The Drosophila tissue polarity gene starry night encodes a member of the protocadherin family.

The tissue polarity genes control the polarity of hairs, bristles and ommatidia in the adult epidermis of Drosophila. We report here the identification of a new tissue polarity gene named starry night (stan). Mutations in this essential gene alter the polarity of cuticular structures in all regions of the adult body. The detailed polarity phenotype of stan on the wing suggested that it is most likely a component of the frizzled (fz) pathway. Consistent with this hypothesis, stan appears to be downstream of and required for fz function. We molecularly cloned stan and found that it encodes a huge protocadherin containing nine cadherin motifs, four EGF-like motifs, two laminin G motifs, and seven transmembrane domains. This suggests that Stan functions in signal reception, perhaps together with Fz.     

The taxonomic composition of macrozoobenthos in central Russian small karst lakes

The macrozoobenthos taxonomic composition in small karst lakes of Vladimir oblast is studied for the first time. In the structure of bottom communities, 149 taxa one rank below the genus have been found. Chironomid larvae and other amphibiotic animals, as well as oligochaetes, prevail. Most of them are species widely distributed in the surface waters of European Russia. The highest macrozoobenthos species diversity was recorded in neutral lakes, and the lowest diversity was in lakes with weakly acidic waters.     

Cartographic analysis of the population of amphibians,reptiles, and birds of the West Siberian plain and Altai

For the entire territory of West Siberia, including its plain and mountainous parts, two maps were constructed for populations of amphibians together with reptiles, and of birds. Communities of these classes of vertebrates differ from one another in their spatial differentiation. The differences are demonstrated for the plain and mountainous territories considered jointly and separately.     

Lysozyme concentration in the loose connective tissue of animals with different species sensitivity to brucellosis]

Lysozyme content was determined in the subcutaneous cellular tissue of guinea pigs and albino rats differing by species resistance to brucella infection. Experiments were conducted on intact animals and those inoculated subcutaneously with live Br. abortus 19-BA vaccine. Connective tissue was taken from the site of the vaccine administration and from the contralateral side (control). Observations showed connective tissue of the animals highly sensitive to brucella infection to be exceedingly poor in this enzyme; as to connective tissue of albino rats with low sensitivity--it contained high amount of this enzyme. Lysozyme content increased considerably in the animals belonging to both species in the inflammatory focus developing at the site of the vaccine inoculation.     

The use of intrinsic protein fluorescence to quantitate enzyme-bound persulfide and to measure equilibria between intermediates in rhodanese catalysis

The intrinsic fluorescence of the enzyme rhodanese is quenched by as much as 30% when sulfur is transferred to the free enzyme form, E, giving the sulfur-substituted enzyme, ES. This fluorescence change (lambda ex = 295 nm and lambda em = 335 nm) has been used to quantitate the E and ES forms which are isolatable, obligatory intermediates in rhodanese catalysis. Fluorescence titration was performed using cyanide to irreversibly remove sulfur from ES. The results show a stoichiometry corresponding to 1 bound sulfur/molecule of the ES form of rhodanese (Mr = 33,000). The fluorescence changes were used to measure the concentrations of E and ES when these were in reversible equilibria induced by interactions with the substrates S2O3(2-) and SO3(2-). These results were compared with an equilibrium constant derived from published kinetic studies for the reaction (formula; see text) The very close agreement between the physical and kinetic methods indicate that there are no significant concentrations of intermediates other than E and ES. Overall, the results are compatible with the formation of a persulfide intermediate in rhodanese catalysis and are consistent with conclusions from x-ray crystallography and absorption spectroscopy. In addition, these procedures offer a facile method to measure equilibria between catalytic intermediates in the rhodanese reaction using functionally relevant concentrations.