Influence of photoperiod and temperature on testicular recrudescence and body growth in the lizards, Lacerta sicula and Lacerta muralis

Annual testicular cycles in the lizards Lacerta sicula and L. muralis appear to be regulated by the interaction between seasonal changes in body temperature and an endogenous rhythmicity in thermal responsiveness. Photoperiodism does not appear to be an important factor; i.e. testicular activity does not appear to be regulated by daylength.
Following testicular regression in July, the lizards are refractory to sexual stimulation by high temperatures (i.e. normal preferred levels) for about five months. High temperatures accelerate gonadal regression and prevent recrudescence during late summer. Reduced temperatures stimulate testicular enlargement and spermatid formation during the autumn; this recrudescence can be blocked by treatment with testosterone. Very low temperatures suppress gonadal activity during mid-winter.
Maintenance of lizards at constant high temperatures (33°C) starting in July suppresses testicular recrudescence until December. Also, testicular collapse occurs in lizards transferred to high temperatures after recrudescence has started. The gonads are stimulated by exogenous gonadotropins at 33°C during the fall indicating that high temperatures reduce circulating levels of gonadotropins.
The refractoriness to high temperatures is "spontaneously" terminated during midwinter (December) under a wide range of photo-thermal conditions. Low temperatures may accelerate the termination of refractoriness. Thereafter, high temperatures stimulate, and are required for the final development of the testes and accessory sexual structures. Thus, the increase in body temperature following hibernation times the onset of breeding in the spring.
Temperature also has a marked influence on appetite and growth, independent of photo-period. Weight gains are greater at 33° than at 20°C. At 33° there is a tendency for abdominal fat bodies to enlarge but with little hepatic growth; whereas, the reverse occurs at 20°C.     

Microbial metabolism of the \-adrenoreceptor antagonist bisoprolol

Eighteen filamentous fungi and six actinomycetes species were screened for their ability to metabolize bisoprolol, a \-blocking drug. All strains of Cunninghamella tested accumulated metabolite M4 = EMD 46193 ([4-(2-hydroxy-3-isopropylaminopropoxy)benzyloxy]ethanol). Among the strains investigated only Gliocladium deliquescens excreted the corresponding carbonic acid M1 = EMD 44025 into the culture medium. Biotransformation of bisoprolol by fungi occurred only during growth in complex medium or with resting cells after cultivation in complex medium. The screened Actinomycetes showed no biotransformation of the drug. Correspondence to: H. Schwartz     

Characterization of rapeseed myrosinase-binding protein

Myrosinase-binding proteins (MBPs) were purified from seeds of Brassica napus L. (oilseed rape). The proteins were characterized with respect to amino-acid composition, peptide sequence and isoelectric points. Gel electrophoresis and Western blotting of protein extracts from mature seeds showed the existence of at least ten proteins reacting with a monoclonal anti-MBP antibody and ranging in molecular size from 110 to 30 kDa. Proteins other than MBP reacting with the anti-MBP antibody were assigned as myrosinase-binding protein-related proteins (MBPRPs). Two MBPRPs were purified by immunoaffinity chromatography and characterized with respect to partial amino-acid sequence. Sequence identities were found between MBP and MBPRP. Western blot analysis of protein extracts from different tissues of B. napus showed that MBPRP is present in the whole plant, whereas MBP mostly occurs in the mature seed. A double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to investigate the occurrence of MBP and MBPRP in developing seeds of some species in the Brassicaceae family.Abbreviations FPLC fast protein liquid chromatography - MBP myrosinase-binding protein - MBPRP myrosinase-bindingprotein-telated protein - PBS phosphate-buffered saline     

Detection of a nerve-specific membrane protein on differentiating PCC3/A/1 cells

Attempts were made to prepare monoclonal antibodies specifically reactive with cell surface components of a murine neuroblastoma cell line, Neuro 2a. One of the antibodies (1c2) reacts with a varying proportion of in vitro cultivated Neuro 2a cells, but does not react with murine embryonal carcinoma cell lines (PCC3/A/1 and F9) or with a murine fibroblast line (LM). This antibody selectively stains a subpopulation of nerve cells in murine adult central nervous system, e.g. granular cells in cerebellar cortex. Immunoaffinity purification of adult brain and Neuro 2a plasma membrane fractions with the antibody resulted in an electrophoretically pure protein of approx. 28 kD molecular weight as estimated by SDS-PAGE. Although this antigen is absent from PCC3/A/1 embryonal carcinoma cells, it can be demonstrated after 9 days of growth and differentiation under low density conditions by indirect immunoperoxidase staining. This monoclonal antibody may prove useful in further analysis of neural tissue development.     

The genus Archidendron (Leguminosae – Mimosoideae)

An account is given of the morphology and the taxonomy of the Asian, Australian and Pacific genus Archidendron (Leguminosae – Mimosoideae). A new infrageneric classification based on morphological data is presented, the genus being subdivided in 8 series. The phylogeny of the genus is discussed, the base of discussion being all available morphological, palynological and wood–anatomical characters. The presence/absence of stipules, the length of the staminal tube compared with that of the corolla–tube, the sessile/stipitate ovary(–ies), the morphology of the pods and the wood–anatomy have been particularly useful in determining the evolutionary trends within the genus. Analyses of the geographical range of selected character states are presented. The data suggest a Central – W. Malesian origin of the genus. The series endemic to the E. Malesian – Australian area have probably evolved more recently. The pluricarpellate condition of the flowers in several species endemic to the E. Malesian and Australian area is considered to be a derived character state. The following new taxa are proposed: Ser. Calycinae Nielsen, ser. Ptenopae Nielsen, ser. Bellae Nielsen, Archidendron falcatum Nielsen, A. cockburnii Nielsen, A. sabahense Nielsen, A. fagifolium (Bl. ex Miq.) Nielsen var. borneense Nielsen, A. kunsrteri (Prain) Nielsen subsp. ashtonii Nielsen, A. ellipticum (Bl.) Nielsen subsp. cordifoliolatum Nielsen. New combinations are proposed in the Malesian species formerly referred to Abarema, Zygia and Morolobium by Kostermans. Keys to and an enumeration of the species are presented.     

