Morphological features of larvae of Anthracophora rusticola Burmeister, 1842 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) testifying the affinity of the subfamilies Cetoniinae and Trichiinae

The previously undescribed larvae of Anthracophora rusticola Burmeister, 1842 have been reared from adults kept in cages. The larvae manifest a combination of characters of the two allied subfamilies Cetoniinae and Trichiinae.     

Non-Canonical Translation Initiation Mechanisms Employed by Eukaryotic Viral mRNAs

Biochemistry (Moscow) - Viruses exploit the translation machinery of an infected cell to synthesize their proteins. Therefore, viral mRNAs have to compete for ribosomes and translation factors with...     

Analysis of cytosolic isocitrate dehydrogenase and glutathione reductase 1 in photoperiod‐influenced responses to ozone using Arabidopsis knockout mutants

Oxidative stress caused by ozone (O₃) affects plant development, but the roles of specific redox‐homeostatic enzymes in O₃ responses are still unclear. While growth day length may affect oxidative stress outcomes, the potential influence of day length context on equal‐time exposures to O₃ is not known. In Arabidopsis Col‐0, day length affected the outcome of O₃ exposure. In short‐days (SD), few lesions were elicited by treatments that caused extensive lesions in long days (LD). Lesion formation was not associated with significant perturbation of glutathione, ascorbate, NADP(H) or NAD(H). To investigate roles of two genes potentially underpinning this redox stability, O₃ responses of mutants for cytosolic NADP‐isocitrate dehydrogenase (icdh) and glutathione reductase 1 (gr1) were analysed. Loss of ICDH function did not affect O₃‐induced lesions, but slightly increased glutathione oxidation, induction of other cytosolic NADPH‐producing enzymes and pathogenesis‐related gene 1 (PR1). In gr1, O₃‐triggered lesions, salicylic acid accumulation, and induction of PR1 were all decreased relative to Col‐0 despite enhanced accumulation of glutathione. Thus, even at identical irradiance and equal‐time exposures, day length strongly influences phenotypes triggered by oxidants of atmospheric origin, while in addition to its antioxidant function, the GR‐glutathione system seems to play novel signalling roles during O₃ exposure.     

On the effect of ammonium and lithium ions upon frog nerve deprived of sodium

An analysis has been made of the effect of ammonium and of lithium ions upon frog nerve deprived of sodium. Ammonium ions cannot substitute for sodium ions and restore the excitability of the nerve fibers; nor can they increase the L fraction of the membrane potential and the efficiency of the nerve reaction. Certain observations, however, indicate that the presence of ammonium ions outside the nerve fibers may delay the development of inexcitability in a sodium-free medium of nerve fibers restored by a moderate amount of sodium ions. Lithium ions can substitute for sodium and restore to nerve fibers of the A and C groups the ability to conduct impulses; the effect upon B fibers has not been investigated. Lithium cannot substitute for sodium in the role that sodium plays in the creation of the L fraction and in the establishment of the nerve reaction. In this respect lithium and sodium have opposite effects. This fact establishes an important difference between the two physiological responses that the nerve fibers can produce, the nerve impulse and the nerve reaction. With untreated nerve the depolarization of nerve by lithium ions at high concentrations is preceded by a phase of hyperpolarization; with nerve deprived of sodium the depolarization begins without delay.     

Laser Microtomography for IVF Oocyte of Human

Doklady Biochemistry and Biophysics - For in vitro fertilization technology, the quality of oocytes has a direct impact on the egg fertilization and developmental competence of early embryo. The...     

Inferring habitat and feeding behaviour of early Miocene notoungulates from Patagonia

Cassini, G.H., Mendoza, M., Vizcaíno, S.F. & Bargo, M.S. 2011: Inferring habitat and feeding behaviour of early Miocene notoungulates from Patagonia. Lethaia, Vol. 44, pp. 153–165. Notoungulates, native fossil mammals of South America, have been usually studied from a taxonomic point of view, whereas their palaeobiology has been largely neglected. For example, morpho‐functional or eco‐morphological approaches have not been rigorously applied to the masticatory apparatus to propose hypothesis on dietary habits. In this study, we generate inferences about habitat and feeding preferences in five Santacrucian genera of notoungulates of the orders Typotheria and Toxodontia using novel computer techniques of knowledge discovery. The Santacrucian (Santa Cruz Formation, late‐early Miocene) fauna is particularly appropriate for this kind of studies due to its taxonomic richness, diversity, amount of specimens recorded and the quality of preservation. Over 100 extant species of ungulates, distributed among 13 families of artiodactyls and perissodactyls, were used as reference samples to reveal the relationships between craniodental morphology and ecological patterns. The results suggest that all Santacrucian notoungulates present morphologies characteristic of open habitats’ extant ungulates. Although the Toxodontia exhibits the same morphological pattern of living mixed‐feeders and grazers, the Typotheria shows exaggerated traits of specialized grazer ungulates. □Craniodental morphology, ecomorphology, fossil ungulates, knowledge discovery, South America.