 0.1% Triton X-100) only when plasmin production is followed by the use of small synthetic substrates because a soluble inhibitor, released during extraction, blocks plasmin fibrinolytic activity. In these lysates, plasminogen activator molecules exist as high molecular weight unstable complexes exhibiting a high affinity for plasminogen.     

Electrosyntheses of disaccharides from phenyl or ethyl 1-thioglycosides

Constant current electrolyses of the glycosyl donors phenyl and ethyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzyl-1-thio-β-d-glycopyranoside in dry acetonitrile in the presence of various primary and secondary sugar alcohols, performed in an undivided cell, gave β-linked disaccharide derivatives selectively in good yields. Phenyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzoyl-1-thio-β-d-glycopyranoside gave the β-glucosides exclusively in good to moderate yields.