Social behavior of infant and mother Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata): Effects of kinship,partner sex,and infant sex

The behavioral interactions of 22 infant and mother Japanese macaques with other group members were studied. Focal-animal observations were made from the time of each infant’s birth until 1 year of age. Infants and mothers both displayed exceedingly strong preferences for associating with matrilineal kin and, specifically, for female kin. The degree of genetic relatedness was positively correlated with levels of spatial proximity, contact, grooming, aggression, and play. Overall frequencies of interactions with nonkin were very low, and partner sex was not an important factor in interactions with nonkin. There were no significant differences between male and female infants in interactions with kin versus nonkin. There was only one significant difference between male and female infants in interactions with males versus females: female infants showed stronger preferences for initiating proximity with females over males than did male infants. Because mothers provide the focal point for infant interactions during the first year of life, we compared the behavior of infants and mothers. Mothers were the recipients of more social interactions than were infants, mothers engaged in more grooming than did infants, and infants engaged in more social play than did mothers. These findings are only partially consistent with kin-selection theory, and the inadequacies of studying matrilineal kin discrimination to test kin selection are reviewed. The near-absence of infant sex differences in associations with social partners suggests that although maternal kin other than the mother are important to infant socialization, they probably do not contribute to the development of behavioral sex differences until after the first year of life.     

Development of partner preferences in Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata): Effects of gender and kinship during the second year of life

Quantitative data are presented on the effects of subject sex, partner sex,and kinship on the social interactions of 18 juveniles of the Oregon troop of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).Data on these subjects as infants were also used to detail maturational changes in partner sex preferences. Nine males and nine females, whose multiparous mothers represented a cross section of dominance ranks, were observed using a focal-animal technique. Juveniles of both sexes engaged in more proximity, contact, grooming, mounting, aggression, and social play with kin than with nonkin partners. They initiated less contact with females and more contact with males during their second year. They initiated more grooming and aggression during their second year than their first year, with females displaying a strong preference for grooming females and males specifically aggressing males more during the second year. Aggression was higher between same-sexed partners than between opposite-sexed partners. Males engaged in more social interactions with males during the second year than the first year of life. Males played more than females during both years. Males played more with males during the second year than the first year, and males played with males more than did females during the second year. We conclude that sex differences in behavioral frequencies become evident during the first year of life, and sex differences in partner preferences emerge during the second year of life.     

Electron transport across the plasmalemma of Lemna gibba G1

Lemna gibba L., grown in the presence or absence of Fe, reduced extracellular ferricyanide with a V _max of 3.09 mol · g^-1 fresh weight · h^-1 and a K _m of 115 M. However, Fe³⁺-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was reduced only after Fe-starvation. External electron acceptors such as ferricyanide, Fe³⁺-EDTA, 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol or methylene blue induced a membrane depolarization of up to 100 mV, but electron donors such as ferrocyanide or NADH had no effect. Light or glucose enhanced ferricyanide reduction while the concomitant membrane depolarization was much smaller. Under anaerobic conditions, ferricyanide had no effect on electrical membrane potential difference (E_m). Ferricyanide reduction induced H⁺ and K⁺ release in a ratio of 1.16 H⁺+1 K⁺/2 e^- (in +Fe plants) and 1.28 H⁺+0.8 K⁺/2 e^- (in -Fe plants). Anion uptake was inhibited by ferricyanide reduction. It is concluded that the steady-state transfer of electrons and protons proceeds by separate mechanisms, by a redox system and by a H⁺-ATPase.Abbreviations E _m electrical membrane potential difference - EDTA ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid - DCPIP dichlorophenol indophenol - +Fe control plant - -Fe iron-deficient plant - FW fresh weight - H⁺ electrochemical proton gradient     

Peroxide oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes by chloroperoxidase catalysis

Chloroperoxidase catalyzes the peroxidation of primary alcohols, specifically those that are allylic, propargylic, or benzylic. Aldehydes are the products. The reaction dislays appreciable activity throughout the entire pH range investigated, namely pH 3.0–7.0. This enzyme is the only haloperoxidase of four tested capable of carrying out the reaction. These results further establish chloroperoxidase as a unique haloperoxidase.     

