Soluble & membrane-bound superoxide dismutases in a blue-green algae (Spirulina)and spinach

Adenylosuccinate synthetase (E.C. 6.3.4.4) $\text{Mg}{}^{\mathrm{++}}$ was assayed spectrophotometrically at 280 nm using two double-beam instruments with different stray light specifications, and by a radioactive assay. Using the spectrophotometric assay, inhibition by high concentration of GTP and by GMP is observed; a Hill plot of the GMP inhibition data obtained with the instrument of higher stray light seems to show cooperativity in GMP binding. The radioactive assay shows no inhibition by GTP at the concentrations studied and no cooperativity in the binding of GMP. This example illustrates the care that must be exercised in the interpretation of results obtained spectrophotometrically in solution of high absorbance.     

Principles of viable preservation of parasitic Protozoa

Viable preservation is fundamentally different from serial passage as a way of maintaining Protozoa in the laboratory. In serial passage there is continuous selection of a reproducing population so that biological characteristics deviate from those representative of the original population towards those of a population adapted to the special conditions of the passage. Viable preservation arrests reproduction and so, this selection. Viably preserved material, therefore, deserves to be defined by a special term, ‘stabilate’, a stabilate being defined as a population of organisms viably preserved on a unique occasion. Materials maintained by serial passage are appropriately called ‘strains’.     

A comparison of phlorizin and phloretin adsorption by the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta

Phloretin and phlorizin adsorb to the tegument surface of Hymenolepis diminuta, with KDs of 2.39 mM and 14.7 microM, respectively, and Vmaxs of 1446 and 12.54 nmoles/g tissue per 2 min, respectively. Phloretin adsorption is not inhibited by phlorizin or glucose. Glucose partially inhibits phlorizin adsorption. Phlorizin, but not phloretin, adsorption to isolated tegument brush border membrane preparations is partially inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide. No indications of phlorizin hydrolysis to phloretin during incubation with H. diminuta were obtained. The data are supportive of spacially separate and distinct binding sites for phloretin and phlorizin in the tegument brush border.     

Action Spectra Confirm Two Separate Actions of Phytochrome in the Induction of Flowering in Lemna paucicostata 441

Action spectra studies have shown that in the short day plant(SDP) Lemna paucicostat441 there are at least two actions ofphytochrome in the induction of flowering. At the beginningof the dark period far-red light inhibited flowering, and theaction spectrum corresponded to the absorption spectrum of P_FR,while at the middle of the inductive dark period both red andfar-red light were inhibitory. The action spectrum for the redlight corresponded to that of PR absorption, but there was activityin the region beyond 720 nm which exactly coincided with theabsorption by P_FR observed at the beginning of the dark period,indicating that at the middle of the dark period there was absorptionby both P_R and P_FR. The difference in quantum efficiency betweenthe red and far-red light effects was about 60-fold. These resultsare consistent with there being a stable pool of P_FR necessaryfor the induction of flowering and another pool of phytochromein a different cellular environment which participates in thenight-break reaction as P_R. ¹ Present address: School of Applied Biology, Faculty of Science,Lancashire Polytechnic, Preston PR1 2TQ, U.K. ² 2 Present address: Division of Environmental Biology, NationalInstitute for Environmental Studies, Yatabemachi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki305, Japan. ³ Present address: Division of Plant Biological Regulation,The Riken Institute for Frontier Research Program, Hirosawa,Wako-shi, 351-01, Japan. (Received December 13, 1986; Accepted July 17, 1987)