Changing phase relationships among motor units during flight in a saturniid moth

Summary Muscle potentials were recorded extracellularly fromRothschildia jacobeae in stationary flight while the moth was visually stimulated to turn around its dorsoventral axis. Asymmetries in wing position were also observed photographically. During a turn, right and left mesothoracic basalar muscles were excited at certain but different phases of the wingbeat cycle. The asymmetry was reversed when the direction of the turn was reversed. Right and left mesothoracic third axillary muscles were also excited at different phases of the wingbeat cycle, but they also fired in synchronous bursts or throughout the cycle. Thus the possibilites for controlling wing rotation and wing position during flight are extensive.

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Zusammenfassung BeiRothschildia jacobeae wurden Muskelpotentiale im Stationärflug und bei visuell induzierten Drehbewegungen um die Hochachse extrazellulär abgeleitet. Zudem wurden Links-Rechts-Unterschiede im Flügelschlag fotografisch registriert. Wahrend einer Drehbewegung waren die rechten und linken basalaren Mesothoraxmuskeln in bestimmter, aber unterschiedlicher Phasenlage zum Flügelschlag aktiv. Bei Umkehr der Drehrichtung änderte sich die Phasenlage spiegelbildlich. Ebenso waren der rechte und linke Muskel des 2. Axillare des Mesothorax in unterschiedlicher Phasenlage zum Flügelschlag aktiv, sie feuerten aber auch in synchronen Rhythmen oder während des gesamten Schlagablaufs. Somit ergibt sich eine Vielzahl von Steuermöglichkeiten für Flügelrotation und Flügellage während des Flugs.

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We wish to thank the University of Saarland for the financial support provided to guest zoologist Dr. Ann Kammer, Dr. W. Zarnack for the construction of the preamplifiers, and master mechanic Mr. R. Jacobi for the alterations made in the moving-film camera.     

Seminalplasmin,the major basic protein of bull seminal plasma,is a secretory protein of the seminal vesicles

From the experimental results of three independent methods: (1) indirect immunofluorescence employing monospecific anti-seminalplasmin-IgGs, (2) cell-free translation of poly(A)⁺ RNA from seminal vesicle and testicular tissue, as well as (3) Northern analysis of poly(A)⁺ RNA of the latter tissues with a synthetic seminalplasmin-specific antisense DNA probe, it is concluded that the biosynthesis of seminalplasmin occurs in seminal vesicles but not in testis.