A NATURALLY OCCURRING DEVELOPMENTAL SYNERGISM BETWEEN THE CELLULAR SLIME MOLD,DICTYOSTELIUM MUCOROIDES AND THE FUNGUS,MUCOR HIEMALIS

We here report the second record of a developmentally aberrant strain of a cellular slime mold from natural populations and demonstrate that this Dictyostelium mucoroides variant is capable of undergoing normal morphogenesis in the presence of the phycomycete fungus, Mucor hiemalis. The synergism is induced by an extracellular product(s) which is diffusable through thin agar membranes and is released by the fungus. The presence of the fungus not only induces stalk formation in this stalkless variant, but also increases the rate of sorocarp formation in 3 of 5 additional species of cellular slime molds assayed.     

Apparent anion imbalance in the fresh water adapted eel

Summary On adapting brackish waterAnguilla anguilla to fresh water it was noted that, while the plasma sodium, magnesium,pCO₂ and pH were held reasonably constant, there was a substantial fall in chloride concentration (–33 mEq). The gradient of the linear correlations between plasma sodium and chloride also fell (brackish water gradient=0.92, fresh water gradient=0.21) indicating that a new pattern of plasma ion interrelationships was being established. Comparison with plasma Na/Cl ion ratios from other fishes suggested that this phenomenon was peculiar toA. anguilla. Corresponding with the very low plasma chloride levels plasma bicarbonate was four to five times that found in other fishes, and this was thought related to the finding that the haematocrit value almost doubled during adaptation to fresh water. In fresh water adapted fish a fall in plasma chloride was associated with a rise in plasma bicarbonate, however the charge compensation effect of this response was only partial as summing the common plasma cations and anions left an anion deficit of about 34 mEq to be accounted for.     

Amino acid analysis of bone from a possible case of prehistoric iron deficiency anemia from the American southwest

It is possible that dietary conditions can result in the production of abnormal bone protein. For example, a heavily maize-dependent diet could be deficient in one or more essential amino acids necessary to normal human biochemistry and consequently necessary for normal bone protein synthesis. Amino acid analysis of bone tissues, thus, could provide a useful diagnostic tool in paleopathology. To test this potential we have compared the amino acid analyses of bone samples from a prehistoric Southwest Indian child exhibiting porotic hyperostosis with samples taken from (1) two children's skeletons lacking bone lesions but from the same area and time, (2) a modern child who died from accidental causes, and (3) adult human compact bone. Analytical results of the nonpathological prehistoric specimens were virtually identical to that of the modern infant, indicating remarkable preservation of bone protein. The pathological bone sample differed from the three control specimens by having as much as 25% less of those amino acids containing hydroxyl group and acidic side chains. We interpret the amino acid profile for the diseased child as indicating the presence of a greater proportion of helical protein (or less noncollagenous protein) as well as a lowered degree of hydroxylation of proline and lysine. One explanation for our data is that protein biosynthesis is altered in the child exhibiting porotic hyperostosis, and either some proteins important in the early phases of mineralization are not produced in sufficient quantity, or some necessary enzyme cofactors (e.g., dietary ferrous ions) are missing. We conclude that our data are compatible with, but do not prove, the hypothesis that the porotic hyperostosis exhibited by the Southwest Indian child is the result of iron deficiency anemia.