Zur Bewurzelung dikotyler Sandpflanzen

Wir haben eingangs die Existenz bestimmter ükologischer Faktoren vermutet, aufgrund derer die Pflanzengesellschaften auf Sandbüden ihr besonderes Gepräge erhalten. In der Tat sind zumindest die Mainzer Sande arm an Nährstoffen und von nur beschränkter Aufnahmefähigkeit für Wasser; andererseits schützt die geringe Kapillarität des Sandes den Boden vor Wasserverlust durch Verdunstung. Tiefgehende Pfahlwurzelsysteme, die sich in unteren Bodenbezirken reich verzweigen — also insgesamt etwa birnenfürmige Gestalt annehmen — entsprächen somit den Erwartungen. Der tiefgehende Anteil der T-Systeme stimmt weitgehend mit dieser Vorstellung überein, der proximale querstreichende Anteil hingegen wie auch die geotropische Umstimmung der Primärwurzeln von Sommer-Hapaxanthen ist ükologisch offenbar ?sinnlos”, wenn nicht sogar schädlich. Ähnliches gilt für die sproßbürtige Bewurzelung. Wir künnen somit drei Gruppen von Merkmalen an Radikationen unterscheiden:

• 1 . Merkmale, die aus dem Bauplan der Sippe resultieren und als solche natürlich genetisch fixiert sind. Sie sind häufig, aber durchaus nicht immer ?ükologisch sinnvoll”, so z. B. die Sproßbürtigkeit der Bewurzelung.
• 2 . Merkmale, die sich unter bestimmten ükologischen Verhältnissen ausgebildet haben und die genetisch fixiert sind. Sie werden auch dann noch beibehalten, wenn sich die ükologischen Bedingungen längst gewandelt haben. Im querstreichenden Teil des T-Systems wird ein solches Relikt vermutet.
• 3 . Merkmale, die infolge der modifikatorischen Kraft bestimmter Umweltfaktoren auftreten; sie sind dementsprechend nicht erblich und eigentlich Gegenstand der Physiologie. Die Reaktion der Wurzel auf bestimmte Nährstoffverhältnisse gehürt hierher und wohl auch die Polaritätsänderung der Primärwurzel.

Einer vergleichend-morphologischen Fragestellung sind somit nur Merkmale der ersten beiden Kategorien zugänglich; dies ist um so bedauerlicher, als die meisten Gestaltsmerkmale (?exomorphen” Merkmale) der dritten Gruppe angehüren.     

Dimerization kinetics of the IgE-class antibodies by divalent haptens. I. The Fab-hapten interactions.

The binding of divalent haptens to IgE-class antibodies leads predominantly to their oligomerization into open and closed dimers. Kinetics of the open dimer formation was investigated by fluorescence titrations of Fab fragments of monoclonal DNP-specific IgE antibodies with divalent haptens having different spacer length (gamma = 14-130 A). Binding was monitored by quenching of intrinsic tryptophan emission of the Fab. Addition of divalent haptens with short spacers (gamma = 14-21 A) to the Fabs at rates larger than a distinct threshold value caused a significant decrease of Fab-binding site occupation in the initial phase of the titration. This finding was interpreted to reflect a nonequilibrium state of hapten-Fab-binding. Such nonequilibrium titrations were analyzed by inserting a kinetic model into a theory of antibody aggregation as presented by Dembo and Golstein (Histamine release due to bivalent penicilloyl haptens. 1978. J. Immunol. 121, 345). Fitting of this model to the fluorescence titrations yielded dissociation rate constants of 7.8 x 10(-3) s-1 and 6 x 10(-3) s-1 for the Fab dimers formed by the flexible divalent haptens N alpha, N epsilon-di(dinitrophenyl)-L-lysine (gamma = 16 A) and bis(N beta-2,4-dinitrophenyl-alanyl)-meso-diamino-succinate (gamma = 21 A). Making the simplifying assumption that a single step binding equilibrium prevails, the corresponding dimer formation rate constants were calculated to be 1.9 x 10(5) M-1 s-1 and 1.1 x 10(4) M-1 s-1, respectively. In contrast, all haptens with spacers longer than 40 A (i.e., bis(N alpha-2,4-dinitrophenyl-tri-D-alanyl)-1,7-diamino-heptane, and di(N epsilon-2,4-dinitrophenyl)-6-aminohexanoate-aspartyl-(prolyl)n-L-l ysyl (n = 24, 27, 33) exhibit a relative fast dimerization rate of the Fab fragments (greater than 7 x 10(6) M-1 s-1). These observations were interpreted as being caused by orientational constraints set by the limited solid angle of the reaction between the macromolecular reactants. Thus, ligands having better access to the binding site would react faster.