Basement-membrane components associated with the extracellular matrix of the lymph node

Summary Lymph nodes contain an extensive array of extracellular matrix fibers frequently referred to as reticular fibers because of their reticular pattern and positive reaction with silver stains. These fibers are known to contain primarily type-III collagen. In the present study, frozen and plastic-embedded sections of mouse and human lymph nodes were subjected to immunostaining with a panel of monospecific antibodies directed against type-IV collagen, type-III collagen, laminin, entactin, and heparan sulfate proteoglycan. Immunofluorescent staining revealed that, in addition to being uniformly stained with antibodies to type-III collagen, these fibers also stained positively with antibodies to type-IV collagen and to other basement-membrane-specific components. Furthermore, the basement-membrane-specific antibodies stained the outer surface of individual fibers. These same type-III collagen-rich fibers were distinct from blood vascular basement membranes since they did not react with antibodies to factor VIII-related antigen, an endothelial-cell-specific marker. The role of these basement-membrane-specific components associated with the reticular fibers of lymphoid tissue is unknown. However, it is possible that the ligands promote attachment of reticular fibroblasts as well as macrophages and lymphocytes to the extracellular matrix fibers.     

The importance of Paracallisoma coecus and myctophid fishes to nesting fork-tailed and Leach's storm-petrels in the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia

The diet of fork-tailed (Oceanodroma furcata) and Leach's storm-petrel(O.leucorhoa) was studied at Petrel Island, a small island northof Hippa Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbiain 1983. The diet of the two storm-petrel species consistedmostly of the amphipod Paracallisoma coecus and fish. Most fisheswhich could be identified were myctophids, and may have beenacquired by storm-petrels at night. Fishes increased while P.coecusdeclined in importance as a food over the nestling season ofthe storm-petrels. The amount of oil also declined in the Leach'sstorm-petrel diet over the season. Since P.coecus contains muchoil, the seasonal decline of both P.coecus and oil was probablyassociated. Other less important foods were jellyfishes, copepods,isopods, euphausiids, shrimp, squid and octopus. Jellyfishes(Velella velella) only occurred in the diet of Leach's storm-petrels,which may relate to that storm-petrel feeding in open oceanwhere V. velella occurs most frequently. The most numerous copepodwas Neocalanus cristatus, which was only observed in the storm-petreldiet early on during the study period. An abyssal copepod, Bathycalanusbradyi, and the isopod Cirolana californiensis (tentativelyidentified, the latter only previously known from sea canyonsoff California) were surprising food items of storm-petrels.Most euphausiid prey consisted of Thysanoessa spinifera andEuphausia pacifica.     

Ac transposition in transgenic tomato plants

Summary As an initial step towards developing a transposon mutagenesis system in tomato, the maize transposable element Ac was transformed into tomato plants via Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Southern analysis of leaf tissue indicated that in nine out of eleven transgenic plants, Ac excised from the T-DNA and reintegrated into new chromosomal locations. The comparison of Ac banding pattern in different leaves of the same primary transformant provided evidnece for transposition during later stages of transgenic plant development. There was no evidence of Ds mobilization in tomato transformants.     

Salicyloylaspartate as an endogenous component in the leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris

An amide conjugate of o-methoxybenzoic acid and aspartic acid has been isolated from bean leaves. After extraction and methylation of plant material, this compound was isolated as two isomeric monoethyl monomethyl esters. The ethylation of the aspartyl carboxyl groups was shown to be a likely result of an extraction procedure utilising acidified ethanol, the methylation of the aromatic hydroxy of the methoxy group to be due to the derivatisation procedure. Studies with pentafluorobenzylation confirmed that the endogenous compound is o-hydroxybenzoylaspartate.     

Simultaneous degradation of the herbicides 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2-(2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxy)propionic acid by mixed bacterial cultures

The simultaneous degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2-(2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxy)propionic acid (mecoprop) was achieved by two mixed cultures in the absence of any additional carbon or energy substrates. Mecoprop was not completely degraded by either of the two cultures, nor did addition of 2,4-D affect the degradation of mecoprop. The cultures completely degraded 2,4-D, and the degradation was uninfluenced by the addition of mecoprop. Nearly complete dechlorination of the mixture of two herbicides was achieved by both cultures, on the basis of the total amount of the two herbicides degraded. During the course of the reaction, however, the expected values of chloride were not met. Cell growth continued after the degradation of the parent substrates ceased. Although the mecoprop degradation did not continue to completion, spectral and growth data indicated that the metabolites which had accumulated during the reaction were degraded upon further incubation.     

Determinants in the perceptions of visual blight

Research on visual blight has been predominantly qualitative and has pointed out salient attributes of blight: that it is durable, visually demeaning, and somehow aesthetically depressing. Data from a national sample (n=3005) are used in this study to measure the effect of demographic variation on the perception of visual blight. The perception of blight shows marked and regular variation with socioeconomic status, marital status, and religiosity.Harris data for this study was purchased with funds from the Shell Foundation. The author wishes to acknowledge Robert Q. Hanham, whose assistance proved invaluable.     

Temperature-Sensitive Lethal Mutations on Yeast Chromosome I Appear to Define Only a Small Number of Genes

A method was developed for isolating large numbers of mutations on chromosome I of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A strain monosomic for chromosome I (i.e., haploid for chromosome I and diploid for all other chromosomes) was mutagenized with either ethyl methanesulfonate or N-methyl-N'-nitro-N -nitrosoguanidine and screened for temperature-sensitive (Ts^- ) mutants capable of growth on rich, glucose-containing medium at 25° but not at 37°. Recessive mutations induced on chromosome I are expressed, whereas those on the diploid chromosomes are usually not expressed because of the presence of wild-type alleles on the homologous chromosomes. Dominant ts mutations on all chromosomes should also be expressed, but these appeared rarely. — Of the 41 ts mutations analyzed, 32 mapped on chromosome I. These 32 mutations fell into only three complementation groups, which proved to be the previously described genes CDC15, CDC24 and PYK1 (or CDC19). We recovered 16 or 17 independent mutations in CDC15, 12 independent mutations in CDC24 and three independent mutations in PYK1. A fourth gene on chromosome I, MAK16, is known to be capable of giving rise to a ts-lethal allele, but we recovered no mutations in this gene. The remaining nine mutations isolated using the monosomic strain appeared not to map on chromosome I and were apparently expressed in the original mutants because they had become homozygous or hemizygous by mitotic recombination or chromosome loss. — The available information about the size of chromosome I suggests that it should contain approximately 60–100 genes. However, our isolation in the monosomic strain of multiple, independent alleles of just three genes suggests that only a small proportion of the genes on chromosome I is easily mutable to give a Ts^--lethal phenotype. — During these studies, we located CDC24 on chromosome I and determined that it is centromere distal to PYK1 on the left arm of the chromosome.