Effects on NaeI-DNA recognition of the leucine to lysine substitution that transforms restriction endonuclease NaeI to a topoisomerase: a model for restriction endonuclease evolution.

Substituting lysine for leucine at position 43 (L43K) transforms NaeI from restriction endonuclease to topoisomerase and makes NaeI hypersensitive to intercalative anticancer drugs. Here we investigated DNA recognition by Nael-L43K. Using DNA competition and gel retardation assays, NaeI-L43K showed reduced affinity for DNA substrate and the ability to bind both single- and double-stranded DNA with a definite preference for the former. Sedimentation studies showed that under native conditions NaeI-L43K, like NaeI, is a dimer. Introduction of mismatched bases into double-stranded DNA significantly increased that DNA's ability to inhibit NaeI-L43K. Wild-type NaeI showed no detectable binding of either single-stranded DNA or mismatched DNA over the concentration range studied. These results demonstrate that the L43K substitution caused a significant change in recognition specificity by NaeI and imply that NaeI-L43K's topoisomerase activity is related to its ability to bind single-stranded and distorted regions in DNA. A mechanism is proposed for the evolution of the NaeI restriction-modification system from a topoisomerase/ligase by a mutation that abolished religation activity and provided a needed change in DNA recognition.     

Cryptosporidiosis in the V Region Chile. III. Study of malnourished patients, 1985-1987

Frequency of infection by Cryptosporidium sp. in 1,039 faecal smears stained by Ziehl-Neelsen, obtained from undernourished patients of a Nutritional Recovery Center and an ambulatory undernourished center from the Fifth Region, Chile, were studied. All underwent a coproparasitological examination by the modified Telemann method. Thirty eight (3.7%) patients infected by the parasite were detected, with an overall frequency of 8.5% among patients of the Nutritional Recovery Center and 1.9% among the ambulatory patients; this difference was statistically significant. The highest percentage of positive results were detected among the younger milk feeding infants. Also the percentage of difference among these and the older milk feeding infants (3.7%) was statistically significant. Association of Cryptosporidium sp. and Giardia lamblia was observed in 6 ambulatory patients (2.3%).     

Flooded native pastures of the northern region of the Pantanal of Mato Grosso: biomass and primary productivity variations.

The Pantanal comprises a number of landscape units, submitted to a flood pulse with variable intensity or regularity. One of these units, the flooded plains, is important in cattle raising. This study was carried out in the northern portion of the Pantanal and presents data related to the productive dynamics of the flooded native pastures both protected from and exposed to cattle. The greatest total biomass values were for the protected pasture due to accumulated dead biomass. Net primary production presented smaller values at the flood-season start and increasing gradually beginning in the subsequent rainy season. However, consumption by cattle was also more intense during the months of greater precipitation. The effect of cattle in pastures is of fundamental importance to management since it prevents the dead biomass excess that increases fire risks.     

Distribution of Adult Male and Female Baccharis concinna (Asteraceae) in the Rupestrian Fields of Serra Do Cipó, Brazil

Abstract: This study focuses on the sex ratio and spatial distribution of males and females in three populations of the endemic and restricted tropical dioecious shrub, Baccharis concinna (Asteraceae) in the mountainous region of Serra do Cipó, southeastern Brazil. The proportion of female plants in the population at lower elevation (1000 m a.s.l.) was significantly greater than of male plants. At this elevation of P/N and Ca/Al ratios in the soil were also greater indicating better nutritional status of the soils. The concentration of aluminium increased significantly with the elevation ( p < 0.001), perhaps rendering soils less conducive to female plants at higher elevations. Female plants are possibly adversely affected to a greater extent by soil quality than male plants. The spatial distribution of the populations within habitat was tested by the K(t) function, where the neighbourhood of a given individual was defined by a circle with a radius (t) up to 3 m. Despite the strong tendency for aggregation, the distribution of the sexes within habitats was random and the hypothesis was not supported. The independent distribution of the sexes within habitats may be explained by nutrient homogeneity of the soils, as well as by an absence of antagonism between the sexes. Nevertheless, we found a trend for males and females to be aggregated according to their gender.     

TWO NEW GENERA OF BRAZILIAN BAMBOOS RELATED TO GUADUA (POACEAE: BAMBUSOIDEAE: BAMBUSEAE)

Of all the genera of woody bamboos described from America, only three have pseudospikelets—Atractantha, Elytrostachys, and Guadua. The former two have pseudospikelets with an elongated rachilla internode that precedes the floret, making it pedicellate; they also share a type of leaf anatomy that separates them from the latter. The two new genera herein described, Criciuma and Eremocaulon, show most similarity to species of Guadua, both in spikelet morphology and in leaf anatomy. The study of these new taxa has helped to clarify the limits of New World genera with pseudospikelets and strengthened the case for maintaining Guadua as a genus distinct from its Old World counterpart, Bambusa. We are now able to discern a New World line of bamboos that includes Criciuma, Eremocaulon, and Guadua, separate from an Old World line that includes Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, and several other genera.     

Vicariance patterns in the Mediterranean Sea: east–west cleavage and low dispersal in the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica

Aim The seagrass, Posidonia oceanica is a clonal angiosperm endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Previous studies have suggested that clonal growth is far greater than sexual recruitment and thus leads to low clonal diversity within meadows. However, recently developed microsatellite markers indicate that there are many different genotypes, and therefore many distinct clones present. The low resolution of markers used in the past limited our ability to estimate clonality and assess the individual level. New high‐resolution dinucleotide microsatellites now allow genetically distinct individuals to be identified, enabling more reliable estimation of population genetic parameters across the Mediterranean Basin. We investigated the biogeography and dispersal of P. oceanica at various spatial scales in order to assess the influence of different evolutionary factors shaping the distribution of genetic diversity in this species. Location The Mediterranean. Methods We used seven hypervariable microsatellite markers, in addition to the five previously existing markers, to describe the spatial distribution of genetic variability in 34 meadows spread throughout the Mediterranean, on the basis of an average of 35.6 (± 6.3) ramets sampled. Results At the scale of the Mediterranean Sea as a whole, a strong east–west cleavage was detected (amova) . These results are in line with those obtained using previous markers. The new results showed the presence of a putative secondary contact zone at the Siculo‐Tunisian Strait, which exhibited high allelic richness and shared alleles absent from the eastern and western basins. F statistics (pairwise θ ranges between 0.09 and 0.71) revealed high genetic structure between meadows, both at a small scale (about 2 to 200 km) and at a medium scale within the eastern and western basins, independent of geographical distance. At the intrameadow scale, significant spatial autocorrelation in six out of 15 locations revealed that dispersal can be restricted to the scale of a few metres. Main conclusions A stochastic pattern of effective migration due to low population size, turnover and seed survival is the most likely explanation for this pattern of highly restricted gene flow, despite the importance of an a priori seed dispersal potential. The east–west cleavage probably represents the outline of vicariance caused by the last Pleistocene ice age and maintained to this day by low gene flow. These results emphasize the diversity of evolutionary processes shaping the genetic structure at different spatial scales.