Spontaneous action potentials and resting potential shifts in fertilized eggs of the tunicate Clavelina

Electrical activity in the fertilized egg of the tunicate Clavelina was studied with microelectrode recording and voltage clamp techniques. The resting potential could assume either of two stable values (approximately ?70 or ?30 mV) and could be shifted between these values by direct current stimulation. Spontaneous shifts between two stable resting potentials were also seen. Egg cells produced action potentials spontaneously and in response to depolarizing stimuli. Inward currents were carried by both Na and Ca ions and a prominent outward potassium current was seen with depolarization to voltages above ?15 mV. The steady-state current-voltage relationship (I–V curve) of the membrane showed two voltages where the net membrane current equaled zero: approximately ?35 and ?70 mV. Between these two voltages, membrane current was inward and carried by noninactivating Na and Ca currents. Inward rectification, which was blocked by external Rb, occurred at voltages below ?70 mV. The voltage dependence of inward rectification is thought by the authors to be important for establishing the more negative resting potential; it is also thought the presence of inward current which does not inactivate completely at voltages more negative than about ?20 mV is an important determinant of the more depolarized resting potential.     

Das Problem der Spezifizität des Sabin-Feldman Farbtestes

Zusammenfassung Bei der Diagnostik der Toxoplasmosis, wie auch bei epidemiologischen Studien mit Hilfe dieses Testes, st?szt man auf die Nicht-Reproduzierbarkeit in engen Grenzen und auf die Frage welcher Wert niedrigen Serumtitern beigelegt werden soll. Die Technik des Sabin-Feldman Farbtestes ist vonvan Soestbergen studiert und verbessert worden, wodurch der Test auf diese Weise reproduzierbar geworden ist. Mit Hilfe dieser Technik und experimentell ist FrauMas Bakal besch?ftigt Probleme der Aspezifizit?t zu beantworten. Bis jetzt k?nnen keine Motive angeführt werden die gegen die Spezifizit?t des Testes sprechen. Vortrag auf der I Tagung der tschechoslowakischen Parasitologen in Prag 6–10 Oktober 1957.     

Molecular evolution of enzyme structure: Construction of a hybrid hamster/Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase

Summary Aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase, EC 2.1.3.2) is the first unique enzyme common to de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis and is involved in a variety of structural patterns in different organisms. InEscherichia coli, ATCase is a functionally independent, oligomeric enzyme; in hamster, it is part of a trifunctional protein complex, designated CAD, that includes the preceding and subsequent enzymes of the biosynthetic pathway (carbamoyl phosphate synthetase and dihydroorotase). The complete complementary DNA (cDNA) nucleotide sequence of the ATCase-encoding portion of the hamster CAD gene is reported here. A comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of the hamster andE. coli catalytic peptides revealed an overall 44% amino acid similarity, substantial conservation of predicted secondary structure, and complete conservation of all the amino acids implicated in the active site of theE. coli enzyme. These observations led to the construction of a functional hybrid ATCase formed by intragenic fusion based on the known tertiary structure of the bacterial enzyme. In this fusion, the amino terminal half (the “polar domain”) of the fusion protein was provided by a hamster ATCase cDNA subclone, and the carboxyl terminal portion (the “equatorial domain”) was derived from a clonedpyrBI operon ofE. coli K-12. The recombinant plasmid bearing the hybrid ATCase was shown to satisfy growth requirements of transformedE. coli pyrB ⁻ cells. The functionality of thisE. coli-hamster hybrid enzyme confirms conservation of essential structure-function relationships between evolutionarily distant and structurally divergent ATCases.     

Model system using coliphage phi X174 for testing virus removal by air filters.

Short-term (15-min-duration) and long-term (5- to 6-day-duration) test procedures have been developed for determining the efficiency of the removal of bacteriophage phi X174 by air-sterilizing filters. These procedures were sensitive enough to measure a 10(8)-fold reduction in the number of bacteriophage. A filter commonly used in industrial air sterilizations (Domnick-Hunter Bio-X borosilicate glass) effected a 10(8)-fold removal of viable phage in both short-term and long-term tests. A prototype low-flux, hollow-fiber membrane gave similar results; however, a prototype high-flux, hollow-fiber membrane removed only about 99.999% of the bacteriophage in short-term tests.